FCCW Building Update

FOYER CHANGES

2009-03-10T06:26:00.000-07:00

THE NEW FOYER IS BEING DECORATED. A BEAUTIFUL SIGN CONTAINING A VERSE FROM THE PSALMS IS OVER THE ENTRANCE DOORS. THE COMMUNION TABLE FROM OUR OLD BUILDING & THE ATTENDANCE BOARD HAVE BEEN REFINISHED AND RECONSTRUCTED BY LARRY LONG (GREAT JOB LARRY!). MORE LATER.

DECEMBER 7, 2008 - FIRST WORSHIP SERVICE

2008-12-11T14:09:00.000-08:00

STAINED GLASS WINDOWS NOW LIT

2008-12-11T14:02:00.000-08:00

TWO OF THE BEAUTIFUL 120-YEAR-OLD STAINED GLASS WINDOWS AND THE BAPTISTRY WINDOW ARE NOW INSTALLED, BACK-LIT, AND FORMED.

SUNRISE AT 115 PARK RIDGE DRIVE

2008-11-25T10:44:00.000-08:00

STEEPLE RAISED - BASE WELDED TO BUILDING FRAME

2008-11-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

LIGHT HOUSE TOPPED BY SPIRE BASE

2008-11-03T13:01:00.001-08:00

SPIRE ADDED

2008-11-03T12:53:00.001-08:00

2008-11-03T12:50:00.000-08:00

Pastor Ronnie places cross on steeple

2008-11-03T12:44:00.001-08:00

NOAH'S ARK IN CHILDREN'S PLAY AREA!

2008-10-18T09:38:00.000-07:00

STEEPLE FINALLY ARRIVES & IS UNLOADED

2008-10-09T08:02:00.000-07:00

2008-10-09T07:56:00.000-07:00

PAVING NEARLY COMPLETED

2008-10-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

THE LAST BRICK IS LAID!

2008-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

THE CROSS IS LEAVING ITS OLD HOME

2008-09-22T07:18:00.000-07:00

OUR CROSS IS CARRIED TO ITS NEW HOME

2008-09-22T06:58:00.001-07:00

84 people were involved in moving the beautiful wooden cross which has graced the front of the auditorium of First Christian Church for decades. The cross was modified by Larry Long to fit on the wall of our new building. Saturday, September 20, 84 people participated in a march from our old building to our new - 5,124 steps! Several of the marchers took turns carrying the 300 pound cross which was promptly installed on the wall above the baptistry in our new facility. Thanks to all who prepared, marched, installed, helped in any way - what a day!

PORTICO AT NIGHT

2008-09-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

OFFICE CABINETS BEING INSTALLED

2008-09-13T06:50:00.000-07:00

Amish-custom-made cabinets are being installed in the main church office

CORNER STONE

2008-09-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

The corner stone for the new FCC building has been installed
on the north side of the entrance to the building. Note the
Scripture on the stone!

MURAL IN TODDLER'S CLASSROOM BEGINS

2008-09-13T06:35:00.001-07:00

Rachel Johnson is painting a mural in the toddler's room.

Portico nearly complete

2008-09-13T06:32:00.000-07:00

"FRONT" (N.E. VIEW) OF NEW BUILDING

2008-08-21T07:00:00.001-07:00

STORAGE SHED LOOKS GREAT

2008-08-21T06:57:00.000-07:00

PORTICO LOOKING GOOD

2008-08-11T13:43:00.000-07:00

The portico, which shields the main entrance from the elements,is looking very good. The blue cross on the cream-colored stucco background is beautiful.

NORTH EAST END OF NEW BUILDING

2008-08-11T13:41:00.000-07:00

The NE end of the new building (which will be seen as you enter the driveway) is almost completed.

THINKERS - PLANNING AHEAD

2008-08-11T13:27:00.000-07:00

The men at the table have spent more time and energy in the planning and construction of the new building than any others. From left to right they are: Ben Bunt (on-site construction supervisor), Dave Turner (elder-co-project manager), Jim Driggs, (Sunrush Construction Company Project Manager), Scott McDonald, (deacon, construction/advisor), Larry Long(elder-co-project manager). God alone knows of the sacrifices these men have made for many months. Without these five men, there would be no new building on Park Ridge Drive!

HARD WORKING ELECTRICIAN

2008-08-11T13:21:00.000-07:00

Eddie Hatfield is the electrical contractor for the new FCC building. Eddie has spent untold hours installing the electrical systems necessary for the building. We can't thank Eddie enough for his sacrificial, expert work.

STORAGE BUILDING NEARLY COMPLETE

2008-07-30T09:31:00.000-07:00

The storage building (for vans and lawn equipment, etc.) is nearing completion on the west side of the main building. Thanks to Scott McDonald for his hard work in securing the building, planning it's layout, and matching the colors to the main building so well. Well done, Scott!

FRONT OF PORTICO

2008-07-30T09:28:00.000-07:00

MOVING THE CROSS TO A NEW HOME

2008-07-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

The cross, which has graced the front of the auditorium at FCC for more than 50 years, has been removed so that it can be modified to fit into the new building.
Thanks to all the men who helped move it and to Larry Long who will do the modification.

2008-07-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

LIMESTONE CROSS ON SOUTH/WEST END

2008-07-09T14:03:00.001-07:00

STORAGE BUILDING PROGRESSES

2008-07-09T14:00:00.001-07:00

STAINED GLASS REMOVAL CREW

2008-07-01T07:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks men, for a job well done!

