Blog

Sterling Severns and Nelson Melton have been working with members of the Tabernacle Child Care Center team throughout this year to engage them in our God-Sized Vision campaign.  Those efforts continued on Monday, December 1st when some Child Care Center students’ parents met with Sterling in the Fellowship Hall.  The Question and Answer Session offered an introduction to the renovation, as it specifically relates to improvements in our Child Care Center Ministry.  The session provided information and elicited suggestions to meet the specific needs of families in our Child Care Center Ministry.

Sterling explained that the Tabernacle Child Care Center started at a time in the church’s history when more and more women were joining the workforce, as with many churches across the country.  Our Child Care Center has grown to be one of the best in our city, utilizing space that was originally constructed for the church’s Family Ministry.  This use of our space enabled activity focused on children every day of the week, not just on weekends.  Now is the time for an uplift to that space.

The highest percentage of the renovation planned in our Vision campaign will create positive changes to the Williams Building, where our Child Care Center is located.  Those changes include:

• New Entrances
• Enhanced Access, both from a security perspective and increased ramp accessibility for wheelchairs and strollers
• Electrical Upgrades
• Plumbing Upgrades
• New Dining/Gathering Area and Kitchen on the 2nd Floor
• New Elevator, providing wheelchair access to the 2nd Floor of the Child Care Center (as well as the 3rd Floor)
• A conscious decision to place the pastoral staff offices in the heart of the church, close to the Child Care Center and offices.   We will work with the architects for supporting quiet in offices and areas where appropriate.

It is also important to note that one of the requirements in the selection of our General Contractor was to ensure that ongoing childcare operations would be addressed during construction.  Examples of considerations of our children while we make renovations are:

• No class gets moved during renovation activities.
• Quiet and safety are important, so false walls are planned.
• The contractor is aware of this and is planning for weekend and night hours in their cost estimates.
• Our campaign assumes growth of the church in our future, but not growth in size of our Child Care Center Ministry.  We have agreed that the current size of the center helps drive the high quality of the care that we provide there.

Attendees at the session made several suggestions for consideration as we move forward in work with our architects:

• Make sure that there are gates leading into the open space in front of the Child Care Center and Church Office entrances.  That open space can be used for an outdoor gathering spot for adults and children.
• Address how we control access to the “side” entrance to the Child Care Center and the play area/blacktop on that same side of the building.  A covered entrance might be helpful for that side doorway.
• Large bike racks are important to parents, staff and neighbors.
• Provide storage for strollers for our children in proximity to the ramp areas where children will be loaded and rolled outside.  Also make sure that the ramp access does not create a long “walk” to get to the entrances/exits.

Our Child Care Center will be initiating fund-raising in the near future.  We will continue to keep everyone up-to-date with our progress in reaching our $2 million dollar goal for construction that is planned to be completed by the end of 2015.  Your prayers for our success and your help in meeting our goals are greatly appreciated.

After church services on Sunday, November 2^nd, Sterling Severns led the last of three information and comment exchange sessions sponsored by the Construction & Renovation Committee.   These sessions give everyone a chance to understand how specific spaces will be affected in the future, to have questions answered about planned renovation changes, as well as to offer comments to be considered as we begin working with the architects for detailed drawings.

This third session focused on changes to be made on the third floor of the Williams Building:

• Creation of Parsonage Residences to Support TBC Growth/Staffing Needs
• Enlarged Bunk Room Space for Various Mission Teams,  and
• Return Missionary Lodging

The tour began with an explanation of the new elevator planned in the construction project.  This elevator will take members with a key for access to the third floor of the Williams building.  Privacy to this area is an important element of the design, understanding that this space is intended for pastoral apartments and lodging areas for mission team members.  Mission teams include those who support mission work alongside Tabernacle in the summers.

