For Orland church,
growth spurt comes so soon
Monday, November 29, 2004
By Lauren FitzPatrick, Staff Writer
Bursting at the seams with new members, Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park broke ground Sunday on a new 84,000 square-foot addition that will triple its capacity and make it one of the largest churches in the Southland.
Many brandished shovels, their red-nosed children wrangling plastic beach shovels, as a few hundred congregation members gathered outside around their senior pastor, the Rev. Tim Harlow, to pray and sing in the shadow of the old building.
Old, however, is completely relative.
The church's current beige and red stone building was erected in 2002 to the tune of $3.5 million. It was a huge step up from the small white building previously occupied on 84th Street in Tinley Park.
But it wasn't enough, so the building's back wall will be knocked down, and some of its pristine concrete sidewalks with nary a crack will be dug up to make way for the addition.
Parkview's congregation has increased by 2½ times in the past two years and now boasts about 2,500 worshippers each weekend over five services. The current building can seat only 550 people for each service, some of whom are in a remote room connected to the main auditorium by video. The plans will allow 1,500 to be comfortably seated around the main stage, and free up the old auditorium that doubles as a gymnasium, for children's ministry activities.
"This is going to touch a lot more lives," Tinley Park resident Lynn Anderson said of the church's expansion as her son, Brandon, 7, used a big shovel to make pockmarks in the grass, soft from recent rain and snow.
The Andersons, who also have an 8-year-old daughter, Brianna, have been coming to Parkview for three or four years. Husband and father Tom Anderson plays drums in the worship band that provides live music at services. He said the church's changes are exciting.
Some things will stay the same. The outside facade with its single round stained glass window set into the simple facade will remain, as will a spindly copper cross that marks the front entrance of the building sitting on the northeast corner Wolf Road and Orland Parkway.
Just inside the existing building, plans for the new airy glass and steel structure hang behind plexiglas frames on the wall for everyone to see and admire.
The blueprints were translated Sunday into lines of red neon paint across the yard and parking lot, marking where future walls will stand. Bright orange cones delineated the corners of the huge addition. The rooms also were named in paint - worship center, new convex stage, library, hallways - so it's a snap to imagine how 1,500 congregation members will soon wrap around the new rounded stage where the preacher and musicians stand.
"We're trying to break ground in every room," said Mimi Michuda, 11, as she and brother Timmy, 8, scrambled to dig all over the yard.
Their mom, Brenda Michuda said the family moved to Frankfort about six years ago but until January, commuted to their old church in Homewood.
"We wanted a community church where we lived," she said of the decision to switch. "The kids decided, 'OK, Mom and Dad, this is our church.' They got active right away."
Congregation members were invited to bring shovels and break ground, to sow wheat seed as a symbol of things to come, and to sing a song especially penned and recorded for the addition's fundraising campaign titled It's Time to Grow.
"I'd love for you to take some time to walk around the perimeter of the building," Harlow told those gathered at the end of the ceremony.
"This has grown so much," said Annette Kinnally, a member since 1956, who easily recalled the former building on 84th Street. It had no pool or fountain for indoor baptisms, so she was plunged into Cedar Lake.
"We were so glad and looking forward to 100 people" she said of the church's early days.
Although a Christian magazine named Parkview one of the 100 fastest-growing churches in America, it still has a ways to go to be the largest in the Southland.
St. Mary Immaculate Conception Church in Plainfield has more than 5,000 families, and the non-denominational Christian Family Harvest Church in Tinley Park holds up to 3,000 people in its building near Interstate 80.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
