Jordan Elliott has recently passed the Architectural Registration Examinations and has received his Missouri architect’s license. Jordan will serve the firm as a Staff Architect, providing technical design and support for several religious and commercial projects. Elliott received a master’s degree of architectural design from Kansas State University and has 7 years of experience designing commercial architecture. Way to go Jordan!
When the pandemic hit, churches were forced into prioritizing their digital presence. As we move through what will (hopefully) soon be the end of the COVID crisis, most houses of worship have adopted hybrid models. With an increasing number of worshippers returning to church in person, facilities are reevaluating the guest experience they are delivering. At the same time, they are continuing to evolve their production techniques to address those who still prefer to attend church online, from home.
“We’re creating even more of a flow between inside and outside, especially in places with climates that allow that to happen," says David Evans, AIA, president at Mantel Teter in Kansas City, Missouri. Shown here: Rev City, image by Emmalee Schaumburg.
David Evans, AIA, president at Mantel Teter, an architecture firm based in Kansas City, Missouri, notes that even before the pandemic, churches were exploring how to build a connection between their indoor facilities and their grounds outdoors, and now this has become a top priority. “We’re creating even more of a flow between inside and outside, especially in places with climates that allow that to happen a lot,” he says. This translates into the creation of outdoor patios and gathering spaces where people may commune before and after services. “Some churches are even exploring outdoor worship venues where they can, at least part of the year, do services outside and have that open-air experience.” Indoors, he says that churches are reconfiguring their lobby spaces so that people may gather in small groups, rather than being clumped together in one big crowd.
The outdoor community space for Shepherd Church in Northridge, California, was designed by Visioneering Studios of Santa Ana. Image by Dave Milam.
Evans also points out that improving indoor air quality is another priority for many churches, which has led to upgrades to HVAC and mechanical systems to achieve better filtration. Some facilities have even posted signage alerting guests of these updates. “Churches are really making sure that people know their buildings are being well cared for, and what’s being done,” he says.
Greg Atkinson is founder of the First Impressions Conference and Worship Impressions LLC, a church guest experience-focused consultancy based in Charlotte, N.C. He is also author of "Secrets of a Secret Shopper: Reaching and Keeping Church Guests" and "Hospitality Ministry Volunteer Handbook: Equipping You to Serve." While he does much of his work at physical churches, he also examines how the church guest experience translates digitally.
“You want to give a good online experience that is produced well and looks good for people who don’t feel comfortable coming in person,” Atkinson says. This means houses of worship that weren’t previously equipped to produce high-quality streamed services must outfit their facilities for broadcast production, instead of relying on, as he puts it, “your smartphone hooked up to a tripod in the back of the room.”
Instead, Atkinson favors online experiences that feature a pre-show before the service, and a wrap-up session afterwards. “They have emcees and hosts and people talking to the camera, and they come on five to 10 minutes before the service starts and speak to the people at home, and give them announcements of what’s going on,” he describes. After the service, the same team will discuss key points of the sermon.
Atkinson also believes churches that record entirely different experiences for their online audiences are delivering a better guest experience for remote worshippers. Oftentimes, these services will feature the pastor delivering his message outside of the sanctuary, either from his office, or outside, maybe even from his car. “They are doing creative shoots where it’s storytelling, which is always compelling,” he says. “That really connects and communicates well.”
Producing specifically for online guests requires churches to make an investment in technology, and perhaps even remodel their facilities to accommodate it. Atkinson argues this is wise––if not necessary. “We’ll always have an online audience,” he says. “There are some people that are going to want to come in person, and they’re not going to miss [the service] no matter what. And then there are the people that are going to be more cautious and stay home, and we want to have experiences for both of them and reach people where they’re at.”
Well before the pandemic, Dave Milam, vice president of strategic design at Visioneering Studios Inc., an architecture, design, construction, and property development firm headquartered in Santa Ana, California, was coaching churches on what a guest’s length of stay said about their overall experience. If, for example, guests were leaving five minutes after the service was over, one could argue that the church could stand to improve guest experience.
As more people return to worship in person, he continues to work with churches to develop strategies for encouraging them to linger. Once again, this often involves creating spaces outdoors where congregants may socialize over coffee and snacks while their children play in the nearby kid’s area.
Mill Creek Church, Shawnee, Kansas by Mantel Teter. Image by Emmalee Schaumburg.
Milam notes that Visioneering Studios’ property development arm works with churches seeking to leverage land they may not be using. He argues that those houses of worship that are able to transform unused land into a commercial mixed use development often see an increased length of stay among guests, because things like restaurant services, shopping, and even hair salons are literally right on church property. “Well-designed, on-site commercial development is a fantastic way to lengthen the guests’ stay. Plus, it activates the church property seven days a week and also provides an additional revenue stream for the church, as either a lump-sum sale or a land lease, where the church actually continues to own the property and lease the grounds to Visioneering’s development team while still maintaining design influence,” he explains.
