Church of the Lakes Building Committee Report

	*Church of the Lakes* *Building Committee Report*

Christ’s Light for All We believe the light of Christ Jesus is God’s message of love, forgiveness, hope, and wholeness for all. Our Mission is to enable people to know Christ and make Christ known through worship, prayer, fellowship, discipleship and service.		With 650 persons attending weekly worship services and 300 participating in Sunday School, the Growing Forward team met in the Fall of 2005 to assess our current facilities. Their conclusions identified facility needs to accommodate growth and they recommended to the Church Conference a Building Committee prepare preliminary building and financial plans. This is an exciting time at Church of the Lakes. Realizing our dreams and providing for our growing faith community, the Building Committee’s conclusions reinforce the findings of earlier planning teams that additional facilities are required. The Building Committee prepared plans for new construction and renovations of our existing facilities that will increase space for youth programs, add small group ministry and Sunday School meeting rooms, provide additional staff and volunteer offices, expand the sanctuary, increase parking, and provide the necessary restroom, storage, utility, and maintenance spaces required to sustain the activities of a vibrant, seven-day a week church.
Growing Forward Located in Jackson Township, Church of the Lakes serves a growing community that is seeking to know Christ. This year, membership surpassed 1,000 and Sunday School attendance has tripled in ten years. In 2001, the Caleb team set forth infrastructure, ministry, and facility initiatives with the goal of making Christ known to more of our community and to increase weekly worship attendance to 1,000. Church of the Lakes welcomes growth and desires to share the life of Jesus with all who desire to heal hurts and build dreams.

Preliminary Building Plans

Complying with road setbacks and
easements for gas lines, a new structure will
be added on the north side of the existing
education wing. A fire wall will be
constructed to separate the existing and ne
buildings. The addition is also offset from
an expanded sanctuary for fire safety and to
allow windows for natural lighting.

The proposed plans relocate the
nursery and one-year old rooms to spaces in
the new building and thus expand Sunday
School space for ages two through
kindergarten on the existing building’s main
floor. The Child Care Center will continue
to occupy these spaces on weekdays. The
new facility will include five rooms for adult
small group ministries and education. One of

these rooms will be a parlor to accommodate
brides and small group meetings in a
comfortable setting. A large meeting room
will be constructed which can be partitioned
into two class rooms. Two offices, three
restrooms, and storage space are also
planned on the new building’s main floor.

The sanctuary will be expanded with
the addition of two wings to increase total
seating to 530. The seating in these wings
will be flexible and can be arranged to
satisfy weekly worship plans. Between the
west lobby and sanctuary wing, a window
will allow parents to care for a crying infant
while continuing to observe worship.
Additional renovations of the existing
facility include new restrooms and an
elevator located in the old narthex that
provides access to all three floors.

In the basement level of the new
addition, Sunday School rooms for Grades 1
through 4 and a computer room will be
constructed. Spaces for storage and utilities
will be provided as well as new, handicap
accessible restrooms.

The youth programs will be relocated
from their small third floor rooms to the
basement. The high school youth will
occupy the present parlor providing
convenient access to the small hall, kitchen,
and May Hall for their activities. The
middle school youth will be located across
the hall. The youth director’s office with
room for small group meetings and an
additional office for volunteers and youth| leadership will also be provided within the existing building. These spaces will be air-conditioned as part of the renovation.

The elevator will be located across
from the staircase. Below the sanctuary
extensions, new storage space will be added
in May Hall to support the diverse programs
conducted in this space. New pantry space
will be added in the kitchen. Finally, fresh
air ventilation will be added to May Hall as
necessary to meet current building codes.

As part of the Building Committee
activities, an engineering assessment of the
current heating, plumbing, and electrical
utilities was completed. The 46 year old
boilers located in the southwest corner of the
basement provide heat to the education wing
and sanctuary but were only designed to last
35 years. They will be replaced now rather
than waiting further for their impending
failure.

Renovations to the third floor of the
existing building include the elevator and
construction of Sunday School rooms for
Grades 5 and 6. The elevator will provide
handicap access to this floor and the
sanctuary balcony. In the new addition, a
third floor will provide 1,000 sq. ft. of
storage space and 500 sq. ft. for utilities.

The new building’s architecture style
is colonial and will complement and blend
nicely with the existing facilities. The
proposed facilities add 14,160 sq. ft. of new
floor space and renovations to the existing
structures will extend their utility.

Besides facility additions and
renovations, the proposed building project
includes expanding parking from 141 to
about 295 marked, asphalt parking spaces.

