Calvary Baptist Church Clearwater, Florida
By: Jennifer Walker-Journey

Calvary Baptist Church is deeply rooted in the history of Clearwater, Florida. Founded in 1866 as Midway Baptist Church, the first building was a log cabin. By the early 1900s, the church inhabited a building in downtown Clearwater and had changed its name to Calvary Baptist Church of Clearwater.

Years of growth followed, and the church added buildings to house education buildings, Sunday school space, a fellowship hall, a kitchen, and chapel. In 1997, it opened a day care, and, in August 2000, the church started Calvary Christian High School.

"We were in that downtown facility for 80 years. It's a historic church," said Senior Pastor Willy Rice, who joined Calvary as senior pastor in 2004, but attended the church when he was younger.

The space was more than adequate for the church's needs, Rice said. But the location was presenting challenges.

"Parking was an issue, and there was limited visibility, limited accessibility," he said.

In 2000, after years of discussion among church staff and members, Calvary voted to relocate on 28 acres of property across town in an effort to better reach the community it served.

Calvary hired Precept Builders out of Texas to oversee the construction of a worship center and Christian school, and Precept's general contractor Terry Brown served as the field supervisor.

"It was a great project," Brown said. "I enjoyed the client, and we had a great team working down there."

The plans for the new building covered more than 170,000 square feet and included, among other items, a sanctuary that towered more than 60 feet above the ground. Florida building codes require new buildings there to be built to withstand hurricane-force winds. Brown knew the building would require materials that not only would be sturdy, but also be attractive and low-maintenance enough to work on a church structure.

Brown enlisted the services of Seretta Construction, Inc., a leading commercial concrete subcontractor based in Orlando, specializing in tilt-wall construction and specialty slabs. The tilt-up process is a growing trend among buildings in Florida and one that is just beginning to catch on with churches, according to Andrew McPherson, president of Seretta.

"Churches are seeing that these concrete walls are not just a big box," he said. "They're seeing it on high-end retail stores and schools and that it looks nice."

Tilt-wall concrete construction is a technique that involves laying panels on a slab or special casting surface. Panels are then formed, and a bond breaker is applied. Structural reinforcing is added to the panels before the concrete is poured in and cured. Then the forms are removed and bracing is installed. The panel is then moved into a vertical position and braced. The pour strip is backfilled with material or rock, and then this section of slab is placed. Panels are then patched and rubbed. The result is a strong, sturdy concrete wall.

In 1987, when Seretta Construction was founded by McPherson's father, Richard J. McPherson, P.E., the tilt-wall concept was popular in states like Texas and California, but still relatively new in Florida. Working with a somewhat unknown technique offered both challenges and opportunities for the company. However, it didn't take long for architects and builders in Florida to see the benefits of tilt-wall construction.

According to McPherson, it's stronger, generally faster to install, and can be less expensive than other, more common building materials.

"For example, there are fewer joints than masonry, which can cause water intrusion and leaking," he said.

"Calvary is a pretty self-sufficient building," added Tim Davis, vice president of field operations for Seretta, who worked on the Calvary Baptist Church project. "The tilt-walls are very low maintenance. The building will only need to be painted in the next five to 10 years. And, it's fairly safe. You can't break into nine-foot concrete wall very easily."

Calvary chose to add decorative cross inlays to the concrete walls, which were added to panels via reveal strips before the concrete was poured. When the walls were tilted up, the decorative cross impressions were revealed. The work was impressive enough to earn Seretta Construction an award from the Tilt-Up Concrete Association, a national association designed to expand and improve the use of tilt-up by providing education and resources that enhance quality and performance.

The tilt-wall process for the Calvary Baptist Church building took nine months to complete. Overall, it took 15 months for the building to be finished and ready for use.

The new building, according to Pastor Rice, has served the church well.

"We like the building," he said. "It's a great facility. And, it's very functional."

Precept Builders, www.preceptbuilders.com, has offices Dallas, Texas; Fort Worth, Texas; and Rogers, Arkansas. Its commercial and retail capabilities spread across all portions of the United States.

Seretta Construction, www.seretta.com, with offices in Orlando and Charlotte, North Carolina,, is a leader in tilt-wall construction and specialty slabs throughout the Central and Eastern United States and the Caribbean .

In a Nutshell

Church: Calvary Baptist Church

Location: Clearwater, Florida

Congregation Size: 2,800

Project Goal: Move church from downtown location into new location across town

Size: 170,000 square feet

Cost: $22 million

Challenge: Florida building codes require buildings to be strong enough to withstand hurricane-force winds. With a sanctuary towering more than 60 feet in the air, special measures had to be taken.

Solution: Tilt-wall concrete walls are a new and growing trend in church construction, and they are strong enough to handle Florida's hurricanes.