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Open the doors, and see all the people
Second Presbyterian's congregation ready to move into new sanctuary
By Kate Arthur
karthur@pantagraph.com

J.J. Budde, a stained glass craftsman from Mominee Studios, Evansville, Ind., walks along a scaffold while putting finishing touches on a resurrection scene at Second Presbyterian Church in Bloomington. The church will move into its new sanctuary on Feb. 25. Mominee Studios restored four large stained-glass works from the old church. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
BLOOMINGTON -- In the old church, they used to sit in a pew on the right, about half-way down, on the aisle side. In the winter, when it got really cold, his dad would shift the family to a pew along the edge, closer to the radiator.

That's a memory Marc Boon of Danvers will carry with him into the new sanctuary of Bloomington's Second Presbyterian Church, along with the sweet memory of proposing to his wife during the last Christmas Eve service in the old church.

On Feb. 25, members will gather in Fellowship Hall, where they've been worshipping since November 2003. Fifteen minutes into the service, they'll pick up their hymnals and proceed into the 880-seat rounded sanctuary that's reminiscent of an opera house.

Before walking through the paneled oak doors of the $8.5 million church, they'll pass beneath an arched limestone entry with pink granite columns, preserved from the church demolished in 2004. The symbolism of melding the past with the present won't be lost, said Barry Weer of Bloomington, chairman of the building committee.

"It just draws you through it," he said, of the former Romanesque-style East Street facade. "I'm not sure we recognized how dramatic it was going to be."

The horseshoe-shaped sanctuary was designed to be an intimate sacred space, so acoustically sound that it can hold community fine arts performances. Choral music is a rich tradition in the church, which claims to have brought the first organ to Bloomington in 1864. A nearly $1 million organ, being built in Champaign, will be installed in the summer of 2008.

Using an acoustical consultant and computer modeling to engineer the space for sound, it was fine-tuned like an instrument, Weer said.

"It's not only a space to accommodate worship but a space to celebrate our Christian musical heritage. It'll be a phenomenal place to sing hymns, and we'll all sound better," he added, with a laugh.

Skylights and a soaring ceiling, along with stained glass windows preserved from the former sanctuary, make the church a bright, vibrant space.

The smell of oak fills the church, which has a sloped, tiled floor. Seating is divided into three levels: the main floor; the parterre, a slightly raised area above the lower level; and the balcony. Elevators make the upper levels accessible and there's a wheelchair lift to the choir loft.

With $250,000 worth of audiovisual equipment, including five remote-controlled cameras and two-story screens, the church is equipped for multi-media presentations, images to go along with scripture and a close-up view of baptisms.

Although you can enter through the Fellowship Hall, the main entrance is on the south side, off East Street. Just inside is a gathering space with mahogany woodwork, spruce- and cream-colored walls and a dramatic two-story curved staircase brides are sure to love.

Bringing memories along

Interim Senior Pastor Roane Deckert gave the congregation a first look at the sanctuary in November 2006, when the floor was still concrete and the steps to the altar, plywood.

The crowd was silent.

"There was a sense of wonder, a sense of awe and a sense of reverence," the pastor said.

They were invited to pick up black markers and write messages on the plywood. Nearly every inch was covered. One child sat cross-legged on the steps, writing scripture from an open Bible.

"There was hardly a dry eye in the place," the pastor said.

Among the messages was a scribbled note to a grandma, a child's early lettering with the message, "I pray for my family," and even a nod to a faithful pet. "To Barnie our old cat," it read. "May God be with you in heaven."

Phyllis Dirks of Bloomington wrote, "Thank you for all the church has meant to my family." The 85-year-old Bloomington woman, a soprano in the choir for about 18 years, admitted to sneaking a look at the new sanctuary, along with other choir members.

"We keep peeking in the doors," she said. "Each Sunday, we go and look to see what we can see. We're all excited."

