TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Church To Open School

ADVERTISEMENT

By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

LITHIA - In a field where citrus once ripened and livestock once grazed, the Lutheran church plans to raise creatures of another kind: little lambs of God.

The area's newest Lutheran congregation, Lamb of God Lutheran Mission, is three months into an ambitious plan to construct a 16,425-square-foot early childhood center at 10560 Browning Road in Lithia. The facility will serve the growing population of young families moving into the area.

The center is on 18.5 acres the Lutheran church purchased three years ago when Immanuel Lutheran Church in Brandon decided to start the missionary church in Lithia, which began meeting in a modular home on the property Thanksgiving Day two years ago.

Before long, the congregation swelled to 200 members, said the Rev. Mark Wood, mission pastor on loan from Immanuel Lutheran.

Rather than build a permanent sanctuary, the Lutheran church turned its attention toward developing an early childhood ministry, Wood said.

The idea is based on the Lutheran Synod's Open Arms Institute's model. The church discovered that, as residents create communities on the fringes of metropolitan areas, they often need something more than a good homily to draw them to church.

The Open Arms Institute's model attracts young families with an early childhood center. Then, as families of children at the center feel a need for spiritual guidance, they naturally gravitate toward the familiar church next door.

"It's a model that's been used by over 30 congregations around the country," said Wood, noting that Martin Barlau, director of the Open Arms Institute, based in Colorado, was at one time a principal at Immanuel Lutheran School in Brandon.

The $2.8 million early childhood center will have eight classrooms, including one for infants age 6 weeks and older. Toddlers will have a separate classroom and play area. In all, the center will accommodate 218 children up to 5 years old and offer after-school programs.

Among the features Wood hopes will attract parents are security equipment, including a closed-circuit monitoring system that will allow parents to keep an eye on their children via computer, and locked doors accessed by swipe cards.

"Security's very important in this day and age," Wood said.

Although high-tech below the surface, the center will look as if it has stood on Browning for 100 years.

Wood and his wife, Mary Ellen, a decorator, fell in love with southern California's Spanish mission style of architecture and decided to transport it to Lithia, with the help of RDJ Architects and TriMar Construction. The companies are working with the congregation on authentic detail, such as arches, a courtyard with a fountain, Spanish-inspired ironwork and tile, walls that look like ancient stucco, columns and a bell tower with a 750-pound bronze bell from a church in Montreal.

Wood insisted the old bell keep its rope, rather than be outfitted with an electric ringer, so children can pull the bell on their birthdays. The tower will be topped by an 8-foot, custom-made, Spanish-style Celtic aluminum cross.

"The Spanish mission style is timeless and blends well in a rural setting," Wood said. "We'll be using the same architecture in all of the buildings we construct on the property, and the shape of the bell tower will be a theme we'll repeat in every building."

Child care won't be the only service the fully licensed early childhood center will offer. The staff also plans to offer busy parents other perks, including laundry services and prepared frozen meals to go.

The community in general also will reap the benefits, Wood said. The center will include a 3,200-square-foot multipurpose room with a kitchen available for community meetings, gatherings, weddings and other functions.

"It's another way we hope to be of service to the community," Wood said.

After three years of dreaming, planning, revising and finally overseeing construction of the center, Wood said he's looking forward to hiring a director in March and opening the center in time for the 2008 school year.

Then Wood barely will have time to catch his breath before beginning the next phase of the church's development plan.

"While all this work was going on, a congregation happened," Wood said, noting that the mission is hosting two services in the modular building and did not anticipate needing a permanent sanctuary so soon.

So the congregation may have to fast-forward its plans to build a 300- to 400-seat sanctuary in front of the early childhood center. Eventually, the campus will accommodate five buildings, soccer fields and an outdoor chapel and park open to the public.

The property also is home to an early 1900s white-frame building that once was used as Lithia's post office and general store. Wood hopes to work with the community to preserve the old building on the property, possibly to be used as a coffee shop or Christian bookstore.

He has also taken pains to save as many of the property's grand oaks as possible, and he would like to incorporate them into an outdoor chapel with a pond and water feature surrounded by "Luther's Prayer Walk," a path where people can reflect, pray and escape the hustle and bustle.

For Wood, who moved to Brandon in August 1999 as a vicar and was ordained a pastor at Immanuel Lutheran, building a congregation from scratch has been challenging and rewarding.

"It's really exciting being involved in something from the concept up," he said. It's the hardest work I've ever done, but the most fun I've had doing it."
Lamb of God Early Childhood Center is accepting names of potential students. Call (813) 653-2354.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT