MOVING DAY!!!

So, 2 years ago, our church embarked on a building project. We had seriously run out of office space (8 offices for a staff of about 17 full time workers and a bunch more part timers), had only a small icky kitchen for our handicapped ministry to meet, no elevator for the handicapped and not enough classroom space for larger classes to meet. So it was decided to seek God and see if we could do this. As usual, this project was going to be undertaken without debt since we feel debt is a curse, so this would be interesting.

Well, now it's 2 years later (about 3 or 4 years since we started collecting for the project), and today is moving day! The office is closed and everyone is in their grubbies. Staff are moving out of their old offices into new offices, or else the staff that had NO office are now moving into space for themselves. There is a room with workstations for part timers (each one will get their own file cabinet that they can roll to the open workstation), and there are such nice spaces now! DH will no longer be sharing his office with the business pastor so he can get some privacy to work on music and his messages for the college ministry.

It's so amazing to see this entire project coming to an end. It was a real labor of love and was a great vehicle to actually minister to the workers who entered our doors. In addition, the congregation not only gave of their wallets but of their time and sweat because much of the work that could be done by us WAS done by us. From putting up sheetrock and putting down subflooring to wallpapering and painting - we saved a tremendous amount of money by picking up bagels and BBQing burgers and dogs to feed the workers who put their sweat equity into the building. In a week and a half, we will have the building dedication - one large service to give this building to the Lord as an offering of our labors - and to dedicate it to His service. I do pray that this new building will not only physically enlarge our territory as Jabez prayed, but that it would enlarge our ministry territory. That it would free us up to be able to grow our Friendship Unlimited ministry (the ministry to the disabled), which is such an amazing outreach to a portion of the population that is often forgotten by the church. That the work of the staff will be made more efficient and in doing so, reach more for the Lord. May God be glorified in all that happens in this new addition. :)