[printprofilepic]By the time you read this, we will all know the results of our Congregational vote on the selection of an architect to develop our conceptual building plans. This is the next major step towards a new church building. The Architect Selection Task Force has worked hard over the last several months to interview four major architectural firms. They chose Mullen and Heller by a large margin over the other candidates.
The church depends on two types of donations, money and time, not only to pay for day-to-day needs but also to support our vision and goals. A new building will obviously require much more of both our money and time. The most frequently expressed concern of members and friends when discussing the project is the amount of money we will need and whether the organization can afford it. But in the long run we will have to. Our building will someday need to be replaced since costs needed to keep it operational and safe will continue to rise. These conceptual plans are the next stop, which can, in the future, be readily converted to actual building plans.
As you know, many people have been working towards a new building for some time. As importantly, several anonymous donors from our congregation have donated roughly $60,000 to pay for the architectural fees to develop the plans. (Note we still need around $5,000 more to pay for the entire bill.) This is an impressive level of donation, raised quickly over a few months, and is an indication of those persons’ faith in the process.
Personally, and on behalf of the congregation, I would like to thank the following:
- Rick Bolton, for his continued leadership of the Building Project Steering Committee from the start.
- The Architect Selection Task Force: David Coblentz, Kathy Gursky, Gordon Keating, Nancy Tenbrink, and Eric Vasquez, for their very hard work over the last four months.
- The anonymous donors for their very generous support of this project.
The church owes them all a great deal!
Dean Carstens
2010-2011 Church President