OUTSIDE STORAGE BUILDING

2008-06-29T08:52:00.001-07:00

On the West side of the new FCC multi-purpose building you can see the beginning of a new storage building. This building will house the church vans, ground's keeping equipment, and provide long-term storage for other items.

CZECHOSLOVAKIAN STAINED GLASS

2008-06-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Two of the stained glass windows, which were designed
and created with Czechoslovokian stained glass in 1889,
have been removed from their spot on the South side of
the current First Christian Church building on the
courthouse square, and are now residing in their new
home on the stage of the new building at 115 Park Ridge
Drive. Thanks to Larry Long and Scott McDonald for
preparing the frames and moving the window!

2008-06-26T12:20:00.000-07:00

BRICK WORK CONTINUES

2008-06-26T11:55:00.000-07:00

The entire west side of the building is now bricked! Looks great!

AERIAL VIEW

2008-05-28T13:46:00.000-07:00

The picture is taken looking West by Northwest at the entrance to the new building. The picture is several weeks old and does not show the newer landscaping work that has been done on the left and bottom left of the picture. Nor does it show how much of the excavation work has been done above the picture of the new building, where a steel storage shed will be constructed to hold machinery, vans, etc.

PUTTING STRAW ON NEW GRASS SEED

2008-05-25T05:48:00.001-07:00

LANDSCAPING BEGINS

2008-05-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

This week a terrific crew of volunteers showed up at our building site to do the following work: remove hundreds of rocks from the southeast side of the building, plant grass seed, spread hundreds of bales of straw, and crimp the straw. Those working were: Ron Forks and his kids: Jenny, Eric, Marie, Cal, and Ann; Tim Richard; Tim Bradley and his kids: TJ, Shane and Micah; and Larry Long. Thanks guys/gals
for a wonderful job well done!

BRICK WORK BEGINS

2008-05-24T08:36:00.000-07:00

The beautiful red bricks (with a white strip for accent)look great!

STUCCO ON SW EXPOSURE - INSTALLATION OF AIR CONDITION/HEATING UNITS

2008-05-19T07:16:00.000-07:00

STUCCO ON SW EXPOSURE

2008-05-19T07:03:00.000-07:00

The Southwest end of the building will feature stucco at the top. There will be an arch in the center with a stone cross in the middle of it. The air conditioning/furnace units were installed by a large crane on May 19.

Hebrew 12:1 - "A great crowd of witnesses......."

2008-05-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAFFITI

2008-05-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAFFITI

2008-05-03T08:08:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAFFITI

2008-05-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAFFITI

2008-05-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

HOLY GRAFFITI

2008-05-03T07:22:00.000-07:00

April 27 was Holy Graffiti day at 115 Park Ridge Drive. Dozens of people came to write Scripture verses and encouraging messages on the walls, floors, steel pillars, and wooden studs all over the new building. It was an exciting day as we had this opportunity to tour the new building and add a touch of "us" to the building. Although all of our writings will soon be covered by carpet, dry wall, and/or paint, those writings will endure for many years and be a testimony of our faith in God who is the Owner of this building and the Author of our Salvation.

Update 4/14/08

2008-04-14T20:01:00.001-07:00

Update 4-1-08

2008-04-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Excitement is building (now how is that for a pun!). We are proceeding with planning for a 64' x 40' utility building of pole type construction located on the back corner driveway, near the remaining patch of trees. It has three garage doors and a people door. There will be electric service but no water. We will use it for vans, lawn equipment and miscellaneous storage.

On Sunday afternoon April 27 from 1:00 PM until dark our new church building will be open for "Holy Graffiti" and tours. Most of the elders will be present for questions and optional guided tours. Building maps will be available showing room uses. Right now, the inside of the building looks "cavernous" without internal walls.

"Holy Graffiti" - is just as the name implies, bring your own felt tipped pens and put your own long lasting ideas where ever. Write or draw on anything other than the window glass and frames. Our primary purpose is to be be witnesses to our construction workers. Some of the workers are Christians, many are not. We want all of our workers to know as they are working, that we care about them and that our physical building is much more than just another concrete, steel, wood, piping, wiring and drywall project. It is a tool for work in God's kingdom. While all of our "Holy Graffiti" eventually will be covered up with drywall, carpeting and tile, we will later each remember our thoughts of what we put where.

Youth may want to draw some kind of Christian artwork on the floor in their area. Sunday school teachers may want to put something on the outside walls, window sills or floor in their rooms. Some scripture references are kind of obvious, others you may want to write out. Have fun proclaiming Him!

Please all who can, come but be aware that this is a construction site, safety is of utmost concern. By "Holy Graffiti" day, the concrete floor will be in and there likely will be building materials throughout the building. Our crews will attempt to minimize trip hazards, sharp edges etc. prior to our fun afternoon together at our new church building but we all must also be careful.

Our number #1 sidewalk superintendent, Joe Sanburn, has a few more pictures for our enjoyment. The view of the southwest corner shows the platform, baptistry area without the "skin". The start of the heating and cooling units can be seen on the roof.

The entrance picture is taken from the driveway of the church next door. The platform area was enclosed the following day from the preceding picture. The cross will be located on the right end of the building, the end towards Ranch Road.

The north side picture is the view from Park Ridge Drive. In this picture, the cross will be on the left end of the church.

We anticipate the steel workers to be complete the week of March 31. The carpenters are now working on the entrance canopy framing. The outside brickwork will start in early April.

Pray for continued work crew safety and for wisdom as we work out the furnishings details.

Larry and Dave

Update 3-12-08

2008-03-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

Brother and Sisters

As you may have seen, progress on our new building is being made. The winter weather has slowed things down from the schedule but probably not by too much on the completion end, yet. Our construction is about 40% complete as of 2/28/08. We are yet a couple weeks from having the building enclosed.

