As the Building Team began to work, they did a number of
things to prepare. First, they spent
some time creating a “scope” for the type of work to be done. That Scope listed what was “in” the building
project and what was “outside of” the building project. What they specifically agreed to was that we
would build space for Children’s Ministry and space for a common gathering area
before and after services.
Ultimately, the goal was to have that gathering area as a
“hub” to the rest of the ministry. If it
could be centrally located, then people would pass each other and encounter
each other as they entered and exited ministry areas and the building. The goal with that area was to cause people
to intentionally encounter each other in a comfortable setting that would
foster conversations.
The team read a book together about building projects for
churches and tried to grasp the massive responsibility that was on their
shoulders to lead this endeavor.
Throughout the process, they interviewed multiple construction firms and
saw some “concept” drawings of what “could be”.
It was quite exciting to see the ideas flowing and also quite
intimidating to see what it would take to get the project accomplished.
What became clear throughout this process was it would take
a lot of people to speak into the design, flow and needs of this project in
order to accomplish it well. There were
a couple of whole church meetings to unpack some of the process and let people
in on where the team was on the timeline.
All along the elders were being kept in the loop in order to make sure
the team were still on task and that the project stayed focused.
Eventually, the team decided upon the construction firm that
would lead our church family through the rest of the way, DJ Construction. It was very clear that DJ’s goal was to
discover HOW ministry was CURRENTLY happening and to design a building that
would enhance, improve and support Children’s ministry rather than build
something which forces Osceola Grace into a mold with which we are not
familiar.
As the team began to work with DJ there were three different
conceptual drawing that were presented as a “starting point” for discussion.
DJ is extremely experienced with church building projects, so when they
presented each of the conceptual plans, they also were able to give “ball park”
numbers that showed a range of cost for each plan. Keep in mind, these were estimates not actual
quotes but they were estimates based upon actual data from their vast
experience.
Those numbers were slightly discouraging to the building
team. So they kept praying and kept
working toward a plan that would work.
The more they talked, prayed and met with DJ, the more they realized they
might need to look at things differently.
Here is why: Stay
tuned…
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