August Building Update
The construction is well under way at the new building! We are very blessed by the contractor and architect team that God has provided us. They have worked very diligently to make our project a success and to watch out for our best interests.
In early June, the demo work was completed to remove a portion of the building and to gut the remainder of the main floor in preparation for the new layout. The rest of June and part of July were spent installing and preparing infrastructure for utilities and equipment and in laying the foundation for the new sanctuary. The foundation is in for the sanctuary and our contractor is finalizing the area so they can pour the slab. Framing is starting to go up in the existing portion of the building which is starting to give a good sense of how the spaces will be laid out. For the most part, our inspections with the city have gone very smoothly.
While some issues have popped up with unforeseen items or things coming up as the project progresses, we really haven’t run into any major issues impacting our budget. We have had a few items that could have been larger costs but were resolved without impacting our budget!
Our contractor is doing everything they can to get ahead on as many materials as possible to mitigate any delays, but there are massive shortages throughout the nation. The biggest concern at this point is structural steel for the sanctuary. Originally the plan was to have the steel by September 1st. Instead, the current expected date is October 1st. Our contractor has been diligent to rework the schedule and still has a pathway to reach our initial completion date goal (around Easter 2022), but we really don’t have any contingency or buffer left when it comes to the schedule if anything further delays their progress or if our steel is further delayed. While we still have hope that the project will finish in April, we trust the timing of this project to the Lord.
Prayer Requests
- Praise the Lord for His provision of everyone involved in this project – several in the body have given their time and expertise in helping us manage/oversee this project and make decisions. Our contractor and architect team (and their subs) have been great to work with and are working very hard to keep our project on pace and make it a success. Even our neighbors in the business park have been so flexible and understanding! We are so grateful for everyone involved!
- Pray for the safety of all involved.
- Pray that God would use this project as a way to draw to Himself those who don’t yet know Him.
- Pray for wisdom with decisions that need to be made by our staff, contractor and architect and that our decisions would honor Him.
- Pray that the project would continue on budget and timeline, and that we would trust the Lord’s provision and timing.