While many houses of worship are doing everything possible to encourage people to come back on premises, Evans acknowledges that people have to want to come back to experience church as part of a live congregation––and feel comfortable doing so. This, he believes, will not be immediate, but he remains optimistic. “People want to return to what they know, to that normalcy,” he says. “It’s just going to take some time for their confidence to come back so that they feel safe in doing so. It’ll happen. It’s just going to have to take some time.”
First Impressions Conference
https://firstimpressionsconference.com
Mantel Teter
Visioneering Studios Inc.
Worship Impressions LLC
New Life Church, Gillette, Wyoming
New Life Church has completed construction on their lobby expansion and renovation project! After putting the final touches on painting and furnishings, interior graphics and the installation of the new indoor children’s play equipment, the church held a dedication service last fall. After enduring pandemic challenges throughout the construction process, New Life Church is excited to open their doors and share their new ministry spaces with the Gillette community!
Bible Christian Church - located in Garden City, Kansas, recently selected Kansas City, Missouri based architect Mantel Teter to lead them through a metrics analysis, space use discovery and design charrette process to update their campus master plan and add facilities. Immediate facility needs include additional space for lobby and gathering, worship space for 500 seats and NextGen ministry spaces to balance with the new worship space seating capacity. We are thrilled to partner with this great church to develop an updated master plan and design new and renovated facilities to help them impact the Kingdom.
Fellowship Bible Church - located in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, recently completed construction for their second phase addition, a children’s ministry building. The church returned to their design-build team of Smyrna, Tennessee based contractor Dow Smith Company and Kansas City, Missouri based architect Mantel Teter to update their campus master plan, design additional children’s ministry space, student ministry space, and additional space for offices. The project also renovated and expanded the church’s lobby and gathering space inside the first phase building.
New Life Church is nearing the end of construction! With a church dedication service coming up this fall, construction on the addition and renovations for New Life Church in Gillette, Wyoming, are wrapping up. In the next several weeks, final painting and flooring will be underway on the interior, and the exterior concrete patios and canopies will be installed. An exciting time for New Life Church!
This past month we had the privilege to sponsor a hole at the 11th Annual Sheffield Place Golf Tournament alongside Pearce Construction!
Sheffield Place is the only treatment and supportive housing program in Kansas City that focuses exclusively on highly traumatized homeless mothers and their children, empowers families to make the difficult journey from homeless to self-sufficiency through intensive mental health and addiction recovery, case management, employment, and life skills services. The children - two-thirds of the agency’s clients - also receive case management, therapy, educational groups, and more.
Last week we participated in the Golf For an Impact Tournament in support of The Summit Church's mission partners and projects. Most mission partners impact the local Kansas City and Lee’s Summit communities and include Hillcrest Transitional Housing, Lee’s Summit Social Services, The Hope Center, Lee’s Summit Elementary and more! A beautiful day on the links with good friends and colleagues, all benefitting a wonderful cause!
New Life Church in Gillette, Wyoming, engaged Mantel Teter to assist with renovations and expansion to their existing facilities. Added on to and expanded in various phases over the years, their existing facilities were not indicative of the culture and DNA that has made New Life Church a growing community of believers.
Abundant Life is a multi-site church that is preparing to extend their ministry reach to the Crossroads District in Kansas City, Missouri.
Kansas City’s Crossroads District is an eclectic enclave of boutique shops, one-of-a-kind restaurants, creative businesses, studios, art galleries and residential development. Abundant Life identified the continued mixed-use redevelopment trend in this area as a unique ministry opportunity.
Mantel Teter Celebrates 60 Years!
Through the unwavering support we have from our clients, and their trust in our ability to be the creative instrument that brings their visions to reality, Mantel Teter is proudly celebrating 60 years in business! Through the years, the firm has grown and transitioned with knowledge and expertise in various project types, having been strengthened through positive leadership dated back to the firm’s founding partners, Jim Mantel and Dwight Teter. Our religious facilities expertise has led us to become a nationally recognized firm that continues to raise the standard in church planning and design. For the team at Mantel Teter, the journey of excellence continues, and we are eager to have YOUR journey begin with us!
The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined daily life. From working environments to required face coverings to food delivery to entertainment, the effects and aftermath of social distancing may be here to stay for a very long time. These are unchartered waters and architecturally speaking, will no doubt have an impact on the design of future gathering spaces. Therefore, it is incumbent on the architectural community to look for ways to not only mitigate virus transmission, but to design safer gathering spaces.
In this blog post series, we’ll look at several key areas within the church campus where design can have a major impact on the occupants’ safety and protection from transmitting and/or contracting COVID-19 or other viruses.
As churches begin to reopen, federal, state, city and county health and safety guidelines are in place to help prevent new cases of COVID-19. But beyond best-practices of hand sanitizer stations, daily deep cleaning, and seating people six feet apart, what else is worth considering in terms of indoor spaces.
