The Lord has blessed us over the last couple of years to be able to undertake some much needed renovations of our facility. This is just a little rundown of the progress that we have made on our building since early 2007.
The first project we undertook in 2007 was to upgrade the lighting in our fellowship hall and repair some wood and siding on the exterior of that part of the building. Our fellowship hall lighting up to that point has consisted of two 60w bulbs. So, needless to say, when we installed 8 fluorescent fixtures, it changed the entire look and usability of the fellowship hall. We also took the time to clean out a bunch of junk that had accumulated over the years and was taking up valuable Sunday School space.
In the spring of 2008, the Lord allowed us to remodel the nursery, bathrooms, and prophet’s chamber. We were able to expand the nursery into two sections, splitting the toddlers and the babies into two connected rooms. Our bathrooms were in a major state of disrepair and neglect, so we had to strip everything down and start from scratch. It is wonderful to have nice, clean bathrooms for our members, but especially for our visitors. We also renovated the prophet’s chamber to be more of a nice hotel room. The Lord provided a new queen bed and futon/bunk-bed, so we can now accommodate up to 5 adults. It has made for a much more welcoming atmosphere to parents putting their children in our care, and it has been more refreshing for our missionaries as they stay with us.
Back in April of this year, the Lord gave us the resources to remodel again. This time we undertook the auditorium, sound booth, and church offices. I can’t explain how it happened, but we completed everything but the finishing touches and some of the trim work in 1 week flat. WHAT A CHANGE IT HAS MADE! It looks better…it sounds better…it is arranged better…it’s just COMPLETELY BETTER. Those who had been to church the Sunday before were awestruck at the difference. We removed all the wood paneling and replaced it with sheetrock. We rewired the entire auditorium, the electrical and audio wiring. The platform was a 10ft. by 10ft. 1-step riser enclosed by partitions on three sides. Not anymore! It is now a 24ft. by 13ft. 2-step riser with no partitions. We rearranged the pews at an angle, and that gave us more room than we had hoped for. I would have to say that it was the best thing we could have physically done for the church. It is a friendly, warm, and welcoming place to attend now.
The only part of our building that has not been totally remodeled is the fellowship hall and kitchen area. We are hoping to be able to rectify that in 2010. We are also in great need of more facilities. We are running out of Sunday School space, and our fellowship hall is getting really small for our fellowship lunches. We are praying that God will GIVE us a piece of property and building just a few doors down from us. We would make this our permanent fellowship hall, and it has the wiring and plumbing capable of creating a fully function kitchen for catering our lunches. There is ample office space in this facility, 3 working bathrooms, 2 giagantic storage closets, and a rear area capable of remodeling for 2 prophet’s chambers. If God gave us this facility, we would be able to leave the fellowship hall area setup for our children’s ministries, use the existing prophet’s chamber for a Sunday School classroom, and remodel the “kitchen” area for better access to the baptistry and changing rooms. I know it is a big request…but we have a BIG GOD. I would ask that you take this matter to the Lord in serious prayer, believing by faith that God answers the BIG prayers just like the little ones.
I look forward to seeing what God will provide in the future for our ministry here at Grandview Pines Baptist Church. If you are in the area, come be a part of a work that has a vision for the future and what God can accomplish.
In the service of the KING,
Pastor Jared Decker