I hope this letter finds you and yours well. I want to write about the next big change coming to the Center campus. By the time you receive this we will be ready to start the new Sunday morning format of 9:00 A.M. worship, 9:00 A.M. Sunday School, 10:15 A.M. worship. I hope that this change serves you well, but I know that it will in the long term provide better worship opportunities both for us and for those who will join us later.
The relocation of The Living Well to Center is an exciting move that will ultimately be a blessing to this body of believers but also to the community. There are many reasons that make this a prudent move at this time. Some major reasons are the “up in the air” nature of I-69 and the lack of forward movement on the property offered to us by R.N. Thompson, and secondly, the inability of making ourselves known in the school. Further, we have opportunities to develop here that were totally unknown at the time of our move to Rosa Parks Edison, and without significantly larger worship services the financial burden of attempting to develop in two locations would be too great. The pluses outweigh the minuses in relocating here. Our Sunday School will increase, our children’s ministry will increase, our “connectivity” between the two worshipping congregations will increase and we will also be a much more inviting place to the families moving in to our north. I have been asked “When?” by many people. There are many answers to that, but the one I can tell you for sure, is on or by November 5: The Great Hall may not be completely ready by that time but is good financial stewardship to do so.
As you may know, we have been operating The Living Well off of grant monies made available by the South Indiana Conference, New Church Development Committee. They have made it clear that those funds are to be used for either staffing needs created by The Living Well, or retro-fitting of the Great Hall. We cannot use those funds for other needs unrelated to these two items, so even though we may be purchasing property soon, these funds are earmarked as noted. A Charge Conference has been set on September 7 at 6:30 P.M. to finalize the plans for the Great Hall. There will be drawings available soon for the congregations to view as we move forward.
There are plans to carpet the Great Hall, both as a part of this project and to offer a better option than the current condition in which we find the floor. This will not change the use of the room for youth group or dinners, etc. The carpet will handle these uses just fine and a carpet cleaner will be purchased to help keep stains, etc., in check. So the carpet will beautify, keep functionality, and will greatly help with noise reduction in the room. It has not been ordered yet, but the Administrative Council sees this as part of a greater plan to make a capital improvement and help in these other ways. The other proposed changes will be made clear to the body before the Charge Conference on September 7.
Wow! Pray for God’s blessings as we move forward.
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