Breaking Ground: Our Next Capital Improvement Plan

 

For over four years, I have been listening. I have listened to cooks in the kitchen complain about inadequate, residential-grade stovetops and oven doors that will not close. I have listened to the men complain about standing in line at the bathroom between Sunday school and worship. I have listened to the staff complain about drafty offices with paper-thin walls that hardly keep sound from going in or out. I have listened to the children of our handicapped parishioners complain about how hard it is to get a wheelchair into church.

 

I have also listened to parents dream about a dedicated space for our youth. I have listened to our outreach committee dream about starting a weekly soup kitchen. I have listened to parishioners dream about a parish hall that can seat everyone on Wednesday nights or Sunday mornings. I have listened to you dream about new ministries for seniors or preschoolers or neighborhood children that we could begin if only we had the right space to host them.

 

I have been listening, and you have been listening, too. Three and a half years ago, a group of parishioners was asked to put together their ideas for the future of our parish, and they shared that vision with St. John's in January 2013. Then, we asked everyone to build upon that work and share his or her own dreams for what God is calling our parish to do over the next twenty years. Those ideas were gathered together in an envisioning process that took place in the fall of 2013. Then, we spent some time paying off the residual debt from our last renovation, and, when a generous donor completed that effort, we were ready to begin the next phase of this process. In 2014, the Vestry appointed a group called the Capital Improvement Committee (CIC) and charged them with helping us make the improvements to our facility that are necessary for us to be the parish God is calling us to be for the next fifty years. Now, we are ready to share their progress with you.

 

Over the past few months, the CIC interviewed several architects and fundraising consultants and recommended two people to the Vestry to be hired for this project. The Vestry agreed with those recommendations and hired Jim Barganier of Barganier Davis Sims in Montgomery, Alabama, and Pete Rauchenstein of RCG Consultants in Gahanna, Ohio, to help us with this effort. With those two professionals on board, we are ready to begin the next, intensive phase of this effort.

 

In early April, Jim Barganier and his firm will come to St. John's to meet with various groups from our parish so that they can get an idea of who we are and what improvements our facilities need. Then, they will create a master plan for our entire campus, which will become the basis for our next construction project. In August, Pete Rauchenstein will come to St. John's to organize our fundraising team, and in late September he will move to Decatur in order to live and work and worship with us for twelve weeks until we have raised the money we need for this project. Once we have the pledges in hand, we will ask the architects to create the construction documents that the contractor will need to complete the project, and I can easily imagine that we will break ground in early 2017.

 

What will we build? What projects will we tackle? What ministries will all of this enable? Will we start a soup kitchen or an adult daycare or an after-school program for the children in our neighborhood? I don't know the answers to those questions yet. No one does. But we have been listening to each other and sharing our dreams for St. John's for a long time ----even long before I got here in 2011 ----so the general direction of that effort is already beginning to take shape. Much of our work from a previous renovation effort remains unfinished. Some of it we will likely complete this time around, and other parts we may decide are not needed anymore. There are also other important areas that were not addressed in that previous effort that must be addressed now. In time, and with continued intentional listening and dreaming, all of that will become clear. For now, however, you can join me and the Vestry and the CIC in getting excited about what will come next.

 

In the weeks ahead, listen out for opportunities to share your thoughts about what we might do to provide for the healthy and vital future of St. John's. Some of you will participate in the first round of meetings with our architect. All of you will be urged to share your thoughts on the proposed master plan once it is prepared. Everyone will be invited to take part in the fundraising efforts, so that all of us can enjoy the fruit of this endeavor. I believe that God is doing something remarkable in and through our parish, and I believe that God is calling us to do even more, but this project isn't my vision. Neither does it belong to the Vestry or the CIC. It belongs to all of us ----from our ancestors, upon whose shoulders we stand, all the way down to our grandchildren's grandchildren, in whose future we have hope. Today, however, the work belongs to us, and I hope that you will be a part of it.

Yours faithfully,

 

Evan D. Garner

   
Menu: ham, vegetarian spicy black bean patties, green beans, potato salad, green salad, bread, dessert (macaroni and cheese option for children)

 

Be a garden volunteer for Common Ground Community Garden when we start up again this spring! No previous gardening experience required!! Garden coordinators, Carol Charlton and Dodie Hall, along with last year's volunteers, will guide you through  planting, weeding, watering and harvesting tasks that are needed.  Carol Charlton (256-686-3513 or  [email protected]) or Dodie Hall (256-616-3370 or  [email protected] )

       

Flower Delivery: Nora and Huey Hall

The flowers on the altar during the Easter Day services are a significant addition to our annual celebration of the resurrection of Christ. They are given to the glory of God in memory of loved ones or in thanksgiving for family members or for our many blessings.

