Last night, our team had the privilege of attending the building dedication for Summitcreek Church in Grimes, Iowa. During the dedication, we were reminded of something that made the evening even more meaningful: Summitcreek has been a portable church for 11 years. After more than a decade of setting up, tearing down, and creating a place for ministry week after week, they now have a permanent church home.
Our relationship with Summitcreek began in August 2021, when Pastor Jonathan Palmer and his team came to LIVE Design Group for a LIVE Session. The goal was bigger than simply designing a building. Together, we began exploring what a permanent home could look like for Summitcreek and how the facility could support worship, connection, children, volunteers, staff, and the continued growth of their ministry.
Our LIVE Design Process is centered on collaboration. Instead of designing in isolation and presenting a solution later, we bring the client into the process from the beginning. During Summitcreek’s LIVE Session, we worked together to study programming, relationships between spaces, circulation, ministry needs, and how the building could best support the way they serve people. Ideas were developed and tested in real time, allowing their team to see the project take shape and participate in the decisions along the way.
The result is a 26,500-square-foot permanent church home centered around a 650-seat worship auditorium. The facility also includes commons and gathering areas, children’s ministry environments, classrooms, Growth Track and Dream Team spaces, offices, production areas, storage, and the support spaces necessary for ministry throughout the week.
The worship auditorium serves as the central gathering space. The seating layout creates a strong relationship between the congregation and platform, while production and support spaces were incorporated around the room to serve the worship experience behind the scenes. Beyond the auditorium, the commons provides room for something equally important—connection. It gives people a place to gather before and after services while creating a natural transition to the children’s, classroom, and ministry areas throughout the building.
A significant portion of the facility is dedicated to children and families, with environments for nursery, toddlers, preschool, Pre-K/Kindergarten, elementary-age children, and classrooms. Clear circulation and age-specific environments help families understand where they are going and create a welcoming experience for children and parents alike. The building also provides dedicated areas for Growth Track, Dream Team, ministry resources, staff, and volunteers, recognizing that a church facility needs to support the people serving behind the scenes as much as the people arriving on Sunday morning.
Throughout the design, we considered how different people would experience the building. A first-time guest looking for the worship space has different needs than a parent checking in a child, a volunteer preparing to serve, or a staff member using the facility throughout the week. Thinking through those different experiences early in the design process helps create a building that feels intuitive and welcoming rather than becoming an obstacle to ministry.
Remembering how Summitcreek had been portable for 11 years, seeing the completed building took on a different perspective for us. For more than a decade, teams of people have been doing the work required to create church in a temporary environment week after week. Now, those volunteers can walk into spaces intentionally designed for the ministry they have been faithfully carrying out all these years.
That is what made the dedication so meaningful. The spaces we first discussed together in 2021 are no longer drawings, programming blocks, or renderings. The worship room is filled with people. The commons is a place for conversations. Children have spaces designed specifically for them. Volunteers have places to prepare and serve.
After 11 years of portable ministry, Summitcreek has a place to call home.
We are grateful to Pastor Jonathan Palmer and the entire Summitcreek Church team for trusting LIVE Design Group to be part of this journey. It was an honor to celebrate this milestone with them last night and to see their vision become a permanent place for ministry.
Congratulations, Summitcreek Church.
Welcome home.