Over 1,300 little origami birds took flight for the first time at St. Andrew Methodist Church. The 8,000-member megachurch unveiled the first step in a major arts project, dubbed SOAR, celebrating the church’s 40th anniversary.
The project was built on more than just a wing and a prayer. Origami artists Ben Friesen and Frank Ling from New York’s Taro’s Origami Studio were at the church’s sanctuary for the official lift-off ceremony, Sept. 3, after around six months of planning and hand-folding.
Similar origami installations have been featured in churches around the world, but St. Andrew is only the fourth church in the United States and the first in the Southwest to take on the project. St. Andrew is also believed to be the first to feature paper cardinals alongside doves…