Update 5/6/19

This is an exciting picture!  During this week's Core Building Team meeting, Brad Buser got us started working through a predesign process for the church facility plan.  It was exciting for the team to start talking about specific spaces and functions for the building.

As we discussed various aspects of the church building, we drew on knowledge gained from previously going through the church's ministry plan.  It was encouraging to realize that the disciplined work of past months was bearing fruit in giving our group direction and vision for how spaces could be used well.

Here are just a handful of snippets that have stuck out to our group as we have processed the ministry plan.  We envision that a building of our own could equip us to have/do these things...

• Spaces (with more varied functions than the Greenhouse provides) that can be used all throughout the week by New Hope members and others in the community
• Sound and audio/visual equipment that can stay in place from week to week
• A designated space for our Fusion youth to meet for large group times and for smaller studies
• Multipurpose space(s) that can be setup to function in different ways for different groups/times of the week.
• Opportunities for more than one group or ministry to meet on site at a time
• Parents could have more natural opportunities to overlap with Fusion students and their events
• Designated KidsLIFE rooms that are outfitted specifically for the kids/teachers using them each week with no need to set-up and tear down
• A configuration that provides increased security for our children's ministry
• Classrooms to provide childcare options for groups meeting throughout the week
• Possibilities for community outreach and hosting events
• Space for partner ministries to meet and hold events
• A playground and inviting outdoor space to encourage connection
• A welcome/information center where it is more clear how to get connected and involved
• Comfortable spaces for small groups of people to sit and talk
• More visibility to the community and accessibility to a different pocket of Manhattan

These possibilities are exciting to us as we've prayerfully considered what makes our church unique!

Please continue to pray... 

• for guidance and discernment for this next stage of planning. 
• for volunteers to help with mowing and upkeep at the property this summer.
• that God would continue to captivate our hearts more than a building. 

Update 4/2/19

Another week has passed, and there are several things in motion that we can update you on.

Invitations have been extended to several people, asking them to consider serving on the capital campaign team.  That group is forming, and hopefully, we can introduce them to you soon!

The gleaning team has orchestrated some deliveries of various goods, and they continue to finalize sales.  They are working to determine the most effective way to move forward with what remains.

We still intend to sell the North building.  It has been shown to a few interested parties, but we are waiting on the city, needing to finalize some details with them before we can list it publicly.  These types of things don't seem to rank as "urgent" for city officials, so it's been a slower process than we'd like.

In the building team meeting this week, we worked through a couple of the last pieces of the New Hope ministry plan.  We discussed the LIFEgroup ministry as well as auxiliary ministry groups that we partner with on some level like campus ministries and HIS.  It was intriguing to explore some of the existing needs and consider possibilities that may exist in having a building of our own.  In that same conversation, we examined how the Greenhouse has been used, and how it has served people and ministries in the community who don't otherwise have their own office/meeting space.  While we are yet uncertain about what space(s) we will be able to create and offer for people's use, this discussion was another valuable one as we add layers of understanding to how a space could benefit our own church body and others in the community.  It is exciting to consider the many ways a building space could function and be used all throughout the week.

Don't forget...Plan to join us on April 14th, following church, for a building team meeting update.  We hope to paint a vivid picture of the process we are in the middle of, as well as hear your questions and feedback.  Hope to see you there!

Thanks for praying:

• For those stepping up to help with capital campaign
• That the gleaning team could finish up their task fruitfully
• For a meeting with the necessary city officials in order to get the North building listed publicly
• That we would all hear God and sense how he wants to use this process and this building in our church and for His work in our town.

Help us with Name and Nominations (Update 3/18/19)

As the building team met this week, some discussion centered on the topic of fundraising.  We agreed that we need to get a team of the people formed who can begin the work of planning and preparing for this.  However, as we deliberated about what their task would be, we acknowledged that "capital campaign team" doesn't seem to capture fully what they will be asked to do.  "Capital campaign" might connote a negative idea to some in our community, perhaps giving the sense that the team is just hungrily searching for money.  While an obvious and unashamed part of what this team will do is ask for money, we agreed that it is much more than that.

