The Vision
Every time a church is mentioned in the Bible, it is addressed by the name of a city. We believe that when God sees San Fernando Valley Freedom Foursquare Church, He sees entire communities and neighborhoods that could be reached with the Gospel. Whether through Christ-centered church services, discipleship training, Laundry Love, or Kids Hope, we share a vision to see God’s Kingdom come in Los Angeles as it is in heaven. Thank you for taking the time to consider this proposal.
With your help, we can secure a prime property at an affordable price to establish a Dream Center (The Freedom Center) that will enable our congregation to grow and make a kingdom impact on our city for generations to come.
What God is Doing
In 2011, a young couple planted a faith community in Chatsworth with a simple vision: to ‘love Jesus, serve people, and adopt the city.’ What started as a Bible study with just seven friends quickly grew into a church committed to serving the city by focusing on their under-resourced neighbors. Initially, serving others meant providing free laundry services each month to families in need and offering a weekly meal to neighbors experiencing homelessness. Over the last 14 years, however, this vision has grown into a church and community center experiencing an incredible move of God through salvations, baptisms, and community impact.
• Weekly drive-through food pantry that has served over 200,000 bags of groceries.
• Weekly meals and mobile showers for our neighbors experiencing homelessness.
• Weekly addiction recovery programs that have helped over 300 individuals find sobriety.
• Monthly free laundry service providing over 200,000 loads of clean clothes for families in need.
The last 12 months has been an incredible move of God and 63% growth:
• 2,568 first-time decisions for Christ
• 433 baptized in water
• 87,039 bags of free groceries through drive-through pantry
As exciting as this growth is, it has been heartbreaking to turn families away weekly because our services are at capacity. We are currently reorganizing to offer a 5th weekend service, but the services will have to be shortened in length to accommodate our lack of space.
The Challenge
Freedom Church is currently renting a facility that can no longer accommodate our growing needs. A recent 75% increase in rent has added significant challenges, limiting our ability to expand our staff. Despite these obstacles, our most pressing need remains finding more physical space to serve our congregation and provide essential services to the community.
This new facility for the Freedom Center will address the following critical needs:
• Location: Chatsworth location (maintains our strong community partnerships)
• Size: 94,000 SF (nearly 4 times our current building with plenty of room for community outreach)
• Parking: 1,400 parking spaces (this includes a parking structure directly across the street with 800 stalls)
• Price: Cost per foot $237 SF (this includes expenses for church renovation and seismic retrofit)
We’ve conducted a thorough, multi-year search, exploring every option to find a property that meets all of our complex requirements. The challenge lies in finding a facility that is both affordable and suitable for long-term community impact. Industrial properties are in high demand, typically selling for $400 per square foot, and rarely offer sufficient parking for hundreds of people at once. While there is a significant inventory of office space in the Valley, these spaces often lack essential structural features, such as the ceiling heights needed for worship services or the space required for our drive-through food pantry. This facility offers more than adequate square footage for sustained growth and impact.
The Opportunity
This new building will nearly 4x our square footage and allow us to:
• Double our gathering space for worship services and children’s programing.
• Increase our warehouse space 10x for our drive-through food pantry.
• Expand our addiction recovery services and weekly mobile shower program for the homeless
• Establish a permanent place in the community while reducing monthly facility costs with a mortgage that is less expensive than our current rent.
Project Details
With your support, we are ready to enter a long-term escrow for a prime property with excellent parking and all our essential requirements. Our plan is to purchase the property and use the upstairs for offices, recovery meetings, and counseling. We will also lease part of the upstairs to like-minded organizations to support long-term sustainability. The current tenant downstairs will vacate in March 2027. Afterward, we’ll begin a nine-month renovation to create a 15,000 square-foot auditorium by opening up the second-story floor, adding space for a preschool/kids ministry, offices, and more. This will provide us with 75,000 square feet of flexible, community- focused space. Our goal is to have the property ready by December 2027, enabling the Freedom Center to grow and offer services that are currently limited by our existing facility.
