Greetings, friends!
Richard Huggins (e-mail)

This web page is for those of you who might be further interested in seeing the new Worship Center at Green Acres Baptist Church, Tyler, TX. See below the links for a short informational section on GABC.

The following pictures were scanned from the Dedication Day brochure. I have deliberately left them at their original size for the purpose of your being able to see more detail. They were saved at "medium" jpg quality, so I hope they will download for you in a reasonable time. For most of you it will be necessary for you to use your left-to-right scroll bar to see everything. Use your Back button to return to this page and click on other links.

Various construction photos | Foyer | TV, Audio, Lighting | Music rehearsal facilities | Auditorium interior shots

Technical Info of Interest: The main floor in front of the platform has duplicate audio and monitor capability so that for pageants the orchestra can play from there yet still have the cue system it needs. The video screens are used to display announcements; close-up images; sermon points; other graphics; and words to the anthem appear as the choir sings. The platform includes rear entry for the orchestra. A pit large enough for the organ is beneath the platform, awaiting a hydraulic lift (future addition). Auditorium uses a new pew design that has a common back but individual seat cushions for each person. The pianist, organist and key rhythm players have individual monitor mix capabilities, meaning they can determine their own mix of what they hear in their monitor. A lighting truss the width of the choir loft can be lowered for adding or changing lights as well as achieving other lighting effects. Catwalks enable access to two lighting bays the widthof the ceiling which contain further lighting. The organ is a five-manual custom Allen organ. The piano is a Steinway 9' grand.

Church Historical Info: Tyler is about 90 miles east of Dallas and 90 miles west of Shreveport. It's unusual to find a church of over 10,000 members in a town of only about 85,000 population (county, 150,000). But through the years, a passionate interest in missions and missions giving has kept the church properly focused, and has grown Christians through getting them actively involved in local, state, national and international missions activities. Visionary pastors such as former Paul Powell and current pastor David Dykes have led the church in this way.

The need to build a new worship center became evident as the church went to three morning services a few years ago and kept growing. About 3500 have been attending Sunday School and worship each week, but all statistics on such things support the fact that growth begins to diminish once near-capacity of facilities is reached. The new building will seat 3400 people and there will be two worship services, so the worship seating capacity has been doubled while one morning worship service has been eliminated. Attendance on opening day was 6200.

Since this building will house many of the administrative offices, the former office area will be converted into additional education space for children, and the former auditorium will be made into a large chapel, with some space reclaimed for adult education. The remainder of the campus includes an Adult Education Building, a Family Life Center, a Student Center, a Retreat Center (off-campus) and a Children's Education Building.

OTHER LINKS:
Green Acres Baptist Church | HH Architects (site being reworked) | Tyler, Texas

AccompNet (resource for accompanists) | Richard Huggins.com  |