Our Mission is to ENCOURAGE Believing, Belonging, Becoming
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Our Mission is to ENCOURAGE Believing, Belonging, Becoming
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"Grow With Grace" May 2008
April 2008
September 12, 2007 Construction has begun! Remodeling has begun in room A-6 (the
class room that the Searchers meet in on Sunday mornings.) This room has been
enlarged to incorporate the hallway and to allow for two new office spaces. We
look forward to having this additional space to host larger size gatherings. We
have posted signs on the outside of the existing doors to this former hallway
directing you to the north hallway. One great impact this has already had was
noted by a long time member yesterday when she said "I passed people in that
hall that I never see on Sunday mornings!" We'll keep you posted on more
exciting changes as co July 29, 2007
This past Sunday, the Charge Conference voted to proceed with construction. We will begin August 1. Our groundbreaking will be at the start of the Sunday School hour on July 29, at 9:45 on the north side of the church off the patio that will become the new north entrance to the sanctuary. Dirt work will likely start that week. We encourage children to attend this momentous event with their families. Following the Groundbreaking ceremony, children will go directly to their Grace Force color group's room for the remainder of the Sunday School hour. The color flag is hanging over the door of the four room. The total project as approved is $1,783,310. Our contractor is Landmark Construction of Oklahoma City. They are very experienced working with churches. We will likely carry about $750,000 into longer-term debt that will be serviced through our Vision Fund commitments following construction. These motions were approved by the Charge Conference opening the way for us to begin. Since the completion of the sanctuary wing in 1971, the congregation has had only two rather modest additions. The youth wing in 1978 which included the gym/fellowship hall and in 1994 the entry atrium and drive thru. This will be the largest project since the sanctuary and the first expansion in parking in over thirty years.
May 15, 2007 We continue to seek bids on our project. Currently we have approximately 1/4 of the bids we need. We hope bidding will be complete by early June. We anticipate a vote by the charge conference in early summer so that we can set contracts and begin construction this summer. Work will begin on the East most portions of the project and will move to the West with parking to be the last portion to be completed. Please keep the building committee in your prayers during this process. April 2, 2007 Our project now has the blessings of the city and is out to bid. Contractors will be bidding our plans during the month of April and we hope to have a package ready to be voted by the Board in May. This summer we should soon see construction begin. During this time contribution to Grow with Grace have been coming in giving us a good cash position as we prepare to start work. Your faithfulness is helping us to limit the time we will be borrowing for construction. Thank you, and we will be back with actual dates as soon as we have them. February 5, 2007 We are still working with the city on plans for our expansion. One change to our plan will be the introduction of a fire suppression system in the sanctuary and our new kitchenette. We are also adding a firewall in the north entry area and an additional handicap restroom. Still in the works are approvals to our landscaping plan. With these issues resolved we should be ready to go to bid on our project.
January 8, 2007 Negotiations are going on with the Oklahoma City. Most of the issues are fire safety issues resulting from changes in the codes. One of the realities is that when you add on or remodel existing space in a public facility, you must bring up the affected areas up to code. For us the big questions concern fire suppression which means the possibility of adding sprinklers to the sanctuary. This is one we hoped to avoid. Until this is resolved our project must wait before going out to bids. We will keep you informed on our progress.
August 28 We are in the lull that precedes the storm as we wait to gather bids on our building project. Bids are due by the end of the month. Negotiations with Oklahoma City on the plans are in progress as we work to clear the planning hurdles. Construction activity is high in Oklahoma City now and our project is comparatively small. Our hope is to have competitive bids in all areas of the project to sort in September so that a project budget will be ready in the fall.
June 26, 2006 We had around 200 adults, 30 youth, 27 children come to Miracle of Grace Sunday as we began receiving our commitments to the "Grow with Grace" capital campaign. Our total now stands at $534,084 with an additional $22,910 toward the new organ. This puts us within $215,000 of our goal in the building portion of our program and leaves $46,000 on our new organ. It was a great afternoon! Our thanks to the "Grow with Grace" team for the organization, meal, program, and effort to get folks out. This week our calling teams will be contacting those who might be able to help us reach our goal with their commitment. We have 131 families that have made their commitment thus far, averaging $4,000 per card. This is two thirds the way to the goal with about 40% of our contributing families participating. It is a great start with the goal already in sight. Please let us hear from you so we can celebrate on Victory Sunday, July 9.
Our capital fund drive to expand our parking, increase access to the building, add restroom facilities, improve the chancel and music ministry areas of the sanctuary, and provide more storage is organizing for a drive to begin next month. Our goal is to raise at least $500,000 over the next two years, but hopefully $750,000 over the next three. We ask for your prayers as we the team prepares to challenge the congregation to fund these very needed and worthwhile enhancements of our facility. Presentations have been made in every class and we are prepared to come back and answer questions and share more if you would like. Displays are set up to explain what will happen in the affected areas. Please put Sunday, June 25 th on your calendar for our "Miracle of Grace Day." On that day we plan to have a great cookout and receive the initial commitments of the congregation. It would be a miracle, but gift of grace, to subscribe the campaign on that day. We hope you can be with us as we "Grow with Grace."
Building Planning Update 04-10-06 We first met in the Parlor in March of 2004 and on Tuesday April 4, 2006 our Architects handed over our signed and sealed plans. It has been a long wait, with many meetings and design changes. So what now?
Once these items are completed, we will seek approval from the Finance Committee and the Administrative Board. Then a Charge Conference will be called for approval. The final step is to present this as a package to the Bi-District Board of Missions.
Note: We hope you will notice the Design Posters located throughout the building. Each of these posters represents the changes we anticipate to make in those areas.
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Our steel structure is in place
for the new sanctuary entry and foyer on the north side of the building. Soon
the Bradford Pear trees that have lined the children’s play yard will be removed
as they begin to prepare the ground for grading the new parking. The project is
picking up speed as weather cooperates so we are seeing big leaps in our
progress.
