Stained Glass Windows

Posted on May 6, 2014 Written by

Stained glass windows were the original Bible texts for millions of illiterate people in Europe. By “reading” the windows they learned the stories of Jesus’ life and miracles. Stained glass windows are usually very beautiful and expensive to make since the reds and blues require using gold and silver to make. Stained glass windows require little maintenance but when they do need maintenance, it is very expensive.

Glass is a liquid – it flows, albeit extremely slowly. If you look at glass windows that are over 50 years old, you’ll notice that the bottom part is thicker than the top. The same is true with stained glass. That means that windows that are a century or even centuries old are brittle at the top and quite thick at the bottom.

Stained glass pieces are held in place by a metal, usually lead. Over time lead deteriorates and needs to be replaced – about once every hundred years or so. The window is removed carefully and then the lead is removed and replaced. If there is any broken glass, the pieces are joined by lead. Every effort is made to keep the original pieces. Then the window is put back in place.

Sometimes the weight of the windows causes them to bend and buckle in place. Often, iron bars are installed stretching from one edge to the other and are anchored in the stone or masonry in which the window sits. The idea is that the iron bar will take some of the weight instead of the window handling it all. Inserting iron bars is tricky but necessary.

Churches with stained glass windows should have a fund for their maintenance. I recommend setting aside $1,000 or more a year from the maintenance budget into a restricted fund so that over the decades this fund will grow. Then, when the money is needed after 100 or 120 years, the church has funds ready to be used for the windows and they won’t be strapped financially. Then, they can maintain not just the artwork that graced their buildings, but continue to educate pre-literate children and adults with the stories of Jesus.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: buildings, facilities Tagged: ,

Toilet Heights

Posted on April 29, 2014 Written by

Almost 20 years ago, Isabel McCormack told me that when I renovated the bathrooms near her Sunday School Class that I must put in only handicap height toilets even though they cost more. I thought about it and did what she said – Isabel always made rational suggestions and she wielded a lot of influence in the church.

Over the years I’ve come to agree even more with Isabel. The marketing term is “comfort-height” toilets and they are

  • about 3 inches taller than the older toilets
  • easier to stand up from, especially for seniors
  • easier to sit on because you don’t feel like you’re about to hit the floor
  • available in models which don’t clog which saves on plumbing expenses

Since Isabel spoke with me, I’ve renovated several dozen bathrooms and installed close to 100 toilets. Every single one has been a comfort-height toilet. Even when I redid the bathrooms in my own home, I used these toilets (since I’m getting older, too!).  One downside – I’ve been told that people who are closer to 5 feet tall than 6 feet have their legs dangling when they sit down. While that may not be as comfortable, it is not a deal-breaker in moving to these toilets.

For final and full disclosure, I only use the elongated toilets, too. That is easier for men to use. One last comment – I’ve noticed architects specifying elongated, comfort-height toilets in all work I’ve been a part of for the past several years.

Yes, this is a weird post but it does fall under the heading of “other stuff” in church administration!

Lead On!

Steve

 

Filed Under: buildings, facilities Tagged: ,

Standing Rubble (part 1)

Posted on August 6, 2013 Written by

David, King of Israel from (1,000 to 960 BC) really, really wanted to build the temple but God said that David had too much blood on his hands from his battles with the Philistines. Instead, the job was given to his son, Solomon, who built an incredibly beautiful temple which lasted several hundred years until it was destroyed in 587 BC when Nebuchadnezzar’s armies invaded.

A few dozen years before the birth of Jesus, Herod’s Temple was finished until it was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD after a Jewish uprising (same revolt as Masada). Herod’s Temple was the very one that Jesus lived in for 3 days as a young boy, the one that he visited numerous times, and the one that is commented on in Matthew 24:1-2:

As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings. But he responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”

The Jerusalem Church was led by James, the brother of Jesus. This was the very first center of Christian community and is sometimes described as the “mother of all Christian churches.” When the Romans invaded Jerusalem, Christians (and Jews) scattered throughout the world, taking their faith with them and spreading the Gospel. No one knows where that church in Jerusalem was located, and no trace of it is found today.

These are arguably the three most important structures in the history of ancient Judaism and early Christianity. There are many, many more recently constructed buildings of note (St. Peter’s in Rome, St. Paul’s in London, Haggia Sofia in Istanbul – originally a church, and countless temples) but none of these have the pedigree of Solomon’s Temple, Herod’s Temple, and the First Church of Jerusalem.

So, why am I writing about these? That’s my next post.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: buildings, church administration, church finances, facilities Tagged: , , ,

Sloppy Church

Posted on January 22, 2013 Written by

My guess is that when you go to a fast food restaurant, you look for a clean or mostly clean table at which to eat. I avoid tables that are piled with stuff from a previous customer that wasn’t considerate enough to put his trash away. I appreciate when the staff comes out to wipe down tables so they are clean for the next customer.

