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Importance of a Worship Space

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Jacob Polsley

A worship space is a special place. It is a special place for obvious reasons, as the main purpose is the time spent seeking God. But there are other reasons this room in a church building is so special.

The worship space at First Christian Church in Altus, OK.

The worship space is usually the place where most people in a church community spend the most time. Life is experienced in this one room. Looking back I can remember so many good Sunday days spent worshipping God in my church’s worship space as well as plenty of Sunday’s where I struggled. And then there were other Sunday’s that were neither here nor there.

Otherwise, the worship place in many church buildings is the place for joyous and emotional events like weddings and funerals. The worship space is the first place visitors will go and is often the room they associate most with your church.

A worship space then needs to be a place that is comfortable and functional for the many uses it has. Eden Religious Facilities knows the importance a worship space has in a church building and takes this into account when designing and building this important room.

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Church building and how it has strengthened my faith

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Stan Schutz

Sometimes in your life you have those moments that you hear something and it just makes the light come on…light bulb moments perhaps. My 4-year-old son did that for me 16 years ago when we had just started focusing our work at Eden Religious Facilities on building churches.

Members of First Christian Church writing scriptures on the dry wall of their new church. Meeting members like these make my job so rewarding.

My son loved to go to work with me anytime he could, so one Saturday afternoon I needed to go check on a church we were building within a few miles of our house. I walked into his room and asked him if he wanted to go over to the church with me for a few minutes. His response to me was “Which one, the one that God is at or the one that we are working at?” It was something I really had never thought about before. As I reflected on his question I realized that our projects are not just projects. Our projects, the churches we build, are all uniquely special because God is in every church we work on. You can just see it in the parishioners of our projects who we get to know well.

On our church construction projects we are blessed to deal with deeply committed people who have strong faith. We believe at Eden Religious Facilities that members should be included in the entire church construction process and working with them has become the most rewarding part of our business for me. We have developed long lasting relationships with our customers, which were first rooted in the business we were doing together but then lasted and grew because of our common faith beliefs and the importance of God in our lives. This one question from my son so many years ago turned on a light for me about the kind of work we do each day. His question has helped deepen my faith and open my eyes to many forms and levels of ones faith.

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When Is Your Space Uncomfortably Full?

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Stan Schutz

Traditionally church buildings are the fullest during the holidays. Attendance goes up as church members have family visiting for the holidays and those who don’t attend church regularly tend to go to a church service over more religious holidays like Christmas and Easter.

If you saw an increase in your regular attendance over the holidays, how did your church building hold up? Was there enough parking? Was every seat full or was there standing room only? Did you have enough classrooms for all of the extra needs? These are questions to ask as you begin to reflect on 2011 and its highlights for your congregation and church space.

Building a church building or renovating a current space is a comprehensive decision for a church to make. Answering the questions above can begin to shed light on the possible needs your church space might have in the coming years. This could be finding new ways of how to best utilize your space as well as the possible need to plan for a new church construction project.

A new building may be in your church’s near or far off future. As you reflect this New Year, calculate what building or renovating your dream church might take on our planning calculator.

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Debt vs. No Debt

Posted on January 4, 2012 by Jacob Polsley

A church deciding on whether it should take on debt for a construction project is something we come across in almost every church building project that we help plan. There is no straight answer to this question, as it is something personal to each church. As Eden Religious Facilities better understands your church’s vision, needs and annual giving, we will have a clearer picture of what your church’s financial benchmarks should be. Additionally, if you decide to take on debt, we know what factors are important to lenders when financing your church project. Lastly, at Eden we have great relationships with many different level fundraisers in the Midwest to help you raise money and structure your campaign to help finance your church building project successfully.

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Importance Of Video

Posted on December 29, 2011 by Scott Schutz

Videos are an effective tool to show many of the projects we have had the privilege to work on over the years. Furthermore, videos are also a great way for you to market your church, faith, and building to current members and others in the community. Eden Religious Facilities is available to help put together a video for your church. You can use the video to share your beliefs or however you see fit after your construction project. This is a resource we offer, believe in and have available at your disposal. Eden Religious Facilities is happy to help you share more about your church in this way with others.

