First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., has a new campus designed by nationwide Visioneering Studios on the principle of Architectural Evangelism, or reaching out to a geographic locale by incorporating architectural elements that speak uniquely to an area and its culture. Part of First Christian’s new campus includes a youth and alternative worship venue called The Shed, a facility that helps maintain local residents’ ready access to an outdoor, beach lifestyle. Image courtesy of PlainJoe Studios.
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By Shannen Norman Visioneering Studios, a nationwide design-based ministry and a 2010 Worship Facilities Conference and Expo (WFX) Solomon Award winner for “Best Church Architect,” is celebrating three grand openings of new church campuses on two coasts. First Christian Church in Huntington Beach, Calif., The Church at Lifepark in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., and Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, Calif., each incorporate the latest in architectural design with the company’s philosophy of “architectural evangelism”—designing church buildings as outreach tools and creating one-of-a-kind church campuses across the country. Visioneering founder Mel McGowan was shocked to encounter the dilapidated structures and cracked paving on the playgrounds surrounding First Christian Church (FCC). “Although the task of creating a vibrant heart for Huntington Beach on this small site seemed daunting, we drew inspiration from God’s creation of the California coast,” he says. “We also wanted to pay tribute to Surf City USA, the epicenter of the surf culture that has spread its fashion and lifestyle sensibilities globally.” A Thinking Design for Huntington Beach FCC’s new campus includes “The PIER” children’s ministry with age-appropriate, thematic elements throughout; a youth and alternative worship venue called “The Shed;” and a Waterwalk and Tidal Court, a wave-patterned central paseo and plaza linking all the campus buildings to the Main Street intersection. “First Christian is one of the few American megachurches with a ‘Main Street’ address,” notes McGowan. “It’s also in the middle of an area famous for beaches and outdoor living. We wanted the new campus design to maintain this accessibility—the church’s heart for its city—while reflecting its location in the heart of its city.”
A Reflection of Lowcountry Culture In Mt. Pleasant, The Church at Lifepark has owned property for a second site for 32 years—and on March 28, 2010, more than 700 people attended a grand opening for the long-anticipated new campus. Visioneering designed the building with a beach theme to reflect the Lowcountry culture and to create a casual, welcoming atmosphere for the hundreds of new families the church will reach. Phase II includes plans for a sanctuary with a boathouse theme. Elements of Evangelism in California Back in California, Visioneering also used design and materials as evangelistic elements in the master plan for Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills. “We converted a ‘crystal cathedral’ with a pipe organ into a rock-n-roll church,” McGowan says. “On an extremely short timeframe and small budget we demonstrated our ‘extreme makeover’ approach that works for churches of any size.” Shannen Norman is a project coordinator for Corona, Calif.-based PlainJoe Studios, a strategic branding, interactive media, and environmental design firm known for church signage and wayfinding services. To learn more about PlainJoe Studios, see www.plainjoestudios.com. www.visioneeringstudios.com; www.fcchb.com; www.lifeparkmp.org; www.crosslinechurch.com; www.plainjoestudios.com |
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President of Church Architect CDH Partners Earns Prestigious Award Worship Facilities Magazine asked Chegwidden to share how he learned of his award. “I was getting off an airplane, working on a church in Orlando, Fla., turned on the phone, and an email popped up saying I was elected for the award. I was doing what I always do—working with churches around the country,” Chegwidden says.
“In my early work I realized that churches weren’t very strategic,” Chegwidden says. “They oftentimes had to tear out parking lots [to correct their plan for the campus], even buildings sometimes had to be torn out. So my work with churches became about stewardship—helping them realize vision in their master plan. It’s hard for churches to think this way. We want to help them solve a problem and not create a new one.” Chegwidden will receive his FAIA award in Miami this summer at the annual AIA Convention, June 10-12. For more information on AIA 2010 in Miami, see www.aiaconvention.com. To learn more about CDH Partners and to view its church portfolio, visit www.cdhpartners.com. www.cdhpartners.com www.aia.org Cool Solutions Group Offers Free Church-Tailored Software this Month
Cool reports that Forever Free is ideal for smaller churches and those that don’t need all the features that ministrEspace offers. To learn more and to find out when the software will be available live, visit http://ministrespace.com/webdemo/. www.coolsolutionsgroup.com Visix MeetingMinder Grabs Digital Signage Award