That is true for churches, too. Churches should be clean and free of clutter. We don’t need last week’s bulletins scattered everywhere, or every flat surface piled with flyers and postcards about upcoming events. We don’t need Bibles and study guides in stacks on ledges, tables, and chairs in classrooms. I’ve seen rooms with tables and chairs tossed around as if no one cared about the room and what it looked like. I’ve seen members walk right past trash on the floor; actually, they looked at it and probably thought that was someone else’s responsibility to clean up. I could go on and on, but you’ve likely seen the same thing in your own church or in one you’ve visited.

Bottom line: if a place of business were as sloppy and messy as many churches are, you wouldn’t give them your business. Why then are churches so sloppy?

  • Is it that no one really sees it? Yes, there are some people who see messes and some who just don’t. I’m one of the first group. I see messes, and they bother me a lot. Here’s a way to know what group you’re in: look in your car. If you have empty drink cups, wrappers, and other trash on the seat or floor, you’re in the group that can’t see messes. If that’s the case, you ought to find someone with a really clean car and get them to point out to you the messes in your church. They’ll show you what you “can’t see.”
  • People think someone else is responsible for that. Some members actually believe that they pay staff to do those menial chores and that they should not have to stoop to pick up trash or straighten bookshelves or ask why there are old books and Sunday School quarterlies which make the church look bad. Keeping the church clean and straight should be everyone’s responsibility; not just the custodian’s job.
  • Do some people not even care? Unfortunately, yes. It’s not a large number of people, but some just don’t really care or appreciate how a church looks. That kind of problem requires a bigger solution than just becoming aware of how sloppy the church looks; those folks need to experience a change of heart so they’ll value their church and its property.

Next time you’re in church, look around with really open eyes. Check out your surroundings very intentionally. If it were a restaurant, would you eat there, or go to the next restaurant down the road? Guests and members appreciate cleanliness and orderliness, and you do too. Make it a point to help your fellow members understand how little things such as picking up old bulletins, straightening tables and chairs, not having piles of materials everywhere, and other things like that can have a positive effect on people–members and guests alike.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: buildings, church staff, facilities Tagged: , ,

Church Violence and Death

Posted on January 15, 2013 Written by

Every week there is a news report of violence in churches or church-related facilities (camps, retreat centers, etc.). A lot of them end in violence and death.

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/pastor-slain-suspect-dies-after-attack-at-forest-hill-church.html/

About 20 years ago shootings in schools raised awareness that schools were no longer the safe places that everyone felt them to be. Those acts of violence burst the bubble that schools and churches were places of peace and serenity. Both bubbles are now shattered. There is no truly safe public place (except maybe a fire or police station).

For churches and staffs struggling to educate people as to why safety cameras, check-in points, child safety measures, and other preventive actions are needed, the news has way too many stories. Use these stories to inform and show people why a well thought-out, coordinated plan is needed and helpful (and even attractive to young parents). Never use news of church violence to alarm or scare people – that is not helpful at all.

Carl Chinn (www.carlchinn.com) has collected every news article of church related violence since 1999. It is a wealth of information – Carl is doing all of us a great service. I’ve never met Carl and I’ve only emailed him once – but his heart is in helping churches be informed about what is happening. Then, what churches do with that information is up to them but hopefully they’ll take positive action to ensure their houses of worship are also sanctuaries.

If you want more information, contact Carl – I’m sure he’ll help you.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: buildings, church safety, church security, facilities Tagged: , , ,

The Church Lobby

Posted on December 4, 2012 Written by

Your church lobby tells new people in about 3 seconds the kind of people that your church wants to have. Okay, maybe just 2 seconds. It is really, really, really fast and most churches do not even know what they’re doing.

I walked into one church and this is what I saw:

  • Faded, worn out mauve carpet that “died” several years ago
  • Furniture that I last saw in my 80 year old aunt’s house – and she died 25 years ago
  • Bare walls on one side and pictures of old stuff on the wall
  • A chandelier

I looked around to see if it was a church or funeral home – everything told me I was in a funeral parlor or at least a place that my great Aunt Clara (born circa 1900) would enjoy. It was like a museum – okay, you get the picture. It was not a drawing card for 20- and 30-somethings. It was not even attractive to anyone under 60 – but most people had seen it for so long that they felt it was just part of the church. But anyone who was new to the church and walked in there was immediately turned off by what they saw.

Tomorrow morning – walk into your church lobby and look at it as you never have before. Look at the lighting, the walls and what is hanging on the walls. Talk with people about the furniture and ask them if that is something they would see in a home of a young family (presuming that family had some money to buy furniture they like).

Then, ask yourself if the kind of lobby that you have is representative of the age bracket of the people you want to attend. Or was the furniture put in there by an older generation because that is what they’re comfortable with? Be intentional about your lobby – it is one of the first impressions people will have about you. Make it a good one, a positive one that will make you look good. Spend some money; recruit some young women or men to be the interior decorators for that area (and then tell them to take on your bride’s room if you have one and update it!); AND then, in about 10 years, do it all again with yet new furniture.

