Working parents commuting from Lawrence to the Kansas City metro area soon could have some of their child-care prayers answered by a Lawrence-based church.

River of Fire Church is negotiating a deal to open a child-care center in the former home of Bishop Seabury Academy, 1411 E. 1850 Road. The five-acre campus is less than a mile north of Kansas Highway 10 and a mile east of the East Hills Business Park.

Church officials hope to use the former school for offices, worship and Sunday school. But they also intend to provide care for children, ranging from 1 to 5 years old.

Three dozen children could be enrolled by Jan. 1 with the center capable of expanding up to 100 children — including infants — as the market permits.

“We are looking for an opportunity to reach out to the community and provide a service,” said Dave Ellis, a pastor for the 18-month-old church, which now meets at Langston Hughes School in Lawrence. “That’s what we want to do.”

A site plan for the project is pending before Douglas County commissioners, who have indicated a willingness to approve the project. Formal approval would be expected within a month. A site plan outlines where the features of the site and where different activities will be conducted.

River of Fire, a full-Gospel charismatic fellowship with 60 members, intends to lease the property from Victor “Peter” Shenouda, who acquired the property within the past year with the intention of operating a day-care center. Shenouda secured a conditional-use permit for such a center late last year. The permit governs what activities may be conducted at the site.

The church would run the center, taking advantage of the campus’ existing features that include a main school building with a library media room, multipurpose room/gymnasium and kitchen.

The center would be expected to operate from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and employ 15 to 20 people, likely including Kansas University students who are studying early-childhood education, said Muriel Cowgill, the church’s day-care project manager.

The goal is to attract children whose working parents are looking for convenience. The nearby East Hills Business Park has businesses that employ 2,500 people, and Kansas Highway 10 is the main traffic route for an estimated 5,500 county residents who commute to work in Johnson County and another 1,500 Johnson County residents who commute to Douglas County.

“It sounds like a good market to grab,” said Anna Jenny, executive director of the Douglas County Child Development Assn., a not-for-profit organization that provides support for child-care operations and referrals for families seeking care.

Heading into the fall, the association was working with 28 centers and 228 in-home providers who together cared for 4,698 children in Douglas County. The operations reported a total capacity of 5,710 children, leaving room for 1,012 more children, a vacancy rate of nearly 18 percent.

6News video: Church makes day-care plans