CHAMPAIGN – Meadowbrook Community Church on Sunday will dedicate its new $4 million addition.

The new building is more than 28,000 square feet, which more than doubles its current, 17,000-square-foot space.

Public dedication services at 1902 S. Duncan Road, C, will be at 8:45 and 10:30 a.m. with a reception from 10 to 10:30 a.m.

A central entryway opens into a commons area that looks like a carpeted hotel lobby. The ceiling soars to 18 feet and floor-to-ceiling windows on the south side frame and all-green view of Robeson Park.

And speaking of green, the congregation spent an extra $100,000 to install a geothermal heating and cooling system. Some 60 wells were drilled 150 feet deep each. Ground water – cooler than summer air and warmer than winter air – will be exchanged with heat to provide the building with climate control. The only fossil fuel required is electricity to operate water pumps, heat exchangers and fans. It is projected to save $20,000 per year in heating and cooling costs.

"We hope to recoup the cost in four years," said the Rev. Ron Strack, senior pastor.

P.J. Hoerr of Urbana was the general contractor, and Todd Weger of Champaign was the architect.

The church commons area, or lobby, contains a circular information desk, lots of soft leather sofas and armchairs, a kitchenette and cafe tables and chairs.

Flat-screen televisions project church announcements throughout the area. The screens also can be used for video lessons for a Bible study class that might choose to meet in the cafe area.

A colorful corner painted yellow, green and pink indicates the entrance to the nursery area. Besides a playroom, there are two additional rooms – one for sleeping children and another for mothers nursing infants.

A fireside room with a corner fireplace provides a small, private meeting space off the lobby.

Sets of double doors lead to the sanctuary that Strack says will now seat about 500 on movable chairs.

"The old sanctuary seated a crammed-in 250," he said.

About 450 people attend services every Sunday, and the church will retain its two morning services so that the parking lot will accommodate all the cars attending each service.

Part of the south wall of the new sanctuary also has floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the city park. A concrete outdoor patio overlooking the park will provide more seating on good weather days.

A wide hallway with arched skylight windows in the ceiling connects the old and new parts of the building.

The old sanctuary gets a new name and some remodeling.

"We're calling it the fish tank and will use it for children's and youth programs," Strack said.

Workers were building partitions this week to make a backstage area for the old sanctuary stage.

The area already has a full kitchen and is connected to a two-story classroom wing.

Strack envisions sometimes filling the old sanctuary with inflatable games to occupy children and lessen their anxiety when parents drop them off. Part of the new addition is a west-side wing close to Duncan Road that eventually will be finished to hold offices.

A playground also is still under construction.

Church members were asked to make three-year pledges to pay for the new construction. One reason given for expansion was that whole families would be able to attend midweek activities together, instead of youths meeting on one night, younger children on another and adults on yet another night.

The Meadowbrook congregation is 28 years old. It began as Champaign Assembly of God Church in 1980. Services were held at Bresnan Meeting Center, and then the Seventh-day Adventist Church on South Mattis Avenue.

It was 1984 when the congregation bought the old YMCA gymnastics facility. Church members called the metal building "The Tin Tabernacle." A 1991 addition added four classrooms, offices, additional restrooms and a commons area.

In the early 1990s, the church changed its name from Assembly of God, the denomination with which it is affiliated, to Meadowbrook Community Church. The idea was to reflect more emphasis on community outreach.

Strack is the congregation's fifth settled, senior pastor. He and his wife Sandy arrived from Des Moines, Iowa, nine years ago.