MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED
RYAN BINKLEY / SENIOR PASTOR / CREATE CHURCH / RICHARDSON, TEXAS
Time to recalibrate
After moving to Dallas, the Binkleys took a year off from ministry
to focus on the family business as they journeyed through the pain of
losing their brother. Soon, both Ryan and his father began receiving
ideas for a new company. As God continued to speak to Ryan through
dreams, in one dream, he saw himself building a great company, as
well as planting a church one day. “But I didn't think too much about it
because I knew our company wasn't ‘great’ yet,” he said.
In 2005, they sold their business and started a new one: Generational
Group, a Merger and Acquisition, Consulting, and Wealth Management
Group. Today, it has 230 employees and 12 offices throughout the United
States and Canada.
During this time, as Generational Group continued to grow, Ryan and
Ellie faithfully served in the young adult ministry of their local church
in Dallas. Eventually, they were ordained as pastors, although they were
bivocational — a first for their church. In 2013, they were sent out to
plant Create Church in Richardson, Texas.
Today, Ryan is living out the dream that God gave him many years
ago of being both a senior pastor and the president and CEO of a
growing company.
A foundation to build on
Just as visions had shaped Ryan’s career thus far, they were also
instrumental in how Create Church got built.
One dream showed him above one of the main highway corridors in
the city of Richardson. He saw a resurgence of business and corporations
along Central Expressway, following decades of economic depression in
the area.
A trip to the City of Richardson confirmed this: Ryan was shown plans
for citywide improvements. Additionally, State Farm was planning a
multibillion-dollar corporate office and living community there.
A land grab ensued — but Create Church was in no position to jump
into the fray. At the time, it was meeting on Sunday mornings in an
event center. A completely mobile operation, two trailers of sound
equipment and children’s ministry supplies were brought in every week.
This was the format for nearly six years as the church grew and saved
money for a permanent home.
Then, an unbelievable opportunity arose: several acres of land along
Central Expressway became available. A beautiful piece of land, several
of its 20 acres run alongside Spring Creek, a broad waterway that runs
through the heart of Dallas.
“It was a miracle, because there was no more land!” Ryan recalled.
“This particular acreage was actually under contract for about two years
with a few other developers, and it fell through. Basically, they let us be
the third backup offer on it.”
Another offer was accepted, but then delayed. Then the foundation
that owned the land opened it back up for purchase. “They said, ‘The first
one to get an escrow check in here gets the land,’” Ryan said. “We did
that. Within two hours, we were on our way to owning this incredible
piece of property.”
The purchase took all of the church’s saved cash at the time, but Ryan
and his board knew that God was leading them this way.
“It's a really amazing piece of property,” he said. “We’re very grateful,
more than anything.”
Importantly, the land’s high-visibility location also makes it an ideal
place to build a church that can, as intended, invite the community in
with its design.
The church spent the next two years saving money, in preparation to
start building.
A gateway to Richardson
With so much at stake — but a wealth of opportunity, too — Ryan
selected Dallas-based HH Architects
At night, the backlit commons area at Create Church is accented with
exterior LED lighting that leads the eye to a cross. The colors of the
cross can be switched out for different occasions. (Photo provided by
ML Gray Partnership)
[www.hharchitects.com ] to design the church. “It was just a great
connection from the start,” he said. “Their design process, experience and
team were the right fit, and they gave us confidence we would get the
highest-quality building within our budget.”
Construction began in September 2018.
Nearly 100 rain delays over the next few months pushed back project
timing, but even that proved prophetic. For one thing, it moved the
church’s opening to the fall — a resurgence time when people are
returning to schools and church. Additionally, “move-in day” occurred
on the very same weekend that the church was required to vacate the
event center due to bankruptcy of the event center.
From the start, the facility has done everything it was designed to
do for ministry. As Bruce Woody, president & CEO of HH Architects,
explained, the new church acts (by design) as a gateway to the city of
Richardson, given its location on an axis of two major interstates.
The initial phase is two simple building structures linked by a
commons area with an intentionally designed, 30-foot-high curved glass
wall that draws the eye to the focal point of the first phase of the campus.
“The façade is designed to create an ever-evolving visual experience
as you approach the site from various angles,” Bruce pointed out. This
is further enhanced at night with the backlit commons area which is
accented with exterior LED lighting that leads the eye to a cross.
From inside the expansive and airy lobby, churchgoers can watch the
cars go by, bringing the community inside. Several sitting areas offer
just the right spaces to share fellowship or a cup of coffee, or just to visit
before and after services. All week long, people can come and plug in
their laptops, iPads or iPhones and get some work done in a peaceful,
quiet setting.
About 850 people showed up for the first worship service in Create
Church’s new facility — at least a few hundred new faces. And just as
intended, many of those faces belonged to the more than 220,000 people
who drive by the church every day.
“Since then, we have had so many visitors come and say that they
watched the building get built and always wanted to visit someday,”
Ryan said. “The design and architecture that HH Architects brought to
life in our church has intrigued and welcomed many people to have a
beautiful place to worship and make them feel right at home.”
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