Q: Our church is transitioning from a traditional worship style to a more contemporary style in order to attract younger families moving into our community. While the pastor's message and the music have already made this transition, we think it's time to update the look of the sanctuary, but we've run into resistance from longtime members who are worried about costs. Any suggestions on how I can convince them that change doesn't have to be expensive?

A: Simple changes may be the best way to start. Consider simply repainting the sanctuary with a color that more closely matches your contemporary vision. Maybe there are moldings or trim that can be removed to make the space look less traditional. Even rearranging the furniture can help make a sanctuary seem less formal. There might be an interior designer or decorator in your church who could give you some free advice.

One of the easiest ways to contemporize a church is to change the seating from traditional pews to flexible seating, such as chairs. It will cost more than paint, but the results will be dramatic. Bertolini, a manufacturer of stackable sanctuary seating, can be a great resource for you. They understand your members' fear of change and concern about costs, and have helped many churches make the transition from traditional furnishings to contemporary seating. They have even developed a kit designed to help you through the process.

The "Partners Together Media Kit" includes video and cassette tapes which address the concerns churches like yours have already faced. The tapes will help you think through the issues that come up as you make the transition, including ideas to help you raise the money needed to pay for new furnishings. The kit even includes creative letters and flyers to help you to get started.

Even though we clean our sanctuary carpets regularly, it still seems to get a lot of stains. How can we keep our carpet looking fresh?

First, check with your carpet manufacturer to see what they recommend. Second, always test any cleaning solution in an unobtrusive area before attempting to clean a large stain to ensure the solution won't hurt the carpet. Here is a short list of common "sanctuary stains":

Communion Wine: Try an absorbent powder; if that fails blot with warm water.

Fruit Juice: Blot the stain with clear warm water; if that doesn't work, try carpet shampoo. In both cases, try a 2 percent solution of sodium hydrosulphite.

Candle Wax: Blot the stain using absorbent paper with a hot iron. This should pull up the wax, but if not, try dry-cleaning fluid.

When it is time to get new carpet, look for solution-dyed carpets or those with special stain-resistant fibers. For high traffic areas, consider a patterned carpet that closely matches the color of your local soil, as it will camouflage the dirt. Some carpets can also be "tiled," allowing you to remove a section for heavy cleaning. Tiles can be rotated from heavily-trafficked areas to less-traveled areas, helping the carpet to wear evenly. And if a stain is particularly nasty, you can even replace that particular tile.

The good news is our church is doing more baptisms. The bad news is the pastor is doing a lot of preaching in wet clothes. How can we keep baptism as a part of worship without interrupting the flow of the service while we wait for the pastor to change clothes or take off hip waders?

What if your pastor could perform baptisms without getting wet?

Marv's Fiberglass, Inc. of Scio, Oregon, makes the "dry preacher" baptistery, which can be permanently installed in the church or modified into a portable unit. Mary Glaser, wife of owner Marvin Glaser, explains that the person being baptized is seated in the unit, while the pastor, standing behind the unit, simply reaches in and lays the person back into the water from the sitting position. Since the pastor isn't in the water, he won't have to change clothes or wear hip waders, so baptisms can be done at any point during the service. An added benefit of this system is regardless of the candidate's size, the pastor lifts very little weight during the process—good news for pastors with bad backs.

The baptistery is made of molded fiberglass in a one-piece construction that is narrow enough to go through a standard 36-inch doorway. It includes non-skid steps on one end (single entry), a floor, and a seat that ensures that the person can easily be seen by the congregation. Unlike traditional baptisteries that require hundreds of gallons of water and a special heater, Marv's baptistery needs only 140 gallons and can be heated to the proper temperature by mixing hot and cold water from an existing 52-gallon hot water heater.

Marv's Fiberglass has been making this same model for over 16 years. "If our particular unit does not meet the needs of those who inquire, we are happy to give them the names and phone numbers of companies that may be able to help them," says Glaser. If your church design isn't well suited to Marv's baptistery, or if you need other portable options, check out Wiedemann Church Products in Muscatine, Iowa. They offer over 150 different styles and a large selection of portable baptisteries.

Our steeple has taken a beating from the weather, and now it's taking a beating from cellular companies who want to use it as a base station. While the extra income would be nice, we don't want to change the look of the steeple. On the other hand, if we don't do something soon, high winds may force us to do it anyway. Any advice?

Contact Fiberglass Specialties, Inc., in Henderson, Texas, to discuss your specific needs. Not only can they handle special requests, they also have experience working with cellular companies. Larry Lydick, director of marketing and sales, says, "We offer custom solutions for many churches that are constructing new facilities or want to replicate an existing steeple that needs to be replaced. Also, we are the only steeple manufacturer in the United States that offers products approved by all cellular providers as bases for cell towers and dishes." Lydick says churches that qualify as a base station for the installation of a cellular array often enjoy extra income and possibly even a new steeple at no charge.

We need to purchase new tables but can't agree on the size. One day the tables will be used by middle school students and the next day by preschoolers. If we buy tables that fit somewhere in the middle, the older kids complain and the preschoolers can't reach the art supplies. Is there such as thing as an adjustable table?

Yes! Check out McCourt Manufacturing's Web page. McCourt makes adjustable tables in a variety of colors and sizes. You can order them in primary colors or wood-grained finishes, and in standard shapes such as round, square, and rectangle. They also have kid-friendly shapes such as clover, octagon, kidney, flower, and horseshoe.

Jeff Weatherly of Trinity Lutheran Church and School uses 20 of the adjustable tables in the school's day school computer lab. "There is usually more than one person at the computer," says Weatherly, noting that most computer workstations are designed for a single user. "At a table, two students, or a student and teacher, can sit comfortably. The adjustable tables also allow us to lower the height for younger students and raise it for the older students."

If you are also looking for standard-sized tables for other areas of the church, consider McCourt's Commercialite Tables. These tables use new blow-mold technology to produce folding tables with a wishbone style leg assembly and gravity locks. Tammy Helliker of McCourt Manufacturing says, "These plastic folding tables are just as strong and durable—if not more so—as the traditional plastic folding tables, yet available at a fraction of the cost." Color choices include brown tables with bronze legs and gray with black legs. These tables are also available with adjustable legs. They are lightweight, carry a five-year warranty and can be used indoors or outdoors.

We love our PhoneTree hardware system that allows us to automatically call any group in the church and deliver a message, but sometimes it's just not convenient to use. For example, last summer when a water main broke flooding the church on a Saturday night, we couldn't use it because we couldn't get to it. Likewise, when the youth went to Mexico, we wanted to update our parents with urgent prayer requests, but obviously we couldn't take PhoneTree with us, and making multiple international calls would be too expensive! Is there another option?

There is! Personal Communication Systems (PCS), the maker of PhoneTree hardware, has introduced a new online system called myPhoneTree.com. It's similar to the PhoneTree hardware, except the lists are maintained online. You access a Web page to set up the call information and then dial an 800 number to leave a voice message. The system then uses multiple phone lines to make simultaneous calls.

The benefits over your existing system are that you can initiate calling from anywhere in the world, and the system most likely has more phone lines than your church does, so calls are completed in less time! Cost for the service is $.20 per call or you can pay a monthly fee that gives you up to 200 calls for free.

With this system, you could have called every member of the church on Saturday night to tell them to leave their Bibles and Sunday dresses at home and to show up for services dressed in hip-waders, carrying buckets! Keep your existing hardware, though; there are times when you may prefer it to the online version (for example, when making calls to small groups or calls that aren't time sensitive).

Jennifer Schuchmann (jschuchmann@bellsouth.net) is a management consultant and writer in the Atlanta area.