Currently there is about 2 1/2 ft of frost in the ground inside the building. All of the "in the floor" electrical rough-in is complete. The only "in the floor" plumbing that is not complete is the drain and water line to the "youth bistro" (that is a change be made only a few weeks ago, the term was coined today). The youth bistro includes sink, with water, refrigerator, microwave, high top tables, high stools, multiple internet computers. Our youth will be losing their hideaway at The Mirror Image, located in the lower level of Old Post Office Square but will have their own new home in the building, whatever they decide to call it.

The masons will likely be starting in early April. We are currently looking to pour the concrete floor sometime in early April. After that point, the schedule shows a lot of simultaneous activity on-site, fire protection, framers, and rough in for electrical, plumbing, fire alarms, security and low voltage systems.

Our Ministry of Construction members will be serving many more on-site workers in April and May.

A word about the two attached pictures: The drive through entrance canopy is now in place. The walls where the white Tyvec is showing will be all red brick with white cut limestone corners and window trim. The Ranch Road end where you see the chip board will be covered in white ephis (fancy word for sutcco) with a large cross on the end. The steeple will be on the peak on the same end of the building. Our 18"x18" cornerstone/time capsule cover will probably be located on the front right corner of the buidling (side with canopy).

Please keep our workers and construction management teams in your prayers as job site activity ramps up. Spring is coming soon!

Larry and Dave

Update 12/8/07

2007-12-08T12:08:00.000-08:00

Here are two artsy pictures of the sunrise through the portico as our steel structure is going up. The aerial photo was taken the evening of the day the steel building arrived, the last truck is just pulling around and the foundation is mostly complete.

Steve and company (FCC Ministry of Construction) have been doing a great job in having water and snacks on-site every work day. The owner of our concrete contractor firm told me he has never seen such thankfulness from building owners.

Have any good ideas for "heavenly graphitti"? If we do graffiti in the next few hours, we can probably get something on the main top beam across the roadside end of the building before it is raised into place.

We are collecting "things" for a 50 year time capsule in the next few weeks. We have solicited keepsakes, letters to family, letters to church, history of "church". We will build the "time capsule" from stainless steel to fit the contents and place in the wall just inside the main entrance. We have talked about having the local monument company make us a plaque of some type for the wall.

We are talking about having some kind of "steeple raising event" sometime in January.

Larry & Dave

Definition: "Heavenly Graphitti" - Scripture reference, scripture verse or saying placed in strategic positions around the building site on steel structure, walls, or any conspicuous place using spray paint, chalk, markers, poster.

Update 11/28/07

2007-11-29T17:59:00.001-08:00

Update 11/28/07

2007-11-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Update 11/15/07

2007-11-15T03:08:00.000-08:00

Brother and Sisters

We are now well underway. We hope you have been out to our new church building site. The preceding pictures tell a story.

We have been a little hesitant to talk much about schedule until things are actually moving forward. They are moving fast now!

Following is a tentative construction schedule as of 11/13/07.

November
Final concrete pour for foundations and grade walls.
Completion of below floor plumbing and electrical rough-in.
Start steel erection.
Asphalt base.

December
Steel roof panels and exterior walls framing.
Exterior sheeting, parapet siding, set roof top heating and cooling units.
Install exterior windows.
Set steeple.

January
Masonry.
Interior framing.
Electrical and plumbing rough-in.

February
50% of drywall.

March
100% drywall.
Painting.

April
Asphalt and parking striping.
Plumbing and Electrical devices.

May
Carpeting and tile flooring.
Punch list complete and close out

Please bear in mind that this is our plan at this point in time - reality may vary from time to time.

The structural steelwork and the construction work through 11/1/07 has been paid with cash. Our bank financing arrangements should be finalized in late November.

A big thank you to those who have provided water and goodies for our construction workers. Pray for continued safety and that we might be a strong witness for our Savior to our workers.

Larry and Dave

Update 11/1/07

2007-11-01T16:00:00.001-07:00

Foundation is partially finished

And steele has arrived!

Update 8/30/07

2007-09-06T19:11:00.000-07:00

Sisters and Brothers

We have good news, a bit of hard facts and more great news.

Our church project is officially moving forward! We have the state plan release and a written response to our plans from the Warsaw Plan Department. The Warsaw Plan department and our architect intend to have our full building permit issued within the next week or so. We have had the foundation release for several weeks and plan to start digging shortly.

If you have not been out to the site, this aerial photograph shows our church building site all ready for the foundation. The steel building is due onsite the week of September 24.

We are closing in on the final prices for our project within our architect's estimate and within our proposed banking arrangements but a little more of a stretch for us than we had intended. The elders are considering some additional arrangements. Please continue pray for us during this really challenging time.

It is a little like building a home, when you find out what think you want is going to cost, you step back and consider what is really needed and is there a simpler way to get it done. But this project really is a lot more like the first two chapters of Nehemiah. Nehemiah knew the Lord wanted His people to move forward to build but having looked at the situation and considered the cost, he also saw that if it were going to be done, it was going the take the Lord to accomplish it. Ten years down the road, we will look back and marvel how the Lord accomplished it and used this tool for His purposes, our ministry.

We must also tell you that we are continuing to pare the bottom line. Our brick supplier found that his brick manufacturer has a production overrun of a specialized brick from a much larger project. The brick, intended for commercial purposes, is longer than a standard brick. We will need about 40% fewer of these bricks and will require less work in laying them. They have enough of those bricks for our project available at a dramatically reduced price. Larry and I examined that brick sample on Wednesday. It is a match with our architect's finish recommendation for our project. Some might say that we " just lucked out". We are here to tell you that luck has nothing to do with it - the Lord is in charge of His project, not us. The savings in both brick and masonry costs is worth a person's annual wages.

