On December 6, 2020 fire heavily damaged a portion of our church building.  While the fire was mostly confined to the conference room and office areas ... there was heavy smoke and soot damage to the rest of the building.

Our thanks go out to all those who have reached out to offer whatever assistance they could ... from friends and strangers near and far to the neighbors all around us...

because after all ... our church is not about the building ... but about the people of the church.  We shall rebuild stronger and more faithful than ever.

R&R Update: September 30, 2021

Little by little, we are moving forward, and we have more gratitudes to share this week:

• The chairs, which will replace the unsalvageable pews, have been ordered. We’ve been given an estimated time of 7-8 weeks before their arrival.

• The LVT (luxury vinyl tile) has been ordered, and we have carpet samples to look over in anticipation of what will be placed in both offices and conference room.

• Laurie Sykuta and Sue Minarik have been organizing documents, like crazy! They’ve been sorting into categories for appropriate team members to review. This week, members of the Learning Team are meeting with Laurie to go through educational materials that were rescued from the fire. Thanks to Sophia Ritchey, Colleen Schumm and Pat Sturgeon.

• The cleaning specialists could not bring back to original condition any of the fabric items we sent to them, so they were returned to us. Carol Pinson is “out-cleaning” the cleaners by trying her hand (and washing machine) in seeing if some of the sanctuary fabric items might still be usable, even if in less than perfect condition. Thank you, Carol!

• Laurie Sykuta’s brother, Jim Brown, has begun the work of restoring the sanctuary cross. We are awed by the results and grateful for his talents!

As usually happens with contractual work, there are unanticipated variables which cause delays. Unfortunately, due to a variety of those variables, it is probable our contractor will not be able to meet the initial estimated completion date of October 31st. We will keep you posted as things progress. In the meantime, we continue to gather together, near and far. We worship, sharing in song, prayer and communion. We discover and encourage new gifts within each other and ourselves. We celebrate joys and share concerns. We realize patience, comfort, support and gratitudes… and all with love. We continue to be blessed