New Face for Older Space
By Dr. Ruffin Snow

We would all love to have brand-new space for our preschoolers and children. After all, we love these kids, and Jesus does, too. And, their parents are very sensitive to the ambience of their space at church. But for one reason or another, many of us are stuck, for the present, with older space for our younger parishioners.

As a pastor, I knew the importance of cheerful, inviting space, as did our preschool and children workers. But, you can’t make a silk purse our of a sow’s ear, or so I thought. Our new children’s pastor, Shannon Childers, put on a brave face as he was confronted with an aging metal building with halls that were too narrow and rooms that were too small for today’s children’s needs. After moving walls, installing new restroom fixtures and classroom furnishings, and putting in one-way parental observation mirrors, the look of the place was still, well, boring.

Enter mural artist Roger Carroll. What a walking bundle of imagination, creativity and artistic talent! He had the expertise and ingenuity to transform dull, lifeless walls into something that both the children and their parents enjoy seeing and telling people about.

In keeping with the themes of our preschool and children’s ministries curricula, each hallway and area follows its own focus. For example, the preschool vicinity is known as “Waumba Land.” Waumba is the Swahili word for creation. So, those walls literally come alive with beautiful depictions of the six days of creation. Kids and parents alike delight in the Garden of Eden scenes of gorgeous flowers, animals and water effects. Along the opposite walls from these scenes are the corresponding biblical texts of the Genesis account of creation on an unrolling scroll.

Grade-school children find themselves in an environment known as “Up Street.” This is a favorite of many parents as well as church member who don’t have children. Here, Carroll’s sense of humor really comes through. The walls form a continuous street scene, and, through the window of the barber’s shop, you can see the likeness of a church staff member who takes a great deal of kidding about his “never a hair out of place” hairstyle. Two other staff members are seen through the bars of the local jail. The senior pastor’s name adorns the café, and his wife gives her moniker to the sweet shop.

The movie theater’s marquee is used to advertise the monthly themes of the children’s curriculum. People are continually examining the murals of “Up Street” to find the happy subtleties. A flashing stoplight hangs from the ceiling at the intersection of the hallways, and various three-dimensional items add to the fun.

Perhaps the opus magnus is the foyer area, where the parents check their children and receive their security cards. Entering this space is truly like stepping underwater into an aquarium. Magnificent killer whales, bottle-nosed dolphins, sharks and the like are all around. Pretty little clown fish, star fish, and angel fish abound. Much like an extreme makeover, Carroll took our old welcome center desk and transformed it into a sunken, three-mast schooner that extends into the painting on the wall. This is where the security computer monitors are, as well as the equipment for making and scanning the security cards that mean so much to safety-conscious parents.

All this painting and beautification was done at a surprisingly low outlay of the Lord’s money. I began pasturing more than 40 years ago, and I would have to say that I have never seen anything so cost-effective in terms of improving the feel and ambience of children’s space.

We all know that in church work, it is difficult to please everyone, or even almost everyone. But, I would have to say that I believe everyone loves the walls in our children’s building. This is a project that has no detractors. We embarked upon it to cheer up some old and dull hallways. But, when we do a bran-new children’s building, we will again employ Roger Carroll to beautify and bring some sparkle to the walls.

Dr. Ruffin Snow is the senior pastor of Tri-City Baptist Church in Conover, North Carolina. Roger Carroll can be reached at www.muralsbycarroll.com.