Forty years ago, John Meek of Bloomington helped clean the church. Along with the rest of his Boy Scout troop, he wiped down the pews and swept the floors.

"We did it because our scoutmaster asked us to," he said. "That's just what you did. And we knew the old church forward and backward."

That came in handy when he ended up serving as construction manager for the new sanctuary through his company, Felmley-Dickerson of Bloomington.

Former Pastor Ted Pierce, who now resides in Atlanta, Ga., presided over the last service in the old church and remembers the pain of saying goodbye to the sacred space.

"You could just feel the history of the church and decisions that had been made before us," he said. "You could just really, really sense the presence of more than us being there. When you were walking out of the sanctuary and closing the door behind you, you had no idea what you'd be walking back into and now you do."

When demolition began in 2004, he watched from across the street.

"I can remember standing on the corner with three older gentlemen who had baptized their children there, married their children there and when that crane took the first bite out of the sanctuary, two of the guys had tears rolling down their cheeks."

A call to lead

Deckert joined the staff in December 2004 as interim minister of pastoral care. He'd been working as a full-time sculptor when an odd feeling came over him while he was attending a service at another church.

"I was attending a beautiful, musical service and I felt something really strange happening in me so I just simply said, 'OK, God, what do you want?'"

Three days later, he got a call from Second Presbyterian, asking if he'd like to serve as minister of pastoral care. When the church needed an interim pastor last June, he didn't hesitate to step in.

"I was prepared for it. I'd been involved in building in every parish that I've had."

One of his contributions to the new church was sculpting the baptismal font, which features a bronze boat on a sea of glass. In mid-February, he was putting the finishing patina on it, readying it for the April dedication.

The new sanctuary demonstrates a reverence for the past and fulfills a commitment to the future, he said.

"Those people who came before us built a facility for 150 years of worship and it was time for us to do the same, that was our obligation."

He doesn't think it'll take Second Presbyterian's 1,600 members too long to feel comfortable in what's already being referred to as the "new-old" sanctuary. And he's planning for an overflow crowd next Sunday.

Boon also believes members will quickly embrace the space.

"We've pulled in so many aspects of the old church that it's going to give you comfort zones. It's exactly what we were hoping it would be."



Milestones



Here are some of the milestones in the history of Second Presbyterian Church:

1855 - Thirty-four founding members gather on a summer day when Bloomington's population is about 2,500; the Town of Normal didn't exist.

1856 - A $15,000, 90-pew church is built on land donated by David Davis; William Allin, son of Bloomington's founder; and William Flagg, a leading manufacturer.

1895 - A church is built at 313 N. East St. at a cost of $65,000. Two large stained glass windows cost $5,000. The fan-shaped sanctuary could hold 819 members at a time when the city's population was 23,286 and Normal had about 3,800 residents. The church was made of the same type of limestone from the same quarry chosen by Cornelius Vanderbilt for his home in Biltmore, N.C.

1900 - Downtown fire spares the church, causing an estimated $100 in damages.

2003 -- Plans to renovate the sanctuary are abandoned when an engineering report points to major structural problems. Leaders are concerned, the sanctuary is closed and services are moved to the adjacent Fellowship Hall built in 1995 to house the congregation during a renovation or building project. Final service is held Oct. 24.

June 2004 -- Demolition of the church begins; stained glass, decorative stone and the arched facade that once faced East Street are salvaged to be used in the new sanctuary.

Spring 2005 -- Construction begins on a modern, 880-seat facility with acoustics designed to equip it as a venue for community fine arts performances.

Feb. 25, 2007 -- First service in the new sanctuary; congregation will be led from the Fellowship Hall into the sanctuary by three families. Each of those families will have four generations of worshippers present at the procession. They will be followed by children of congregants, pastors, the choir and congregation.

April 15, 2007 -- Dedication service and tours.

Summer 2008 -- Organ costing nearly $1 million to be installed.

