Already outgrowing our space?

Outgrowing

Just three weeks ago, I signed the mortgage papers on our facility.  After nearly two years of occupying these 7.5 acres, we now no longer lease it, but are buying it.  God has been really good to us.

But things are changing very rapidly all around us.  God is really up to something good here.  Wasn’t it great to see those 20 people baptized two weeks ago, or those 8 people baptized a couple of months before?

At the beginning of this year, we were running around 250 on Sunday mornings… A comfortable number for our facility.  But in 4 of the last 6 weeks, we’ve been over 350 in attendance. Wow!  This is absolutely fantastic, but it is generating a few issues…

  • Dianne Fowler tells me we are quickly running out of space in “Studio A,” our Children’s Ministry main room upstairs.
  • Our Parking Lot has been really full, and even at times difficult to deal with over the last few months.
  • Both of our worship services have felt really full, also.  In fact, it has been difficult for people to find seats at times.  Families that arrive late usually have the worst time, since by then most of the room is filled up, and there is usually only one or two seats available here and there.

We are going to have to be intentional for a while, until big changes happen.  The studies say that when a church reaches 80% seating capacity, it ceases to grow.  So keeping our current situation would be like us telling God, “you’ve done enough here. No more, please.”

So, things are going to have to change.

Immediate Steps

  • Our staff and serve teams have begun to park on the upper deck by portables.
  • Our deacons are restarting the parking team… We could use some help in this area.
  • We’re doing our best to keep a wide time gap between services to accommodate traffic flow.  This is really important at the Children’s Ministry check-in.
  • We’re moving ahead with a new, more modern electronic check-in procedure for children, streamlining that process for everyone.
  • We will be asking everyone in the worship service to move toward the center of your section to make space on your row for more people.

Longer Term Steps

We’re putting together a Strategic planning team, which is preparing for a big gathering on the first weekend of October.  We’ll be asking a lot of questions about where we are and where we’re headed next.  During this planning phase, the question won’t be, “what should we build,” but “who has God called us to become, and how can we best get into position for Him to get us there?”

Your Role Is Vital.

There are big days ahead of us.  And we have lots of big decisions to prayerfully make.  Please, please be praying for our Strategic Planning team, and their upcoming weekend. Also, please make as much room as you can on Sunday mornings for people to come sit beside you.  You may discover your new best friend!  Lastly, keep in mind that YOU are on our hospitality team.  People are looking to you to smile, welcome, and help others find seats, as well as find who they are in Christ.

These are truly great problems to have. We are so privileged to be part of what God is doing here in our little neck of the woods. I’m glad to be on the journey with you.