First United Methodist Church

After outgrowing their location in the old downtown area of McAllen for over 80 years, First United Methodist Church established itself at its new location along McColl Rd North of Nolana. In their new building, they were forced to use their gymnasium as a sanctuary for nearly a decade. FUMC called for another capital campaign in 2014. The intent of which would allow for a separate Sanctuary building for the congregation apart from the gymnasium. This new 29,500 sf sanctuary building would also house an office suite, a small Sunday school child care area for day care during services, a choir area and plenty of storage.

Once inside the sanctuary, the visitor is compressed by the greeting area ceiling plane before being released into the large, high sanctuary space of vaulted wood beams and large ceiling cove light with undulating wood ceiling plane. The intent of the wood beams is two-fold. While the beams lead the eye towards the center cove light spine of the sanctuary, they also conceal several theatrical lighting trusses. Once the eye is gathered from the beams, the cove and undulating wood ceiling draw the eye of the visitor to above the center of the chancel to a 20' tall stained glass window set within a tall stone wall. The combination of 4 rectangular windows form a cross which is covered in wood matching the ceiling beams. Inside the north facing glass panels is a beautifully detailed stained art-glass window depicting the tree of life. The ceiling cove turns downward to become two large pilasters that simultaneously frame the choir while housing the speaker system for the organ. The back side of the chancel is also broken into three separate elements. While the center element is reserved for the choir, the two outer areas are covered in a special paint for confidence screen projection of scriptures and hymnal lyrics during

Instead of traditional pews, FUMC decided to use 491 fixed theater seats to offer a more comfortable experience. These seats were arranged in a fan surrounding the chancel area. The chancel area is wide enough to allow for a full choir, altar, pulpit, lectern, piano, organ and a praise band. The chancel is separated from the seating area by means of a de-mountable wood and steel communion rail.