Extreme” excitement was the order of the day Aug. 14 as Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, celebrated the “reveal” portion of its summerlong building project, Extreme Church Makeover. The event provided an opportunity for church members and guests to view renovations made inside and outside the church with self-guided tours.
“Our preschool, children’s and student facilities had reached capacity,” Pastor Buddy Gray said. “Hoover is growing and we wanted to be ready to meet that growth. We understand research and statistics project that more than 9,000 people will move to within a five-mile radius of the church in the next five years.”
According to Gray, more than 1,800 people have joined Hunter Street Baptist since 2002, and the upward trend in the church’s growth is expected to continue. Hunter Street currently has around 6,000 members and an average Sunday attendance of close to 3,800.
Makeover renovations included a new courtyard and playground, additional adult Sunday School space, the creation of classroom space for 2- and 3-year-old children and a new worship room for 4 and 5 year olds.
The new classroom space will be used during each of the three Sunday School hours.
“The project was presented and approved by our church membership in May,” said Morrell Dodd, church administrator. “Work began in late May, and much of it has been completed on an extremely tight schedule. That’s the reason for the project being called Extreme Church Makeover.”
The courtyard, located in the heart of the Hunter Street campus, will feature new playground space, low-maintenance landscaping, improvements to walkways and new tables and seating.
The area provides quick access to first-floor classrooms, the main worship center, the chapel and the music suite.
“We hope the improvements will result in better foot-traffic flow and make the space more useful,” said Wendy Koon, communications director at Hunter Street.
Just off the courtyard are 10 adult Sunday School rooms created from former preschool space. A large portion of the renovations, however, will benefit children — preschoolers in particular.
Former adult classroom space on the south lower level of the campus has now become Polliwog Pond, a 3,700-square-foot area dedicated to 2 and 3 year olds. Floors that depict a running stream with pebbled banks and a host of appealing cartoon characters on the walls make Polliwog Pond an engaging place for preschoolers as well as their parents.
The opening of Polliwog Pond will free up space in nearby Tadpole Park, which will now accommodate only babies up to 2 years.
“We’ll have plenty of room to spread out with 10 rooms of babies, 10 rooms of (1 year olds) and nine rooms of 2 year olds,” said Melanie Sanford, preschool minister.
Six preschool classrooms were razed to create one large worship room called The Clubhouse, a space created especially for 4 and 5 year olds. Located in an area dubbed Toadsville, The Clubhouse features trees made of support columns and three puppet stages. The area will hold up to 200 children.
“We’ll bring the children from Sunday School into The Clubhouse for their second hour at church,” Sanford said. “We’ve turned the worship care hour into a high-energy activity time where children will learn about worship and praising God.”
The Polliwog Pond and The Clubhouse artwork was created by Wacky World Studios, a Florida-based custom art and design studio headed by artist Bruce Berry. Wacky World also created the artwork for Hunter Street’s preschool and children’s buildings.
According to Koon, additional renovations will be completed in the fall, including a simulcast production facility, new classrooms in the 24:7 student building and a new 200-space parking lot with a dedicated shuttle road.
The total cost of the renovations is expected to be $5.3 million, to be paid by commitments from church members.
$5.3 million renovations underway at Hunter Street
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