Eric Hansen
Site Admin
Joined: 28 Aug 2007
Posts: 152
Location: Right Here - Right Now!
|
| Posted: Mon Sep 21, 2009 2:19 pm Post subject: iWC-West Campus @ the White Oaks Mall! |
|
|
|
iWorshipCenter is expanding with a Westside Campus!
SJ-R Article:
Springfield., IL A Springfield church plans to convert the old White Oaks Cinema into a combination of worship space and "paintball heaven."
iWorshipCenter’s current church, opened in 2006, is at 3200 Shaler Road on Springfield’s far northeast side. The former theater at White Oaks Mall will provide a west-side satellite location to accommodate the church’s growing congregation, according to the Rev. Eric Hansen, iWorship Center’s lead pastor.
Plans call for using two of the five theaters as church sanctuaries -- one for adult services and the other for children. A third theater will be used for educational purposes, and the remaining two will become a paintball facility, named Paintball Heaven, that will be open to the public.
“We wanted to expand for some time. We built this building three years ago and already had to take walls out and expand seating here,” Hansen said of the existing church complex, which includes a nursery, coffee shop and Mustard Seed store outlet.
Church growing
“I came to town 13 years ago and the church (then called the First *bad word* of God Church) was about 70 people. We’re about 850 now, and trying to keep pace with enough room for everybody has been a challenge.”
Hansen said the goal is eventually to set up four campuses throughout the city to make church services more accessible to congregants.
The church received the keys to the theater on Wednesday and will go next week to determine what work needs to be done to open the new campus by this winter, Hansen said.
Benefits for both church, mall
Hansen acknowledged a church is an unconventional use for mall space, but believes it can be good for both entities.
“I think there had to be a selling on my part to (the mall’s leasing staff), and here’s one of the reasons that I think they’re going for it: Number one is, we’re bringing people to the mall that are going to be spending money,” he said. “They’re coming to the mall to come to church, and when they’re done with church, they’re a stone’s throw from the food court, and everybody knows that after church everybody loves to eat.
“We’ve been poking around on the west side for the last several months, but always thought, ‘Man, the mall would be just a killer place, right in the middle of the marketplace, but how can we pay for it?’” Hansen said. “So we cut a deal with the mall that would allow us to use two of the five theaters for paintball.”
Paintball Heaven will be open to the public after school and weekends, as well as for birthdays and special events. Hansen hopes the paintball business will generate enough revenue to pay for the lease.
Simulcast sermon
About 100 of iWorshipCenter’s current congregants have agreed to move to the church’s planned White Oaks Mall facility, according to the Rev. Eric Hansen, iWorship Center's lead pastor.
The new church will have its own praise and worship team (including musicians), but Hansen will deliver the sermon on screen via a simulcast from the present church complex on Shaler Road.
Hansen, who preaches from his laptop computer during church services, says the idea fits in with the church’s media focus.
IWorshipCenter’s services are streamed live on the Internet. The church also has a television ministry, called “Living with Power,” which is broadcast on the Dish Network as well as on local cable and broadcast channels.
_________________
Living as an ordinary radical. |
|