As you know, we’re now in the second phase of the Growing Together campaign, and we’re all being asked to extend our commitments or make a new gift so we can finish the final project: a new portico outside the front door and a renovated entrance and gathering space outside the sanctuary. Our entryway needs a facelift. It is, frankly, a little dated. (Another church member used the word “historic” to describe our entryway, which was kind of her.) Thandiwe said Sunday that when you walk in our front door, you don’t really get a sense of who we are: a generous, loving, laughing, friendly, multi-generational, creative, enthusiastic, compassionate, hard-working, dedicated group of people doing our best to love one another as God has loved us.

The $225,000 we need to raise is no small amount of money. But we can do this. I know that we can, because I’ve been witness to your generosity before. I’ve been witness to this congregation doing things we never thought we could do. I’ve seen how you care about each other and care about this church.

I hope you’ll join me and my family in making a pledge to this phase of the campaign. I can only imagine the party we’ll have when the work is done.

Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going: find our  Capital Campaign summary recap (through January 2012) here.

We will be holding congregational education sessions in the Fellowship Hall at 9:45am on March 11 and 18 to share some important information about our capital campaign. These education sessions will bring everyone up to date on the Portico/Welcoming/Gathering Space project details, including the associated costs based on a recent quote provided by our building contractor, R P Murray Construction Co. We will also present a proposal which will include taking out a loan and extending the current capital campaign to fund these projects.

Essentially, we will be proposing a second phase of the current capital campaign and asking all of us to extend our pledges so that we can cover the costs (beyond the current funds on hand) of these projects. This will demonstrate to the bank, and to all members of this congregation, that we are willing to support funding for worthy projects/programs beyond the basic operational funding required by the annual budget, thus allowing the bank, and us, to commit to the loan. Following the education sessions, a congregational meeting will be held on March 25 at 9:45am to make a decision on how we will move forward.

Find our  Capital Campaign summary recap (through January 2012) here.

Read the full letter from the building committee here.

More information about our campaign is here.

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.

[Show as slideshow]

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.

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.

Cliff Greaves
Building Committee Chairman

November 2010

January 2011

February 2011

March 2011

April 2011

May 2011

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.