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Pandemic Predicament: Church Design – Part 4 of 5
The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined daily life. From working environments to required face coverings to food delivery to entertainment, the effects and aftermath of social distancing may be here to stay for a very long time. These are unchartered waters and architecturally speaking, will no doubt have an impact on the design of future gathering spaces. Therefore, it is incumbent on the architectural community to look for ways to not only mitigate virus transmission, but to design safer gathering spaces.
In this blog post series, we’ll look at several key areas within the church campus where design can have a major impact on the occupants’ safety and protection from transmitting and/or contracting COVID-19 or other viruses.
As churches begin to reopen, federal, state, city and county health and safety guidelines are in place to help prevent new cases of COVID-19. But beyond best-practices of hand sanitizer stations, daily deep cleaning, and seating people six feet apart, what else is worth considering in terms of indoor spaces.
Pandemic Predicament: Church Design – Part 3 of 5
The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined daily life. From working environments to required face coverings to food delivery to entertainment, the effects and aftermath of social distancing may be here to stay for a very long time. These are unchartered waters and architecturally speaking, will no doubt have an impact on the design of future gathering spaces. Therefore, it is incumbent on the architectural community to look for ways to not only mitigate virus transmission, but to design safer gathering spaces.
Christ Community Church’s Downtown Campus serves the Crossroads District, the center of the arts community, in Downtown Kansas City. The church is an intergenerational collection of individuals and families from different communities purposed for the flourishing of Downtown KC.
Over the last several years, the church has accomplished its ministry out of a leased facility. As the church outgrew this space, they began searching for a facility that they could own and that would better accommodate their immediate and future needs. After researching several different options, the church identified a 2-story 20,000 square foot building located at 208 West 19th Street in Kansas City, Missouri as a potential new home.
Rev City Church is a non-denominational Christian church in Lawrence, KS. The church selected Mantel Teter to serve ministry and space need redevelopment, and to help renovate the exterior of their facility.
The existing facility was lacking in community space, and the look and feel of the interior did not reflect the current DNA of Rev City Church. Through creative interior renovations, and modifications to the dated exterior, Mantel Teter helped provide exciting renovations to their children’s ministry classrooms, and expanded their existing lobby to provide much needed community and connection space. The exterior now boasts a drop-off canopy, and exterior café seating that connects directly to the expanded lobby. New glass walls along the lobby renovation provide connection and visibility from the exterior, allowing people to see the exciting things happening at Rev City Church.
On January 1, 2021, Mantel Teter celebrates 60 years in business!
After all those years of maintaining a traditional office structure, Mantel Teter decided in 2021 to transition to an innovative “virtual office” structure. Through creative technology, our team is now based out of their personal offices, allowing our staff size to efficiently increase with larger workloads. Smaller overhead and more nimble staff allows for more individualized care and attention to our clients.
It’s business as usual and the brand experience remains the same. We simply no longer have a single physical office where we all gather. However, our team work and collaboration has never been better. The personal attention and creative solutions that so many of our clients love, well that continues to be our highest value and is stronger than ever! Although we’ve already been doing it the last 9 months due to COVID-19, we’re excited about innovating and leveraging this new virtual office structure.
You can still call us, email us, and even video call us, the same as you’ve always done, but please update your contact correspondence for us. Our new mailing address is:
5013 N Washington Street
Gladstone, Missouri 64118
Pandemic Predicament: Church Design – Part 2 of 5 Considerations for the Lobby & Common Areas:
The COVID-19 pandemic has redefined daily life. From working environments to required face coverings to food delivery to entertainment, the effects and aftermath of social distancing may be here to stay for a very long time. These are unchartered waters and architecturally speaking, will no doubt have an impact on the design of future gathering spaces. Therefore, it is incumbent on the architectural community to look for ways to not only mitigate virus transmission, but to design safer gathering spaces.
Living Faith Church - located in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, recently acquired an existing church facility and property. They have selected Kansas City, Missouri based architect Mantel Teter to lead them through a metrics analysis, discovery of space use, and design process to update their campus master plan and add facilities. Immediate facility needs include parking, additional space for lobby & gathering and NextGen ministry spaces to balance with the new future Sanctuary seating capacity. Homoly Construction was selected to serve as the general contractor. "This church has unique strategies for reaching their community in southern Lee’s Summit and it’s impacting their building needs in a very positive way. We’re excited to partner with this church & help them develop and design new and renovated facilities." shared Brian Rathsam, Project Architect for the project.
Living Hope Church - located in Olathe, Kansas, recently selected Kansas City, Missouri based architect Mantel Teter to lead them through a metrics analysis, discovery of space use, and design process to update their campus master plan and add facilities. Immediate facility needs include a new Sanctuary, additional space for lobby & gathering, and NextGen ministry spaces to balance with the new Sanctuary seating capacity. Universal Construction was selected to serve as the general contractor. "Our team is honored to partner with this church & help them develop and design new facilities that will create impact for the Kingdom." shared Brian Rathsam, Project Architect for the project.
