Church Master Plans
The first step in most church projects is developing a facility Master Plan.
Why is a Master Plan so important?
Moving On
I am pleased to announce that at the end of June 2023, I will be resigning my position at Marshall Craft Associates in Baltimore, Maryland, to relocate to Huntsville, Alabama. I have accepted a leadership role focusing on Church Architecture at Chapman Sisson Architects. I will begin the first week of July. You will likely…
Hallways as Ministry 4 – Third Places
In the first post, I introduced the idea that the Hallways and Corridors in your ministry facility are important parts of your ministry. In the second post, I addressed the Building-Code related factors that affect how Hallways and Corridors can enhance your ministry goals. The third post discussed how the group’s ministry philosophy affects the amount…
Is Design-Build the best option for your Church?
Many church leaders recommend Design-Build for new and renovated church facilities. Sometimes, these influencers sound like churches should not consider any other option. Is this true? In this post, I want to discuss: What options are there? What are the various options for the design and construction of buildings? There are several contract relationships for…
Frontyard People
As I write, I am sitting next to my daughter in our front yard. As Christians, our family is trying to practice being Front Yard People. Unfortunately, we live in a Back Yard World. More and more, people spend little or no time in their Front Yards. We currently sit in ours because we don’t…
Second Fiddle – Part 1 of 2
Yesterday, I linked to a post by Mark Batterson about being a forward-looking leader. At the time, I said, “’nuff said.” But today, I’m going to take a little time to expand on Mark’s post. As I look back over my life, the post spoke to me on two levels . . . First, I…
Churches and Buildings – Part 5
Today, I’m continuing my series on churches and facilities: Click for PART 1 or for PART 2 or for PART 3 or for PART 4 Yesterday, in Parts 3&4, I began by identifying the BIG 3 of spaces in facilities that are important to evaluate — worship, support, and parking. Part 4 gave a basic breakdown to help…
Churches and Buildings – Part 4
Today, I’m continuing my series on churches and facilities: Click for PART 1 or for PART 2 or for PART 3 Earlier, I began by identifying the BIG 3 of spaces in facilities that are important to evaluate — worship, support, and parking. How can you evaluate how much of each you need for your current…
Churches and Buildings – Part 3
Finally, here’s another architect/pastor insight on churches and buildings. Click for PART 1 or for PART 2 This is the obvious one, but probably the way in which architecture can affect ministry the most is simply capacity of space. This is typcial church-growth stuff, but just a quick re-iteration . . . There are 3…
Churches and Buildings – Part 2
I’m finally actually getting into this series. Busy weekend, but here we go: For Part 1 – Click Here. Last time I stated that my architectural thesis in college was, (for churches,) “Architecture doesn’t matter inasmuch as it helps or hinders the ministry from taking place.” There’s a whole lot behind that statement. This post…