SOURCES: "Sharing the Heart of Christ in the Heart of the Community" published by Second Presbyterian Church, 2005; Pantagraph archives



Schedule of events



Here's the schedule of activities marking the opening and dedication of the new sanctuary for Second Presbyterian Church, 313 N. East St., Bloomington.

Feb. 25, Procession of praise service

• 9 a.m.: Service starts in Fellowship Hall and proceeds into the new sanctuary.

March 11, Services honoring workmen and laying of cornerstore

• 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Services

• 10 a.m.: Reception in Fellowship Hall

April 15, Dedication and tours

• 9 a.m. and 11 a.m.: Services

April 6, Community Good Friday service

• 12:10 p.m.: Service

April 22, Inaugural fine arts performance

• 3 p.m.: Illinois Wesleyan University and church choir perform Mendelssohn's "Elijah." Tickets: $10 adults; $5 senior citizen; $1 students and children

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Take a look
Acoustics were critical to the design of the horseshoe-shaped sanctuary, which has three levels and seats 880. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Second Presbyterian Church interim Pastor Roane Deckert stands outside the original East Street entrance to the church, which was dismantled and rebuilt as the entryway of the new sanctuary. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
Symbolic of building the foundation and remembering those who had gone before them, church members wrote messages on the floors and walls of the sanctuary in November 2006. Rob Nickrent of Felmley-Dickerson Co. works on sections of the chancel backdrop. (Pantagraph/STEVE SMEDLEY)
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Reader comments on this story - 5 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Still wrote on Mar 5, 2007 9:13 AM:

" Could you have helped the Salvation Army more instead of building a work of Art? All of these churches that build these big beautiful buildings I have a few questions. Do you really think God is impressed by your building? What really makes up a church? Does a $1,000,000 organ make you sing with more vigor to the Lord? "

Roane wrote on Mar 4, 2007 9:29 AM:

" is a neat guy...if he wants to do it, shouldn't you take the interim off his title? After some of your pastoral issues, Roane is a rock. "

Susie (Martin) Shew wrote on Mar 1, 2007 3:50 PM:

" I am thrilled to read about the new sanctuary and to feel the commitment among the members. So much of my life revolved around 2nd Pres. My father, "Doc" Martin baptised me in 1930, I participated in choirs from Cherubs through high school, as later in the Adult choir when we moved back to 'Bloomington and my husband, John Shew was an assitant pastor. I knelt in the prayer chapel and remember well when "I let Jesus come into my life". My father married John and me in 1952. 'Though my prayer list is not in a prayer book such as my father had, you are all on my list". I can hardly wait to worship with you in the future. Continued blessings in this historical moment. Fondly, Susie "

Ken wrote on Feb 24, 2007 1:58 PM:

" I got to where I love making comments, it give's me a chance to wittness about the way the world is begining to be. It's really in a lot of trouble. All you have to do is read the (PANTAGRAPH) by the way I would like to tell the (PANTAGRAPH) what a great job that they do in providing us with the news of the day. I may not like it but at least they tell it like it is, which that is the way that it should be. I would like to make a comment on the new building that the" PRESBYTERIAN" Church has been able to have built. I can't say that I hope it fills up,because that would make me a doubleminded man. The CHURCH that I go to obey the word of (GOD) and find (SALVATION) in the book of (ACTS) I have to admit that our CHURCH is small but I am not "EMBARRASSED" and we been there 33 years and I wouldn't be "INBARRASSED" if we had to close the door. You see we be- leave in "(SALVATION}" not number. "

Hopeful wrote on Feb 20, 2007 1:12 PM:

" I hope the new sanctuary can finally bring some Christian leadership back to this once proud church. Not only has the church's leadership been an embarrassment over the past 8 years, this former member has watched the church's membership dwindle down to embarrassing numbers as well. Maybe this will be the wake up call for the PCA to finally help 2nd Pres get some new uplifting honorable leadership that is so desperately needs to help heal and bring back the fleeing membership. "
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