Growing Together Campaign

In the spring of 2010, we conducted a capital campaign to raise funds for several building projects around our church and received pledges for over $425,000. We’ve already completed the first two projects – installing a new energy-efficient boiler and renovating the kitchen – and the steeple is in the process of being replaced in the summer of 2011. In the next year or so, we hope to complete the final project: portico outside our front doors, and an expanded gathering space and welcome center. Below, you’ll find reports from our Building Committee as well as updates and photos from the work in progress.

Interested in helping out or want more information about the campaign? Email info@fccgreensboro.org.

Steeple Raising – Aug 30, 2011

Posted by Tracy on September 7, 2011

Sep 072011

Piedmont Fiberglass installed our new steeple on Tuesday, August 30, 2011. The morning was used to set up the cranes, and place the transition on the brick tower and then anchor it in place. The majority of the installation of the steeple sections took place in the afternoon and evening.
We celebrated with a steeple raising hot dog supper, on the far side of the parking lot. Church members and friends were invited to come have dinner and watch the new steeple being installed.

Everyone who attended signed a plaque that was installed inside the steeple.

Please see below for a quick video, photos and a news report of this day.

Click here to see our story on News 14 Carolina.

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Steeple Raising Supper – August 30

Posted by Tracy on August 15, 2011

Aug 152011

Piedmont Fiberglass, manufacturer of our new steeple, has just informed us that they will be installing the steeple on Tuesday, August 30, 2011. The cranes that will be used to do the lifting of the steeple in place, as well as the steeple section components will show up that morning. The morning will be used to set up the cranes, and place the transition on the brick tower and then anchor it in place. The majority of the installation of the steeple sections will take place in the afternoon and evening and it is entirely possible, assuming things are going well, the entire job will be complete by night fall.

So, rather than a ‘steeple raising lunch’ we have decided to have a steeple raising hot dog supper (with all the trimmings), on the far side of the parking lot, beginning at 5:30pm. All church members, and former ministers, are invited to come have dinner and watch the new steeple being installed. This will be an exciting time, and fun for all! Yes, children are invited too as they will enjoy watching the cranes work as well as a good old hot dog. So, everyone, please make your plans to come and be a part of this very significant, but rare, event in the life of our church!

Note: Parking will have to be across Market St. or on Overlook or Madison as the trucks and cranes will be using most of our parking lot.

Our Steeple Comes Down

Posted by Tracy on June 22, 2011

Jun 222011



	
	
		
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Here is the church, here is the steeple…

Posted by Rev. Lee Hull Moses on June 22, 2011

Jun 222011

I have to admit it: I’ve spent a good portion of the last few days standing in the church parking lot, staring upward.

They’ve taken the steeple down. The first day or so, it came down bit by bit, as workers tore off pieces of wood to free up the inner steel structure. Yesterday, the cross was lifted carefully off (it stands now in the foyer of the church, hopefully to be lifted back up to the top of the new steeple when it’s installed later this summer). This morning, the real fun began. At about 8:30, the giant crane lifted off the very top spire and laid it gently on the ground. Then the other pieces of the base were hoisted up and into the air. Now, they’re being dismantled in the parking lot, and the top of the church looks, well, just plain weird. Hatless, someone said. Or like we got a bad haircut. Mostly, it feels like a piece of ourselves is missing.

I found myself feeling a little sad as I watched it come down, piece by piece. For more than fifty years, that steeple has stood watch on the top of our building. Lib Murray remembers coming over with her kids and watching it go up. Now, we’re watching it come down, and it feels like the end of an era.

Times change, though. Things come and go, buildings wear out and need to be replaced. Later this summer, we’ll celebrate when the new steeple goes up, and someday, we’ll be telling our grandchildren that we were here when it happened. I’m glad to be part of a church that understands the need for letting things go to make room for new things.

None of this is about the steeple itself, of course. As we’ve said again and again as we’ve planned this project, the steeple isn’t important in and of itself. The church doesn’t exist to have a building. The church exists to serve the world. The building is a resource that helps us do that. The steeple points us up to the glory of God so that we can be led out in service to our neighbors and our world.

Come by and see it sometime. We look a little funny, but we’re still the same old church.

Steeple Project

Posted by Tracy on June 15, 2011

Jun 152011

The steeple project begins on June 20, 2011 with J H Batten, Inc. showing up on the job to start steeple demolition. A completion date, along with an appropriate dedication ceremony and celebration will be announced soon. Thanks to all for your support and patience as we have worked to get to this point. Pray that all will go well through the project and that it will be complete in a short time.

Cliff Greaves
Building Committee Chairman

Updates from the Building Committee

Posted by Tracy on June 15, 2011

Jun 152011

Below are updates from the Building Committee chairman, Cliff Greaves, about the planning and progress of building projects funded by our capital campaign.

Building Dedication

Posted by Rev. Lee Hull Moses on November 22, 2010

Nov 222010

Last Sunday, we dedicated our newly renovated kitchen and new boiler system, asking God’s blessing on these projects that we might use our building to the glory of God. The building committee offered these words:

A reading from Psalm 84:

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself
Where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

As these projects come to their completion, we give thanks for all who made it possible:

The generosity of this congregation, who gave above and beyond to fund these projects.
The hard work of the contractors, electricians, plumbers, pipe-fitters, who made it all come together.

We give thanks for:

The commitment of volunteers who gave their time and their talents.
The flexibility of all who use this space, who stepped over boxes and copper pipes and rescheduled meetings.

We are confident that:

The meals served in this kitchen will feed our bodies and our spirits.
The celebrations we hold here will help us mark the seasons and the passage of time.
The laughter and singing that rise from this room will delight the ears and fill the heart.
The heat that comes from these pipes will fill the rooms of this building where we worship, learn, and pray.

And so we dedicate these rooms and these facilities to the glory of God, that we may gather here in God’s presence and go out from here to be part of God’s work in the world.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, the skies and the highest heavens cannot contain you, much less buildings made by human hands. Yet you dwell on this earth among us and make yourself known in sacred space and time.

So we ask your blessing today on this sacred space – this building where we gather in your name. Bless the kitchen, where meals will feed your people, and bless the boiler, which will keep us warm.

Grant peace to all who gather here, peace to those who enter, and to those who go out. Grant peace to those who love this house, and who love the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Construction Zone: Sept. 22

Posted by Rev. Lee Hull Moses on September 20, 2010

Sep 202010

Work continues….

This week, the new floor is being installed in the kitchen, and pipe work is being done all over the building as part of the new boiler system.

The very empty kitchen, awaiting a new floor.

The floor in progress

The new floor.... almost done.

Two new closets will increase storage and hide unsightly electrical equipment.

A little construction mess won't keep us from our coffee...

New storage place in the boiler room.

New piping across the boiler room ceiling.

Construction Zone: Sept. 1

Posted by Rev. Lee Hull Moses on September 1, 2010

Sep 012010

Work continues on the lower level of the building. Check it out:

the OLD boiler

the NEW boiler

new wall in the kitchen

notice the water-proofing gutter dug around the base of the floor

water-proofing in the west stairway

It’s all still a work in progress, so thanks for your patience!

Construction Zone

Posted by Rev. Lee Hull Moses on August 25, 2010

Aug 252010

It’s been messy and loud all week around here – but that’s a good thing! The kitchen has been completely torn up, in preparation for the waterproofing work and renovation that is getting started now. Thanks to everybody who helped move everything out of the kitchen into the Fellowship Hall, and thanks for your patience as the work continues.

Here’s a look at the work in progress: