Interfaith Design

I agree with Scott-great questions.

1. Often smaller or start-up faith-based projects come with small budgets.  How do you strategize with church representatives to align funds with design priorities? I agree with what others have said-we have been able to design over 100 church projects as a small firm but have never had a project where the budget wasn't half or less of the stated needs! (We haven't done projects in TX - Sorry, I had to poke fun :) I do believe that an aspiring vision, "thick" programming, and a strong "story" can raise more funds than expected. 
2. Though each faith-based project is unique, perhaps there is a common approach to the design process.  Do you have a process template or outline that you reference at the beginning of each project?  If so, please share a summary of this outline. We don't do even small projects without a "thick" programming session.
3. What challenges have you faced working with committees versus having a staff member be your main point of contact? How does that affect your process? Similar to others, we insist on only one point of contact. We use Task Forces instead of Committees, but only during PD.
4. What is your experience designing for non-denominational churches?  How does designing for these communities differ from traditional churches? We have found that theology informs how we are treated as Architects and how the project flows. In liturgical churches, Architects are more trusted professionals that can lead the project, where Non-denom's (my world) tend to be more suspicious of being led. It's sad, but us non-denom's are not used to hierarchy and accountability.
5.  Sometimes one simple design move can have a lot of impact ("more bang for the buck!).  Can you provide an example of such a design move or feature that helped bring success to a faith-based project? Agreed. One simple tip: Avoid hallways. As one example, in the children's areas, we have a children's "Lobby" directly accessed from main lobby that doubles as a parent drop-off area, then the children's worship/ gathering area, while all of the classrooms open into this space with glass garage doors or in other ways. We did a new 50K sf 1,100-seat church with only 63' of hallway over two stories.