Several of our sub-contractor final prices still are not complete, a good thing for them to work through God's timing in determining their Gifts in Kind for our project. One of our subs has been out of town completing another large project and just has not had time to seriously consider their GIK for our project. Our excavator gave us the idea of using recycled asphalt as a way to pare paving costs. The city has given us some options on this same issue. We are currently working out those details.

Our general contractor still plans to have the steel shell up, enclosed and the brick on by early to mid November.

We will have two construction trailers onsite for our project. One for the usual construction management, the other for our "Ministry of Construction". We will use this trailer for occasionally serving meals and ministering to our construction workers along with a place to keep our hard hats etc. for our volunteer laborers. We currently have a cooler on-site stocked with bottled water for worker use.

Do come out to the building site, if you can, to spend a little while praying that God's will be done and that His hand will be evident to all.

Larry and Dave

Update 7/24/07

2007-07-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Yesterday and today, Monday and Tuesday July 24 and 24, 2007 are red letter days for our congregation!

Yesterday was our Gift in Kind meeting with our subcontractors. Dan Cook from Building God's Way in Utah with Jim Driggs from Sunrush Construction along with about twenty subcontractors met at the church for lunch served by Steve and Laura Kasper and Bill and Nanette Degaetano. Thank you Kaspers and Degaetanos! Ronnie introduced who we are and what we are about and Dan introduced the Gifts in Kind program. Almost all of our selected subcontractors were present or at least accounted for at the meeting. We expect to have the negotiated bids in the next couple weeks.

On Monday the building site survey stakes were put in place and this morning G&G Hauling and Excavation started preparing the building site. They have already moved a lot of topsoil today. The south stormwater retention pond is started and the north is soon to follow. The soil erosion control fencing was put in this afternoon. As long as we can get the driveway drain installed and backfilled with gravel before the rain forecast for Thursday, we should have the stormwater ponds and building site itself ready by the end of this week. Next week they will be working on the parking lot, more driveway and the drainage swales.

Our architect was in contact with the state today and we are expecting the state building permit or at least a response late this week!

We are expecting the General Contractor construction office trailer to be moved onsite in the next week or so. We are looking into setting up a web cam on the construction trailer when they have telephone, DSL and power so that we can watch the progress from our home via computers. We would like to also take a frame every 30 minutes or so to make a video of the progress - brainstorms abound right now! Jim has done this on a number of other projects.

Right now our general contractor and Dan are very optimistic about meeting and maybe even exceeding our GIK goal. We have a real good start already!

Pray for safety for our workers, pray for guidance for the various contractors, pray for a spiritual impact upon our workers.

In all of the excitement about building progress and building finances, do not lose sight of general fund finance needs this summer. A lot of us are out and about but expenses continue, if not increase a little, during the summer months.

Praise God!

Larry and Dave

Update 07/02/07

2007-07-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Our "Gift in Kind" subcontractor meeting is now scheduled for July 24 @12:00 PM at the church. Our "Ministry of Construction" team led by Steve Kasper and Bill Degaetano will be hosting the event with lunch for the participants. This meeting is so important for the financial success of our project - the additional time to prepare should enable us to be more prepared and have more people available.

We submitted a preliminary set of architectural and site drawings to the City of Warsaw Plan Department on June 22. The "official" final construction documents and building permit applications are scheduled to be submitted Friday July 6. Can you believe the 50 some pages of architectural drawings will be submitted via email to the state? The application itself with the original signatures will be submitted via snail mail. We signed off our part of the application on June 25th.

We will be starting the site preparations in the next couple weeks. We are going to install the stormwater retention ponds, the building and parking lot grading and the stormwater diversion swale along the west side of the site. This will assure us that any rainwater will be diverted around the site so that when we start digging the building footers in August we will have dry soils not soupy clay. This will also keep us within the state stormwater construction erosion control rules from the getgo. We will likely have some grass to cut yet this fall!!

We will have our final building construction costs in early August. While our bank financing has not be finalized, multiple banks have submitted proposals for our consideration. The bottom line will be the final building costs.

Our updated construction schedule as of today shows a final building completion in mid May of 2008. Schedules have been slipping but still inching ahead!

Keep praying. Pray next that as our contractors are contacted and the "Gift in Kind" concept is explained, that the Lord will give Ronnie, Dan Cook and Jim Driggs the words to help the contractors understand who we are (a body of believers), what we are about (the Lord's mission for us), the details of the building design and how the contractors might assist us in our ministry.

Dave & Larry

Update 6/6/07

2007-06-07T02:31:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Great news! NuCor completed their steel building design work early this week. Our site work engineering (driveways, parking lots and drainage plans) also was completed this week. BGW now plans to have all of the architectural work complete about June 18th.

We submitted our financing applications on June 22 to six financial institutions.

Dan Cook and crew are scheduling our potential contractors "Gift in Kind" meeting for the week of June 25 or July 2. We have potential GIK contractors for almost all of the different types of work. Thank you for your GIK lists of contacts.

Please continue to pray for the architectural and contractor staffs as the final "I's" and "T's" are dotted and crossed on our building plans. Also please pray for wisdom and guidance in finalizing our financing plans.

It now looks like we will be starting site preparations sometime in July, start concrete work in August and be enclosed well before the snow flies - wow did I say snow flies?

