Calling of the Church Answered by Builders

Churches across Northwest Arkansas are expanding, renovating and building entire new facilities. It’s been quite a blessing for the construction companies.

Nabholz Construction Corp.’s Rogers office and its Conark division have been involved with more than a dozen churches in the last three years. Nabholz’s projects range from a variety of denominations to nondenominational churches. Two of its larger projects currently are with Catholic churches in Fayetteville and Rogers.

Sam Hollis, vice president of Oakridge Builders Inc. in Springdale, said the growth in church construction “just goes with the territory,” noting the continual population surge in Benton and Washington counties.

Danny Woolridge, vice president of Kinco Inc. Constructors’ Springdale office, said church construction seems to be a bigger priority than retail construction.

“It’s strictly population growth,” Woolridge said. “When people come to an area the first thing you see are the houses going up with all of the residential moves. Then you see the schools start undergoing a lot of construction. And then they find a place to go to church. All of a sudden, the churches start growing, and the they’ve got to accommodate the people. I don’t understand it, but it seems like the last thing that starts growing is the retail business.”

The construction projects range from several million dollars to just a few thousand, but like any business trying to grab customers’ attention, the cosmetic appearance of the newer church facilities appear to be high priority.

The Church at Pinnacle Hills, the new north campus of First Baptist Church of Springdale, is a $2 million facility that opened Aug. 19. In the upscale Pinnacle Hills business park in west Rogers, just north of Pinnacle Country Club, the church was born out of the incredible growth of First Baptist Church in Springdale, which has 12,000 members.

The Church at Pinnacle Hills will be able to seat 1,200 at Sunday services, counting the sanctuary and preschool areas. About 400 members of First Baptist Church of Springdale have moved to the north location. Pastor Ronnie Floyd said the Springdale location had about 200 families that were from Lowell and further north.

Floyd called the Pinnacle Hills area “one of the most fabulous locations in all of Northwest Arkansas.”

Floyd will deliver the sermons at each location.

Baldwin & Shell Construction Co. of Springdale was the general contractor on the Pinnacle Hills church.

“I think all of [the church construction] is generally because of the whole boom in Rogers and Bentonville,” said Patrick Tenney, division manager for Baldwin & Shell.

One of the largest church projects recently was at the First United Methodist Church of Springdale, a $6.9 million, three-phase renovation that will take about five more years to complete. Oakridge Builders Inc. is handling that construction.

St. Vincent de Paul Church of Rogers will have one of the tallest buildings in Rogers when Nabholz completes its new facility, a $6.49 million project.

Nabholz is also building the new St. Joseph Catholic Church facility in east Fayetteville, a $4.3 million project, and adding on to the First United Presbyterian Church in downtown Fayetteville, a $2.1 million project. There have been about 25 churches in the last year from Benton and Washington counties going through substantial renovation or addition. Those projects range from about $350,000 to several million.

Floyd said there are other reasons for new church construction other than the obvious population growth of Northwest Arkansas.

“One reason is some churches are legitimately growing,” Floyd said. “That’s not a simple statement. We know that about 90 percent of churches from all denominations across the country have either plateaued or are declining in memberships. We may be in a unique time here with churches growing. Another reason that is true for some is they are just improving what they’ve got. Maybe they’re preparing for future growth.”

Floyd said churches have to ask themselves if they are compromising “the message of the Bible” when sprucing up appearances.

“The secret is how to market a church to a culture that at times doesn’t seem interested in church,” Floyd said. “You try to make it appealing, pleasant to the eye and competitive to the secular market.”