Every time you update your look, you directly affect the age of people that come (and come back) to your church.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: buildings, facilities, young adults Tagged: , ,

Building Costs

Posted on August 27, 2012 Written by

An article a few months in a facilities magazine reflected that the true cost of building in not in the architect’s fees, furnishings, or even in the actual construction of the building. The article stipulated that over 80% of costs of a building are in the maintenance and operations of the structure.

Say a building has a lifespan of 50 years. The first year the building is built. The next 49 years the building is used for its purposes. Over the course of the 49 years, the cost of the utilities, maintenance, repairs, improvements, alterations, etc. will cost at least four (4) times as much as the initial construction done in year one. That operations cost (the one over the 49 years) does not include the cost of any personnel associated with that structure: custodians, employees, technicians, etc.

Before (BEFORE) you build a building, look at your budget and your future revenue streams. Does your budget have the financial margin to grow and absorb the cost of a new building. Can you afford the additional utilities and maintenance costs? How will you pay for new heavy equipment and major repairs (e.g., HVAC or a new roof) over the next few decades? (By the way, if you set aside funds 10% of the original building cost into a reserve account to cover those costs, you’ll have enough to cover all major repair costs over the life of that building.) Is your budget healthy enough to add staff to take care of the buildings over its lifespan and ministers to put on programming in that building? Ask these questions ahead of time – you won’t regret it.

Also, before you build, think creatively as to why you’re building. There are some opportunities that if a church is willing to think outside the box, you can leverage a lot of resources. Here are a couple of examples:

  • One church wanted to build a parking deck. Members of a Sunday School class knew that the city also wanted to build a parking deck in that area of town. The city and church worked together – the church provided the land and the city paid for the construction and they got a win/win. The church gets a parking lot it uses for free each Sunday and it didn’t have to pay for the construction; the city got the parking it needed but it didn’t have to buy the land.
  • A church wants to build a recreation center. What if the church worked with a local fitness center: the church offers the land and the fitness center builds the facilities? Church members can use the center for free and the church then has people right next door who may have never gotten near a church – a mission field right next door. And the church didn’t have to find $5 million to build a center and then $200,000 a year to staff the facility.
  • The same could be done with a daycare – collaborate with a respectable day care center to use church faciliites for the benefit of the church, the center, and the community.

Think long-term and think creatively.
Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: budget, buildings, facilities Tagged: , ,

Who is the Church’s Risk Management Officer?

Posted on May 3, 2012 Written by

Every organization has a risk management officer – someone who is formally or informally charged with ensuring the safety and security of the church and its property, with knowing the church’s personnel and financial policies and insurance limits, and working to reduce its legal liability to almost nothing. Unfortunately, many churches, if not most or perhaps even 99.999%, do not recognize the need to assign this responsibility to someone.

From a legal standpoint, the courts have assigned this responsibilty to someone, the senior pastor. Whether or not the senior pastor realizes this is another matter. If the senior pastor does not want this position, then the senior pastor must formally assign this to someone, whether it is a staff person or a lay person. However, the senior pastor must verify that this job responsibility is being carried out regularly.

Here are some things to check on:

  • Safety issues related to the phyiscal building and grounds regarding things such as tripping hazards, sharp edges, or other things that can harm people
  • Safety items related to the people including background checks on people working with minors, protecting people from known predators who prey on adults and children, removing (by force if necessary) people who come to the church in a threatening manner
  • Building security to make that unauthorized access or use of the building is not happening so that people don’t hide in a building after it is closed to do something illegal or that they can’t get locked inside a room
  • Emergency safety including evacuations and hunkering down depending on the type of emergency such as fire, bomb threats, severe weather, armed intruders, kidnapping, etc.
  • Personnel law to ensure that the church is complying with all laws pertaining to its personnel management to prevent legal action from current or former staff
  • Medical emergencies which require the intervention of trained professionals and what by-standers should do in such a situation
  • Financial policies to make sure that proper laws are being followed so that the church is not exposed to the mismanagement of funds including embezzlement and lawsuits or threats related fiscal management
  • Vehicle inspections and safety so that all church buses and other vehicles are safe, road-worthy, outfitted with good tires, and that brakes, seat-belts and other safety devices are in good working order.
  • Police interaction to keep a good relationship with local law enforcement so that when there is an emergency the police will take a personal, not just professional, interest in the situation and the location.

As I said, the courts have already assigned this responsibility to the senior pastor but most pastors have no idea of this legal burden. Pastors would be very, very wise to sit down with the church’s personnel, finance, legal, and other wise counsel to draft a plan so that all aspects of risk management are covered. This will protect the organization and actually help the organziation be proactive in the instance of an event.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: buildings, church administration, facilities Tagged: , ,
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