My Church Is Almost Ready

... to get started on the new building!

For those that don't know, my church's building was set on fire by an aarsonist about 14 months ago. The next day, the people at the Weed Corley-Fish Funeral Home called our pastor and offered us the use of their chapel. It is an excellent facility, and what place is better to hold gospel preaching than a funeral home? At any rate, we started holding all our regular meetings there (3 meetings/week), and they have refused any payment from us in return for the use of their facility. In 14 months, there were 3 occasions, total, when they had to have us use another meeting place... they have been accommodating beyond any reasonable expectation, and were happy to help fellow Christians in a time of need. Pastor Burkholder recently felt led to get a secondary meeting place, so now we are meeting at another church's building (Skyview, which recently disbanded) for a fee per-use that doesn't even cover their electrical costs. Once again, Christians helping each other out.

We (my church) had for several years before the fire been saving up for a new building. We were meeting in a 55 year-old place that, even having been expanded to a total of 10,000 suqare feet, was getting cramped. Most Sundays, we had 160-ish to 180-ish people in service, and on the "big 2" days (easter/christmas) we would run well over 250. The church was situated in a built-out neighborhood, and there were about 50 parking spaces, if that. Parking would routinely overflow to the parking lot of the school across the street, who had authorized it years before. Also the streets were lined with cars. The fellowship hall had dividers and doubled as half the classrooms we needed for Sunday School. There was not enough room, and we were going to have to build a bigger place, with more parking, and we had saved up some money. Then the fire was set, and the insurance company put in a big chunk of money, and so we have "about" enough to make a new building, with parking. The contents... well, we might be meeting on folding chairs for a while ;), but we can make the building with what we have on the books.

We already had enough cash on-hand by the time a suitable location was found, that we paid cash for the land on which the new building would be erected. The place we bought comprises four acres in a business park near the intersection of highways 183 and 290 East, and if you get above the treeline, the entirety of downtown Austin is visible from there, including the Capitol building. We are planning a big white structure that will be visible from all over town, worth about $10,000/month in advertising, just by virtue of its location.

AAAaaaanyway, that all to say, we have a place to meet, but it is just raw land right now. We have held meetings there a few times, under the sky, but it's no good for rain or cold eh. The property was four lots and they are supposed to have been merged into one lot for tax-exemption purposes. The main holdup was the site plan. Without a site plan in Austin, you can't build a doghouse.

The site plan, pending deposit money, is approved!

A few weeks and I hope to see some dirt moving, and maybe by next Summer, we'll have our building up!

Yay!

P.S. Trinity has never, and will never have, "fund raisers", be they car washes, bake sales, or kids-on-the-street-begging. Our thinking is that God, who made the world, is able to provide for his own. We do not solicit donations, but if you feel like making a contribution toward the building of the church, directions can be found on the bottom of the announcements page on the church website.