It’s been a really busy summer, and I’m really looking forward to vacation next week in NC. It has been a summer of advancement for us at WPH as well. We have launched a new planning tool, thanks to Strategic Dimensions. They have put together a product which allows us to assess a church’s growth and corresponding facility needs coupled with their financial capacity over time. When I saw their beta-version a while back, I was really impressed and wondered how we could move our planning tools to this level. In June, we worked together on a Charette (an intensive on-site design exercise) with New Covenant Community Church in Somers Point, NJ, and I had a chance to see the power and versatility of their program. No doubt that much of the value is gained by the operator of the tool, Jeff Otero, and his ability to develop out-of-the-box scenarios. But the basic tool can easily test the assumptions we use to help a church plan for the future.

Strategic Dimensions is an off-shoot of Acoustic Dimensions, a leader in the field of acoustical / theatrical and AVL design for churches and other large public venues (such as ‘The Linc’ – home of the Philadelphia Eagles!). AD’s heart for ministry has become evident to us over the years, and it was out of this heart that Strategic Dimensions was formed. They observed how many times churches planned a new facility that they simply could not afford at the time. The challenge was more than getting churches to not try to build more than they could afford, but to also give them a plan whereby they could keep growing. The reason to build larger facilities is (in most cases) to accommodate more people. With growth in people as the foremost concern, multiple services and different venues can be added, rather than simply trying to build larger. This is something we have stressed to churches over the years as well. The Strategic Dimension tool enables churches to balance growth of people / number of services with overall facility needs and the costs to implement this over time in a financially realistic way.

In addition to AD’s design expertise and heart for ministry, they are extremely creative individuals. A case in point is the name for our new tool, the Field Guide. Cathy Hutchison is their Director of Connections and helped Jeff put our tool together. She asked what we wanted to call it, and we drew a blank. Her creativity took over. Modeling  it after our newsletter, Field Sketches, the Field Guide was born. Only a few weeks old and we are using it already with several new churches For us, it is a delight to help churches plan even more effectively. We thank God for the other people and companies He is using to help expand His Kingdom here and now

Trackback URI | Comments RSS