“ We were making this big jump,” he explains.“[ SAFE ] worked well because we needed to clearly understand— in advance— our space requirements to accommodate growth, both with the building footprint and with the parking.” Importantly, the Goff team also worked with Milestone leaders and real estate professionals to assess the land and identify any buildability issues. A substantial impediment emerged: the local municipality treemitigation requirement. Translation: although the acreage was ideally located, it was also heavily wooded. Financial penalties totaling $ 2 million would be levied if the trees were removed for construction. Creativity was in order. Luckily, Milestone leaders weren’ t on their own. Again, the Goff team came alongside them to negotiate with local officials. It was agreed that five acres would be dedicated as a conservation easement— an agreement that lets the church retain property ownership but permanently restricts development of the land in order to protect its natural value. Additionally, a portion of the property was dedicated for the development of a Fire Station. In the end, a multi-million-dollar conundrum became a non-issue, and Milestone accrued zero penalties. The City of Keller also benefited: the conservation easement is the first since its incorporation in 1955.
A campus designed to grow In 2017, on this acreage, Milestone finished its first phase of construction— more than 75,000 square feet, including a large commons space, kids’ ministry area, and 1,600-seat worship center.“ Obviously, the worship center was a top priority because it’ s where so much of the ministry takes place,” Pelletier points out.“ It was important that it be large enough to accommodate our growth projections but not feel too large for the current attendance.” At the time, that figure was 3,800 people, all of them comfortably accommodated in the 1,600 seats. But Milestone leaders were thinking ahead: behind the back wall was 8,000 square feet of empty space that would eventually house 900 more seats, upping worship capacity to 2,500. The new kids’ ministry area was also at the top of the list, for good reason.“ We have a saying around here:‘ You don’ t have to wait to be great— you can be a great kid,’” Pelletier says.“ We burn a lot of calories focusing on next-gen. We believe that the future leaders of our church are being developed right now. So, prioritizing space for them to learn about God at an early age is important to us.” Last but not least, the 11,000-square-foot commons provided ample room for fellowship among members and guests.“ We really wanted people to build meaningful relationships with each other,” Pelletier says.“ This space was a practical way to help facilitate those connections.”
Designed for growth— and ready for more All that fellowship did indeed build relationships— so much so that Milestone Church doubled its attendance after moving into the new space.“ The vision was always to expand, so we knew it was just a matter of timing,” Pelletier says.“ To serve our people, we quickly realized that we needed more seating and parking.” The first phase of construction included enough parking spaces to accommodate the church’ s historical attendee-to-parking ratio. However, because the large commons area was so inviting, many attendees stayed for more than one worship service to connect with other attendees over coffee from the in-house café or as part of a small-group Bible study. Accordingly, since 2023, Milestone Church has increased parking capacity in multiple phases. That 8,000 square feet of empty space behind the back wall in the worship center? As planned, it was used to expand seating capacity to 2,500. Thanks to pre-planning, it took just two weeks of missed Sunday worship services to complete. Likewise, kids’ ministry and commons spaces have doubled, and a state-of-the-art event venue— with indoor / outdoor glass walls— was added.
BUILT TO SERVE, POSITIONED TO GROW
Church Executive: What are the key reasons for Milestone’ s rapid, continued attendance growth?
Jeff Pelletier: Well, we’ re really passionate about people finding a real relationship with God and then taking the next step to grow in their faith. We’ re often told that we’ re very friendly, warm and authentic, which we love; but what people are really experiencing is the love of God expressed through a local body of believers. You’ ll never look more like Jesus than when you’ re serving somebody— and our people are extremely generous with their time, talents and treasure. So, we’ re able to serve a lot of folks and take care of them when they come. Whether they’ re members or guests, our people see a need in them and fill it. It makes [ churchgoers ] feel welcomed and seen. That has definitely been a big contributor.
CE: How does Milestone differentiate itself in an area like DFW, which has so many churches?
Pelletier: Our focus is on our key mission: reaching people and building lives. So, we burn most of our energy on reaching folks and then developing, discipling them. After that, we trust God to do the joining. We didn’ t set out to build a big church; we aimed to build big people. As a result, the church gets big, too.
CE: Milestone is enjoying sustained growth with multiple campuses. What multisite-focused guidance can you offer?
Pelletier: It’ s not uncommon for churches like ours to use‘ heatmaps’ to figure out where concentrations of church members and guests are already living. But we don’ t just see potential with a data-driven approach; we also ask: do we see potential for serving here? We’ re always looking through the lens of serving the communities in which we exist. After that, we get into the factors specific to each location— the site ingress and egress, current and future residential or commercial developments, and so on. Then we look at off-site development, which is everything from traffic impact analysis to TxDOT [ Texas Department of Transportation ] and beyond. Again, though, it all starts with us understanding how best to serve the communities in which we exist, or where there’ s a concentration of people who are already engaged with Milestone.
CE: It sounds like the desire to serve extends to other church leaders. Tell me about that.
Pelletier: Our lead pastor, Jeff Little, has a passion for helping other churches and leaders‘ win,’ so we created an integrated auxiliary of Milestone Church called Lead to Win. Basically, we equip them with proven, practical ways to empower their churches to grow and to thrive. We offer books, campaigns and more. Importantly, we host a free Leaders Gathering every January here at the Keller campus. Last year, leaders from 500 churches attended. Our team is just as passionate about serving the Church—“ capital-C”— as our own church.
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