MSI works the angles for Congregational Church

Workers install acoustical roof decking over the sanctuary at the Fox River Congregational Church in Pewaukee. Photos courtesy of Fox River Church

The Fox River Congregational Church will make history on Oct. 16.

On that day, the congregation will celebrate its first service in its first church. It’s a day that MSI General Corp. has been working toward since January 2003.

“This is a significant milestone in the life of the congregation, and we wanted to make sure it was worth the wait,” said Mike Brown, MSI’s project director on the church job.

The wait started in early 2001 when Dick and Marilyn Vitek founded the church. They worshipped for a short while in a hotel before switching to the Capitol Theater in Pewaukee in May 2001.

Shortly after, a land search, spurred on by a growing congregation, revealed a 30-acre lot about a mile east of the theater on Capitol Drive in Pewaukee. When the lot finally went on the market, the congregation found itself with its first property.

But closing on the property in February 2002 was easy compared to the challenge of building a 210-person capacity, 6,000-square-foot, single-story, slab-on-grade church on the site. Brown said the construction team had to match the congregation’s hopes for a church tucked into the woods but with visibility on Capitol Drive with the reality of a wooded property that has a severe downward slope from Capitol Drive.

“We had to strike a balance of visibility, respect to the beauty and dignity of the woods and getting a sanctuary on a flat piece of land,” Brown said. “There were no flat pieces of land. The civil engineering was a science project.”

But it wasn’t just the angle of the property that caused problems. The congregation didn’t want to randomly yank trees from the site, so the MSI team had to find a flat enough piece of land that matched the tree-removal designations.

The Fox River Congregational Church's new tower begins to take shape. Photos courtesy of Fox River Church

“There was not only an engineering exercise but pretty interesting visual observations, because sometimes you have to take the blinders off and walk the site,” Brown said. “We found a sweet spot that didn’t require significant fill and cutting.”

The spot presented a 7-foot grade difference between the front and back of the church. But it was manageable, Brown said, with the church’s small footprint.

With a spot selected, MSI went about building the congregation a home. And now, as MSI puts the final touches on the job, Brown said he thinks the finished product will be worth the effort.

“There are many projects in terms of church developments that are significantly larger,” he said. “But I can’t believe there’s a more rewarding experience than working with a new congregation on its first church on such a remarkable piece of property.”

- Chris Thompson