Larry & Dave

Update 5/18/07

2007-05-19T08:05:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Our building design progress is on "hold". It seems NuCor (our pre-engineered building supplier) received orders for 35 new buildings mid April and their engineering department is overloaded. Currently, we are not expecting their final design until sometime in June. Our architect cannot complete their foundation design until they receive the building column loadings. The HVAC ductwork routing cannot be completed until the building beams have been located.

On a probably good note - the clay ground at our site will be much drier and easier to work (read that "less expensive to work") at little later in the summer. You may want to look at this link. It is our new church steeple!

HYPERLINK "http://www.fsiweb.com/products.asp?UnitNo=30&Index=stpindex

The finance committee is putting the finishing touches on our bank loan application packages. We are planning to submit the applications in the next week or so.

Keep our project in your prayers.

Larry and Dave

Update 4/27/07

2007-04-26T19:21:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

It is getting closer!

Our final site engineering drawings and estimates are due late this week or early next. If you have not been out to the site lately, stop by and walk around the site. While you are there pray for the workers and suppliers that we will have the privilege of making contact. Pray that the workers and suppliers will see the Him through us and that this is not just another job to be done. The four outside parking lot and driveway corners and the building four corners are all staked out and marked. You will see the locations where we dug down to the footer levels to check the foundations loadings.

We received our updated soils reports yesterday and the final NuCor steel building drawings and numbers were to be in yesterday at the architect's.

The architectural work is nearing completion and will be ready for submission to the City of Warsaw and state building permit authorities about May 15.

Last night our finance committee met to make assignments to assemble the various pieces for our financing application package for the six completing financial institutions. It is our intent to have our financing applications submitted at the same time as the construction permitting.

Our finishes committee is currently tasked with determining the multipurpose room carpeting. That work should be completed the week of 4/30.

I have a new word - we moved the "proscenium" forward from the platform about 10' this week. That is the fancy word for that little short wall that comes down in the front of a platform. The "proscenium" creates a 'window' for the audience around the platform. Our "proscenium" will house the front theatre lighting fixtures and the LCD projectors and will somewhat protect them from basketballs etc. One would have to purposely aim a ball from the platform to order to hit the equipment hidden by the "proscenium". I am told that if one uses a new word in a sentence it will be committed to memory, we will see about that one.

If you have not turned in your Gift in Kind worksheets please give them to Larry, Scott or Dave ASAP! We are not asking you to make the contact with potential contractors or suppliers, just tell us of folks you know in the business. BGW will be making the actual contacts and inviting potential suppliers to all come to a project meeting in late May where we can talk about who we are, what we are about and how we plan to get there. We have only received three or four GIK forms thus far. This is a place where most all of us can assist.

Please pray for all of those of us working on this project.

Larry and Dave

Update 4/06/07

2007-04-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

Today our site engineer, the excavator and a soils scientist dug test holes with a backhoe on all four sides of the building and tested down to the bottom of the footer levels. The preliminary result (verbal) is that we have much better soil conditions than the borings indicated last fall. The formal written report will be submitted late the week of 4/9/07. In summary, the initial 1,500# ratings are more like 2,500 to 3,000#.

I should note that both the excavator and the soil scientist both worked on the WCC site next door to the south and have lots of experience with these types of soil.

Our initial site civil engineering work included drains every 20 ft under both the parking lot and the building. Now they are looking at putting a subsoil collection drain below a swale along the west - northwest side of the building only (collect/intercept the uphill water). Since the parking lot will be graded early summer, it will allow any soil moisture to drain and yield much better compaction prior to paving this fall.

For the rest of the elders - this allows good construction techniques but at much lower costs. Go out to the construction site - all four corners of the building and the outside edges of the parking lot have been staked out and labeled.

Gary, I do not know what arrangements have been made with our farmer for '07. We will need to be using the low spot north west of the church building to put the excess topsoil from the building and parking lot. The little woods including the junk that is located on the far west corner of the parking lot/driveway will need to be removed. It does not look like we should farm the west side during '07 (or only farm the west - southwest side) but we well could farm everything west of the parking lot the following year. It probably would be a better field both for the farmer and us, if we want a baseball diamond or at some later point.

The 90% drawings were received this week. The president and site manager for Sunrush (our general contractor) will be meeting with Scott McDonald and myself most of the day on Friday this week reviewing our drawings and making initial Gift In Kind discussions.

Have a blessed Easter weekend.

Dave and Larry

Update 3/30/07

2007-03-31T04:34:00.000-07:00

Brothers and Sisters

It has been a while. Sorry but I have been dragging my feet while we have been working though some very big challenges. Then we were waiting on our joint elders and deacons meeting on March 24. Since then I have been simply covered up in moving, more building details this week and supposedly holding down a job - I just thought I am semi-retired!

We scheduled a congregational meeting on Sunday April 15th at 11:00 AM, during the Bible school hour, for all of the adult classes. Larry, Scott and I will be bringing our church family up to date on our progress and introducing the "Gift in Kind Program" (GIK).

Since we last reported on our blog, we have been though major belt tightening on our new church project. Let us just leave it that we were way over our budget and many things have been revised to get down to something less than a total $2.7 million dollars. That number is the sum of the basic building costs with a number of "options". Not really so much "options" but separate items that we can endeavor to minimize costs in various ways. For example, we have $42,000 budgeted for kitchen items - we already know that the kitchen cabinets and equipment will be much less expensive locally than as budgeted. Another budget line item is for completely new furnishings throughout. We will be using all of our existing office furniture and equipment. Some of the furnishings will need to be new but some not.

