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    Church Builds Huge Sports Dome to Meet Community Need

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    The inflatable sports dome that’s about to change Anchorage’s skyline is already a hub of aerobic exercise.

    Pull. Tug. Stretch. Repeat.

    Before any baseballs can be thrown or soccer balls can be kicked inside the giant white dome off Raspberry Road, dozens of workers must complete a task worthy of Sisyphus.

    They spent four or five days last week unfolding, stretching and connecting the 10 pieces of slippery vinyllike material that will make up the dome’s canopy. This week they’ve moved on to a new activity: shoveling. Before the dome can be inflated, all of the snow that buried the canopy on Monday must be removed.

    Each canopy piece weighs 10,000 pounds. To unfold them, workers played tug-of-war with ropes rigged to the panels and pulled and tugged until they were stretched flat atop a 170,000-square-foot space that will become the dome’s floor.

    A webcam on site is recording the work, but watching it—either on a computer or in person—is a bit like watching a glacier retreat. You know something is happening because you’ve been told so, but after an hour’s time, things look about the same.

    “It’s a huge project. Everything is physical. There’s not a lot of heavy equipment that can be (used),’’ said volunteer laborer Michael Friess, who has spent much of the last week working as a dome grunt. “It’s a lot of pushing and pulling and tugging,’’

    When it opens this spring, the dome will be three times the size of the city’s other dome, the Tanglewood Lakes Golf Club and Dome. Bob Klein, who runs the golf dome, said the structures are practically disaster-proof. If someone shot a bullet into the canopy, “you wouldn’t even know it,’’ he said.

    Given that a kook once shot holes in the Alaska pipeline, that’s good to know.

    A daylong snowstorm halted plans to inflate the 100,000-pound canopy Monday, forcing workers to blow snow instead of air. On Tuesday afternoon, they were still piling snow onto giant tarps to clear the canopy. Once the snow is cleared and the wind stops blowing, it’ll take about four hours to inflate the whole thing.

    The dome’s numbers are staggering: It covers an area about 600 feet long and 300 feet wide (170,000 square feet)—or about five times the size of Sullivan Arena (32,000 square feet). Ten thousand nuts and bolts connect the pieces of canopy. Inside will be the only 400-meter indoor track in North America—indoor tracks are typically 300 meters—and an enormous expanse of artificial turf that will accommodate soccer, baseball, softball and other sports.

    But the most extraordinary part of the dome is the force behind it.

    It isn’t a federal, state or city project. It’s the mega-project of a mega-church.

    ChangePoint, a nondenominational Christian church next to the dome, is spearheading the project and will oversee management of the $12.5 million facility, which will be called the SportsDome at ChangePoint.

    About 4,000 people attend ChangePoint each Sunday. Chris Keffalos, director of the church’s outreach programs, said the sports dome is a way for the huge congregation to reach out to the city.

    “Large churches have more resources,’’ he said, “and we don’t want to take those resources and keep them to ourselves. We want to reach out to our town in a big way. We listen to what the community needs, and it doesn’t necessarily need to have a spiritual component.’’

    A nonprofit group called Anchorage Sportsplex Inc., was formed and sold bonds to finance the project. Users—many of which, like UAA and the Anchorage School District, have already committed to renting space—will pay fees that will help pay off the bonds and maintain the facility.

    SOURCE:  The Anchorage Daily News
    http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/story/8506650p-8399833c.html

    For Discussion:  So… what are your thoughts?

    Friess, a non-church-member who coaches track and field at UAA and intends to turn the dome into his team’s off-campus home, believes the church will be a good steward.

    “They’re not going to take the profits and start buying Mercedes, you know?’’ he said. “This is the most public private facility you can have.’’

    ChangePoint is showing Alaskans that we don’t need to rely on federal or state money to build pet projects. And we don’t need to attend its church to play in its backyard.

    “Not everyone who goes to Notre Dame is Catholic,’’ Friess said. “No one’s gonna have to put their hand in the holy water and say three Hail Marys when they walk through the door.’’

    But you might want to leave the trash talk outside.

    Here’s a story about a unique thing that’s happening in Anchorage, AK.  Love to hear your input on this and the effect you think it might have on their community as a church…

    Comments

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    1. Jeff on Thu, December 21, 2006

      Alright!  Somebody “gets it” in Anchorage.

    2. Camey on Thu, December 21, 2006

      Ohhhhhhh… the effects on the community are endless. This church is rising to new heights! If only….....


      This, to me, also goes with Rick White’s article in a sense.

    3. Rick White on Thu, December 21, 2006

      Exactly, Cammy…this is an incredible example of a “missional building campaign”.  Good stuff.

    4. Greg Atkinson on Fri, December 29, 2006

      Very cool. I’ll have to let my family in Anchorage know.

    5. Naomi Morrow on Sat, February 24, 2007

      I’m so excited to hear about the building of this new sports complex in Anchorage.  I run track and can’t wait to use the facility to train.  I wonder if the facility will create any new jobs?  If anyone knows anything about this, please respond.

    6. Todd Stafford on Mon, June 25, 2007

      Changepoint was in the news again recently…  They refused a 1.5 million dollar grant from the state of Alaska because they could see that public sentiment was against the grant.  They didn’t want the people to have a tainted view of the project.

    7. emily on Sat, November 03, 2007

      Todd-


      I wouldn’t give too much credit on the money being turned down.


      If it had been approved, imagine the backlash from Anchorage residents who use the Sullivan Arena by the thousands for hockey each weekend.  


      They asked for money to repair their roof (which leaks) and were denied by the Governor.   The Governor then approved a million dollars (give or take a buck) for upgrades to the 2-year old hockey arena in Wasilla, her home town.


      Now think about it.   The Sullivan Arena; home to WCHA College hockey and the ECHL Champion Alaska Aces, not to mention the Great Alaska Shootout and countless home and garden shows ... the Sullivan Arena which is supposed to be used for residents in the event of a mass evacuation… 


      Imagine if the Sports Dome had been given that money when the Sullivan Arena was DENIED every cent.


      I can see why ChangePoint backed out.  It pul Governor Palin in too much of a political “spot”.

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    10. Talpur on Mon, May 04, 2009

      Couldn’t be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!


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