BUDGET
Project Budget
With your support, we are ready to enter a long-term escrow for a prime property with excellent parking and all our essential requirements. Our plan is to purchase the property and use the upstairs for offices, recovery meetings, and counseling. We will also lease part of the upstairs to like-minded organizations to support long-term sustainability. The current tenant downstairs will vacate in March 2027. Afterward, we’ll begin a nine-month renovation to create a 15,000 square-foot auditorium by opening up the second-story floor, adding space for a preschool/kids ministry, offices, and more. This will provide us with 75,000 square feet of flexible, community-focused space. Our goal is to have the property ready by December 2027, enabling the Freedom Center to grow and offer services that are currently limited by our existing facility.
Funding The Project
A diverse funding stack of partnerships is the key to raising the necessary funds for this miracle. It will consist of several key components:
• $5M investment from The Foursquare Church ($2.5M plus additional request of $2.5M)
• $6M professionally-managed capital campaign from Freedom Church (24 months)
• $8.4M bank loan (approximately 43% of the total project)
FOR YOUR PRAYERFUL CONSIDERATION
The current property owner is under pressure to renew the lease with his tenants, but he has offered us the opportunity to purchase the property now and secure it as the new Freedom Center in 2027. This timeline would allow our church the time to raise the necessary funds, obtain permits, renovate the building, and complete our current lease. Will you prayerfully consider committing an additional $2.5M for a matching campaign with our congregation? We believe your $5M commitment will inspire our congregation to give with unprecedented sacrificial faith. Your partnership will create a powerful momentum, unleashing faith and strengthening our congregation’s dedication to the church of Jesus!
Thank you for prayerfully considering this audacious Kingdom request.
Justice and Maria Coleman
CONTACT
For more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Larry Boatright (larry@freedom.church, 719.421.0870) or Matt Landesman (matt@investorpropertyloan.com, 818.625.4383)
ANTICIPATED QUESTIONS:
Why are we asking for an additional $2.5M, and why now?
To secure our loan and launch a matching campaign for 24 months. Services are at capacity and we are staring a 5th weekend service. The last 12 months has been an incredible move of God and 67% growth:
• 2,568 first-time decisions for Christ
• 433 baptized in water (soon to be 500 next weekend)
• 87,039 bags of free groceries through drive-through pantry
Next steps if we receive $2.5M:
We’ll immediately draft an LOI with our pre-negotiated terms and secure the lease-to-purchase agreement, preventing other offers and securing the building. We will use the $2.5M to launch an inspiring matching campaign with our congregation.
Mortgage details:
With an additional $2.5M, our projected mortgage will be $64,000 per month, plus $26,000 in additional facility costs. Compared to our current rent and facility expenses, the difference would be only $10-15k more per month than we’re paying now.
Lender and contingencies:
We’re working with Cass Bank, a boutique lender for churches. They came and toured the property, and while formal approval awaits a contract, numbers are aligned and favorable. They have offered competitive rates.
Internal fundraising expectations:
We expect to raise $5.5M-$6M from an internal campaign. Generis, a professional consulting partner,
conservatively estimates this based on our giving trends.
Giving trends:
Over the past three years, we’ve seen a 20% average increase in giving, and we’re on track to end this year $1.4M ahead of 2020.
Economic recession preparedness:
We’ll run a 90% budget, maximize facility rentals, and maintain flexibility with a lease-to-purchase agreement.
Renovation cost estimates:
Renovation plans include a 25% overage buffer, with nearly $900k in reserves for unexpected costs.
Interim growth management:
We are adding a fifth weekend service, creating an outdoor gathering space, converting all our offices into children’s classrooms.
Managing cash flow for the new building:
We will use facility rentals, office leasing, and increased giving. The current tenant will generate $120k/month, if secured early, until construction begins.
If Foursquare doesn’t approve the additional funds:
We will seek alternative funding sources, though it risks losing the property.
Community outreach impact aka Dream Center:
The new facility will expand capacity for our outreach, including weekly drive-thru food pantry, recovery groups, services for the homeless, and future plans for drug and rehabilitation programs.