The Construction & Renovation Committee focused its efforts over the past year on completing Phase 1 of construction of our God-Sized Vision initiatives, analysis and planning for next phases of construction, communication of Committee accomplishments/activities, and fund-raising. Below is a summary of progress made in 2015:
- Phase 1 of Construction–Fellowship Hall Changes, Including:
- A new and more accessible Ladies’ bathroom with three stalls.
- A new mechanical room for the Fellowship Hall air conditioning and heating unit.
Note: Relocation of the Fellowship Hall’s heating and air conditioning system helps prepare for our planned addition to the William’s building. - A new, larger storage room for the church’s kitchen activities.
- A small storage room for the musical instruments used in Worship Services meeting in the Fellowship Hall.
- A small office area for the church’s custodian.
- Gas line relocated from a row house to what is historically known as the ramp alley.
- Architectural drawings for planned changes were finalized in conjunction with Huff- Morris, our architectural firm partnering with us to plan approved changes.
- Meetings with City officials were held to understand the impact of City building codes on our plans. These meetings resulted in a clearer understanding of changes that we would need to make, such as steps to address asbestos abatement in the row houses, installation of a sprinkler system in the Williams Building, and changes to windows in the church to meet fire code requirements.
- Initial cost estimates led us to work with our General Contractor, Kjellstrom & Lee, for actual cost bids for construction per completed architectural drawings. These bids confirmed that the construction costs are significantly higher than we could have known prior to efforts completed in the first half of the year.
After review of the costing bids obtained in the 4th quarter of 2015, the Construction & Renovation Committee agreed to move forward to complete a professional program evaluation of the use of our existing space. We expect this analysis to be quite helpful as we revisit the approach for our construction next steps now that we have a more accurate and complete understanding of the costs associated with the approved plans.
John Gass along with our lead architect from Huff-Morris, Jim Byerly, are currently meeting with various church groups and the pastoral staff to reaffirm space utilization needs that were defined approximately eight years ago. The Committee agreed that this is a prudent effort to ensure that we are making wise choices in how we utilize the money you have generously given to this effort and will give in the future. We believe that one of our most important roles in representing Tabernacle is to be good stewards of the funds entrusted for creating a physical structure that meets the needs of our spiritual ministries.
We expect that the space evaluation will be completed around early March. This will help us to make certain that we are utilizing all of our available areas in the most efficient and effective ways. This also ensures that we are certain to consider how we meet our needs as they change with our ongoing growth.
Additional recent Vison activities completed include:
- Completion of the removal of the asbestos from the row houses,
- Patching the Williams Building roof. (Discussions with Saunders Roofing Company indicate that they expect the roof to hold up during the winter, which will save us from spending a significant amount of money as we complete our space analysis and perhaps revise our construction sequence of events.)
We are encouraged in scripture to “run with patience the race before us”. This is exactly the manner in which the Construction and Renovation Committee is working. Every day Tabernacle Baptist Church takes patient and planned steps toward our God-Sized Vision.
Our Vision Continues into 2016
- We are focused on a spiritual approach to change that involves updating our physical structure to nourish our ministries, nurture our children, and serve our community.
- Our commitment to each other as a loving, receiving and sending congregation remains unchanged.
Our Vision is Ministry-Based
- Our Vision Enables Us to Align our Physical Structure with our Ability to Adequately Address 3 of our Key Church Missions
- Stand-up/Greeting & Adult Education Ministries
- Child Care Center/ Children’s & Youth Development Ministries
- Parsonage, Missions, Refugee Resettlement & Summer Program Ministries
