Construction Day...

It did not happen day three as we had hoped, but we were close. The work team stayed until it was just too dark to work on Wednesday and had to leave on Thursday. We are thrilled with all that they accomplished. Wednesday evening, 10/21/09, they had the third level deck, knee and end walls up. Saturday, the 24th, we mustered a crew of our own, and set the rafters, and the first few sheets of metal on the roof as you see here. As of this date, 10/30/09, the roof is nearly complete, and in the coming days we will continue to work at sheeting the walls, and getting it all buttoned up for winter. We give God praise for what he has accomplished through the generosity and service of others. May He grant us the wisdom and will to be worthy stewards of all he has given.

Construction Day 2

Another successful day. Once again you can see that a lot was accomplished. The second floor deck is in place, and sheeting is going on. The massive wall truss is fully in place with just a few finishing touches. The first floor opening you see will be double doors separating the narthex and the nave. Tomorrow, the upper floor (attic area) rafters and roof. It seems like a lot of work to be done in a single day but with a good number of youth, and plenty of adult oversight, it can be done. We will see what tomorrow holds. Glory to God in all things.

Construction Day 1

It was an absolutely gorgeous day to begin the work. Temperature was in the 60-70 degree range, and nothing but blue skies. At the end of the day we have about half of the joists set, and two of the three walls framed. The team is doing a great job. The weather is supposed to be great for the next several days so we are well on our way to meeting our goal of being framed and dry, w/ everything buttoned up by Sunday.

Making Room for You

Not a very good picture, but it is hard to get a good one facing into the sun. What you see is a massive engineered wall truss that spans what will be the nave and supports the upper floor. We had thought we would just put in a couple columns for support, but the architect's appreciation for church aesthetics said otherwise.

This coming week, will see the rest of this section framed and dry. Check back next week for updated pictures and a progress report. Although it is an exciting time for Christ Community, it's not just about the building. Buildings are resources. They are tools for serving others. The church is the people. We are excited about the potential this building holds for serving the people of Casey county, Kentucky. "Come to Him, that living stone, rejected by men but in God's sight chosen and precious; and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1 Peter 2:4-5 RSV) If you are in the area, come and be part what God is building.
Once we were no people, now we are God's people; once we had not received mercy, but now we have received mercy. His mercy and grace is available to you.

In God's Time

October promises to be an exciting month of building. We have several volunteer work teams coming in through this month to help with the framing of the next section of our building. The picture to the right shows the section that we will be adding this month.

In preparation for the team scheduled for this coming weekend (October 10) we needed to get our blocks filled and anchor bolts set. My boys and I were going to work on this task, mixing concrete by hand to fill the necessary sections of the block. We weren't planning on meeting anyone, we were just going to do it ourselves. As we came over the hill toward the Church's drive way, a cement truck was pulling in ahead of us.

We followed the truck down the driveway, wondering what might be the meaning of this strange event, since we had not ordered any concrete, we were going to mix it by hand. When we got back to the church building, Jerome, and a couple other boys were there getting ready to fill the block. Timing could not have been better. In fact, it was perfect. It was a "God thing" from the beginning.

It seems that a neighbor was pouring concrete that morning. When he found out that we were planning on filling the blocks, he offered us what ever was left in the truck. The driver was kind enough to drive over to the church yard, and empty his rig there, so that we could use the ready mix. Our family just happened to arrive at precisely the right time. Praise the Lord! Blocks filled, anchor bolts set, in about 3 hours. It was an unbelievable morning.