David Chadwick finds church’s permanent home 3 years after separation from Forest Hill
As David Chadwick stands in the middle of a former Harris Teeter in south Charlotte, he looks up at the 24-foot ceilings and finally feels at home.
Three years ago, Chadwick left Forest Hill Church after nearly 40 years there. He took the once-sleepy congregation and transformed it into a six-campus megachurch. But in early 2019, Chadwick left Forest Hill under intense pressure from its Council of Elders and the church’s other leaders.
There were complaints over his managerial style because he was perceived as too demanding and authoritarian. Chadwick told The Charlotte Observer at the time he wanted to fix whatever was broken and meet those who complained about him face-to-face. But they remained anonymous.
Chadwick, 72, says that’s all in his rear view mirror. He went on to start his own church, called Moments of Hope. A number of Forest Hill members followed him.
In the previous three years, Chadwick and his congregation gathered for Sunday services on a middle school gymnasium floor and a 137-acre farm in South Carolina. They’ve also met at the corporate campus of Movement Mortgage and, most recently, Providence Day School.
“We were nomadic,” Chadwick said. “We went from place to place wherever we could find a gathering point to come together.”
That changed last month.
Moments of Hope signed a three-year lease at the Providence Square Shopping Center off Providence Road near Old Providence Road in south Charlotte, closer to where most of his congregation resides. The space once was a Harris Teeter and, more recently, home to Kinetic Heights — an indoor ropes course and fitness facility. The business didn’t survive the pandemic and moved out last year.
In the previous several weeks, crews have been busy outfitting the 21,000-square-foot space into a church, complete with repurposed floors, new carpeting and around 650 cushioned chairs.
“It gave us a chance to settle into a space that would be our own and we would be able to control all week long,” Chadwick said.
Moments of Hope plans to hold its first service at the new site on April 24. Easter services were planned at the farm in Clover, South Carolina, though a chance of rain threatened to drive them to Providence Square.
Bringing credibility back
Providence Square Shopping Center dates back to the late 1960s. When it opened, Providence Square was a mid-century modern retail center with newly built apartments around it, said Charlotte developer Daniel Levine, president of Levine Properties.
Levine and some business partners bought the center in 2013.
The center is a relatively unique setup because the storefronts can’t be seen from the busy Providence Road.
Levine, who bought his first home across Providence Road, remembers shopping at the Harris Teeter and Eckerd drug store that both anchored the center. He also fondly remembers a newsstand that sold around 30 different daily newspapers from around the world along with periodicals.
“It really was the center of life in south Charlotte,” Levine said.
By the early 2000s, shopping and retail centers that directly fronted busy thoroughfares began outcompeting locations such as Providence Square. The Harris Teeter and Eckerd eventually closed their doors.
“The center started to slip into modest disrepair,” Levine said.
By the time he and his partners bought the center, some stores were boarded up.
He initially didn’t know what to do with the space, which includes about 81,000 square feet of commercial space.
“We knew we had to bring credibility back to this area,” Levine said.
In the previous few years, Levine began slowly renovating Providence Square. He tore a building down and has plans to put up a one- or two-story building in its place. An existing two-story building should be under construction this summer and done by spring 2023. He envisions a mixture of uses, including office and retail. He also plans to rebuild a plaza that connects the buildings.
Levine has also improved the parking lot with new curbs, drainage, lighting and asphalt.
Today, Levine is hesitant to describe the area as a shopping center. There’s a salon, a math and reading center and an Irish dance school. There’s an artist’s studio, a squash court, and a jiu-jitsu center recently signed a lease.
Chadwick’s Moments of Hope is the latest example of Providence Square’s fresh lease on life.
“They are service providers,” Levine said of the center’s tenants. “We think a church happens to be one of the greatest service providers – religion, helping people have comfort and peace of mind.”
Preaching from the middle
Three years ago on Easter Sunday, Chadwick led some of his first services for Moments of Hope. Both services attracted about 1,200 people. As the church moved from place to place, Chadwick saw attendance of 1,100 to 1,400 people. Post-COVID, the church has seen in-person attendance drop to around 550 people, Chadwick said, with another 700 to 1,000 people watching from home online.
He’s not sure how many will show up at the new location and is prepared to pull out more chairs, if needed.
Chadwick will have the option to extend the three-year lease for a fourth and fifth year. But he’s open to finding and purchasing a permanent home.
In the meantime, some of his staff were busy this week setting up the Providence Square space. Worship director Eric Stair along with Dan Anderson and Parker Robinson were setting up audio, video and lighting.
Chadwick and his staff of about 15 decided to go with an “in the round” setup. Chadwick and anyone else who preaches will stand in the middle of the carpeted floor with seats all around. Large TV screens will project the words of songs playing or other important announcements.
If they were to setup the church with a stage at the front, the members of the church would be seated several rows deep with a long view to the front. That would be less engaging. The round set up aligns more with the mission of the church of connecting with people and offering a message of hope.
“The question was how do we make it the most intimate for people and hear David preach,” Stair said.
This story was originally published April 18, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
