The Home Stretch - Parsonage Improvement Project

We are almost to the finish line!  The work remaining on the parsonage renovation is more or less a punch-list - just a few more items.

✅Appliances installed - just a few more wires to connect on some outlets and the kitchen sink disposal.

✅Lighting is installed and looks great!

✅Front storm door installed; the rear porch door is delivered and will go on after painting.

✅Back porch railings up; painting is happening today

✅All the plumbing finished

✅Grounded outlets were installed upstairs; the entry hall, stairs, and upstairs hall were painted (no more red!); the front guest bedroom was painted.

✅A few more this-n-that details, and the work will be finished!  

It looks like a whole different house.  I can't wait to get back to normalcy, although I will miss the steady stream of early morning friends helping me wake up each day to the sound of paint sprayers, hammers, and saws.!  Here are some pictures of the progress.

Continued thanks to the Parsonage Committee for overseeing the work and answering the many little questions that come up from time to time, and to Brad and Tony Wesley, and to Jamie, Jason, Francisco, Gustavo, and all the folks that have made this such a smooth and beautiful project.  Thanks too to all the generous folks from Long Memorial who have supported this project for the benefit of future pastoral families and me!

I can't wait to have you all over to share the beautiful space - but now, less than 10 at a time and 6 feet between everyone, with plenty of hand sanitizing, tissues, and disinfecting wipes!

Blessings,

Pastor Ed

Month 2: Parsonage Improvement Project

Greetings!  It's been awhile, and I know you are eager to see the great progress that Brad and Tony Wesley have been overseeing. I can't impress upon you enough how thorough and thoughtful the whole team has been along the way.  This work will well serve the pastoral families and guests of Long Memorial long into the future.

✅Second Dumpster almost full!

✅Drywall Installed, taped, mudded, sanded

✅Crown molding and baseboards in place

✅Tile floor and shower in bathroom

✅New front door, new laundry room door, new bathroom door

✅Shelves up in pantry

✅Painted Cabinets have been delivered and installed!'

✅Flooring delivered

Continued thanks to the Parsonage Committee for overseeing the work and answering the many little questions that come up from time to time.

 Some of the next steps will include:

-finishing light fixtures, switches, outlets

-painting the ceiling

-installing countertops

-remaining cabinet hardware

-installing floor and finishing baseboards

-painting walls and doors

-installing sinks, faucets, appliances

-installing new screen railings/walls on back porch

-move back in!

Those that know approximate a little more than a month of work remaining.

Here are some pictures:

Fireplace?  What fireplace?!

Dust finds a way:

Preparing to grout with tile spacers:

The finished shower tiling

Finished bathroom floor

Baseboards:

Pantry shelves.  Notice no more water heater!

View from the future commode
(more lighting coming):

Cabinets arrive!

New laundry room cabinets installed:

New kitchen cabinets waiting for dishes!

The kitchen view from the laundry room:

The kitchen island and a sample of flooring:

The bathroom vanity:

Another view of the kitchen island, looking toward pantry:

Crown molding:

Thanks once again to every church member, and to every donor and laborer who is investing in the future pastoral families of Long Memorial!

Please direct any questions or comments to Pastor Ed, George (Trustee chair), or Tonya Gentry (Parsonage Committee).

Week 3: Parsonage Improvement Project

Greetings!  Sorry I didn't get an update out for Week 2.  The crews continue to do great work on the Parsonage!  It's a little dustier than it was, but new additions are going in every day. 

✅Install New Energy Efficient Windows

✅Install New Kitchen Sink Window

✅Lay Down New Subfloor

✅Prepare brick fireplace wall to cover with drywall

✅Upgrade Master Circuit-Breaker Electrical Panel

✅Install Plumbing for new fixtures in bathroom, kitchen, mud room

✅Install Wiring, switches, receptacles, and housings for new light configurations

✅Install new bathtub

✅Prep ductwork - make adjustments for new cabinets

✅Empty first dumpster load

Continued thanks to the Parsonage Committee for overseeing the work and answering the many little questions that come up from time to time. 

Here are some pictures:

Old windows come out for new ones to go in.  This should help us care for the planet and save some money on heating bills!

Rub a dub dub . . . we have a new tub. . . 

 

The ceiling doesn't look like it used to . . .

Best attempt at dust-proofing.

Laundry with a view - temporarily.

Our attempt at one of those online hidden object games.  Or a new radical multipurpose room.  The carport is now a 1) marina, 2) bathroom, 3) barbecue, 4) dishwasher, 4) kitchen, 5) washroom, 6) lumberyard, 7) clothes rack, 8) entertainment center

The mudroom begins to take shape

The new kitchen sink window

Week 1: Parsonage Improvement Project

Greetings!  At our Council meeting this week, it was reported that at least 25% of the funds for this project have been given already.  We have loans secured for the entire value of the project, but the less we have to borrow, the better!

Wanted to post some pictures of the parsonage improvement project, week 1.  Brad Wesley's crew is doing a great job!  We moved the water heater from inside the pantry to a gas water heater located in a small hut near the outside gas pack a couple weeks ago.  The theme of this week has been demolition.  

✅Receive dumpster and port-a-John

✅Move out of spaces to be remodeled

✅Set up kitchenette in Dining room

✅Remove kitchen appliances and cabinets.

✅Remove vinyl flooring and plywood subfloor

✅Remove washer/dryer and laundry flooring

✅Remove hall bathroom fixtures, tile walls (including breaking tub in half!!)

✅Remove bathroom closets and widen bathroom entryway so that future families and guests will have better accessibility for people who may have mobility limitations

✅Widen kitchen sink window

✅Remove brick hearth and wooden mantle and ceiling fans

Today or Monday - replace front single pane windows with energy efficient windows

Everything’s been moving along swiftly!  I am still living here - I’m not cooking any gourmet meals but the front of the house and all other bed and bathrooms continue to be accessible.

We, The Ordinary People of the Streets

"Mission is the intersection of God's love and the world's rejection. The Christian is penetrated to the core by the one just as by the other, and the two converge in him. Because it is a trial that belongs to life, there is no way he can avoid suffering from it. But this trial is a participation in the apostolic trial of the Church; the Church is armed to overcome it; the Church is equipped with the strength to resist it and triumph over it."

--Madeleine Delbrel, We, the Ordinary People of the Streets, First published in 1966 in French under the title Nous autres, gens des rues by Editions du Seuil. English translation copyright 2000, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., Grand Rapids.

Madelieine Delbrel, a poet by nature and an atheist by conviction, underwent a radical conversion at the age of 20 that led her to found, in 1933, a "gospel" community of lay women dedicated to poverty, chastity,and work among the poor. The photograph is taken of Madeleine in Septemeber 1964, three weeks before her death.

The Leadership Lid

A friend of mine just gave me a book that millions of others have already read: John C. Maxwell's The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. In it, the first law is known as "The Law of the Lid", in which Maxwell asserts that a person's leadership ability determines a person's level of effectiveness. I wonder how that applies not just to individuals, but to churches and ministries? I don't think our churches are called to manage the disciples, but to lead the world to Jesus, and to lead the people into discipleship as Jesus leads the church into the kingdom. So the church's ability and willingness to lead will, under Maxwell's assertion, determine the effectiveness of the church. Now, the effectiveness of the church is different than the effectiveness of God, who will find a way to save the world even if the church is not effective (even the rocks will cry out, after all). That said, God's way is to work through the church, so it's time to blow the lid off. And we as a church will blow the lid off only when we increase our ability to lead.