Architect Jackson Galloway Associates Creates a Cool Place for Kids at Shoreline Christian Center
Austin, Texas's Shoreline Christian Center, under the direction of Executive Pastor Rob Koke, celebrated the grand opening of a dynamic children's ministry building this past spring. Created by Jackson Galloway Associates, also of Austin, the 39,000-square-foot children's building at the church's North campus features a 180-degree curved wall projection screen capable of showing three different presentations at once, a three-story jungle gym playscape, and a lower level entrance themed like a forest tree house.

According to architect Michael Raia of Jackson Galloway Associates, the new children's building comes to life with wall paintings, carpet, lighting, and other audio-visual components. The facility was built by local general contractor Austin Canyon Corporation.

In addition to its North campus, Shoreline serves the growing Austin community with three other campuses: Shoreline East, an outreach for the homeless; Shoreline Downtown, a location serving singles and young adults; and Shoreline South, which meets in a movie theater.

For a virtual tour of Shoreline Christian Center's new children's building at its North campus, visit www.shoreline.net.

www.jacksongalloway.com | www.shoreline.net | www.austincanyon.com|

Osram Sylvania Launches Church-practical Sustainable LED Lamps and Retrofits
Historically, LED lighting has been more of a challenge than a realistic lighting concept. But Osram Sylvania is working to make LEDs the light choice of the future with the introduction of LED Lamps and Retrofits. LED Lamps and Retrofits replace traditional light sources in a number of new applications, according to the company.

LED Lamps and Retrofits are screw-based, plug-in replacements of conventional light sources, such as incandescent, halogen, and fluorescent technology. The first introduction of retrofits consists of 20 types of colored bulbs-in red, yellow, green, and blue colors. A RGB color changing bulb with synchronized and smooth color changing sequence is also offered.

Osram Sylvania's LED Retrofit bulbs offer 10 times the life of incandescent bulbs.

The LED Retrofit bulbs directly replace any colored incandescent bulbs and last 25,000 hours. This is equal to 10 times the life of incandescent bulbs, which generates significant cost savings to customers.

"LED technology has come a long way from semiconductor components to sustainable lighting solutions; we continue to focus our attention into the research and development of LED light sources to create new products with long life, energy savings, and substantial light output," comments Michelle Huang, Osram Sylvania LED product marketing manager. "These colored LED Retrofit bulbs are simply a stop on the track to the upcoming white LED lamps as true equivalents to incandescent and halogen lamps for general illumination."

The new bulbs can be used in indoor and outdoor weathered applications. For more information on LED Retrofits and other sustainable LED solutions offered by Sylvania, visit www.sylvania.com.

www.sylvania.com

Elation Tri-LEDs Give Video Cameras a Clear View at Tennessee Church
ClearView Baptist Church in Franklin, Tennessee, recently called in local production company Springtree Media Group LLC to help ramp up its stage lighting for video production. Just a few years before, the church used Springtree to help it deal with a limited electrical load capacity.

ClearView Baptist Church of Franklin, Tennessee, upgraded its lighting system with Elation's Tri 64B LED fixtures to capture top-quality video.

"Several years ago … ClearView wanted to improve its stage lighting, and they were told there was no way they could do this without spending a fortune on a new transformer," recalls Springtree designer, Peter Vaque. "We went in and showed them how they could do it on their existing circuitry, using intelligent lights."

But now with its membership growing beyond 2,000, ClearView wanted quality video to cross-broadcast sermons to a planned second facility. The [intelligent] lights produced too many hotspots under the camera.

Springtree's Vacque and the church decided on supplier Elation Professional's new type of RGB (red, green, and blue additive) color-mixing LED PAR can, the ELED Tri 64B. LEDs were already a sound choice for ClearView, because of the facility's low power draw, yet Vaque reports that the ELED Tri 64B went beyond the typical RGB LED PAR can with a new innovation from Elation called Tri-Color LED Technology. Each of the Tri 64B's 18 LEDs is actually a three-in-one "tri" lamp, comprised of three one-watt LEDs, a red, green, and blue. This new lamp design allows RGB color mixing within each lens, so all of the Tri 64B's lamps remain on continuously.

