Instead of just turning out the lights on the old two-level auditorium, which seats 4,400 people, it will be used for services tailored for the 18 to 20 something crowd known as Axis.  The new facility seats 7,200 and will continue its three weekend services along with a mid-week Wednesday service.  Also housed in the new facility's lower level is Promiseland, the children's ministry that serves infants through grade 5.  Children learn that Jesus loves them and wants to be their best friend, as well as how to live a life devoted to Jesus.

A very touching part of the service was when Bill Hybels, the Senior Pastor, asked board members, church elders and friends to come forward to join him and the other teaching pastors for the dedication prayer.  The pastors knelt for the prayer and continued kneeling while "You are Standing on Sacred Ground" was sung.  Charlotte Hanlon, MSI's Executive Assistant, said, "I could almost see all of God's angels filling the church, even through the tears in my eyes."

They also stressed the work that went into the building by bringing out a pallet loader stacked with blueprints and said that this was less than 1/2 of the prints it took to complete the new Willow Creek sanctuary.  The eight hundred construction workers that worked on the building attended the a Saturday night service.

God has changed thousands of lives and eternities, prompting Bill Hybels, Willow Creek founder and senior pastor to reflect recently, "I've come to believe more deeply than ever that the local church is the hope of the world."