B Minor Mass inaugurates acoustic marvel

From The Register-Guard
By Jeff Wright

When it comes to the nearly completed Great Hall sanctuary at Eugene's First Baptist Church, parishioners are not the only ones giving thanks.

Second only to the Hult Center's Silva Hall in size among indoor performance venues with permanent seating, the new space is attracting plenty of attention. Among its fans are Royce Saltzman, the Oregon Bach Festival executive director who will bring Bach's seminal sacred work, Mass in B Minor, to the church on Monday.

Part of the excitement is tied to the 1,250-seat sanctuary's state-of-the-art acoustics.

"There's not a dead spot in the room - it's pretty amazing," says Corey Rose, an associate pastor helping to oversee the project. "You could be 100 years old and whisper into the microphone and be heard."

What's more, the space is designed to accommodate eventual expansion - with room for an additional 520 seats beneath the balcony and, if needed, an added 700 or more in an expanded balcony.

First and foremost, the sanctuary is intended as the primary worship space for First Baptist's 2,000-plus members. The church conducts three services - a traditional and two contemporary versions - every Sunday morning. The congregation will be celebrating and dedicating the completion of the new sanctuary during all three services today (8:45 a.m., 10:05 a.m. and 11:25 a.m.).

"But as God has blessed us, so we would like to bless the community," Rose says. "As he's provided these resources out here, we want to explore how to extend them to others."

The church has not actively marketed its space, and leaders caution that they're still working out the protocols for renting out the sanctuary and other portions of the 114,000-square-foot, $14 million building.

"What's surprised us is the amount of requests we've already received," Rose says, adding that the church expects to be able to honor only a fraction of such inquiries. In most cases, guest groups will have some direct connection with church leaders or members, and be judged consistent with the church's mission.

Past renters of classroom and auditorium space have ranged from police academies to the Special Olympics. As for the new sanctuary, churchgoers last weekend were treated to music by the Oregon Bach Festival's youth choral academy. Upcoming guests include the Pacific Northwest Gospel Association in November.

First Baptist moved into its colossal new complex, located just off Coburg Road on the north edge of town, in November 2003 - following a 16-month stayover at Eugene Christian Fellowship on North Game Farm Road. The burgeoning congregation had outgrown its landmark downtown church, which, as The Shedd Institute for the Arts, has become a popular music venue in its own right.

The church has four wings - for youths, children, administration and choir - with members until recently meeting for worship in an 800-seat auditorium that will eventually 
be used as a gym and meeting area for youths.

The timetable for the sanctuary's debut has been pushed back several times since last October. The elaborate space includes a "thrust stage" that puts the audience close to performers and offers welcoming sight lines, says Steve Maricle, the church's minister of worship and music. The stage includes a waved canopy that can be lowered or raised to maximize the acoustics and performers' ability to hear one another.

The floor consists of acid-stained concrete and the ceiling is a combination of steelwork and sheetrock designed to acoustically neutralize the building's attic space. The floor design is tiered, rather than raked, which will allow the church to set up portable tables and chairs and offer banquet dining in the room.

The sanctuary features natural lighting that can be filtered so as not to be too bright. Two large screens on each side of the stage provide a place for hymnal lyrics or performer close-ups.

As a music director, Maricle says what's exciting is to have a space that can accommodate the scope of First Baptist's music programs - from large chorale to small ensemble to contemporary folk, gospel, pop and Christian rock.

"It's a connection point, a beautiful place," he says of the space. "We want to make it available for the glory of the Lord."