July 2004

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If you would like additional information about FSF Architects please contact us by email or call, 770-729-8433 or 1-800-463-3732.

If you have not yet visited our website, please do so.  It contains information on the firm as well as selected projects.  Also on the site is a collection of church design articles meant to assist the church committee in the planning and design process.

Thought for
the Day:

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.  There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.  There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men."
     - 1Corinthians
          12:4-6

Spiritual gifts, service to others and working with our talents.  Each of us is endowed with God given abilities. 

Success in our personal, spiritual and professional lives is achieved when we work with people with complimentary abilities to ours.

Previous issues of our  newsletters are available on the web site

EASTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH
YOUTH CENTER

Marietta, Georgia

  
Josh McDowell and
Jerry Fountain

The 26,000 square foot facility was built by Van Winkle and Company for $2.7 million. 

Visit this project and others on our website.

A few years ago Oldsmobile ran a commercial that said, “This isn’t your father’s Oldsmobile.” A similar statement can be said for some new youth buildings being built today across America. And to that I say, “Thank God!”

For far too long churches have given the youth programs the ‘left overs.’ George Barna indicates that the typical church appropriates less than 3% for the youth in the budget while the youth make up approximately 11% of the membership.

Very few churches realize this and have done little to combat it. A few churches have attempted to do something…. like build a gym. Ride by many of those churches today and those gyms sit empty 99% of the time. A good well intentioned idea, just not thought completely through.

But a few churches have gone on the offensive by providing youth programs designed to reach youth with more then just basketball. They are providing facilities that reach to the very heart of who youth are. Youth are extremely social beings. They like to congregate in small and large groups. This is how they feel accepted.

While the facilities themselves don’t guarantee results, they do provide a springboard for new and innovative programs; programs that give youth a sense of belonging and value, and isn’t that what the gospel is all about.

Look around your church campus. Where do you have the youth? Is it in that old building out back that no one else wanted that is literally about to fall down? What could your church do to “fix it up” so it is a place the youth, and church, could be proud? Or is there a better place in your building that could be renovated, even if it is a couple of classrooms?

To read more about The Changing Youth Building, read the entire article and others that are available on FSFarchitects.com

Pawleys Island, South Carolina

FSF has been commissioned by St. Barnabas Anglican Church to provide services for the design of their new worship facility.

Welcome to Megan Duttenhofer, our summer intern.  She will begin her 4th year at Georgia Tech this fall.

FSF has just completed a facility study for Zion Baptist in Braselton.  The study, spearheaded by CCL Associates, was to verify the purchase of a cell phone manufacturing facility to be converted into a church.

Bob Foreman recently attended the convention of the National Association of Church Business Administration, held this year in Philadelphia, PA. Bob attended seminars titled "Looking at Your Church Facility Through a Future Lens" and "The 21st Century Church Building." Look for an FSF exhibit booth at future NACBA conventions.

Congratulations to Fred Aldarondo in celebrating his 70th birthday this past week.  

Foreman · Seeley · Fountain    Architects
5855 Jimmy Carter Boulevard      Suite 218      Norcross, Georgia  30071
(770) 729-8433      fax (770) 729-8466     1-800-463-3732