UPDATE 01 - Project Sanctuary FAQ

by Stephen Wood

Hey everyone!

As many of you know, my wife Alyssa is expecting our third child very soon. Our baby girl is due on April 1! With the due date so close, she has moved into full nesting mode. Today, she came up to me with a note titled, “Things Buzzing Around My Head.” She had questions about storage, our calendar, and, in general, if we are prepared for this baby’s arrival. They were all reasonable things for us to discuss.

Now that Liberti has officially launched Project Sanctuary, I have been having lots of conversations with you all. And, like Alyssa, it seems that we have lots of comments and questions “buzzing around our heads.” So I thought I would write a letter to you all with what I have been saying in smaller conversations so you can be in the loop! And, along the way, you’ll learn the things that are buzzing around my own head. And, most importantly, I pray that these updates can keep you posted with what God is doing during Liberti during this exciting season.

Thank you for your attentiveness during this season of Liberti’s ministry! Here are some frequently asked questions I’ve received.

• What is Project Sanctuary?

  During Project Sanctuary, Liberti is seeking to raise $2 million to renovate and pay off 2531 E Lehigh Ave so the building can be our church’s home. We pray that the building will be a sanctuary for God, a place where many find sanctuary in God, a home for our church family, and a place of refuge for our neighbors. To learn more, you can go to the Project Sanctuary page.

• Why are we doing three-year pledges?

  Many families are praying right now about how much to contribute to Project Sanctuary. Many families are like my own– we cannot give a large lump sum, but could have a bigger impact if we give monthly or annually over three years. We are doing a three-year pledge so we can increase our impact! Additionally, we hope to keep everyone in the loop on updates to the Project over the coming three years.

  On Sunday, March 17, we will be giving our pledges as part of our Sunday morning worship. If you have come to our services over the past two Sundays, you have received a packet that includes a pledge card and envelope. You can hand in that pledge card in the envelope provided on March 17.

• We raised nearly $50k during the Advent Drive in December. What happened with those funds?

  Thank you to those of you who gave so generously during our Advent Drive! I was floored by how much God provided. Since the end of December, we have been putting those funds to use. Specifically, we used them to pay for demolition of the interior of the building: doing this required paying for a dumpster, disposal, tools, and labor. Thanks to your generosity, we cleared out thousands of pounds of stuff in preparation for renovations. Nearly all the non-load bearing walls inside the building have been torn down. Furthermore, your donations went towards us hiring an architect to begin working with us.

  I should also note that we are counting our Advent Drive in our $2 million goal. Counting our Advent Drive and other gifts that have come in, God has already provided nearly $300,000. Isn’t that incredible? We used the bulk of those funds for the down payment on the building.

• What will the $2 million cover?

  According to our current plans, the $2 million will cover the purchase and renovation of the building. That is, we are hoping that this will be enough to cover not only the work we need to have done on the building, but also paying off the mortgage so we can move as many funds as possible in the future towards the ministry we hope to do in the building.

  We came up with the $2 million number based on projections on the cost of renovating the building put together with the cost to buy the building. It is not an arbitrary number; but it isn’t exact either. It is possible that renovations will cost more or less than our original projections. But, even if renovations prove to be more, we are confident $2 million will be enough to get us into the building. We came up with these numbers by consulting with professionals, both inside and outside our congregation.

• What happens if we don’t reach $2 million?

  Allow me to dodge this question for a few sentences: Let’s pray that God does get us there! Every cent in the world belongs to him. I am excited to see what God does. He has surprised us already. (Did you know that donations to the tune of thousands of dollars have come in from neighbors of members of our congregation? And that is just one example).

  But back to the question. If we don’t get to our goal, we will find ways to cut down our costs but still get to our objective of renovating the space and starting to worship there. For example, we could abandon paying off the building and instead keep our monthly mortgage. Beyond that, we would have to trim down our renovations to keep them within a tighter budget.

• What exactly will renovations include?

  The building is in solid shape. Nevertheless, it will require considerable renovation to make it ready for our many planned uses. We are tearing down all the walls on the inside of the building and are going to reshape the interior to fit our future needs for worship, a fellowship hall, kids ministry spaces, and more. We also have to get the building up to code for our use, which will require installing sprinklers and an elevator, to name a couple big expenses.

• What is the plan and timeline for renovations?

  Renovations can be roughly broken into three phases. We are in the first phase, which includes demolition and architectural planning. The second phase will be the most expensive, which will be when we bring in a general contractor to oversee the major renovations that we have planned with our architect. The third phase will be finishing touches, such as painting and furnishing the space. I expect our congregation will be involved in the first and third phases to cut down on costs and also so we can work on the building together. Some of you have already helped us with demolition!

  As for the timeline, the first phase will likely carry us into the summer. Architectural planning requires serious time! We will need a good plan before moving to the second phase. During the summer, our architect will work with us to bid on contractors and, hopefully by the end of the summer, we will move into the second phase. From there, we hope that the contractors will finish their work in a matter of months. This puts us into the third phase around the end of 2024 or beginning of 2025. The conservative timeline has us starting to worship at the building in the first quarter of 2025. However, as many of you know, timelines with these projects can be very challenging to get right. Things get delayed; problems are discovered; setbacks occur; etc. Know that we are interested in both 1) getting into the building as soon as we can and 2) making sure it is ready and safe for our use.

• Can we stay at Urban Worship Center until then?

  UWC loves Liberti and Liberti loves UWC. I have spoken to UWC’s leaders about our timeline expectations and they are willing to accommodate us.

• How can I pray?

  Check out this document for ways you can pray during Project Sanctuary. Also, everyone is invited to join us in fasting on Mondays as we ask God to provide during this season. On Monday nights, we have had prayer nights at the new building. There won’t be a prayer night this Monday (March 4), but we hope to have another prayer night on Monday, March 11 from 8-9pm.

Over the past week, Larry and I have been meeting with small groups of Liberti leaders in congregants’ homes to discuss Project Sanctuary and ask them to begin praying about how God could be leading their families to pledge to support the project. Many of these questions came from those meetings! On March 10, we hope to announce how much these leaders have committed to pledge in advance of pledge day on March 17. We will be sure to text the advance commitment number to our women on the women’s retreat so they don’t miss it. :)

Also, I have formed a team that is working directly with our architect as they survey the space and begin making more detailed plans. Our church’s architecture team includes Scott Hicks, Justin Matulewicz, Colleen Etherton, Laura Black, Madison Klee, and me. Be praying for us as we work alongside the architect’s team. Stay tuned for further updates!

Thanks everyone! Please be in prayer about all these things. God is good and loves to give good gifts to his children (see Luke 11). So let’s not miss this chance to ask him. Between us renovating this building and our ongoing pastoral search, this season feels very much like one of rebirth at Liberti River Wards. Pray that God would midwife these processes and bring us out to a future on the other side where we can worship him more, love one another more deeply in community, and extend the love of Christ in a renewed way to our neighbors. Oh, and pray that many would be spiritually reborn through coming to faith in Jesus. 

Maybe I come to that analogy because my daughter’s coming birth is on my mind. You could pray for that too. ;)

God bless you and your families!

Peace,

Stephen Wood