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Victory Christian Center, Tulsa, OK

The story of one man’s vision surpassing even his highest dreams

by Alison Istnick     Added September 01, 2008

As published in Worship Facilities, Sep/Oct 2008

God’s dreams are higher than our own. Just ask Senior and Founding Pastor Billy Joe Daughtery of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Victory Christian Center. Years ago, when he received a “big picture” vision for his current church, Daughtery didn’t know the incredible details that God would use to fulfill his promise.

It began during the late 1980s when Daugherty was driving along South Lewis Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma. While looking out over a parcel of land he was struck with a vision; the image of a V-shaped building on that very property became etched in his mind. Daugherty sketched the building onto a piece of paper and through a “series of miracles” that property at 7700 South Lewis Ave. was acquired.

Today, the sketch remains as the master plan behind the ever-evolving, 330,000-square-foot “V” (for Victory)-shaped facility that includes five buildings: the Victory Bible Institute, an educational facility with a triple-sized gymnasium, a technically state-of-the-art, 5,000-seat-capacity worship center, a three-story children’s “Creation” building, and an octagonal-shaped structure that encapsulates a mall-sized carousel and indoor playground. One element shared by these separate structures is an amazing energy sparked by the melding of extreme creativity and a tremendous zeal to reach the lost.

Getting Started
In 1996, Victory initiated discussions with an architect, Clarence Shaw, president of Church Design Build Services based in Houston, Texas. “We worked on some preliminary plans and then shelved the project because Victory desired to raise the funds to pay cash for the facility,” Shaw reports.

With money in hand, the facility project was launched in 2000. Victory’s goal was to design a 10,000-seat worship venue. Shaw explains, “[Now] we have built the first half, which is in place with 5,000 seats. It’s designed so that it can be doubled in capacity very easily at a later date.”

Moving Mountains
“This was very much a multi-phase project,” states Doug Cason, project manager with Daniels & Daniels Construction of Tulsa, Oklahoma, hired to complete the physical task of building Victory’s new facility, and to help coordinate all project consultants and trades. One of the challenges during construction was a continuous stopping and starting on the job site due to the lack or availability of funds for the cash-only building. Daniels & Daniels and its staff were willing to work with the church to achieve the vision of a debt-free facility.

“While not a problem, this required some special handling of the project as well as extending the time period for its completion,” Cason says. “In order to create additional savings, we also incorporated several of their members in areas to help with things like carpentry. In the end, we were able to effectively work together with the church to fulfill their goals.” Currently, work is under way to complete the third level of the children’s building and to add finishing details to the facility’s full television studios.

Besides a track record building churches of all sizes, Daniels & Daniels offers what they call “construction management services.” Cason notes, “There is a difference between the two [a general contractor and construction management services]. A general contractor subs out the work to subcontractors, which often means extra costs added on. We are more on the side of the owner, where we offer all the same services as a general contractor—but we do it for a set fee upfront instead of a percentage of the total amount. We are constantly shopping the trades trying to get the most for the least amount.” The flexibility on both the side of church and the builder resulted in substantial savings, according to reports from both.

The auditorium’s size dictated steel construction. The immense room features a non-load-bearing wall. “When capacity is reached, they can simply remove one side wall so that the design of the seating and the stage can be mirrored to seat 10,000. That area right now is used for parking,” Cason adds.

Traffic Flow – Pedestrian and Vehicle
Victory’s ability to move a high volume of people into and out of their new worship center was a major concern in the planning stages. To expedite foot traffic to and from the upper balconies, the church planned for one escalator, but ended up installing another model. Before and after services, the direction on the chosen escalator can be changed to move attendees efficiently.

Also crucial to traffic flow are the wide-open hallways that enwrap the auditorium on both the first and second levels. “We designed a corridor system that, in addition to moving large amounts of people, has multiple entrances and exits out of the auditorium that assist in unloading people directly out into the parking lots, if they desire to leave and not linger in the bookstore or café,” says Shaw. To assist the influx of automobiles, Victory built a foot and vehicle bridge over a creek on their property. The new egress connects with a side street paralleling the campus. Shaw notes, “There was a concern of cars being able to exit the campus in a timely manner. We presently have 1,800 [parking] spaces, but in the future we will need 3,000 when we expand our auditorium. There are talks about the possibility of a multi-level parking garage adjacent to the auditorium for future parking.”

Creative Comforts
As attendees pull onto the campus, they are greeted by a prominent exterior feature: a V-shaped, two story wall of glass rising up to a cross. The dramatic glass walls, designed to draw attention to the main entrance, are a series of five-foot by five-foot glass mullions staggered horizontally and vertically in a checkerboard pattern. The two-pane insulated windows allow ample light to spill onto the bronze and amber stone flooring of the lobby.

