What exactly is THE NEXT CHAPTER? It is first and foremost a stewardship ministry. The most significant result will be a process that encourages all in our congregation to ask in prayer for the Lord’s leading in our lives. This pertains specifically to our time, talents, and treasures.

Why THE NEXT CHAPTER, and Why now? We feel called to stay true to our vision and mission, which means creating more capability to facilitate spiritual nurture within our family of believers, and to create a broader ministry platform for outreach to our community and beyond. Our growth in recent years has really taxed our current facility, and candidly, we are not able to pursue all the ministry expansion that we believe God is calling us to do. THE NEXT CHAPTER campaign will enable us to accommodate continued growth in our ministries, and shape our church history for many new generations to come.

How did we arrive at this decision? The blessing of growing beyond the capabilities of our current facility has been evident for years. Our Council and several key lay leaders have been studying and praying about potential options for the last two years. They held many meetings to gain congregational input. We have felt God’s hand in this process, and we have continually sought God’s will for our church through prayer. We feel called to undertake this initiative as faithful stewards of the ministries that God has given.

Where will we be expanding, and what kinds of improvement are being considered? We plan to expand immediately south of our current foyer adding 13,288 square feet of classroom, fellowship, and administrative spaces. Nine new classrooms, three large fellowship spaces, streamlined check-in for children, and a “Starbucks” like new coffee service are among the planned improvements.

When does this campaign begin? The Preparation Phase began in August, and continues through September. The Information Phase occurs in early October with a series of meetings for all members at the church. Late October and November will see the Inspiration Phase unfold with Pastor Paul’s Sermon Series: THE NEXT CHAPTER: Following God’s Script. In addition to this teaching, we will have Life Groups and New Study Groups discussing life application questions. A special Stewardship Devotional will augment our emphasis on prayer to discern God’s will for our church. A Special (All church) Event kicks off our Commitment Phase on November 11^th runs for three weeks when we will announce results at Celebration / First Fruits Sunday on December 4^th.

Who is this campaign directed at? THE NEXT CHAPTER is a stewardship ministry with applicability to the entire congregation: children, students, and adults. There will be many avenues and venues to learn more about God’s call on our lives for all of these groups.

When will the building of Phase 2 commence and be ready for occupancy? The answer is dependent upon funds raised and necessary approvals from the city and our lender. Once construction begins, our new expansion should be ready for occupancy in about twelve month’s time.

Do we have a Master Site Plan for this campus? When we first purchased the land some seven years ago we knew we would need to build the facility in two phases.  We decided to get the sanctuary, lobby, and about half of the classrooms we knew we would need up first. We would then finish the facility with more classrooms and fellowship space once we were able to do so financially. 
 
Over the past two years, we have been constantly short of space for a whole variety of ministries around here. We also have a host of new ministries we feel strongly we should be doing,  but can't because we don't yet have adequate space.  Prayer has been a constant among our church leaders as we examined challenges and considered possible solutions.  The Council has been specifically praying about and discussing these needs for a couple years now.    Our expansion committee has been hard at work talking with ministry leaders and staff about their needs, and holding broader forums with our congregation.  We presented the findings from our expansion committee at our Congregational Meeting last spring, and also our intent to fund this expansion through a capital stewardship campaign that we have titled THE NEXT CHAPTER.  These two initiatives began with our original master site planning seven years ago.  We have sought God’s will through prayer and diligent fact finding, and have become convinced that this is the time to begin this "Next Chapter" of our church's life. 

We still don't know the specific timetable of when we will begin building.  That will depend on how quickly funds come in and what our lender requires.  But, we feel compelled to set this process in motion, and will try to be patient as God’s timing unfolds.