First Assembly Unveils Community Center and Church Plans

Robby BradfordAdventure Station, Church life, community development, Community First, First Assembly Community Ministries, outreachLeave a Comment

First Assembly Community Ministries is seeking to expand its reach to our community by developing a community center at the location of the old Payless grocery store that was formerly located at the intersection of Beck Lane and Old U.S. 231 in Lafayette.

Below you will see the plans for the building and the renovations that will occur to the property before we can launch the community center.

After conversations with church members, community and business leaders, architects and neighbors, we have settled on plans for the nearly 35,000 square feet that will help us better serve children, youth, and create gathering and banqueting space in our part of the city.

In order to complete the project, we are looking to raise $2.2 million over the next three years through our COMMUNITY FIRST funding initiative.  This money will be used for a number of items, including the purchase of the property, renovation of the exterior and interior and addressing some significant items at First Assembly’s church building at 108 Beck Lane.

Plan for the interior of the strip center

In the picture to the left here, you see how the various parts of the old grocery store will be developed.  The red area here reflects classrooms that will be created to expand the use of our present daycare.  This space will help us expand our current offerings to children through the Adventure Station Day Care to an additional 200 children, nearly doubling our current capacity.

Exterior concept of the old Payless strip center

In the blue area, we plan to create a youth center for our youth ministries. The yellow area here will seat 350 for dining and has an attached professional kitchen.  The green reflects a gym that we would like to put in place, if our fundraising initiative goes above and beyond the $2.2M.

These drawings reflect a finished plan, but the money we will raise, while it will help us get a good start here, will not realize all the plans these drawings represent.  Furthermore, one should note that the drawings and ideas here for the space would create the staging ground for many other kinds of outreach to serve the underserved in the area.

In the picture to the right above, we see an aerial view of the nearly seven acres, as well as the way we would seek to alter the current traffic-flow around the front of the retail and community space, with a curve that bows out, making room for a playground and leisure space.

Exterior concept of First Assembly Community Center

Additionally, this rendering immediately to the left represents the plans for the exterior renovation of the building. These changes will create building exteriors that fit together and help people understand clearly that the church and community center fit together.

Also pictured below and to the left are plans for the exterior of the church.  For many years, people unfamiliar with our church have imagined it was a school or a hospital of some kind.  Adding crosses and signs and changing the exterior of the sanctuary and the colors on the outside of the building will refresh the appearance of the church and tie it architecturally to the new community center.

Exterior changes planned for the church

I’m personally thrilled to see these drawings!  We are going to increase, advance, and expand the redemptive reach of the church and significantly grow our capacity to reach people where they are at. Over the next four weeks at First Assembly, we will be focused on hearing from God with regard to the funding of these projects and praying that God will do something greater than any of us can imagine.

Would you like to get involved in seeing these projects realized?  Do you want to not only improve the appearance of this part of town, but the quality of life for surrounding neighbors?  We need for people to consider giving both of their resources and their expertise.  You may contact First Assembly Community Center by phone at (765) 474-1432 and ask for the Community Center Director, Pastor Wayne Peercy, or reach him by email by clicking here.  If you have expertise in an area of building & construction or are able to donate time in working on the renovation of the community center, we could use your help TODAY.  Please contact Pastor Peercy right away!

We put Community FIRST, reaching people at The Center!


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