The $2.7M total does not include GIK gifts. Our architect is pretty optimistic that we will receive something in the order of $400 to $500 thousand dollars in GIK donations. That will put us in the $2.2 - $2.3M range again including all options. I personally am praying and working hard to be in $2.0 - $2.2 M range when we are all done.

Our site engineer and excavator will be digging holes on the site in the next few days to closer look at the actual foundation footing conditions. Their objective is to closer determine the exact soil conditions so that there are no surprises during construction and that the actual construction costs can be more accurately forecast, read that "minimized". During different times on this project we will probably be viewed as big spenders at other times, penny pinching misers - goes with the territory ;-)

Because of our extended planning completion our "construction start" has been delayed a little while longer. Our site engineer and excavator think that is probably a very good thing - our soils are very poorly draining clay. The ground probably will not be dry enough get on with heavy equipment until later - read that drier.

Presently, we plan to have the construction documents complete in late April - the permitting process and site prep (driveway base, building site prep and parking rough in) complete late May or early June - start concrete work during June - steelwork July - framing in August-September - driveway and parking pavement very late fall and project completion January-February '08. We will probably not be in the new building during the Christmas season of 2007.
Please come to our April 15 congregational meeting for more information.

We all need to be on the same page. This project is a major step forward in the ministry and commitment of First Christian Church, Warsaw. We agreed several years ago to proceed forward on this project by letting our Lord guide us by opening and closing doors. It was amazing at our March 19th elders meeting that several of us have had a maximum price for our project in mind since our "Hearing from God" campaign. We all had arrived at that same $2.7M maximum amount last spring but had not shared the idea among the other elders - kind of made the fuzz on top of my head get curly.

Continue to pray that we are open to His will. The long reaching effects of this tool for His ministry is enough of a "reach" in many ways that all of us recognize that the only way it can be done is by Him and through Him. We need to keep constantly close to Him in prayer, our noses to the grindstone, go though the open doors and discern the closed ones and our checkbooks and pens coming together regularly. To God be the glory!

Larry and Dave

Update 2/20/07

2007-02-20T19:29:00.000-08:00

This post is being delivered a little late due to either my email kicking back to Dave or because of the hectic pace at Biomet the past week I just plain missed it. I am inclined to believe the later. Hopfully we have the situation corrected.
Jack

Brothers

Dan Cook and Scott McDonald joined Larry, I and the rest of the BGW crew for our weekly conference call on February 7, 2006. We were really pleased that Scott could join us and provide his opinion and insight on the local construction market and the HVAC design options.
I will backup a little and let you know that our construction estimates came in last week, way over our budget. It has been going on a year since the original numbers were updated. In summary, two weeks ago Dan Cook became very involved with our project when he saw the project estimates and compared that with our churches financial plan. We all acknowledge that the results our "Hearing from God" campaign defines our project's financial goals and limitations. Dan's efforts with his folk in the past two weeks has been to adjust our building design to our finances that God lead us to establish as His plan last early summer.

Presently our site work (everything greater than 5' from the building) is at about $100K less than planned but the building is still several hundred thousand above our goal. Dan is completely reworking the building design to "economize" to meet our goal but not to "cheapen".
Concrete costs have tripled in the past few years and steel costs have made hug jumps upward. At the moment, we are looking at using a steel structure for only the multipurpose room and wooden framework for the balance. With local housing new construction way down, we have a much better chance of using Amish wood framers than would usually be available. A steel structure requires huge concrete footers below each steel column. A wooden structure places the building foundation loading along several walls instead of on a few spots thus would need much less concrete. On this job, in the order of a $70K less of concrete, mind boggling.
When we selected the building finishes during the 50% charette it was what we wanted, prices were not a major consideration. Kind of like home purchases - we see what we like - then when we find the cost, then think again. The biggest item that we need to reconsider is the multipurpose room floor. There is a $56,000 savings by using a good grade of carpet rather than the synthetic polymer athletic floor we chose. The synthetic floor chosen was still half the cost of a wood floor - that was an easy decision.

The mezzanine storage area above the kitchen and rest room also has to go based upon costs. Not only would we have had the cost of the floor and wall structure, lighting etc for that second story space but all of the kitchen and rest room walls would have required much heavier construction in order to support a second story above. We will need to give consideration to a separate, maybe a pole type structure, later for additional long term storage. We also must consider lawn mower and maybe van storage. Maybe something in the order of $100K could probably serve those needs pretty well located on one of our north side lots behind the barn.
Scott and Dan spent a lot of time talking through our HVAC options, costs and their influence upon building design. Bottom Line: options that locate the HVAC equipment anywhere other than on the roof behind a parapet wall, pushes both HVAC and building costs well beyond our budget range.

Referring to changes to our architect's rendition of the building: The external changes at this point are the removal of the four outside corner canopies, lower the eve height to 10', shorten the parapet wall disguising the HVAC equipment to only the length of the multipurpose room (half the building length) and the balance of the roof line will have a straight sloped gabled look. The entry canopy, steeple, belfry and overall outside finishes all will remain the same.
At the moment, 2/7/07, the building is about $2.6M and site work about $300K. Dan expects something in the order of $500K of Gift in Kind for a total cost of about $2.4M. We are presently working on cutting back some of the $250K of site work for asphalt paving (a certain amount is required by code) and Dan is working to try to remove another several hundred thousand dollars of building costs. At this point we have not nailed down furnishings - that will come soon enough.

Keep praying for His Will not ours. It is down to the brass tacks time for fine detail tweaking for our project. Right now our Hearing From God Vision has been expanded to "lines on the paper" or more accurately, lots of computer files. Soon it will be bricks, mortar and sweat and soon to be our Lord's tool!

