“ We felt like it was our generation ' s responsibility to continue to be a light in the city of San Angelo . So that was how we went into it : trying to build a church that has a great location , a great building , in the city of San Angelo for years to come , perhaps even after we ’ re gone .” — Lead Pastor Kirt Dauphin
Faith in leadership — and in partnership When the “ to-build-or-not-to-build ” conundrum presented itself , PaulAnn was in exceptionally good hands . For one thing , this wasn ’ t Dauphin ’ s first church building project . Plus , Banister — who served as project manager — has a background in construction . “ If you ’ re a pastor , get somebody on your team who can help you build that church other than you ,” Dauphin says of Quinn . “ Otherwise , you won ’ t be able to pastor anymore . He really took all the pressure off of me .” Given Dauphin ’ s previous church building experiences , he also knew the value of enlisting the right building partners . To this end , he and his team enlisted their general contractor early ( even before plans were drawn up ) to help control costs and provide real-life estimates as they were planning . Next : the architect . “ I ’ d overseen a couple of building projects that were smaller without using one , but this was going to be a big project for us ,” he recalls . “ Finding an architect familiar with building churches , in particular , was critical .” Because this large-scale building project was a long time in the making , the search for that architecture firm actually began several years earlier . The overarching goal was to once and for all connect the disjointed , campus-style church . To do it , they chose to work with HH Architects , based in Dallas . “ One reason is because they ’ ve built so many churches , and that enabled them to see things that we didn ' t see and know things that we didn ' t know ,” Dauphin points out . “ We really believe that was a key to the success of our facilities ; they thought of things we would ' ve missed without their experience .”
Connecting the puzzle pieces , beautifully Planted in 1987 , PaulAnn ’ s name comes from a couple — Paul and Ann Gregory — who built the PaulAnn subdivision on a main highway entering / exiting the community of San Angelo . The Gregories gifted 10 acres of land for the construction of two churches , side-by-side . In time , the neighboring church gifted its five acres to PaulAnn Church . Additionally , church leaders were able to buy some surrounding property ; today , they own nearly 30 acres on which to expand .
churchexecutive . com
About 100 new members joined the church every year — an incarnation of the growth which founding member Dorothy Mazuk dreamt about in the beginning . “ Right before the church opened the first sanctuary , it didn ' t even have any windows , but they were going to meet there anyway , on Easter ,” Dauphin explains . In a dream , [ Dorothy ] saw so many children at the church that they were hanging out the windows . “ We refer to that as ‘ Dorothy ' s dream ’, because it has literally come true over the years ,” he adds . “ So many kids . We were over capacity for so long .” True to form , the original sanctuary and fellowship hall — completed by a group of retiree Baptist builders who construct churches for free — didn ’ t have a children ’ s and Sunday school “ wing ” until 1990 . It , too , was built by the Texas Baptist Builders . Even though PaulAnn added a standalone preschool building in 2005 — and , some years later , a standalone children ’ s facility — the need for more kids ’ space grew and grew . HH Architects ’ preconstruction analysis of PaulAnn ’ s existing space reinforced , with data , the need for more children ’ s spaces . In fact , they determined that when the church ’ s children ’ s space reached maximum occupancy , its growth among young families ceased . “ It was actually shifting our demographic because we couldn ' t grow any more past the children ' s space we had ,” Dauphin recalls . “ We didn ' t realize it at the time .” Equally pressing was the aging stressed-membrane , semi-permanent structure where PaulAnn held its worship services . As it approached the end of its 20-year lifespan — after being expanded in 2000 to seat 900 people — time was of the essence . “ We wanted to get the new worship facility done while the frame was still functional ,” Dauphin says . “ We were afraid we ' d show up one day and there would be a big split in it .” By 2020 — when Dauphin , Banister and their team sought to connect all these disjointed spaces — PaulAnn was well beyond capacity in its worship , preschool and children ’ s spaces . Although such growth is always a blessing , they were hosting four services to accommodate everyone . Beyond pure necessity , the leadership team felt it was important to build a facility not only for themselves and their generation , but for generations to come … just as their predecessors had .
CHURCH EXECUTIVE 3