 

To contribute flowers, fill out this Easter Flowers form (PDF) and mail or bring it to the church office with your donation by Sunday, March 20 so that it may be included in the bulletins. Make your check payable to St. John's with "Easter Flowers" on the memo line. 

 

Thank you for contributing to the beauty of our Worship Services.

Holy Week & Easter Day Schedule   

March 20, Palm Sunday

(Nursery provided from 8:45 a.m. through the 10:30 a.m. service) 

8:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist

8:45-9:30 a.m. Breakfast

9:30 a.m. Palm Cross Folding Workshop (All Ages) 

10:30 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Palm Procession

(For Palm Procession, please meet at 10:15 a.m. on the Jackson Street sidewalk)

5:00 p.m. Evening Eucharist

 

  

March 21 & March 22, Monday and Tuesday in Holy Week

12:10 p.m. Holy Eucharist in the Chapel

 

 

March 23, Wednesday in Holy Week

12:10 p.m. Healing Eucharist in the Chapel

 

 

March 24, Maundy Thursday

6:00 p.m. Holy Eucharist with

Foot Washing & Stripping of the Altar in the Church

(Nursery provided beginning at 5:30 p.m.)

 

 

March 25, Good Friday

7:00 a.m. Stations of Cross in the Church

12:10 p.m. Good Friday Liturgy in the Church

 

 

 March 26, Holy Saturday 

8:00 a.m. Liturgy for Holy Saturday

    

 

March 27, Easter Day

(Nursery provided from 8:30 a.m. through the 11:00 a.m. service) 

6:00 a.m. The Great Vigil of Easter in the McKimmon Garden & Church

 Followed by a Break-the-Lenten-Fast Brunch, Parish Hall (Parishioners are asked to bring their favorite thing they may have given up during Lent.)

 

9:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist with Children's Sermon

11:00 a.m. Holy Eucharist in the Church

5:00 p.m. Evening Eucharist

Please bring cut flowers to fasten to the bare cross.

 

Planned gifts are a variety of charitable giving methods that allow the donor to express his or her personal values by integrating charitable, family, and financial goals. Planned giving to St. John's is a gift to support the future ministry and security of the parish and its mission. One of many types of planned gifts:

 

Give a bequest in a will. This accounts for 80% of planned gifts according to the Episcopal Church Foundation.   The bequests can be a specific amount, a percentage or remainder, or as a contingent bequest.   The bequest can be for a specific piece of property or asset. The bequest designations can by restricted or unrestricted.

 

St. John's has a planned giving committee whose mission is to help any person who is interested in making a planned gift to St. John's accomplish that goal.   If you are interested in learning more about planned giving, please contact the church office, and either Evan or one of the committee members will contact you. Your gifts are confidential.

 
St. John's Faithfulness
For the 9th Week Ending March 3, 2016

2016 Total Pledge & Plate Budget	Received This Week	Received to Date
$761,907	$13,890	$257,959

 

Happy   Birthday! Sonny Craig 03/01 Emma Grace Lang 03/01 Lillian Turbyfill 03/03   Peter Neil, II 03/03 Margaret Fite 03/04 Harrison Kincaid 03/04 Sully Nickels 03/05 Lou Greene 03/06 Steve Price 03/07 Barbara Pettey 03/09 Nicole Shelton 03/09 Harvey Pride 03/09 George Harvey 03/09 Eva Owen 03/09  Jack Dinsmore 03/10 Cara Beth Nelson 03/11 Maggie Nelson 03/12 Kevin Shelley 03/12 McCauley Smith 03/12

D. D. Martin 03/14 Jim Smith 03/14 Lucas Turbyfill 03/14  Elizabeth Hunt 03/15 Glynn Tubb 03/15 Melanie McCrary 03/16 Robin Higdon 03/16  Danny Morgan 03/16 Piper Nickels 03/17 Mary Stuart Burrell 03/18 Guenther Huber 03/18 Bonnie Richardson 03/18  John Templeton 03/23 Marty Doty 03/22 Jack Williamson 03/22 Noah Pride 03/22 Betty Cromeans 03/23 Jordan Matthews 03/24 David Irwin 03/25 Danny Berry 03/25  Sherri Rahm 03/25 Jack Sewell, Jr 03/29 John David Calame 03/30 Dabney Hofammann 03/30

Happy   Anniversary!     Rita & Gary Baker 03/02 Renee & Lance Wenzler 03/12 Kate & Richard Rickart 03/20 Carol & Chuck Puckett 03/23 If your celebration is not listed, please forgive us. Call or email the church office with any updates.