An auditorium that doubles as a basketball court all week long for area kids' teams. Kids' classrooms that serve as day care rooms during the week. A large game room and youth rooms that are used for after school programs. Great rooms that are available for 12-step groups, karate classes, and boy scouts. A coffee shop where small groups meet or where a mom waits while her pre-teen son practices with his basketball team.

But why all of that? Why not just another church building? Living in an area filled with young families, we were struck by the needs. No community centers. No after school programs. A kids' basketball coach laments that there's no place for his kids to play. A single mom of a junior higher is bewildered that the closest after school program for her son to attend while she works is in Laguna Beach.

Meanwhile, we were looking forward to a time when we'll need to construct spaces of this size that will already have similar functions for our own needs (well-equipped kids class rooms, game room, youth rooms, gathering places, MPRs). What if we were to construct these spaces in such a way to meet both needs? What if we were to throw the doors open and bring our community through those doors 7 days a week? And what if we were to strategically leverage their presence in our space to potentially connect them with God — no strings attached?

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