As the tour moved to the third floor of the Williams Building, participants were able to gain insight into how significant the planned residences are to the future of our church.  Our nature of training, serving internally as well as externally, and sending over the years has helped to create a number of opportunities for this space.   Options include:

• Understanding that Tabernacle is growing, we are in need of finding creative ways of addressing how we also grow our staff to best meet the needs of our diverse congregation. Our experience over the years with pastoral interns and residents has been incredibly beneficial for both Tabernacle and the students, and therefore continuing to fully support those programs is important.  Having a parsonage apartment potentially available for an intern or resident is a key consideration in the floor plan design.

• Our multi-cultural nature presents a need for Burmese-rooted pastoral support.  Having the option of providing housing for an individual who is completing pastoral studies and simultaneously serving as part-time pastoral support to our Burmese-born congregation creates a mutually advantageous situation for Tabernacle.

• Having the apartment space will also present us with the option of providing lodging space for missionaries on furlough.

• We have had at least 20 interns over the past 10 years.  Those interns are now serving in a number of locations all over the country, adding to the many possible sources of mission teams that are willing to serve our church and our community.  The planned bunk room space will accommodate at least 20 mission team members at a time, and will be built with the flexibility to be used for smaller numbers when appropriate.   We have every reason to believe that the frequency and variety of types of mission support will increase over time, and therefore the potential for use of this space will also expand.  The small kitchen space and availability of bathrooms/showers adjacent to the bunk room space will make use of the area comfortable for the occupants.

One of the questions asked during this tour was related to the privacy of those who would be living on the third floor, as well as security for the church while there are occupants on that floor.  The specific stairwell that leads only to the Williams Building and not to the rest of the church, as well as the elevator requirement for a key to unlock access to the third floor are all means of ensuring privacy.  The design team plans to take these needs into consideration as they finalize the design drawings.

Preserving artifacts of our church history and finding ways to ensure easier access to the many items that tell our story have also been mentioned in all sessions held.  The Construction & Renovation Committee is working to address those desires as we work with the architects in the design stage.

Thanks to all of you who participated in these informative sessions!

I have almost completed my second month of my internship as a part-time pastoral intern. I will admit that making the shift from a full-time intern to a part-time one was harder than I was expecting. I take this hard, difficult transition as a positive, though- to me it is an affirmation that I am where I am supposed to be, doing what I am called by God to do. I enjoy being a minister, and look forward to continuing my journey along this path over the rest of this school year.

These days, my life is a balance between work at Tabernacle and school. My duties right now as an intern look much different than they did 2 months ago. This was expected, as I transitioned from full-time to part-time. Dan is serving as my supervisor since at this point in my ministry calling I am thinking about Associate Pastor ministry. Dan and I worked together to create my job description and to find things that speak to my passions and things that stretch me in new ways. For example, one thing that I have not done before is to create and lead a Sunday School series for adults. This fall I will be doing that as we transition from Ordinary Time into the Advent season. I will also be working on ways to provide resources for family-based spiritual formation in the home. The point of this internship is for me to find ways to become a minister not just in the eyes of the church, but in my own eyes as well. The goals that I have set for this internship are a mixture of spiritual, relational, and personal goals, but ones that are important for me as I continue to form and assume my ministerial identity.

I would also like to introduce you to my site team: Heather Rose (chair), Bill and Jean Finley, Kathryn Hall (secretary), Nathan Hatfield, and Laura Jones. These six people meet with me once a month to discuss the progress on my goals, provide both constructive and affirmative feedback, and serve as guides and mentors through my internship. They are a wonderful mixture of individuals with varying roles in the church. I am grateful to them for their commitment as we work together through the rest of this school year.

I am excited to continue to minister in this wonderful place I call home. While finding the balance between work and school has its challenges at times, I consider myself very lucky to be in a congregation that loves to equip students for ministry. It’s going to be a wonderful year, and I cannot wait to see what it brings.

Grace and peace,

Kristen Koger

Pastoral Intern, Fall 2014

Summer usually brings a change of pace to Tabernacle and this one certainly did!  Sterling was on sabbatical so Dan, Kristen, the congregation and I were in charge.  We had a great summer.

