of our Enlarge Our Hearts building
A Phased Approach to Meeting Our Building Needs
What is the status of the Enlarge Our Hearts (EOH) capital funds campaign?
Our members have given over $775,000 since November 2005! This gives us an approximate building fund balance of $903,000. We surpassed our pledge amount for last year! As you can see, God is honoring the faithfulness of our church.
What are our options?
Over the last year, I have been prayerfully evaluating our situation and asking God to show us what to do next. As I see it, we have only a few options. One option is to continue to raise the funds needed to construct the project as designed. This will mean that we will have to do several more fund raising campaigns over the next several years.
Another option is to build what we need in phases. This means that we will do what we can, when we can, with what we have.
Has a Phased approach to building been studied?
To see if building in phases is possible and advisable, I asked the
Finance Team to authorize me to consult with Gary Nicholson from Lifeway Architecture Services of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Gary has worked with hundreds of churches across the southeast. His expertise is in helping Southern Baptists plan and design facilities that will balance worship space, parking space, and educational space.
Gary spent two full days in October 2006 with our EOH leaders and staff, including the Chairman of the
Deacons .
Gary reviewed our facilities, our land, our Master Plan, our ministries, our parking, our worship attendance and LifeGroup attendance numbers. He also reviewed our budget, debt, cash on hand, etc.
Gary gave us a comprehensive analysis of our situation and presented a great option for moving forward in a fiscally sound way that will allow us to grow again. I want to show you the plan that
Gary recommends so you can prayerfully consider it.
What was the general recommendation from Lifeway Architecture Services?
Gary gave us a chart showing the capacity we can run on average in the LifeGroup space we currently have. He showed us that based on our capacity we are in “crisis” mode. We are maxed out in the Preschool division! We already knew this. That is why we had designed new preschool space in the new building. He also demonstrated that we are in crisis mode in Children’s LifeGroup. Youth space is about to hit crisis mode. And the adult division only has room to start one more class on campus. His overall assessment is that we are doing a fabulous job with what we have, but that we will not grow any more until we make room for more LifeGroup space. Since I have been your pastor, we have grown from an average attendance of 368 to approximately 500 in LifeGroups. We will not be able to sustain this average until we create more space.
The good news is that we have room to add approximately 180-200 more people in each morning worship service. We are not in a crisis mode for worship space. But we will not fill the two worship services until we grow the LifeGroup ministry. We also need to add more parking space.
Gary reminded us that three types of space are critical for growth: worship, education, and parking. These must be in balance. Whichever is the smallest becomes the ceiling for growth. We can have all the worship space we need, but if the LifeGroup space is not available we will never fill the worship center. This also goes for parking. This is the problem we are now facing! We are doing all we can in what we have!
Gary told us that Preschool space is of particular importance. Parents in our community have high expectations about the care of their children. They expect the church to provide safe, secure, and sanitary space. These parents have low tolerance for problems in this area. They will not come back if things are not right in this space. He also reminded us that out of all the
families in our community these are the most prevalent and the most reachable! He believes that our Preschool space is inadequate in two major ways. First, it is not as secure as it should be. The classrooms open directly into the main hallways. Anyone can have access to the children by merely walking into the rooms. He believes there needs to be a central and secure check-in location. Second, he believes that the rooms are too small and outdated for today’s needs. This is especially apparent when churches nearby have new, up-to-date facilities.
Based on all of the above,
Gary recommends that we build in phases. Phase 1 priorities include:
1. Build Preschool space and a
Welcome
Center
2. Add parking
3. Remodel-reassign existing space for adult, children, and youth LG and administrative space
Phase 2 priorities would include a
Worship
Center, educational space and additional parking.
What are the benefits of this approach?
This will enable us to stay within our budget now while providing critical space for growth. This also prevents our church family from getting discouraged from waiting for years without seeing any progress toward growth. It would also balance out the capacities between worship and LifeGroups. We could grow to approximately 795 in LifeGroups with this plan and just over 800 in Worship!
We also know that as the church grows numerically we will be financially stronger to then build the Phase 2 worship center.
Gary recommends that we construct Phase 2 facing McCormick Road. This would be possible perhaps because the footprint of the Phase 2 building will be smaller as a result of taking the Preschool wing out of the original worship center plan.
What is a possible time line for Phase 1?
1. March 2007 – Master Plan for Phase 1 approved by church
2. May 2007 – Start Construction Documents
3. January 2008 – Negotiate contract, obtain permits
4. May 2008 – Construction begins
5. June 2009 – Dedication of new building
What next?
1. Attend the Town Hall Meeting on
February 25, 2007 at
Fort
Caroline
Baptist
Church
2. Pray!
3. Attend the Special Called Business Meeting on
March 18, 2007 for the purpose of voting on this proposal to build in phases and to proceed with the project based on the updated schematic design, proposed project budget, and timeline.
UPDATE:
The Congregation voted in the March 18, 2007 business meeting to move forward with schematic designs for the proposed facility! We are currently working with the architect to finalize the concept and floor plans. We will present this information to the congregation as soon as possible. Please continue to pray and GIVE to the "Enlarge Our Hearts Building Fund."
January 2008 Update:
The congregation meeting in our regular business meeting unanimously approved moving forward with obtaining construction documents from Kurstar Construction Company. We hope to report back to the church with a Grand Maxmum Price (GMP) in the April business meeting. Our members continue to give toward the Building Fund. (See the current church Newsletter for an up-to-date building fund total.) Continue to PRAY and GIVE!
