{"id":416586,"date":"2026-08-25T21:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416586\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T21:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T21:08:08","slug":"st-andrew-methodist-church-celebrates-40th-anniversary-with-art-installation-featuring-more-than-2000-hand-folded-origami-birds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/416586\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Andrew Methodist Church celebrates 40th anniversary with art installation featuring more than 2,000 hand-folded origami birds"},"content":{"rendered":"

The installation, called SOAR, will feature doves and cardinals suspended throughout the church’s three worship spaces through January 2027.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

St. Andrew Methodist Church<\/a> will mark its 40th anniversary this September with an art installation bringing more than 2,000 hand-folded origami birds to its Plano campus.<\/p>\n

The installation, called SOAR, will feature doves and cardinals suspended throughout the church\u2019s three worship spaces. It will debut during St. Andrew\u2019s 40th anniversary worship services Sept. 12-13 and remain on display through January 2027.<\/p>\n

Brooklyn-based Taro\u2019s Origami Studio<\/a> designed the installation specifically for St. Andrew. Studio representatives visited the church earlier this year to develop designs for each worship space, while artists spent the summer folding the more than 2,000 birds by hand.<\/p>\n

In the sanctuary and Hasley Chapel, individual birds will be attached to large nets and suspended overhead to create the appearance of flocks moving through the spaces.<\/p>\n

According to St. Andrew, similar origami installations have appeared in churches around the world, but the Plano church will be the fourth in the United States and the first in the Southwest to host one. It will also be the first installation to incorporate cardinals alongside doves.<\/p>\n

Members of the congregation sponsored individual birds in honor or memory of people who have influenced their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cSOAR is a beautiful expression of where St. Andrew is headed as we look toward the next 40 years,\u201d Senior Pastor Rev. Arthur Jones said. \u201cIt symbolizes God\u2019s grace and presence and the strength He gives us to rise and embrace what lies ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

St. Andrew was founded in 1986 by the late Rev. Robert Hasley, beginning with a meeting of 20 people in a Plano home. Its first worship service at Shepton High School drew 500 people. The congregation moved to its current Plano campus in 1991 and today welcomes more than 2,000 people each weekend, according to the church.<\/p>\n

The anniversary weekend will also include special music. Composer John Wasson\u2019s newly commissioned anniversary piece will premiere with a symphonic brass orchestra during the 9:30 a.m. traditional service Sept. 13. A horn section will join the house band during contemporary services that morning.<\/p>\n

St. Andrew will offer public tours<\/a> of SOAR from 11 a.m. to noon on the first Thursday of each month beginning Oct. 1, with additional tours Nov. 5, Dec. 3 and Jan. 7. Groups of 12 or more can schedule private tours.<\/p>\n

The installation will remain at St. Andrew through January 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The installation, called SOAR, will feature doves and cardinals suspended throughout the church’s three worship spaces through January…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":416587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[145113,145114,145115,160,162,161,145116,40377,145117,145118],"class_list":["post-416586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-arthur-jones","tag-hasley-chapel","tag-john-wasson","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-shepton-high-school","tag-soar","tag-st-andrew-methodist-church","tag-taros-origami-studio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=416586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/416586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/416587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=416586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=416586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=416586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}