Dave & Larry

Update 1/23/07

2007-01-23T03:56:00.000-08:00

Brothers

Continue to pray for our architect's family with the recent loss of their infant son. Rolland is now back in the office and actively working on our project.

Today's conference call covered many items. Most noteworthy is the decision to no longer pursue a geothermal based HVAC system. Condensing the discussions, last week the HVAC engineers at DCA talked directly with Water Furnace engineers. They came to the conclusion that the high capacity recovery loadings of buildings with large crowds, specifically churches, combined with their low % of use makes the energy savings of geothermal vs. conventional HVAC diminish to nearly nothing. In other words, one must pretty much constantly use geothermal system capacity (have actual high utility costs) before the extra investment for geothermal equipment can be justified. Homes, schools and commercial buildings with high occupancy all are good candidates for geothermal HVAC not churches.

The building will be spot sprinkled for fire protection, not fully. Indiana and local building code requires sprinkling of "storage" areas only for our size and class of building. The investment payback time for sprinkling equipment vs. the insurance savings and the monthly utility costs approaches 20 years - not good financial responsibility.

We have received the "color boards" for the new building. "Color boards" contain sample coupons of things like carpet, tile, wall coverings, door finishes, paint etc. all mounted on a board for visual comparison, "do they go together?". During the 50% charette our committees choose two different color schemes for our new building. During the next week or so those same committees will be meeting to reach their final decision. We will have to color boards at our annual meeting, Sunday 1/28/08.

Today we signed our contract with Larry R. Long and Associates, Inc. for our project civil engineering. Larry R. Long, PE, PLS, the civil engineer and his firm will be providing the civil engineering for our project. In summary, his civil engineering and design work is for everything greater than 5 feet away from the building - things like parking lot, driveway, sidewalks and the stormwater retention pond. This is Larry R. Long, the civil engineer as opposed to Larry J. Long, our elder, who normally is quite civil but not an engineer ;-) - my feeble attempt at humor.

Last week a firm specializing in stained glass windows visited our church building for the purpose of preparing a proposal with several options for our windows.

We anxiously anticipate budget estimates for our building project in the next week or so. Pray that God's will be done. We have been going forward by faith one step at a time, going through doors as they open and will keep on going as long as those doors keep opening. One thing that is for sure, if God wants this to happen, it will happen. It is He who makes it happen not we who are but His tools. Pray that we all of open to His good and perfect will.

Larry and Dave

Update 1/16/07

2007-01-16T20:10:00.000-08:00

Brothers

Last week's scheduled conference call was postponed until today. While today's did not happen either, I did talk with Casey our drafting person, our project coordinator. I while back I mentioned that Rolland, our architect, and his wife were expecting a child this spring but that she was on complete bed rest for the final 6 months of the term. Yesterday, they lost the pregnancy. Rolland will be out of the office all this week. Keep Rolland Lee, his wife and his family in your prayers.

Casey tells me that things are progressing nicely within the various BGW departments towards the 90% charette in the next few weeks.

We have received two quotations for the geothermal source and discharge wells. DCA is finishing the HVAC design using the geothermal approach.

We talked with Larry Long, the civil engineer today. He is expecting to have the site work preliminary estimate this week and will have the final site work estimate sometime in late February or early March. He will be using asphalt prices as of December 2006 in his estimates.

Last week I received another set of catalogs for the materials that we selected during the 50% charette from BGW for the 90% charette. I understand that the "color boards" were shipped last Friday for our review. "Color boards" are groupings of flooring, tile, paint, and carpet all mounted together on a board for our review. I will let you know about our next move on the color boards. I think we just hold on to them until John returns for the 90% charette.

That is the latest from Larry and my co-chair position.

Larry and Dave

Update 12/20/06

2006-12-20T03:41:00.000-08:00

Brothers

Please forgive me for my tardy response from the 50% Charette of 12/14/06. We covered an amazing amount of data and information during the charette and made a tremendous amount of decisions. As best as I can remember, there were about fourteen FCC individuals and three BGW/Sunrush staff involved with the charette. The morning meetings were primarily on the Gifts in Kind (GIK) and Ministry of Construction (MOC) programs. Scott, Larry and I are the GIK persons and Steve, Laura and Gary are the MOC staff. We are pumped up and anxious to get started. GIK will get moving in February (sub-contractor bidding time) and MOC will not be until the March - April time frame (workers on site).

The most action of the day was during the afternoon sessions. Early afternoon was a plan review and "red line" marking up of the 50% architectural drawings. We have had so many meetings and conference calls, not all of the details made it into the 50% drawings - that is the whole point of the 50% review. Most of those items were discussed with BGW in our Monday afternoon conference call yesterday. Usually there are at least seven or more persons spread out across the country as part of those discussions.

From my perspective, last weeks meetings were a major turning point for FCC. Way back when this whole project got started we had a lot of folks involved with outlining and defining the scope and needs of our church program. For many reasons, summarized by simply God's timing, we have been pretty much in a holding pattern up until last fall. While there has been a lot of activity since then on the part of the elders, the building co-chairmen, Daniel Cook & Associates (DCA), Building God's Way (BGW) and Sunrush Construction, we have really only been getting the building design and drawings massaged to fit our original needs assembled several years ago by various committees. At this 50% design point at lot more folks are getting involved.

The 50% Charette is the point where many different groups within our body are brought back into the decision making process for the implementation of their ideas. It was really fun for Larry and I to see the various ministry groups working together to make building finishing decisions. FCC sure does not need Larry and I picking out the color schemes, carpeting, porcelain tile and on and on.

