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Message from
Jim
Our
big remodeling project is now over! I should say the construction
part is over. Now we are in the process of paying off our
loan. You will hear more about that in the rest of this little
newsletter. I want to affirm in this article what we, with God's
help, have accomplished.
Our building now enhances our ministry and mission rather than
hampering it. We call ourselves a welcoming church. That is
even part of our by-line. We say we are "Welcoming in
Spirit." That accurately reflects who we are. Now we
have a space that reflects that spirit. It is so much more open
and accessible. When people visit us, they see we care about our
building.
 One of the highlights of our remodeling is our new
atrium. People love that space. I have heard many nice
comments from visitors. More and more of our church groups are
taking advantage of this light and inviting space. As we continue to
enjoy the atrium you will see a welcome booth and attractive wall
displays, possibly festive banners, in addition to what we already
have.
Our
worship space has been renewed and enhanced. Replacing the pews
with our new chairs has enabled so much more flexibility in our seating
arrangements. Some of the new configurations have helped to
create a feeling of community while we worship. In addition, we
can regulate how many chairs we need on any given Sunday. This
means there will be fewer empty spaces. This creates good energy
for worship.
We
have also created a larger, more flexible chancel area. This has
allowed more space for our growing choir. The new sound system, screen
and better lighting have turned what was a rather dark sanctuary into a
bright and joyful worship space where all can hear. If you came to the
Deputation Sunday worship, or one of our memorial services you will
have seen what a screen can add to those services. We now have what we
need to accommodate a variety of worship styles. This will serve
us well in the years ahead as worship needs continue to evolve with
each new generation of worshipers.
The clear windows, both in the sanctuary and in the atrium, have
allowed so much more light into our building. That light
symbolizes our desire to be transparent and open in how we conduct
ourselves as a church. Light is also a wonderful metaphor for God's
presence.
Because the choir can now practice in the sanctuary, we have a much
better space for our youth to meet downstairs. The new youth room
is closer to a kitchen and to the outside and our new basketball
hoop.
The fact that we decided to do this project at all is
significant. At first it looked too big. How in the world
could we do a $2.1 million dollar project when even doing a $200,000
project in 2000 was challenging? But, after much discussion and
prayer your Session decided if we are to be faithful to God's call to
Newport in this place in SE Bellevue, we needed to take a step of
faith. And the congregation responded. This has given us
new confidence that faithful, prayerful responses to God's call will
produce good fruit.
Such confidence has enabled us to expand the weekly hours of both our
music director and our youth director. Because of those increased
hours both programs are thriving and growing. We now have
welcoming spaces and growing programs to offer all who desire a church
home.
This was the right move at the right time. Certainly some
challenges remain, but now we know those challenges are not
insurmountable. With God's help, and with people's willingness to
take the next step of faith, we can make significant strides towards
paying down our mortgage. When the monthly mortgage payments
decrease they won't cripple what we need to spend on programs and
mission. And, as you will read elsewhere in this newsletter, with
your help we can chip away at some of the deferred maintenance we were
unable to do in the first phase of this project. A brief walk
around the exterior of our building would make some of those deferred
maintenance projects obvious.
This has been an exciting time in Newport's history. We are
celebrating our 50th anniversary as a church in the next several
months. We are entering the next 50 years with a far more
inviting and useable church facility. We are entering the future
with great momentum as we see expanding programs and increasing
visitors at worship. I continue to feel blessed to be one of your
pastors in this time and in this place. I am confident that, with
God's help, we can take the next step of faith in our journey as a
faith community.
Jim
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Next
Steps
On Sunday September 20th we will ask members to
participate in an extension of the Step of Faith Capital
campaign. Those who are willing will be asked to pledge to our 18
month extension.
Our extended Step of Faith campaign will be used specifically to pay
down the principal on the current building loan and to paint and
replace the siding on the building exterior.
An 18 month extension of the Step of Faith campaign, will allow us
to complete some much needed maintenance and also to reduce the effect of
the long term debt to the overall church budget over time.
If we were to raise $400,000 to reduce the principal on the loan,
we will reduce our loan payments and save $250,000 in interest
over the life of loan.
We thank you for sharing your resources to complete the Sanctuary,
Great Hall and Atrium projects. We also ask you to consider
either making a one time donation or extending your Step of Faith
Capital giving for an additional 18 months.
Nancy Gale
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