Principal Designer Gena Smith of GS Interior Design in Tulsa, Oklahoma, elaborates on Victory’s interior scheme, meant to appeal to a broad spectrum of tastes. “Victory’s main building is a heavily used multi-purpose building. I knew that everything would have to be quadruple-function,” says Smith. “Especially in the main lobby, I wanted to go for a classic—almost hotel lobby-inspired feel—with colors that are timeless and not so apt to date the project.”

The lobby is filled with warm, welcoming classic neutrals. The floor is golden travertine-look porcelain tile, with accents of gold and glossy “Black Galaxay” granite. The pay off for Smith’s classic neutral design is a church lobby that plays double duty as an area to host wedding receptions (ceremonies are held in Victory’s first or second floor chapels). “We can even turn around welcome kiosks in our lobby to use as serving pieces or guest book tables,” says Smith.

For a splash of color, Smith included a rich teal blue wall at one end of the café. Smith elaborates, “I used what you might call trendier colors for a pop of energy. Accent walls or carpets can be changed at a later date rather inexpensively—we want our money to go into the missions’ field, not into extensive redecorating down the road.” An area of booth seating, also in the lobby, creates a niche abundant with hues of copper, bronze, and surprises of teal. Pendant lights overhead vary in length, scale, and shades of color to add variety and interest. Directly across from the café, a large water wall feature helps to minimize the typical sounds of a cafeteria. “The running water sound is enjoyable to the diners as well,” Smith adds.

The Barnes and Noble-esque bookstore is painted in shades of honey-blonde that “look great in any type of lighting,” Smith reports. To help showcase the the bookstore’s products, Smith employed this interior designer’s technique: “The aqua blue family is great color for a backdrop when using product placements. Many of our books have photographed portraits. Skin tones tend to look really good in front of blue, which we used for the shelves.” An orange flame pattern on the carpet helps to break up the linear lines of the shelving and “draws your eyes into the space.” Overhead is a spacious vaulted ceiling (the underside of the upper bleachers). A metal grid system was created as a place to suspend tech-style lighting fixtures. “The grid helps to accommodate more of a human scale, so you’re not relying on lights way up in the vaulted ceiling,” Smith says.

The hallways that wrap around the auditorium turned out to be one of the designer’s favorite spots. The large airy corridor system is dotted with wall sconces that are set on stone-look half columns. As Smith describes, “When the overhead lights are turned off and the sconces are on, the lights give off almost a torch effect against the columns, especially for evening services and weddings. This effect furthers the sense of welcome to visitors and members of Victory alike.”

Where the halls were designed to feel spacious and welcoming, the goal of the auditorium was to take a large volume of space and make it feel more intimate. A creative use of wall paint helped Smith accomplish this feat. A soft cocoa color covers walls that are divided by accent panels and columns, subtly breaking up the scale of the space. “By deepening the value of our wall color back towards the upper balconies, you help the area not to feel cave-like. On the very back wall we used a rich espresso color that stops the eye. Had the color choice been a pale color, your eye would have been drawn to the rear wall and away from the stage proscenium,” she explains.

Reaching Children, Reaching Families
Victory’s three-story children’s ministry building is built around the entire theme of creation. “We wanted to put out an obvious and excellent example to the world that creation was God’s design from the very beginning,” states Bruce Edwards, Victory’s associate pastor. The entire story of creation is replicated in a way that children can get excited about and relate to. Families often walk through the building just to view the murals and 3D structures—huge aquariums; a 3D bi-plane and submarine; a glowing, smoking volcano; and a bounty of animals, fish, and birds that seem to leap off the walls through a mix of 2D and 3D art. Canyon Lake, Texas’s Planit Big Productions, a creator of themed environments, and mural artist Lisa Huffer helped bring the children’s ministry to life, creating a combination of 3D dense foam creatures and colorful wall murals.

A separate octagonal building features a remodeled carousel to fit the building’s Oklahoma theme. The star attractions are natural looking horses that prance under a canvas reminiscent of covered wagons in days of old. Around the building, thickly matted flooring helps cushion the falls of children as they enjoy Oklahoma’s largest indoor play structure (think McDonald’s times 100).

Edwards summarizes, “What I would like to leave in the hearts and minds of people is that we’ve never been about the physical structure. For example, we have a vision to reach 5,000 children every weekend. That vision is the energy behind our children’s ministry. Our Creation facility gives us the space and a way to attract those families. Our church has been careful not to get too infatuated with or focused on the buildings. We’re blessed, we’re thankful—but for us our facility is just another tool to reach more people.”

Alison Istnick is a regular contributing writer for Church Production Magazine and Worship Facilities Magazine. She can be reached at aistnick@churchproduction.com.

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