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| Pastor Craig's Progress Reports
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“Second floor, please.”
Going to the second floor will be a new experience at Faith Lutheran Church and Schools. But that’s what we will soon be doing!
Academy children will be going to the second floor for music classes, chapel, and performance practices.
Junior and Senior youth will be going to the second floor for Confirmation and youth group, and for a place to hang out.
Adults will be going to the second floor for Bible studies, receptions, meetings, and fellowship.
Staff members will be going to the second floor to get to their offices.
Once we can go up to the second floor, we will have new opportunities to “raise our faith to new heights”!
It won’t be long. Sections of the second floor walls and roof are going up right now!
“What a Week!”
It was absolutely incredible to see what got accomplished last week! Especially when you take into consideration the obstacles that stood before us.
First, on Friday the 13th, there was the sprinkler water line break in the 3rd-5th grade Academy wing that flooded the entire wing with a couple of inches of water. With “Meet Your Teacher Night” less than one week away, all the classrooms in that wing had to be emptied out, the water removed, drywall removed and replaced and painted, damaged items inventoried and replaced and assembled, and classrooms set up so the teachers could hold class. In an amazing effort, our contractor, the cleaning company, the insurance companies, the staff of our church and schools, and several volunteers, teamed up and got everything done. When “Meet Your Teacher” took place on the afternoon of the 19th, you would never know what had transpired that week in that Academy wing! Thanks to all who chipped in to make that happen!
And in the midst of all that excitement, we saw a lot of things happening with the Family Life Center construction. The framing for the pillars, and first floor trusses began to take shape. The gym was transformed daily, from a general storage area, to an Academy storage area for damaged furniture and items. The walls of the gym were transformed as old doorways were filled in with concrete block, and new doorways were cut and filled with doors. The gym is cleaned up and ready to go for PE on Monday! God is good!
By God’s grace, things will continue to move quickly now. And now that school will begin, we will take extra measures to ensure that things move along safely, as we will have about 400 children rolling onto our campus each day.
Every day we see lots of progress being made. And soon, we will be able to move into additional ministry space that will enable us to “Raise Our Faith to New Heights”! I can’t wait!
Pastor Craig
Green Means ”Go”!
Our prayers were answered! The Clark County Building Department inspected and approved our forms and footings this morning, and the cement was poured this afternoon. Things will start moving quickly now! We can move full speed ahead!
Prior to our green light today, we have had to learn some lessons in patience. Patience is a virtue. It is also a gift from God and a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Patience doesn’t come naturally. But with God’s help, it is a virtue that we can cultivate in our lives.
Patience will be required by all of us as we prepare to soon begin a new School, and a new season of church and school ministries. Our fall will be a time of changes and transitions as we gradually move into existing and expanded space as we are able. Many extra precautions will be put into place to ensure that, as we gradually move into more and more of the Family Life Center space, it will be safe to do so.
Our patience will pay off! In a few short months, we will have “Raised Our Faith to New Heights”, providing much-needed ministry space, so we can more effectively grow as the Faith Community Family.
“Our times are in the Lord’s hands” (Psalm 31:15). Our lives are too. And because they are, we can wait patiently and trustingly, knowing that He accomplishes all things, in His time.
Pastor Craig
“Conforming”
As you look on the north side of the Family Life Center, what you see are a number of “forms” which have been put in place for the columns which will help us to raise our Family Life Center to new heights. With these “forms”, our builder can pour the concrete, knowing that it will “conform” to reflect the “forms” into which it was poured. Without these “forms”, the cement would go all over the place. In other words, it would be “deformed”.
The God who “formed” us in our mothers’ wombs (Psalm 139), also wants to “conform” us to His image. But too often, we view His desire to “conform” us as being too restrictive and limiting. The reality is, just the opposite is true. When we fail to live under the “forming and conforming” work of our God, our lives become “deformed” by sin.
Thank God He is willing to “reform” us and “transforms” us with His forgiving grace so that, empowered by God’s Spirit, we can live lives that are continually being “conformed” to His image and will.
In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes, “Do not be “conformed” to this world, but be “transformed” by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.
