Religious Page: Saturday, July 14, 2001

Information: Creating a Master Plan for Ministries

Homer McKnight is an architect who loves to make his church designs useful. His sanctuaries easily convert from worship space to basketball court or banquet hall. His designs typically feature a large and inviting narthex in addition to smaller, more intimate fellowship gathering spots.

He earned the respect of the East Ashman Church of God congregation - and their business – with his philosophies about how a building will serve as a tool to help them "love our world through the eyes of Jesus Christ."

"God is calling us to reach out to people," says Pastor Ken DeMaere. "We have a vision of ministering to the community as well as our own congregation in new, exciting ways. We cannot accomplish what God is directing us to do in our current facility. We need a new tool for accomplishing God’s work. That is what McKnight brings us."

McKnight and his associates have designed more than 80 churches in the last 20 years, and in the last 10 years, almost all of them have been employing the multi-use concept for the main worship space.

In Findlay, Ohio, where Chuck Sandstrom is pastor, McKnight designed such a church. "Much like East Ashman, we moved to a new address and built a multi-use church because of a call from God to launch a new day of ministry," Pastor Sandstrom explains. "We became more accessible, more useable. We were able to reintroduce ourselves to the community. It came to understand us like never before. Now we’re the most known church in the town."

Created with input from the entire East Ashman congregation, McKnight’s Master Plan calls for a 50,000-square-foot facility that includes a modern nursery, small gathering places for fellowship, a coffee station, a large and inviting narthex, an innovative youth center, and plenty of space for Christian Education.

"If you count the floor space we have now on ground level, the new building could hold five replicas of our current facility within its walls," says Bob Farney, Building Committee Chair. He explains that the new facility will be built right in the middle of the14-acre property on Waldo Avenue at Eagle Ridge. It will have a brick exterior, with very adequate parking and well-identified entrances.

The new narthex will be 160 feet long - the equivalent of more than half a football field.