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Phase-I Project
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I truly believe this is a defining moment for the future of Emmanuel Baptist church.  We
haven't prayed so much, worked so hard, given so freely, planned so carefully, and seen
God's leading so clearly to turn back now.  The team has said "Let's Go!"  The Board of
Ministry has said "Let's Go!"  We hope that the vast majority of our voting membership will
join with us on March 9th to give a resounding "GO" to the Phase I project.

Have you ever seen the new show on the Weather Channel called "When Weather Changed History"?
That's what happened this weekend.  The Project Vote was to be today, March 9, but...  Due to the
snow storm which left us covered with 4in. of white stuff, the decision was made to delay  the vote for
one week, due to an expected low turn-out for Sunday worship.  Now the same forum material will be
covered in a less-detailed way (hopefully) before the vote during the SPECIAL BUSINESS MEETING
after the 10:45 am worship service on Sunday, March 16.
Update: 3/9/2008:
AN OPEN FORUM ABOUT THE PROJECT was held on March 5 at 6:00 pm.  About 100 people
attended, and many questions were answered.
Update: 2/6/2008:
The presentation of the Project Team's proposal to the Board of Ministry went well.  After
discussion and answering of questions from the floor, the Board voted unanimously to
accept our proposal to move forward based on Bid2 results and recommend the project to
the congregation.  The next step is to announce a special business meeting to occur by
month end for the purposes of voting whether or not to approve the project and the financing
that it will entail.  The Project Team will be working to hold at least one informational forum
for the congregation so that any questions can be addressed prior to the discussion and vote
at the special business meeting.
Update: 2/4/2008:
The Project Team met again with the architect on Jan. 29th.  The net result of the rebid was
a savings of almost $125,000 from the lowest figures of Bid1.  Unfortunately, that means the
bids remain nearly twice as high as we anticipated.  However, given that we were very clear
about your disbelief of the Bid1 figure, the fact that the Bid2 results remain outside our
expectation is an indication that costs truly must be much higher than we attempted to
excalated from the estimates of 2 years ago.
These bids are typically only good for 60 days.  That gives us until March 22nd to move
forward despite the cost, or... what?  This will be our defining moment... after four years of
work.  Tomorrow night (Feb. 5) I will be making a presentation to the Board of Ministry
recommending their support to explore financial options which will allow us sign contracts
and begin this project, and... to borrow up to $500,000 by whatever arrangement can be
made practical.
If we receive the blessing of the Board of Ministry, then we will work toward informing the
congregation and moving to a special business meeting where the final decision would/will
be made to encumber the debt.
I am confident that we can do this, despite the higher than expected debt requirement. 
Waiting longer is only going to make the costs go higher (as we've learned so recently). 
The "Joshua" in me says, "The financial giant is nothing to be feared if God be with us!"
- or - What are the high financial walls of Jericho are no match for our God!"  But in the
end, it is God who must move His people to trust and do His Will.  Will we go forard and
make our facility improved for the future, or will we go on without change and continue
patching our aging facility as we have for nearly 40 years?
Please pray about that... urgently!
Update (1/21/08):
As potential candidates for Bidding Round 2 a list of 10 small and specialty general
contractors, and 9 specialty sub-contractors was delivered to Panich and Noel on Nov. 1.
The second bid solicitation was started, but not all from the list decided to participate when
contacted by Panich and Noel.  Therefore, Panich and Noel contacted additional contractors
with whom they are familiar from their project base and identified several more general
contractors and mechanical contractors who indicated a willingness to bid.

Since these latter contractors didn't receive their materials until early Dec., a deadline of
Jan. 15 was established to allow for the Christmas and New Years holidays and yet provide
us bid information ahead of our annual business meeting.  Then, just two days before the
deadline, we learned that one contractor who had expressed interest in bidding never got his
materials!  So bids were received and the remaining contractor was given materials to review.
After carefully studying the plans, and given the compressed timeline to develop a bid, that
contrator then declined.

So now bids will be opened on Jan. 22, and the Project Team will meet within a week to out-
line our plans for acting on these bids.  Mike Noel reports that he was encouraged by those
who now have agreed to participate in Round 2.  Unfortunately he thinks the figures will still
be higher than we anticipate.  Assuming a financial plan for a manageable construction loan
and future mortgage paymentws can be successfully determined, groundbreaking and
construction would be anticipated sometime in the spring of 2008 and would continue through
the summer.

As we say HELLO! to 2008, we rejoice in your faithful giving toward "Building For A Better
Tomorrow."  And I look forward to taking the first steps toward the revitalization of our facility.
Therefore we have requested an explanation from the general contractors, and will allow them
to participate in a rebid, IF they so chose, along with additional small contractors who are yet
to be identified. If YOU know, or have experience with any, reliable, high-quality construction
general contractor crews whom you would recommend for the project, please let the church
office know by the end of Oct. at the latest.

Update Sept., 2007:
All the initial general contractor bids were rejected out of hand because they all were extra-
ordinarily high priced, totaling well over $1 million vs. an expectation of under $500 thousand.
The bids received fall beyond the expected norms for construction in this area. For example,
the net cost per square foot of finished interior space would have been well over $500/sq.ft.
compared to a "norm" typically less than $150/sq.ft.

Even though the new interior area we are creating is relatively small vs. the amount of exterior
parking lot and site work, neither the architect nor we could account for why these bids were so
exceedingly high.

 

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