|
|
|
|
Dear
St. John's Parishioner,
We are pleased to be able to inform you of two
important updates. First is a cover letter from Pastor
John that will accompany the packet of information with
all the information we have been able to gather to help
inform you when you make your decision at our
congregational meeting set to vote on the available
options for Sunday, May 17th. The letter is extremely
important, because it contains a summary of the
estimated costs four each option. The final reports for
each of the option committees containing the detail
behind the estimated costs will be available soon, and
will be included with the packets.
We have also made quite a few updates to our web
site since it was originally updated last
month. Highlights are listed below. | |
Greetings, April 17, 2009
This letter comes to
you at an historic point in the life of our congregation.
That is how I began a letter to you dated January 21, 2009.
That letter detailed how the expert advice we have been
gathering pointed to the necessity of closing our church
building due to structural weaknesses. Since then our
worship has taken place in our parish hall. Our
efforts have been directed to discern God's will for our
future around four different options.
This cover
letter comes to you with all the information we have been
able to gather to help inform your decision at our
congregational meeting set to vote on these options for
Sunday, May 17th. There will be one worship service
that day at 11:00 a.m. A potluck meal will follow
worship that day, starting at about 12:30 p.m. During
the meal we will share one last informational meeting from
12:30 until approximately 1:15 p.m. At approximately
1:15 p.m. the congregational meeting will begin in order to
set an agenda for and actually begin voting on the options.
The following summary outlines the basic costs for each
option. On the reverse side of this letter is an
evaluation of each option based on ministry standards for a
building. Please note that this overall summary
represents cost estimates, not bids. The estimates are
a general number that were procured from professionals in
the building industry. When an option is chosen, the
work would then be put out to bid at which time the dollar
amounts would be more refined. In the case of option four,
the final costs are again subject to factors that are yet to
be determined such as the final bid on the purchase price
for the property.
Each of the basic estimates listed in
the document must include the following extra costs:
Options 1-4 cost of our pipe organ to be removed and
reinstalled - $50,000.
Options 1-3 resurfacing the church
parking lot $125,000.
Option
1-3 new boilers for parish hall and educational bldg.
$60,000.
Options 3-4 demolition of old church building
$140,000.
Option 4 moving costs
$10,000.
Summary of Four Options - St. John's
Lutheran Church
1. Option one represents the effort
to stabilize the church building.
$2,135,000.
1a Option one "a" represents another
plan to stabilize the building
$1,570,000.-$1,850,000. (see detail for explanation on
variation of estimate)
2. Option two represents the
plan to stabilize and renovate the building.
$4,115,550.
3. Option three is the plan to build a
new worship space on our property
$1,521,200.
4. Option four is the goal to purchase
church building on Seneca St.
$1,070,000.
Please pray with me for St. John's and
this important decision to be made.
Peace in Christ,
Pastor John
|
Web Site
Updates
A form has been added to the "Calendar" page to enable
people to request an event be added to the on-line
Calendar.
We have added many new photos to the Photo Galleries
and have totally revised the layout. If you click on any
picture in the thumbnail view, it will bring up the full
size picture, AND automatically start a slide show of
all the pictures in the Gallery. The slide show may be
stopped at any time by using the navigation buttons at
the top of the page.
We have added "Congregation Meeting" to the main menu.
This page recaps the events leading up to the
Congregational meeting and vote on May 17th.
Many changes have been made to the various groups and
committee pages, updating them with current information.
The "Links" page has been updated to include a master
"Index" of all the various groups and committees that
link to their specific page. It's in alphabetical order,
so it is now pretty easy to find any Church committee or
group that we have information for at the present time.
|
|
IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES
4/26/2009
Informational packets to be made available at Worship
Services.
4/27/2009
Packets to be sent to Congregation members who did not
pick one up at Church.
05/02/2009
Open Town Hall meeting from 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon to
review options 1-4, share conversation and questions.
05/03/2009
Potluck at 12:30 PM following the 11:00 AM Worship
Service. An open Town Hall meeting will take place
thereafter to review options 1-4, share conversation and
questions.
05/06/2009
Potluck meal at 6:00 PM followed by an open Town Hall
meeting to review options 1-4, share conversation and
questions.
05/07/2009
Congregational Prayer Vigil set for a twelve-hour time
from 8:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. to focus on God's will
for our future.
05/16/2009
Open House at the Seneca Street Property (Formerly St.
Catherine's) including the house located on the
property from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM. At 1:00 PM, we will
car pool to St. Mary of the Lake Church. The design of
this Church is very similar to the concept presented for
option 3, build a new Church on our existing property.
We should arrive back at the Church by 2:30 PM.
05/17/2009
Congregational meeting and vote on options 1-4.
The meeting will follow a potluck meal and final
presentations and final question and answer time with
the vote to take place at approximately 1:00 p.m.
The Reverend Ed Sproul, Assistant to the Bishop of the
Upstate New York Synod of the ELCA will be present at
the meeting to serve as parliamentarian.
|
|
|
Sincerely,
St.
Johns Communications
| |
|
|
| |
