April News for the Journey

The wheels of progress are often slow. Please do not think the renovation to the Fellowship Hall has ground to a halt. Things are happening, even if the pace is a bit more like a turtle. The decisions at this time are important and crucial. Here are some things for you to consider:

1. We continue to work with our architect, Jim Byerly, who is with HuffMorris and Assoc. in Richmond.
2. We have selected the general contractor for the project - OKJ Construction Company. We worked with OKJ as the general contractor for work on Children's Building and our roof and we have had a good experience and working relationship with them.
3. With these two components in place, we have asked OKJ and Huff Morris to develop a preliminary construction estimate for the cost of the Hospitality Center with everything we have desired which includes:

• the end wall removed and building enlarged
• a new commercial kitchen
• two new handicap accessible bathrooms
• three classrooms with sound-rated movable walls
• media capability (microphones, speakers, mixer, video, lights, etc)
• moisture resistant carpet squares for the floor
• drop ceiling with variable lighting options (fluorescent & incandescent)
• sheetrock w. 2 inches of insulation on walls
• enlarged hallway w. double doors as main entrance
• bricked in walkway for additional storage

As you can imagine, the cost of this work impacts the Hospitality Center and future items on our renovation list. Our goal is to have the construction estimate by the April 23 Business Meeting. Even if we have the estimate, we may need to schedule a Called Business Meeting to discuss the issues and cost of the Hospitality Center in early May so that the Steering Group can handle all aspects of the renovation desires and the funding of that work.

The renovation Journey continues, even if the pace has seemingly slowed down. God is at work in our midst. Pray for the journey.