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| Lisab (1/13/2008)
Puppetlady in MS.... I've heard it said that "If you build it they will come." and I've witnessed that phenomenon at a former church. At 900 members, the church started building to add a new sanctuary and new educational wing. By the time it opened, we ended up having to add folding chairs down the aisles during all three worship services. With the next 2 years, the membership was 1700. Sometimes churches think too small when planning and building. I just hope we are prayerfully open to God's plans with this project. Lisa, It is amazing to see the work God is doing in our church right now. Our pastor was told that "it will never happen in this part of the country" when he started our church. He had a heart to reach beyond racial & denominational lines and start a church where EVERYONE would be welcome and loved. We have doubled attendance in the past year-currently running about 340 on sunday am. We had to go to 2 services due to we only seat 300. We have not had a Sunday go by in the last 1 1/2 years without first time visitors. People are being saved & lives changed. The awesome thing is we are about 50/50 white/african american congregation, which for some unknown reason is not a common thing in the south. We really want to pay off the gym/classroom building before starting our next project (which will eventually be the teen center, but will be a 900 seat sanctuary until the third phase is complete which will be a sanctuary to seat at least 1500.) I am convinced that the reason God is blessing is because of the unity and love we have in this congregation. It is so exciting to see God move and to have the honor to be children's pastors at this church. God bless
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| | Dear Puppetlady in MS, I guess those folks who said it couldn't be done hadn't consulted the one who makes those decisions. What an beautiful testimony to how God brings unity of purpose and uses it to build his kingdom in the most unlikely places in the most unlikely manner! Thanks... that made my Sabbath complete!
Lisa B from NC |
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| | Be careful about putting children on the 2nd floor- some areas require Kindergarteners and younger be on a main floor with immediate access outside- incase of fires. Good Luck! Cari |
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| | I appreciate that reminder about keeping children on the first floor. Our Ad Hoc committee held it's first town meeting a few Sundays ago. I was tickled to see their information sheet they handed out had Group's "1 thing" logo in the bottom corner. (I hope Group doesn't mind.) It surely helped clarify our purpose... to keep Jesus the focus of our plans. What came out of the meeting was the realization by everyone that we have maxed out our facility, so we need to come up with better ways to utilize the space we have while we finalize building plans. One of the most simple and creative ideas I heard was to turn single stall bathrooms into unisex bathrooms. The idea came from one of the men!! He said he realized that women needed so much more time in the restrooms that they were willing to share.
Lisa B from NC |
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| | The Ad Hoc committee continues to plan for the building project, but reality is that we need more space NOW! So, we are in the process of reclaiming poorly used space and maximizing spaces we are already using. Our new Club 56 meets in their regular SS cl, but before we begin our Club time, the kids help us open the dividing wall & move out all the tables & chairs. We have room on the floor to spread out during Grapple Team time & also plenty of elbow room for our games. The children help put the rooms back together afterwards. They enjoy doing it & it helps them practice team work! Last week the Sunday School team moved Children's Church into a small unused classroom. The space they had been using was next door to an Adult Class with only a temporary wall separating them. (Can you imagine asking children to sing worship praise songs quietly?) The new room is 1/4 the size of the former space, so we move tables & chairs out of the room on Saturday & use Jabber Mats instead of tables. (It takes a bit of muscle to set up & break down, but it's a good temporary solution.) Yesterday, I reclaimed an entire set of cabinets in a storage closet!! The large closet across the hall from the Youth Pastor's office has 4 large cabinets that were blocked by boxes full of very old curriculum guides & miscellaneous junk. The cabinets were full of materials from 2 ancient & now extinct ministries. Not only did a reclaim all 4 cabinet, BUT I cleared out a 3' X 3' space beside the cabinets that was crammed full of long lost Christmas decorations. The majority of stuff went into the dumpster and I stored the usable stuff in the resource room. Voila! "New" storage space!
Lisa B from NC |
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