As we “Raise Our Faith to New Heights” through our Family Life Center expansion, we will have a place that enables our minds to be renewed so our lives can be “transformed”. Having a place for spiritual growth and fellowship will “raise our faith to new heights” by helping us to understand and live as God’s formed, reformed, transformed people!
Pastor Craig
“What’s That Tower?”
If you have driven on the south side of our campus recently, you have probably seen a tower being constructed on the southwest corner of the Family Life Center. AT & T is building a tower and renting it from Faith Community so that they can provide better cell phone service to the community. Their cell tower will improve the reception for their customers, and the revenues for Faith Community. A win-win!
God’s Word says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.” (Proverbs 18:10)
The “name” of the Lord refers to who He is and all He represents as our God. As our strong tower, we can run to Him and be safe. And as we find refuge in Him, our faith is raised to new heights.
When our Family Life Center expansion is completed, we will have the opportunity to provide for many more spiritual growth opportunities so that God’s people can “run to Him” through the study of His Word, and find safety in Him through the assurance of His presence, His power, and His promises!
Pastor Craig
“A Firm Foundation”
Without a firm foundation, a building cannot stand. Much of the work so far on the Family Life Center has been to clear the way so that our Family Life Center expansion will have the firm foundation it needs. Our next step will be to build on the foundation that gets laid. Our new and improved Family Life Center will soon start to take shape as the builders raise it to new heights!
This expansion to our Family Life Center will expand our opportunities to build a firm foundation of faith in the lives of our Faith Community family. The Bible says:
“No one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:11)
With Jesus Christ as our foundation, we will be able to use our new ministry space to “raise our faith to new heights” so we can know Jesus and be better equipped to make Him known! That will happen in many ways beginning this fall. Stay tuned!
Pastor Craig
Can you spell “caliche”?
It is that harder-than-concrete substance that is often found in soil in the southwest. And it was found by our builder as they were digging out the area where the elevator will be located. Thankfully, there is only a small, confined area where the caliche has to be busted out! In the mean time, the rest of the demolition is wrapping up, and soon the foundations will be laid for our two story expansion.
Has your heart ever been like caliche? Have the sins you have committed in life, or the hurts you have experienced from life, caused your heart to be harder than concrete? Thankfully, God’s Word can break through even the hardest of hearts to confront and comfort you so that your faith and love for Him can be “elevated” to new heights!
Pastor Craig
“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven . . . a time to tear down and a time to build”
(Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3b).
For Faith Community Lutheran Church and Schools, it is time to tear down and to build!
Our demolition phase is going well. The entrance on the north section and the walkways on the north and east sections of the Family Life Center should be completely torn down by the end of this week. Those areas needed to be demolished in order to provide for the necessary support and reinforcement for a two story addition. With that support and reinforcement in place, then the rebuilding will begin!
This tearing down and rebuilding of the Family Life Center is similar to what happens in our lives at times. Have you ever had a portion of your life torn down? It’s not a pretty process, but sometimes that tearing down provides the opportunity for the Lord to reinforce us so our faith can be raised to new heights.
Our hope and prayer is that, through this expansion, we will have many more ways to help “raise our faith to new heights”. With additional space comes additional opportunities for ministries like Bible studies, small groups, fellowship events, seminars, and workshops. May the Lord use this expansion to rebuild us as He makes us into the people He has called us to be!
Pastor Craig
“Raising Our Faith to New Heights”
It’s time to raise the roof! This week, the tiles came off of our current roof on the North and East sides of the Family Life Center. Demolition of the current roof will be taking place over the next two weeks as our builder prepares our Family Life Center for its second story addition.
For the summer, the Family Life Center is “closed” and the Family Life Center is surrounded with fencing for your safety. Once the second story addition is enclosed, much of the fencing will come down.
Please remember, during the summer, the only entrances to our campus are on the east and northwest sides of the campus.
Things will move quickly now! We look forward to having more space and more ministry in the near future so we will be better enabled to “raise our faith to new heights”!
Pastor Craig
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| Weekly Construction Photo Updates
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