BGW and Sunrush will be integrating our input back into the drawings and specifications for the project. With the Holidays upon us, we do not expect much activity or interaction until early January. Nucor and BGW has redesigned the building structure - less complex, easier to construct and less costly. Presently, we are expecting building budget numbers in early January - where the rubber hits the road! Pray for His will and guidance!

In late January or early February we will have a 90% charette. BGW will be back with final drawings and "color boards" putting together samples of our paint, carpet and finishes for final review. The finishing committee assembled two overall color schemes for their final determination at that point. Scott and the kitchen committee are further customizing the kitchen to better fit our needs and local sourcing. The Audio/Visual (AV) committee is getting an additional proposal from another national AV company that happens to be in South Bend. They too specialize in church AV design and priced as a "ministry".

Our local site engineer, Larry R. Long and Associates, will have our final site design and specs complete about the same time as the 90% Charette. Site work, building site prep, driveway and parking lot, could begin as soon as weather permits (March or so).

In late February or early March we will have the completed architectural design drawings and costs.

Currently, we are looking at a possible construction start, digging footers and pouring concrete, about mid April. If things remain "on track" that means we would be ready to move in sometime in late November.

Again, the 50% draft drawings are at Dave's office. Call, if you would like to have a look.
Dave

Update 12/11/06

2006-12-11T13:09:00.000-08:00

Brothers

Today's (12/18/06) weekly conference call was shorter than normal with our 50% design charette coming this Thursday.

We further discussed the HVAC geothermal situation. BGW will re-check the cooling requirements and get back to us next week. The timing for working out the HVAC equipment is about right according to Casey.

John Smith just called to confirm his arrival @9:00 AM 12/19/06 for the 50% Charette.

It just occurred to me that I forgot about the NAIER question during our meeting. I will bring it up on Thursday with John.

We received the 50% design drawings this afternoon. There are 20-30 pages of "D" size (24"x26") drawings to review. If any of you want to review, call me. I will keep them at my office. The drawings will be reviewed with John during the 50% design charette.

Dave & Larry

Update 12/05/06

2006-12-05T04:18:00.000-08:00

Brothers

We just finished our weekly building conference call a few minutes ago. I will write while fresh on my mind.

The gable roof vs. the flat root issue has now been put to bed. The roof now has a uniform pitch the length of the building - I think 3:12.

We have added a second floor above the restrooms and kitchen for "long term storage for Christmas decorations etc." and about half of the HVAC equipment. Access will be via ladder in the janitor's closet and a set of second story doors in the multipurpose room. Those doors will be accessed either via a movable set of stairs or ladder. The other half of the HVAC equipment will be located ground level outside at the four building corners.

Our bell details have been submitted for final belfry construction detail design.

Our lighting plan showing switch banking for the multi-purpose room, platform and junior church has been edited and re-submitted to DCA.

Small windows have been added to all room doors. A cry room window has been added to the classroom door about mid-court in the multipurpose room wall.

A sports equipment storage room has been added beside the back door exit corridor.

The back door canopy has been reduced to a simple landing with rain canopy.

The geothermal vs. conventional HVAC alternatives is continuing to develop. The only thing really determined at this point is that if we use geothermal, the discharge water will need to be disposed via a second well because of the large peak flow rate.

The built-in handicap lift in the platform has been replaced with a portable lift, stored in the closet to the right of the platform.

The folding wall protecting the platform area has been replaced with a track mounted ball net that will retract into a slot in the left platform wall.

Dave has the latest prints at his office, 1131 East Winona, if anyone wants to review.

Dave & Larry

Update 11/28/06

2006-12-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Brothers

Our weekly conference calls with the architects, civil engineer, builder and Larry & I are now running an hour or so with loads of agenda items. We have a lot of detailed items to discuss at our 12/9 meeting in order to get us all on the same page. I have a set of drawings that have been marked up. Hopefully, we will have an updated set of drawings for that meeting. They are also going to try to update our building cost estimates by then.

The really biggie at this-point - we have eliminated the roof mounting of the HVAC and now have a sloped roof without the parapet and HVAC equipment. The roof line of the gable ends will cross the whole length of the building with the same standing seam steel roofing. We likely will have a second story storage room above the main restrooms. Sunrush and DCA are debating the merits between putting the HVAC equipment in the second story storage room but expanded to cover the kitchen or locating all of the HVAC units on the ground outside the building. Currently, Larry and I are leaning both directions. The final outcome on that issue will be related both to aesthetics and costs (storage room, sprinkling, ductwork costs and friction losses in the ductwork). We are expecting HVAC loadings etc. for Tom Easter's input yet this week.

The building design changes to accommodate these structural modifications could delay our receipt of the 50% construction drawings due late next week, before our next meeting. Having those updates is not as important as the building layout and the internal elevations - those we must have for the 50% design charette on 12/15. Larry and I will flesh out the charette schedule this week.

The sound committee and I are going out to Presby's new annex on old 30 West tonight to see their new sound system.

The kitchen committee's recommendations have been submitted and should be included in the next set of updates.

Larry and I are now prepared to explain how the next few months should proceed from a "Building Gods Way" program DCA/Sunrush/BGW Supply big picture perspective along with our options about which companies will be or may be providing what along with are our options.

We anticipate having a formal contract from Larry R. Long, for our civil site engineering sometime soon. Larry R. is hard at work on our project but currently only under a handshake agreement. We have three "Longs" on this project - Larry J. Long, our chairman, Larry R. Long, our civil engineer and Mike Long the VP of Sunrush Construction.

We have received the invoice for the soil borings and today it will be forwarded to Jim for payment.

Dave