c. 2006 Religion News Service
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. _ This city may not have the downtown sports dome that has been proposed for years, but domes keep rising at Faith Chapel Christian Center.
After building a $15 million, 3,000-seat sanctuary under a dome in 2000, Faith Chapel inflated the roof this week (May 16) on another dome _ and there are five more being built during a $16.5 million second phase of construction.
That will give Faith Chapel a total of seven domes on the 137-acre church campus by next year.
With the whir of giant fans, a heavy linen roof rose into place in about 30 minutes. “It’s like blowing up a balloon,” said William Robertson, construction manager for Faith Chapel.
Crews will seal it from the inside with foam insulation, grids of steel bars and sprayed-on concrete.
“It’s a futuristic shape,” said Randy South, president of South Industries of Menan, Idaho, which specializes in building monolithic domes.
The dome that went up this week will be the lobby for a complex of six domed Christian activity buildings. It will feature a climbing tower 70 to 80 feet tall, with a sphere that will serve as a lookout platform at the top of the roof.
Plans call for one dome dedicated to a 12-lane bowling alley; another for teen dancing and game rooms; one for a smoke-free, alcohol-free nightclub for adults; another for a children’s building with an indoor playground; and one that will be a fitness center with basketball, skating, aerobics and a banquet facility.
“The church should meet all our needs,” said the Rev. Michael Moore, pastor of the 6,000-member Faith Chapel, which he founded in his home a few blocks away in 1981.
“We are not just spiritual beings, we are physical beings,” Moore said. “If we don’t provide for those other needs, people are going to do things that take them away from church. If we only meet spiritual needs, where will people go to get those other needs met?
“We have a need to relate to people and have fun. You can have fun and love God, too.”
The six domes should be ready to use by spring or early summer next year, when interior work is complete, Moore said. “All of them should be up by December,” Moore said.
The church is paying as it goes, without borrowing any money.
“It’s a debt-free project,” Moore said. “Our church is very generous. We just teach the people what the Bible says, that the work of God should be done through tithes and offerings.”
The original dome that houses the sanctuary is 280 feet in diameter and extends all the way to the ground. The one that was inflated this week is 140 feet in diameter and has straight walls up the sides. Two of the remaining domes to be built will be 160 feet in diameter; the rest will be 140 feet.
South said he’s built about 100 dome buildings for churches over the past 20 years. “There seems to be more and more interest,” he said.
The costs of a dome are comparable to other types of construction, but he touts the long-term savings on heating and cooling and the resistance to fire and to windstorms, including tornadoes. “They’re incredibly safe,” he said.
(Greg Garrison writes for The Birmingham News in Birmingham, Ala.)
KRE/PH END GARRISON
Editors: To obtain photos of construction at Faith Chapel, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
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