Several of the Sanctuary Choir members started the “We Sing What We Want” Choir and we spent the summer singing favorite anthems that reminded us of our spiritual home.  Sharing the stories of how we came to love the anthems we chose to share allowed the choir members to get to know one another on a deeper level.  Many thanks are due to Ron Simmons and Terry Witt for encouraging this choir—all I had to do was play!

Ron, Terry and Susan Braden were also responsible for the highly successful  “Open Mike” night events.  We shared original songs, magic tricks, stories, poems, piano solos and lots of Broadway songs.  It was great fun to discover people’s talents.  Do you know we have a member who is a dulcimer player????

July 14-18 Kristen Koger and I took Waysnah, Monica, Christina, Ja Sang Mai, Sang Lung, Doi Bu, Way Doh, K’Paw, Kekoa and Kanoa to Music and Worship Arts Camp at Eagle Eryie.  The Virginia Baptist Mission Board sponsors this camp.  Activities at Camp include singing, drama, art, orchestra and a lot of swimming!  We all had a great time and are looking forward to next summer!

September brought Sterling’s return and the return of regular church activities.  Sanctuary Choir is back and the Wednesday evening children’s activities include choir.  We are busy preparing for the weekly worship services and for Christmas concerts and programs.  The Sanctuary Choir is working on “Gloria” by Antonio Vivaldi and several other anthems that are based on the “Gloria” text.   We will be singing with a string quartet again this Christmas!  The children have been working on songs based around the Narrative Lectionary passages and are now beginning to work on their Christmas Pageant.  This year Marty Watkin has written the pageant.  If you are interested in participating in either of these activities it is time to join the group for rehearsals!

The Music and Worship Ministry is looking forward to the last quarter of the year.  Advent and Christmas is always the time when music really gets to shine!

Judy

The Construction & Renovation Committee is currently sponsoring three information and comment exchange sessions in key ministry areas of our Church.  These sessions give everyone a chance to understand how specific spaces will be affected in the future, to have questions answered about planned renovation changes, as well as to offer comments to be considered as we begin working with the architects for detailed drawings.

Nelson Melton led the first session after church services on Sunday, October 12^th, discussing the changes to be made in and around the Meadow Street entrance and in the current Church offices near the Sanctuary.  Members of the Church agreed several years ago to create a Standing/Greeting area to reduce the congestion in the immediate area of the Meadow Street entrance.   Planned changes will create a glassed-in space to help support interaction among our congregation in a more open area.

In addition to our Stand-up/Greeting ministry, changes in this area will also result in improvements for Adult Sunday School classes and conference rooms.  Participants in this session suggested that we consider naming one of the new Sunday School classrooms for Cecil Gholston.  They also recommended that the construction committee review the size of the new classrooms and conference rooms in the current drawings to be sure that the size meets the need.

This walking tour included discussion about changes planned for the area of the current Church offices.   There is a possibility that this area will provide space for a climate-controlled history room and a new library.  The group agreed that there is a need for a conference room that can be used at the time of Sunday School, so the additional conference room space would be beneficial.  Elevation changes around the offices and work room are also to be addressed.

One of the general questions asked was related to parking during construction.  The Construction Management Team will create specific plans to minimize impact on parking for our congregation and Fan neighbors in all stages of construction.  For example, when the row houses are taken down, some alley and parking lot space will be needed.  After the houses are completed removed, construction parking will be created in that space.  Also, a dumpster will be placed on Grove Avenue until the houses are down.   Communication about any parking impact will be a priority of the Construction & Renovation Committee.

Thanks to all of those who attended our recent session for their open participation.  Exchanging ideas is key to our long-term success.  Please plan to attend our next two sessions:  October 19^th—Childcare & Youth Ministries and November 2^nd—Summer Program/ Mission Ministries (including parsonage space).