surrounding us— even did a heat map to identify where our people were coming from.” These insights revealed something pivotal: Lakeshore Church wasn’ t just a local church— it was regional.“ Feeling confident that we would continue to reach people in the community was key,” Dekold adds.“ The assessment helped us know that expanding our footprint right here on our existing campus was the right decision.” The plans spoke to this community-centric commitment. For one thing, worship seating would be increased from 600 to 1,200.“ The SAFE assessment deemed that was our‘ sweet spot,’” Dekold says.“ Essentially, we wanted to double everything we had. We knew that doubling the Worship Center space would do that for us.” Additionally, an expanded two-story Commons area would connect the two buildings, merging old and new. A café and integrated gathering areas would foster better people-flow, relationship-building, and multi-use ministry.“ There’ s a separation there between floors, but it doesn’ t feel separate,” Howard points out.“ And the café, with its glass roll-up doors, allows people to gather and commune inside and out.” Also part of the plan: a remodel / reimagining / rededication of the original Worship Center as children’ s ministry space and— surprisingly— fewer entry doors into and out of the building and Worship Center. For Howard, this last directive was personal( and pretty funny).“ When we built our first building back in 2004, we put an insane number of entry and exit doors in our new worship center. I think it was close to 15 or 16 …” Dekold clarifies:“ Yeah, I think we had 10 different entrances just on the front of the building. Once you got into the lobby, there was another 12 or 15 going into our Worship Center.” This time would be different: Howard and Dekold opted for fewer doors in the new Worship Center. The decision wasn’ t purely personal— it was also practical.“ As our church culture got more defined, we realized that we wanted to have a very high-touch environment. We wanted to make sure people were cared for and greeted well,” Howard explains.“ For the size of building, we still have a good number of entrances. But now, we’ re making sure everybody is greeted, everybody gets a smile, everybody gets talked to as they’ re walking in.” Last but not least, the new Worship Center plans called for a more modern, attractive exterior. To this end, it would be situated on the site in a way that provides a beautiful view from the road. Aside from driveup appeal, this approach also hid most of the existing building’ s former front facade.
Partnership through every obstacle With a clear path forward, work began. Goff Companies served as the Construction Manager at Risk( CMAR) for the project. Along the way, issues naturally arose— namely, water. First, a local water shortage posed a significant challenge, as it’ s a necessary component for preparing the site for paving and foundation.“ So, we had to come up with a strategy to keep the cost down by bringing in our own water,” Howard explains.“ We had a great big pond in front of our church. We ended up pulling water out of there, and that saved us some money.”“ It was actually a Goff superintendent who came up with that idea,” Dekold adds.“ They got a submersible pump working. It wasn’ t as fast as having a construction meter, but it kept the project moving forward.” Then it started raining. A lot. Record-breaking rainfall during construction of the foundation posed potential havoc. Here again, the Goff Companies team got creative by reordering how they set the foundation of the new Worship Center. Either of these hurdles( among others) might have thrown another building project off-course. But not Lakeshore’ s.
To this end, Howard offers high praise and credit to Dekold. From the beginning, Dekold oversaw the project from a staff position, instead of bringing in someone from the outside.“ In working with Goff and the architect, what [ Dekold ] brought to the equation was way beyond what we ever imagined,” Howard shares.“ He’ s like Superman when it comes to such things. I really believe he’ s one of the best executive pastors in America.”
Case in point: zero budget overruns“ Now, I did lose my Buc-ee’ s-style bathrooms,” Howard clarifies, laughing.“ And I wanted some fountains and water features like Disney World, but we had to cut those, too. After that, [ Dekold ] kept everything under budget and moving along.” Apparently, the Goff team agrees with Howard about Dekold’ s value-add to the project.“ I recently ran into them, and they were saying that they’ ve never worked with a church representative like him,” Howard adds.“ Again, he’ s incredibly intelligent. He’ s good with people. In itself, that’ s a lot. But stepping in and overseeing [ this project ] was a big win.” For Dekold, it seems the admiration is mutual.“ I was told once that every construction project has problems,” he says.“ The thing that sets Goff apart is how they solve those problems and their willingness to be the solution.” This was evident, he says, when language in documents wasn’ t clear enough, or if duties and functions weren’ t defined as well as necessary.“ So many times, they came to the table— even with their own finances— to say,‘ I can see how that was confusing. We’ ll take care of it,’” Dekold points out.“ Even in moments of disagreement, there was never tension because they were generous and went above and beyond with things like that.” Howard agrees:“ The Goff guys are so amazing to work with. It just made the experience, for me, the best of all worlds.”
Room to reach more It has only been a handful of months since Lakeshore Church began holding services in its new, 1,200-seat, state-of-the-art Worship Center. Already, the added space has exceeded expectations in multiple ways— first, in terms of cost.“ When we decided to move forward with this project, we wanted to make sure we had enough money in the bank to complete it even if our budget allocation didn’ t grow at all,” Howard explains.“ To date, we have retired half of the debt on the building. And we’ ve only been in it since late June.” Likewise, attendance has jumped in a meaningful way.“ The day we opened the doors, we grew significantly and have kept growing since,” Dekold shares.“ It was a full circle that confirmed: yes, more space would allow us to reach and serve more people.” Howard, too, says the new Worship Center turned out even better than he’ d hoped.“ Although the new auditorium is bigger, we wanted it to still feel intimate,” he explains.“ And Goff dialed it in; it’ s so warm and welcoming. Every time I walk through, I think, this is a dream come true.”
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