The company reports that the MeetingMinder 1200i 12-inch surface-mount touchscreen model provides an attractive low-profile depth of 1.02-inches and weighs less than four pounds. Both the 1200i and 1500i MeetingMinder models offer a robust room sign solution for displaying a full range of digital signage content in addition to room and event schedules. “The CHAMP Awards are our picks for the best of the best in digital signage,” states Gary Kayye. “If you’ve gotta have a PC-based media player, you can’t go wrong with Visix. They come in small, medium and large configurations; they’re affordable and they’re reliable—way more reliable than your average PC!” For more information about rAVe Publications, visit http://www.ravepubs.com. The full list of 2010 CHAMP Awards is available at http://www.ravepro.com/digital_signage/issues/2010/03/index.html#t1389. To learn more about Visix Inc.’s MeetingMinder, AxisTV and other visual communications products, see www.visix.com. APV Engineered Coatings Introduces Durable, Eco-Friendly Exterior Paint Solution
“The Kynar Aquatec is dispersed into our water-based formula for NeverFade paint, so volatile organic compounds, commonly referred to as VOCs, are drastically reduced, making NeverFade very eco-friendly,” says David Venarge, chairman of APV Engineered Coatings in Akron, Ohio. The homopolymer in Kynar Aquatec is a tough engineered thermoplastic that helps ensure NeverFade paint withstands harsh thermal, chemical and ultraviolet environmental conditions. NeverFade is available nationwide and can be applied to vinyl siding, PVC, wood, aluminum siding, stucco, masonry, and fiber cement surfaces. Each paint order is custom made. For more information, see www.apvcoatings.com or call (800) 772-3452. www.apvcoatings.com 
Testing the Finance Waters Worship Facilities Magazine’s Atlanta-based finance reporter, Martin Sinderman, made some calls to seasoned church finance professionals to ask questions about what’s happening in the arena of church finance—and to find out what stories we might share with our decision-making pastor readership.
Sinderman: What’s the overall economic climate when it comes to church fundraising? Sheppard: The fear factor seems to be subsiding. First quarter 2009 was slow; the second slower; and [now] there are more conversations growing through first quarter 2010. Sinderman: What key house of worship trends are you seeing? Sheppard: We are seeing three types of inquiries: (1.) We have too much debt and we need to pay it down. (2.) Our debt is not a problem, but we would like to accelerate paying it off. (3.) We were planning a facility before the meltdown and we put it on hold. We now realize we need to move ahead with our building plans, even if we have to scale them down in view of the likely reduced giving potential of our church. A significant issue in fundraising today is collections. We typically hope to receive 88%-92% of the funds that are committed in capital fund pledges. For those churches that conducted their giving campaigns in 2007 and early 2008, there are churches with significant issues because key donors have been hit by the economy. The perception is that you cannot raise money for church projects right now. Generally speaking, [churches] that have an urgent (now), compelling (wow) need and are able to articulate it to their congregations—those people are not having trouble raising money. Sinderman also caught up with Scott Rolfs, managing director of the Church and School Financing Division with Chicago’s Ziegler, a financial services firm specializing in church lending. Following are excerpts from Rolfs’ report.
Sinderman: Do you have any recent megachurch financing success stories to share? Rolfs: We just completed the successful closing of a large financing for The Summit Church in Durham, N.C. The church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, and loan proceeds were used by the church to purchase its new Brier Creek Campus, a 23-acre campus that includes two commercial buildings and approximately 15 acres of vacant land in the heart of the Raleigh-Cary and Durham metropolitan areas. The church issued $11.3 million par amount of 2010 Series Bonds, and the bonds were all sold through Ziegler’s retail distribution. This [church finance] was a great outcome for all parties involved. Summit was able to lock in long-term rates before they possibly head higher and acquire the property at a favorable purchase price that may not have been available a few years ago. Healthy growing churches can use this market downturn to accomplish capital projects or strategic acquisitions at reasonable prices. The financing is out there for well-thought out projects. Watch future editions of Worship Facilities Newsbyte to find out more news we gather when our finance reporter hits the beat. www.generis.com; www.ziegler.com/investment_banking/church_and_schools 
3M Introduces Scotchgard Floor Finish System, Free Demonstrations
The company reports that dirt is readily removed from floors protected by the Scotchgard Ultra Durable Floor Finish System, and when it’s time to reapply, the previous application does not need to be stripped. The floor can simply be cleaned and re-finished.
Bird-B-Gone Designs New Website
Visitors will find in-depth information including installation tips, specifications, CAD details and more. A press section details recent “bird jobs” and bird control news, and new forms allow visitors to give feedback on products.
High-Lites Introduces Emergency Power Control
The HEPC Series’ unique design is reported to bypass the local switch so the lighting fixture will illuminate regardless of the wall switch position during emergency conditions. HEPC Series power controls also save energy by eliminating the need for night-light circuits and are designed for easy installation in standard electrical boxes.
QuickRail: The Ultimate No-Care Railing System
Backed by Fypon’s limited lifetime warranty, the QuickRail synthetic railing system is available in 6-foot, 8-foot, 10-foot and 12-foot rail kits for most styles. Stair kits are also available that accommodate slopes of 24 degrees-40 degrees. Gate kits and grab rail systems are also offered. |
