A Vision for Building Children’s Ministry – Pt 3 of 4

The projected cost came in well above the funds that were available for each of the three plans being reviewed by the team.  Even the very generous gift that was give would not cover these costs.

It became apparent that the best possibility was to simply renovate some current areas and forego the idea of a new Children’s Wing.  Instead they would utilize existing space and make some major changes to the flow of people.  The goals remained the same: this project needed to stay in budget, the church still needed a large gathering area that was centrally located and the church needs an improved space for Children’s ministry.  It was looking like the team was facing a scaling back in some form of the whole project.

Some things they ran into in the process:

• They learned that renovation is much cheaper per square foot than new buildings
• They learned that to do what they were hoping to do would require a major realignment of roof lines to fix existing leaks and to avoid more in the future.
• They learned that when they start adjusting roof lines in order to make things look cohesive and not like an afterthought that it gets expensive (even to renovate)
• They learned that the more they moved toward some solutions to fit our original scope that the renovation costs began to rise per square foot.
• They also ALL agreed that they did not want to leave the next generation with a bunch of maintenance headaches or without the ability to easily reassign space or expand the building.
• Even if it could be made to work, it left us with a follow up renovation of the current youth room and café and the “soon to be” Michiana Biblical Counseling Center” area because both section on the north and south side of the building had excessive leaks and were developing a mold problem. 
• In other words, the $1.2 million dollars (of the larger gift) allocated to the new building was not enough and would not solve those other problems.

So.   Someone joked in one of the meetings and said, “It would almost be cheaper and fit better in our budget if we just tore it all down and started from scratch!” 

That was a joke. 

However, as the team looked at a few possibilities regarding this idea, they realized that there may be some merit to this idea.  

So, here is what happened.  At the next meeting with DJ Construction’s leaders, the idea was floated out there like this, “What would it look like if we removed everything except the 100’ x 100’ area that is the current worship space? We could renovate the worship space to include a gathering area while adding a Children’s wing to the south as new construction and offices, youth ministry space and Adult Bible Fellowship classes to the south as new construction.  If we did, it would solve all of these other issues of rooflines, other leaks, inefficient buildings, heating and cooling, etc. Additionally, it would set up the next generation for expansion in almost any direction or a reassigning of the current space as ministry needs change in the future.” 

As that was taking place, God also had been moving in someone’s heart regarding what it might take to accomplish this financially. 

Seriously, stay tuned for the last part!