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Our Value Propositions at Eden Religious Facilities

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Jacob Polsley

Having been a part of a growing church community here in Indianapolis for the last seven years, I’ve seen first hand the importance and value the feelings trust and confidence are in a church construction company like Eden Religious Facilities. The work we do at Eden Religious Facilities affects many lives of those who attend a growing church as their existing worship space changes. But our work also affects many others who we won’t even come into contact with during a church building project: the future church members and the general community.

Something unique Eden Religious Facilities offers beyond trust and confidence and our experience and expertise in church construction projects is the direct link to the partners in our business. During all of our church construction projects church leaders and members will have direct access to our three partners and at one point all three partners will be working on a part of the project themselves. We truly believe in the work we do from the top down and are proud to work this way and offer these value propositions.

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Consulting For Church Projects

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Jacob Polsley

Consultants during the planning, fundraising and building phases of construction of a church building are critical for a smooth process. Our first hand experience in church construction provides us with the necessary tools to guide your project to a successful outcome. From the beginning thought stages of your project to the ribbon cutting ceremony, we can be your consultant.

We understand the importance of your construction project and the involvement of your entire church community. We are eager to be involved in each step, to guide you and your church members with confidence and ease as we view ourselves as the guardians of your church building project. Our goal is to simply help you plan your dream church building or renovation and to see that dream to fruition.

We are currently consulting for a church in the area and are thrilled to be a part of this special process with them. Churches truly build the pillars in communities and we believe our solid partnerships help build them successfully.

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Deciding When A Gift Is A Gift

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Jacob Polsley

When building churches or religious based schools there are often gifts in kind. Certain companies tied to the project in some way might offer their services to the church or school as a gift in kind. This is value given to the organization if they can perform the certain scope of work. We ask those offering a gift in kind to define what is their bid and gift of kind separately.

By overseeing this process we ensure gifts in kind are just what they are, helping to complete the project on time and giving you peace of mind. This is just another aspect of the church construction process Eden Religious Facilities oversees to make sure we are being the guardians of your project.

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Music, Acoustics, and Worship

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Scott Schutz

Music is an important aspect of worship for most churches. For some congregations worshipping with music is a large part of their meeting time while for others it is much less of a focus. Whether your church chooses music that is traditional or contemporary, the quality of sound matters to all. A sanctuary’s design truly impacts the sounds of vocals and instruments. This is an important part of the design process Eden Religious Facilities oversees with all church construction projects. Also, acoustics is different for the spoken word and music further compounding the complexity of acoustics.

The impact of music in churches was recently a topic of discussion in a USA Today article found here. How different churches utilize music tends to depend on their denomination and sometimes church size but the ultimate theme is music is used to worship and praise God.

We know the importance of sound in a place of worship and we work with your team to create the best meeting place in terms of acoustics. For some projects we even suggest that a sound engineer be included to review the building design and ensure sound is tuned to the best quality.

Posted in Construction, Design | Leave a comment

Safety In Church Construction

Posted on November 22, 2011 by Stan Schutz

Construction sites can be dangerous. To ensure everyone’s safety we have established various project controls for each and every project we complete. For each project the local superintendent is on site when any activity is being completed.

The crucial responsibilities of the superintendent include the following items among others:

• construction built to blueprints and specifications

• management of all contractors on the work site which includes their safety programs, policies, and procedures (along with Eden Religious Facilities’)

• weekly safety meetings, OSHA forms updated/posted, standards enforced

• day to day communication with subcontractors

• reporting on crucial activities and progress

Beyond this, there are various reporting measures such as daily and weekly reports, both in writing and with photographs. Reporting like this allows us to diligently oversee each project to ensure the church building process is safe, cost effective and on time.