Willow Creek Community Church in Huntley buys 65 acres of land to build permanent site

HUNTLEY – From setup to teardown, volunteers of Willow Creek Community Church in Huntley have spent 8,000 hours converting Huntley High School's auditorium into a church each Sunday.

The church, which launched in 2011, has purchased 65 acres of land to build a permanent home, and Pastor Todd Katter said he can’t wait to see what volunteers do with those hours once spent converting temporary spaces.

The property is located on Huntley Road east of Square Barn Road near Kane County. And although the church still is in the early planning stages, Katter said he hopes construction will start in the spring.

The land was bought from a family who had been invited to the church and started coming in 2016, Katter said. The property once was priced at $4.6 million, but the family generously agreed to give the church the land for $350,000, Katter said.

“The seller of the land was deeply moved by our vision for a permanent home and chose to donate the majority of his land,” Katter said.

Katter said the church plans to start by building a 43,000-square-foot space in which to gather Sundays, host weekly programs and serve the community 24/7.

The church previously has partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build homes in the area as well as hold annual food and coat drives.

Katter said the church will invest in hosting groups and classes for families and kids throughout the week.

Down the road, Katter said, he dreams of creating a care center to meet tangible needs of people in the community.

The overall property spans 49 football fields, with some of the space in wetlands. More than half is buildable, Katter said. Willow Creek signed a purchase agreement in October 2016 and closed on the land in April, Katter said.

“Since then, we’ve been going back and forth with architects, engineers and builders and county officials, and all the things that happen behind the scenes in order to eventually break ground,” Katter said.

The Huntley church serves 1,000 people. If the church breaks ground in the spring, Katter said, the building could open by 2019.

Willow Creek's Crystal Lake church, which has more than 4,000 attendees, opened its new facility in October.

Willow Creek has other locations in Lincolnshire, South Barrington, West Chicago, Northfield and Chicago.