What's Going on Behind That Wall?

The bathrooms and east balcony stairwell in the auditorium have now been removed to make way for access into our "Family Room" through the North Tower. Next up: we'll be pouring footings for the tower soon so we can start building upward!

We've made alot of progress in just a little over a month! After an initial round of demolition, the focus turned to less visibile, foundational parts of our project. A completely new roof on the main building is nearly complete. Support pads for the columns that will hold up the second floor have been poured. The construction team has started to install temporary bracing so the hallway walls can be taken down next week (you should be able to see this progress through our viewing window soon!).

In addition to the shape of our new Family Room coming into focus, you will start seeing more visible progress on the project. Second-floor window replacement will begin the week of September 18, and excavators will be starting on our new parking lot on October 1! Our construction manager, Mark, says the project is moving along as planned and is on schedule. Thanks for all your prayers and patience!

Plan Ahead - Restrooms Closed!

So, demolition is set to begin on the new north tower entrance! While that is VERY exciting news, it also means we lost access to the restrooms in the auditorium lobby. The walls closing off those bathrooms went up this week, so you may want to plan ahead -- if you need to use the restroom, you'll have to exit the auditorium and walk down the sidewalk to the Four Corners. We know it isn't terribly convenient, but hey, you can grab some donuts and coffee while you're down there. Thank you again for your patience as we navigate all the challenges that come with such a large construction project. We're grateful for your support and excited that you've chosen to take this journey with us!

Check out this cool time lapse of the construction walls going up, closing off the auditorium bathrooms!

Look What We Found

Construction is filled with surprises -- some good and others, less so. But we recently had two very cool surprises. First, we found out that we were going to be able to expose and keep some additional brick walls that we originally thought would need to be torn down. Then, while exposing the brick, we found this treasure... 

This brick is signed and clearly dated August 21, 1921. The first name is harder to decipher, but it could be "Chas." The last name is clearly "Johnson." How cool is it that we uncovered this treasure almost 93 years to the day that it was signed!?! 

This isn't the only historical treasure we've found recently. Check back soon for more!

Full Speed Ahead!

Thank you to everyone who attended our groundbreaking and Next Steps Sunday on July 30. We are officially underway, and construction is surging forward at full speed! 

Future family room looking back toward our new cafe and restrooms.

This is the size of our new windows that go all the way to the ceiling. Lots of light for our family room!

Demo crew has opened up the north side of the building where our new stair tower will go. That's the old 600-second party room!

Family room space cleared out to new ceiling height! Those are 100-year old floor joists. New windows openings prepped for final measurements.

Roofing crew working hard to replace our roof. They're almost half done already!

Meet Our Construction Manager!

Mark Leathead of Bauer Construction Group, LLC. 

We are pleased to introduce our construction manager, Mark Leathead, of Bauer Construction Group, LLC. Mark will be the “point man” for our project and is the perfect guy for the job! Mark attends church regularly and has managed several church construction projects (including his own church), so he understands well the many nuances of our type of project. As Construction Manager (“CM”), Mark will vet all subcontractors to ensure they have the necessary credentials, experience, and capabilities for our project. He will also bridge the gap between architects and contractors to make sure things are completed according to all specifications. In addition to his vast experience and many talents, Mark is a calm, insightful and thorough manager, which has already started to pay off in many ways on our project. We are blessed and excited to have Mark leading our project!