The result, according to Vaque, is that the Tri 64B produces better, more even-toned mixed colors. Another plus: the new lights generate a warm, natural-looking white and are flicker-free, ideal for video, notes Vaque.

www.elationlighting.com | www.clearview.org

Williams Sound Releases Bilingual 2008 Commercial Sound Products Catalog
Williams Sound Corporation of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a manufacturer of hearing assistance products for more than 32 years, announces availability of its 2008 Commercial Sound Products catalog.

In response to the growing Latin American market and Spanish-speaking customers throughout North America, Williams Sound offers its 2008 catalog in English and Spanish.

"We understand the importance of communicating to customers in their native language," states Janet Beckman, director of marketing at Williams Sound. "As a global company, we are placing more emphasis on language-based communications materials to more effectively 'help people hear' throughout the world."

To get a copy of the 2008 Commercial Sound Products catalog, email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call (800) 843-3544.

www.williamssound.com

Steps to Revive or Survive an Ailing Building Project,
a Finance Exclusive, Part 2
If your church's building project is stalled, whether stemming from external economic conditions, an internal situation, or a combination of the two, there are actions you can take to secure the project's and the church's overall health. Worship Facilities Magazine spoke with Scott Rolfs, managing director of Ziegler Capital Markets - Church and School Finance division for this part two feature that began in the August edition of Worship Facilities Newsbyte. According to Rolfs, the following five financial actions may help a stalled project back onto its feet or help get church leaders in the best position for growth down the road.

1.) Evaluate whether or not the project is able to be downsized. The growth of mega-churches in the period from 2000-2005 seemed to create something of an unhealthy "arms race" among churches. The perception for many was that they had to do it all at once, before a church down the street built a major campus. Getting a campus master plan completed is a great idea, Rolfs reports, but be realistic about what you can really afford to build. Building the 2,500-seat sanctuary, education building, and youth building all at the same time may not be financially feasible. If you are not able to afford it all at once, then, according to Rolfs, prioritize on what is most important to build and focus on that. For many churches, the sanctuary is most important, since it drives the primary revenue base of many churches (tithes and offerings). However, your ministry may be one that focuses on children and youth and, in that case, focus on those projects.

2.) Figure out your options with shelling in a portion of the building. Rolfs explains that this is an offshoot of downsizing. For a number of churches, it makes sense to build the entire footprint of the building, but then hold off on completely finishing every part of the building. Many churches have successfully utilized this strategy and come back years down the road to build out areas they could not originally afford to finish. Many times this can be done with less expensive volunteer church labor (check your liability insurance for coverage whenever church members help with even minor construction projects, Rolfs counsels).

3.) Get audited financials. Use construction downtime to have your church financial statements audited by an outside CPA, Rolfs encourages. Professionally prepared accounting statements can help you not only get a loan, but get a loan at the best terms possible. The cost of an audit will be paid back many times over with lower borrowing costs. Lenders like to see accountant-prepared financials. It lends third-party legitimacy to your financial numbers.

4.) Hold on to your cash until you know the project is a go. Too many times churches continue to spend money on architects and other professionals during a time when the project is delayed. Ziegler suggests holding onto your cash, because it is possible that the new project that returns after a delay in building may take a very different form, and previously spent soft costs may not necessarily translate over to the revised project.

5.) Sometimes a delay in a project can be a blessing. If a project truly is needed and has the support of the entire congregation, it will take place down the road. If the congregational support wanes due to a delay, it is entirely possible that the church body may not have the stamina needed for a major project, either now or in the future. Rolfs reports of pastors telling Ziegler that "the church will split and collapse" if the project isn't built right away. If that is the case, it may be best for the project not to be built in the first place, he suggests. Most members are understanding of delays and will support the effort. Either way, you'll find out if the support for the project is a mile-wide and a foot deep or if it is a mile wide and a mile deep. Knowing the true depth of the support level for the project is a good thing in the long run. Rolfs closing advice is this: Make sure to always keep your membership and key capital campaign donors informed along the way, so these people are not surprised if there are delays. Otherwise, you may lose vital credibility.

www.zieglerloan.com