From the outside, the new children’s building at Cornerstone Church is just another white brick edifice on the sprawling North Side campus.
On the inside, it has Noah’s Ark built into its walls and roof, a two-story ship with 16 life-sized passengers — most with animatronic features, including a giraffe whose head bends from the floor to the second level.
In its 13 classrooms, high resolution wallpaper has animal themes, from bears and birds to safari and farm beasts.
Called The Ark, it cost almost $5 million and will open to the public Saturday and for church programs the next day. It aims to spur wonderment but also to underscore the Bible’s authenticity, said Matthew Hagee, executive pastor.
“I want them to say it happened,” he said. “The Ark was real. Salvation is real. What God desires for Noah, God desires for me. For Noah, it was a boat. And for me, it was Jesus Christ.”
