After four years and several million dollars, a growing Tri-City congregation has completed work on a larger church and more projects on the horizon.

Hungry Generation opened its church at 1120 N. Edison St., Kennewick, in February. 

The additional space was necessary as surging attendance pushed the church to host four Sunday services each week at its old Pasco building, now owned by the Salvation Army.

Now, Hungry Generation holds two services on Sundays, each with about 600 to 700 attendees. Church leaders said many were waiting for the new church to be completed before attending. 

The 40,000-square-foot building also has increased parking capacity, with plans in place to add more in the future. 

Overall, the new building will allow capacity to grow to 2,200.

Hungry Generation, part of the Assemblies of God, the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination, got its start in 2001.

Vladimir Savchuk became the lead pastor in 2016, and in 2022, the church got permits to remodel the Kennewick building, which was at one time a skating rink and a welfare office.

New building

Savchuk said the church bought three parcels of land for its expansion plans. The one that’s home to the church cost $3.1 million, while the adjacent land, used for parking, cost $1.2 million. A third parcel home to a coffee shop cost $1.3 million.

While the church took out loans for the properties from San Dimas, California-based Christian Community Credit Union, it was Hungry Generation’s community that raised $11 million in donations over four years to cover construction costs, Savchuk said.

It’s a “testament to people’s generosity,” he said. 

Hungry Generation moved into its new building at 1120 N. Edison St., Kennewick, after several years and millions of dollars in renovations.

| Courtesy Hungry Generation

The pastor said the work was particularly difficult because they weren’t starting from scratch. 

They raised beams themselves to create a second floor and paid careful attention to the acoustics, from concrete floors, sound-absorbing panels on the walls and drywall hung from the ceiling to a professional audiovisual setup for their popular YouTube videos. 

The new space has a more consolidated office area for the church’s broadcasting room, translation services in Spanish and Russian, a conference room and a faster Wi-Fi system. There’s also an elevator to reach the second floor. 

The complex includes a bookstore and cafe-style hangout area, and many classrooms for children, with capacity for up to 200 kids. The main worship area has capacity for 953, plus overflow spaces. 

Savchuk said the new church is a “very big improvement, huge relief” and just how the church wanted it.

Innovative Solutions Construction of Pasco is the general contractor.

Upcoming projects

The small coffee shop in front of the church is being leased to a member of the church who plans to open the Threefold Cafe in April.

Also nearby is property with storage units on it, which Savchuk said the church is in the process of acquiring. The group plans to use it for more parking spaces. 

Savchuk said it’s possible to get more people in the building, but parking is a pinch point. Some nearby businesses have offered up their lots for Hungry Gen attendees to use on Sundays.

Hungry Generation’s future plans include building a fourplex for a student Bible school. Students came from all over the world, often for three months on a tourist visa, to attend the program, which ran for seven years before stopping. Students can earn credits through Faith International University and Seminary in Tacoma. 

Savchuk said they previously housed students in rented housing, which was difficult to manage. Now, they’re working on building accommodations to relaunch the program next year. 

Inside the church, there’s space for a commercial kitchen, which Savchuk said they’ll get up and running later this year. It will support potlucks at the church and also feed the students housed in the fourplex. 

The church’s reach extends beyond the Tri-Cities through its popular social media channels. Hungry Generation has 22 youth clubs throughout the state, with 12 in the Tri-Cities. 

It has opened churches in Spokane and Everett in the past two years, and a Renton church is opening this month, while a Yakima church is expected to open this fall. All are in leased spaces.