New Church Building Walk Through with Pictures!

Hi Everyone!

***UPDATED POST*** Here are the pictures I took of the walk through.  I noticed that Suzanne was taking a bunch of pictures, so I stopped taking pictures after the Main Entrance.  I'll see if I can grab a couple of them from her next time I see her.  Please note that the pictures are kind of large in size.  I didn't realize that until I began uploading.  Sorry about that.

Tuesday night, I had a chance to look at the new church with Pastor Jim, the church advisory board, and all of the church ministry leaders.  Ron Cochran and I represented the Youth Group during the walk through.

Let me start off by saying that I'm super excited about the new building, and I am looking forward to the opportunities that a facility opens to us.  I took a couple of pics and a few videos of the inside.  I will post those later for everyone to see.  Suzanne also took a bunch of pictures, and I'm going to ask her for some of them, too.

We entered in the back door facing the parking lot.  That is the ground floor/basement.  There is a long hallway that runs from the door to the other end of the building.  To the right is a large, open room and a small kitchen.  The large room has dividers that segment the room into four, smaller sections.  Things of note in this area are windows with a view of the overflow parking lot.  There is a baptismal pool in there, too. The kitchen has two stoves, and there is a lot of cabinet space.

Long Hallway in Basement (my back is at the doors to the parking lot)

Large Room in Basement.  (Kitchen can be seen in back.)

Baptismal Pool.  I am not sure of the nature of the gray lump next to the pool

Another view of the Large Room

Kitchen

Kitchen

Kitchen

To the left of the hallway is a smaller room and a nursery room.  The smaller room could be divided into two rooms, and that room is connected to the nursery.  Things of note are the two barn style doors for the nursery.  (The kind where the top opens but the bottom can stay closed.)

Small Room in Basement.  (Nursery Door in back)

Small Room in Basement.  Nursery entrance in back left.

Nursery Room 

Nursery Room (Small Room can be seen in background)

At the end of the hallway is an office space, the Mens' room, the Lady's room, a water fountain, and a door leading to a second entrance on the basement level.  Things of note are the shower in the Men's room, and the really old cabinet in the office space.

Office in Basement

Cabinet in Office in Basement

Second Entrance in Basement

From the second entrance entrance, we go up two flights of stairs to a small hallway.  To the left is the Main entrance, straight ahead is the sanctuary, and to the right are stairs to the upstairs.  Things of note in the stairwell are the really, really, really old chair lifts to go up and down the stairs.  I have not seen those in quite some time.  They do work.  I tested them, but I did not ride in them.

Stairs going up

Next we go into the Sanctuary.  There are lots of pews and chandeliers.  The area has lots of echo, and the stage is really large.  The stage is about two - three times the size of the circle room in our current facility.  It has a very regal and formal feel to it.  It almost feels like a Catholic church from that aspect.  Lots of light can come into the building, and a sense of reverence can be felt when you enter the room.  The pews are most definitely secured to the floor.  I tried to move one, and it didn't budge.  There are lots of light switches and dials and outlets, and some of them were labeled "DO NOT TOUCH", but Pastor Jim, Ed, and I touched them anyway.  Sadly, many of them had no noticeable effect.  Things of note in the area are the lack of access into the raised stage.  Two small rooms flanking either side of the stage, and the sound system was tucked away in a closet in the back.  

Sanctuary!

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Sanctuary!!

Big Stage!

View from Stage

"DO NOT PUSH" hmm... Let's push them all!

  

Sound Booth.  (more like Sound Closet...)

Moving to the Main entrance, there is a foyer that is about half the size of our current sanctuary.  A bathroom is off to the side.  There are two double doors going from the Main entrance to the outside, and two sets of double doors going from the Main entrance into the sanctuary.  There is a single door to the side that leads to the hallway that connect to the stairs going up and down.  Things of note in the this room is the presence of usable space for couches, chairs, and/or a coffee bar.

Main Entrance

Main Entrance

Outside of the Main entrance, there is a concrete porch.  The porch has a thin metal railing going around it, and the landscaping is overgrown, but kind of pretty in a rustic sort of way.  There is a set of stairs leading down towards the paring lot from the porch.  Things of note are an old wooden bench and two plants of poison ivy.  Frank identified them quickly and let everyone know before we got too close to them.  Of course, Ron, Jon, and I decided to get really close to both of them just to check them out.

(Sorry, no Pictures...)

Going up the stairs to the upstairs, there is an office space that served as the senior pastor's office at one time.  There is a window with wooden slats over it looking over the sanctuary.The space is kinda of small for a senior pastor's office.  There are two closets/storage spaces up here, along with another bathroom and a shower in the bathroom.  Things of note are a couch bed left over from the previous people, and the window overlooking the sanctuary.  (I just think those kinds of windows are always interesting.)

(Sorry, No Pictures)

So, that's the building in a nutshell.  There is a lot of potential for the place, but there is also a lot of work.  The entire basement was covered in a mold/mildew type substance, and the carpet was in bad condition.  No one knows the last time the septic was checked, and there is an older heating and air air conditioning unit.   Still, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.  God has provided for us so far, and I have complete faith that God's will will be done.

I'll be posting the pictures either tonight or tomorrow.  (I posted pictures "tomorrow").   Also, there was a lot of discussion that I want to share with everyone, but this post have gone on long enough.  More on everything later.

-Michael