To determine how best to design their facility, I first met with the church board for four hours on a Saturday morning. Next I spent several days studying the church`s ministries, finances, and use of facilities. Finally, I felt like I had the facts I needed to draft my proposal. I met with the board again the following Saturday. "What you really need to build," I announced, "is a storage shed." Had the church invited me a year and a half earlier, I would have designed a thousand-seat sanctuary and cheered them on. "The building will bring more people to Christ," I`d have said. "Its beauty will draw you closer to God. People will notice you`re here and that you`re an important part of the community. During 30 years of designing church buildings, I`d heard all these claims from pastors and church boards. I`d seen no reason not to accept their assumption that bigger buildings translated into greater ministry. But then I began church consulting work. It was this new hat I was wearing - consultant rather than architect - that ...