It's been a week...

Good morning,

Well, it’s been quite the week at the Bridge.  Here’s some Q & A about where things stand:

So what happened?

Best as we can tell, at some point between noon on Sunday and 9 am on Tuesday, the water dispenser that was by the coffee station in the lobby somehow malfunctioned.  The sensor that shuts off the filling of the reservoir in it stopped working and it allowed water to keep flowing into it. 

The water then overflowed the reservoir and seeped throughout the lobby and sanctuary entrance.  It eventually made its way through the floor and began dripping into the fellowship hall.  It was A LOT of water.

Where does the cleanup stand?

Paul Davis Restorations (who have been fantastic to work with) has had crews here every day since Tuesday.  The upstairs carpet has dried out and is being cleaned today.  A microbial solution is being sprayed in all the affected areas to prevent mold.  There is some paneling that will need to be replaced.

The fellowship hall, classrooms, and nursery sustained a good bit of damage.  The carpet downstairs has dried out and is being cleaned today.  The microbial solution will be sprayed once all of the affected areas in the ceiling are dry.  We will need to replace the two cabinets that were along the wall in the fellowship hall, the ceiling tiles and some paneling.  Thankfully the new kitchen island that we use to serve fellowship meals appears to have survived with little-to-no damage.

Will insurance help to pay for all of this?

I sure hope so!  I am meeting Goodville Mutual’s adjuster at the church tomorrow morning.  We took plenty of pictures to document the damage.  

What about Sunday?

We are going to cancel Sunday School for this week.  There is some work that still needs to be done tomorrow and Saturday.  Not having Sunday School takes the pressure off to get it all accomplished by Saturday night.  I’m not sure yet when the solution will get sprayed downstairs, and I definitely want that done before we have people gathering in that area.

During the worship service the kids will head to the schoolhouse for Junior Worship.  We are going to set up a temporary nursery in the old nursing mothers’ room outside of the ladies’ bathroom.  We hope to be able to use the fellowship hall next week and be back to our regular schedule, but that is to be determined.

How can I help?

For now I would ask for prayer that Goodville Mutual is willing to accept the claim and for the decisions that will have to be made once the cleanup is done.  Pray as well that we can get everything patched up before Easter.   We may need some help in the near future, but we aren’t quite there yet.

I am thankful that the damage wasn’t worse, and it easily could have been.

I am thankful that this didn’t happen during Holy Week!

I am also extremely thankful for both of the Barrett families, the Rohrers, and Judy Paulson, who all came to the aid of their bewildered pastor on a moment’s notice on Tuesday morning to help with the initial cleanup until Paul Davis took over. 

Here is what (else) is happening:

1.  We still have a few open spots for the missions trip to North Carolina.  If you’ve been on the fence about it consider this your “nudge!”  Talk to Thomas Derr ASAP.

2.  Robin Martin from the Oaks Ministry in Oxford will be giving a ministry update during the worship service this week.

3.  Youth Group and Lenten Prayer Service is still set for next Thursday at 6:30 pm.

4.  The March 29th Men’s Breakfast, followed by the spring cleanup work-day at the church from 9 am to noon is still on.  We probably will have more work than we initially thought!   There are various jobs that we will be doing, from picking up sticks and putting mulch in the flower beds to washing windows and some deep cleaning in the church.

5.  We will be observing Communion next Sunday at the end of the worship service.

6.  Our Lenten collection for Oxford Neighborhood Services will begin NEXT Sunday.  This year we will be collecting pancake mix and syrup for the Food Pantry.  More information about this next week!

7.  As I mentioned earlier this week, the State Police are investigating the shooting of livestock near the church on 3/15.  If you have any information that would be helpful for the investigation, let me know and I’ll give you the Trooper’s contact information.

This week the message will be on Noah and the Flood!  Just kidding, we’ll be finishing up our look at Daniel. 

Gabriel’s interpretation of Daniel’s vision that we looked at this past Sunday is the source of a lot of discussion and debate within the greater Evangelical church.  Daniel himself admits in chapter 12 that it’s beyond his understanding!

On Sunday we’ll certainly look at what Gabriel has to say about the Antichrist and the end times.  It’s wild stuff, there’s no doubt about it.  But we’ll also seek to answer the critical question of “Where do we go from here?”

Scott