The real estate has been purchased but
formal plans must be prepared to address
storm water drainage, lighting, gas lines, and
zoning setbacks. Eventual parking
construction also depends on the availability
of the Stanley property for conversion.

On this and previous pages,
preliminary building plans prepared by our
architect, Four Points Architectural Services,
have been presented. Pending approval by a
Church Conference and a successful capital
funds campaign in the Spring of 2007, these
plans will be the basis for detailed
construction drawings to be completed by
December 2007. These building plans and
about 12-months of construction starting in
the Spring of 2008 will satisfy the growing
ministry needs at Church of the Lakes by
early 2009.

Preliminary Financial Plans

The Building Committee and our
architect have prepared detailed cost
estimates for the building addition,
renovations, and other project related
expenses as summarized in the above table.
The first phase has been completed. Upon
completion of the detailed plans,
construction bids will be sought to finalize
the actual building cost. The current
construction estimates include a 10% design
contingency. Final design plans and
construction bids will be presented to a
Church Conference for approval prior to
breaking ground.

Funding resources for the building
program will be provided by a capital funds

campaign and a loan. Using conservative
methods from the old UMC Manual for
Parish Development, the estimated resources
considering our membership, annual budget,
apportionments, and current debt is
$3,595,000 which exceeds the total cost.

Recently, the Financial Support
Team completed preliminary work on a
capital funds campaign, interviewed several
consultants, reviewed program materials,
and selected a consultant to provide
guidance to our campaign pending approval
by the Church Conference. Our goal is to
obtain over $2,500,000 in capital campaign
pledges that will be paid over a three-year
period. With this level of financial
commitment, the long term debt service will
be 15% of our current budget.

Comparing the proposed project to
the previous (1997-2000) building program
also provides a favorable assessment. Over
the past ten years, church membership and
worship attendance have increased over 70%
and the annual budget has increased 187%.
The current project cost is 4.0 times the
current budget while the previous project
was 5.4 times the budget. While the building
program will be expensive and will entail
sacrifice by everyone, the burden does
appear to be less than our previous building
project and within the financial means of our
Church members and friends.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the sanctuary expansion necessary?
The Building Committee studied this
issue carefully and concluded our present
membership only requires additional
sanctuary space on special occasions but
now is the appropriate time to increase
sanctuary seating. Over recent years, we
have accommodated our growth with the
addition of a third worship service and the
birthing of Crosspoint UMC. But in the
near future, as our membership continues to
grow, we will require additional space on a
regular basis. As we embrace growth to
make Christ known, it is a necessary
consequence that we provide adequate
worship space. Furthermore, deferring the
sanctuary expansion to a future time is
possible but will be a much more expensive
undertaking as future access will be limited
by the new education addition.

Why the continued parking problems?
Over the past eight years, the
Trustees have purchased the Stanley’s
double parcel, the Macioce property, and
this year, the Krzepina property; all to the
south of the current facilities. The Macioce
house was removed in 2006 and access to a
temporary overflow lot provided. Regardless,
the 1998 purchase agreement with Mrs.
Stanley provided a life lease and limited our
use of her former property. When her former
property is available, the Building
Committee will have plans ready to
complete the parking lot expansion.

Why didn’t we build more previously?
The previous building program
added the Activity Center, Narthex, Prayer
Chapel, Music Room, several offices, and
modern restrooms and was as large as
possible within the financial constraints set
by the United Methodist Church. Also, our

growth projections and goals were ambitious
but unproven. In hindsight, membership and
worship attendance have grown slightly
ahead of projections and Sunday School
attendance has accelerated from less than
20% to over 30% of membership.

The Next Steps
The Financial Support Team will
initiate a capital funds campaign. When
funding is available through advance
donations or first fruits of the capital
campaign, the Building Committee will
work with our Architect to start preparing
detailed building plans and then seek
construction bids. The final plans and costs
will be presented to a Church Conference for
approval prior to construction.

Church Conference Approval

The Building Committee’s
preliminary building and financial plans
require review and approval by the Church
Conference planned for Monday, Dec. 11,
2006, at 7:00 PM. At that time, the plans
will be discussed and any questions
answered. The Building Committee
recommends the Church Conference:

1. Approve the preliminary building and\
financial plans.

2. Authorize the Financial Support Team to
conduct a capital funds campaign.

3. Upon receipt of adequate capital funds,
authorize the Building Committee to go
forward with Phase II to prepare detailed
building plans and seek construction
bids.