The people who comprise this fundraising team will be trusted with the job of researching and putting together a strategic plan.  There will be administrative tasks.  They will ask for money.  But most importantly, they will be tasked with communicating well the heart and vision of New Hope.  This is the key.  We hope and pray that in the fundraising effort, the focus isn't just on dollar signs and getting a fancy facility.  Rather, we hope there is a compelling vision with a longing to help better equip our church for the sake of God's kingdom.  This is what we want people to give towards.

For weeks, we, the building team, have been seeking to get an accurate grasp of the "DNA" of New Hope.  In doing so, we are more excited than ever about the unique personality and calling God has given our church in the Manhattan community.  We think a building of our own will be an invaluable tool as we minister in our town.  Are you someone who gets excited about communicating that vision?  Do you know someone who is naturally enthusiastic and able to draw others to a cause?  Who in our church body is a skilled communicator and vision caster?  We need those people!  Would you please take a minute to consider who you think could be a good fit for the fundraising team, and let us know at jwiebers@gmail.com?  

Additionally, would you help us come up with a name for the "capital campaign team" that better encompasses the role of sharing vision and communicating well?  If you brainstorm any ideas, please send those on to jwiebers@gmail.com as well.  

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And for those following our progress as we work through our church's ministry master plan, you might be interested to know that we are almost done.  We talked through momLIFE and women's ministry this week, and will tackle Fusion, Team 127 and campus ministries in the coming week(s).

Please be praying:

• For perseverance and continued momentum for the building team.  Pray that they would lean into God and seek rest even as they work diligently.
• For gleaning team sales that should wrap up soon...multiples transactions should be finalized this week!
• That the North building would sell.
• For the formation of the fundraising team.

Update 2/26/19

Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying "I am a slow walker, but I never walk back."  He believed that by examining an issue deliberately and thoroughly, he could come to a confident conclusion that wouldn't need repealed later.  Similarly, we (the core building team) are striving to make well-examined decisions while maintaining forward momentum.

Our team continues diligent work on master plan aspects of our building project.  Most specifically, we are finalizing a comprehensive look at the long-term vision of New Hope, specific ministries of the church, and space requirements of those ministries in order to assess more clearly our building needs.  This step in the process can be painstaking.  It can be tedious.  Yet, it is invaluable.  As a team, we continue to agree that is helping to bring clarity and unity, and for that we are excited!

Thank you for praying:
-That the building team would work efficiently and with a sensitivity to the Holy Spirit leading them.
-For a buyer to come along to purchase the North building.
-Isaiah 43:19--that God would make Himself known as the One who makes things new through this building project.

Update 1/21/19

Since its formation, the core building team has been meeting weekly to assess the property, get our minds around what this process might entail, and start taking baby steps towards presenting a master plan for the church.  It's been a great deal to consider, but we are making progress bit by bit!

We are reading a book titled "Plan 4 It" by Tim Cool.  Key points from the reading provide some structure in order to determine how to approach a master plan that will meet the needs of New Hope.  As we journey through this process, we are compiling feedback received from people in the church, putting together ministry descriptions, assessing current budgets, considering feasibility of the cost of different building possibilities, as well as looking at sustainability of whatever facility we end up with.  There are a lot of pieces to discuss!  If you'd like to gain a deeper appreciation of the process, we invite you to purchase and read the book with us!  

In a project of this magnitude, sub-committees are essential.  While other committees are yet to be listed and formed, one sub-committee is already hard at work.  The "gleaning team" has been working to take inventory of furniture, equipment, and construction materials at the hotel that could be of value, in order that they might be sold or donated.  Several businesses are coming to look at various things for purchase even this week!  Pawnee Mental Health has already picked up five bedrooms' worth of furniture to outfit their new homeless transition housing site.  We donated the furniture to them, and they were beyond thankful.  Upon learning of our heart to help people in poverty, they offered the possibility of starting some kind of partnership with our church in the near future.  This could lead to some great possibilities for our church and those who personally desire to help our town's homeless population.

Please be praying for:

• Continued guidance and clarity for the core building team as they seek to work towards a master plan
• Pawnee Mental Health's transitional housing facility, as well as possible opportunities to minister there
• The gleaning team's work to sell and donate assets left behind
• That God would continue to work in powerful ways to glorify Himself through this building project