Big News

Good morning,

I have some very exciting news to pass along to you! 

We will be having a congregational meeting on Tuesday, September 9^th at 7 pm at the church.  The purpose of the meeting is to present the building expansion project that the exploratory committee has been working on for the past year.

This work has certainly taken an unexpected turn or two, and we (well, I) learned a lot in the process.  I believe that we’ve come up with the best plan to address some of our facility issues and do so at a price point that the church can afford.

During the meeting I’ll be walking everyone through the process that we took to get to this point and then present the building plans.  We’ll look at what this plan does for us, what a timeline to get it done may look like, and what the estimated costs are.  I’ll also share a brief financial update as well.

We’ll have a brief time for questions, but we’ll look to keep the meeting to about an hour and a half.  I’ll try my best to keep things moving along.

The elders will be setting a date for a vote of affirmation.  It will be in late September or early October.  We will announce those details at the meeting.

I would strongly encourage you to attend, but I realize that life sort of gets in the way sometimes.  We will be recording the meeting and I will send out a link to everyone afterwards.

In other exciting news, we will be starting the renovations from the “flood damage” back in the spring.  I appreciate everyone’s patience as this process has gone longer than anticipated.  First, we had to wait for the insurance folks to do their work (they were easy to work with, it just took a while).  Then we needed to get estimates from a couple of different builders.  The elders have contracted with Scott Lees to do the work, and he will be starting this fall.  There are some logistics that still need to be finalized.

In order to maximize our space and flexibility downstairs, we are taking down some of the classroom walls on that side of the basement to open the space up a bit.  He’ll be installing foldable walls so that we can use the space as classrooms if that’s needed in the future.  Scott is also going to add 4 new cabinets (2 on the floor and 2 mounted on the block wall).

Here’s what’s happening:

1.  TOMORROW NIGHT  - We are planning for a youth group campfire/outdoor game night at the church from 7-9:30 pm.   I encourage all of our youth to come out and have some fun as we begin to bless Thomas as he moves on to full-time ministry.   Please bring a lawn chair.

2.  SATURDAY - The Double Nickels will be serving at Blessings of Hope on Saturday, August 23. 

3.  SUNDAY  – We will be observing Back to School Sunday at the Bridge and lifting our students up in prayer.

4.  SUNDAY EVENING – Baptism Service at the Mark and Andrea Hoover farm at 6:30 pm.  See last week’s email blast for the details.  Please arrive early if you’ll need some help getting to the pond.  I am looking for someone willing to take some pictures.

5.  9/3 – The Double Nickels will be serving at Blessings of Hope in the morning.  This is open to anyone over the age of 10.  See Gary Barrett if you would like to go.  We are going to look to schedule a “family-friendly” shift in the near future.

6.  9/7 – Sunday School returns with classes for all ages.

6.  9/7 - The annual church Corn Roast is after the service at Lloyd and Mary Lois Kreider’s home.

7.  9/14 – There will be a brief youth parent meeting after the worship service.

8.  We are in need of help in two different ministries, the Nursery (See Amber McMillion) and the Tech Team (see Bruce Fite).

Most portrayals of John in art and film suggest that he was a gentle, quiet fellow.  Nothing could be further from the truth!  This Sunday we’ll look at the life of the other "Son of Thunder" and discover the amazing transformation that took place in his life and worldview as a result of following Jesus.