Renovation Update

RENOVATION COUNTDOWN: AUGUST 9-SEPTEMBER 6 

The beginning of the Worship Center Renovation is just around the corner. Any day now work may begin on patching the plaster walls, sanding and all the prep work that precedes the painting part of the renovation. Work will also begin on building a booth for the audio/visual team in the balcony. The major work will not begin until after Sunday, August 2nd.  

WORSHIP IN THE FELLOWSHIP HALL

From August 9 until September 6 we will be meeting in the Fellowship Hall for worship. Some of our older members will remember when that WAS the original worship center! We anticipate being out of the sanctuary for 5 Sundays. It could be less, but we are planning for the BIG REVEAL to be Sunday, September 13. During this time, we will be asking if some of you would temporarily volunteer to attend the 8:30 worship service. That will allow a more manageable crowd at 11:00. It will work…really! It will help if we could have about 75 to 100 volunteer to be a part of the early worship for those 5 weeks. There will be coffee and Krispy Kremes!

ADDED BONUSES

There are several things that we are doing that were not on our original list of renovations. FIRST, we are finally adding a video security system. We have talked about this for years and have even had them priced out for us. The renovation and the incident at Mother Emmanuel created the perfect opportunity to make this happen. SECOND, we are looking at the possibility of enlarging the two restrooms in the front of the worship center under the stairways. Right now they are very small convenience restrooms. They certainly are not meant for senior adults or people with small children. If this renovation is possible, both restrooms will be handicap accessible. That was not part of the original renovation plan but is certainly needed. THIRD, the women’s restroom going into the Fellowship Hall is getting a makeover. We can’t create any additional space, so we are attempting to redo it completely. That will at least make the space more accessible to Senior Adults. We do, by the way, have a handicap restroom in the Fellowship Hall. What about the men’s restrooms? All we men need is a little bulletin board to post the sports page like they have in restaurants.

This is all very exciting. The Lord has provided the funds we need for this project. We are inviting individuals and classes to make donations to purchase the chairs. The suggestion has been made that each Connection Group be challenged to get 100% of their group to participate in buying chairs. The amount is not the challenge…it is the participation. That suggestion was just made Sunday so we do not have the details…yet. But I do like the idea. Let me know what you think a great winners prize would be.

See you this Sunday,

Pastor Tom

ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY

ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY

This Sunday we celebrate our 68th anniversary as James Island Baptist Church. We are looking forward to a wonderful day together. We will celebrate believer’s baptism, observe the Lord’s Supper together and then enjoy fun and food after the service. Dress comfortable and casual for the outside event. There will be plenty of ice water and soft drinks to enjoy! We will also have booths to introduce and promote several of the missions and ministries we are involved with. Please stop by to say hello and find out more about these missions. Our dear friend Pastor Oliver from St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans is planning to be with us this Sunday. It will be great to see them again post Hurricane Katrina.


KIDS CAMP/ CENTRIKID COMING: 
JULY 20-24 AT GARDNER WEBB UNIVERSITY
I am telling you that Children’s Camp/CENTRIKID is absolutely one of the best events I have ever attended. I am going again this year as a chaperone and I am taking my grandson Noah. He is looking so forward to it that he gave up a chance to see the Braves play the Dodgers. If you know of a school age child wanting to go to a camp, this is the one. Christ centered, worshipful, high energy, plenty of activities to choose from, time with our staff, etc. Really, this is a fantastic children’s camp. And to boot, it is designed to start prepping them for MFUGE, the youth mission camp. I wanted our parents and grandparents to know I am completely sold on CENTRIKID!
RENOVATION DATES

It is just around the corner. We are looking at a worship center renovation to take place August 9 through September 6. The Big Reveal is scheduled for Sunday, September 13! Woohoo! During this time we will be worshipping in the Fellowship Hall. We will continue to have 8:30 am and

11:00 am worship services. We will be asking for volunteers to attend the 8:30 service so we can accommodate everyone during this time.
See you this Sunday for our 68th Anniversary Celebration. To God be the glory!
Pastor Tom

WORSHIP CENTER RENOVATION

We are on schedule for the Worship Center/Sanctuary Renovation to begin the first week of August. There are two parts of the project that we are still waiting for. One is the change in lighting and the other is a church wide video security system. We have been encouraged by our leaders to install a video security system. We were hesitant because of the cost. With the recent tragedy at Mother Emmanuel Church, it has moved our concerns forward. We are now in a position to include it as a part of the renovation project.

So, let’s review. We renovated the Worship Center 15 years ago. We moved from a dark, gothic look to a more pleasing warm and traditional 1980-1990 look and feel. The Renovation Team began with a need to just replace a well worn and used carpet and to change the paint colors. Then we began looking at doing an entire renovation including seating, lighting, fixing cracks, correcting sight lines in the balcony, etc. The project grew to the point that we needed to bring in a General Contractor and the Church Interiors Consultant. Together we put a plan in place that looks to create a comfortable, casual welcoming worship center.

How much will it cost? What if I told you the renovations were all but paid for? Between donations and available cash on hand, we are able to update, upgrade and renovate the Worship Center with no cost to the church family! I know…amazing right? There is one thing we would very much like to do. We are purchasing 420 high quality padded chairs to be placed in the worship center. We would like to give every individual and every family a chance to purchase a chair or as many chairs as you would like. Each chair costs just at $50. You could make a donation for one, one for each family member or as many as you would like. We had several members of the Renovation Team ask if we could do this for the church family. Of course, we would like to. All said and done, that would be an additional $21,000 if all 420 chairs were purchased. Certainly Janie and I will donate for our family. Speaking of donating: The church pews will be donated to an African American Church in St. Stephen. They lost everything in a recent disaster and this will go a long way in rebuilding their worship center. Win-win-win! Gotta love that.

More to come as we make progress. Hopefully we will be sharing final plans at this year’s church anniversary on July 12.

Blessings,

Pastor Tom

Praying for our brothers and sisters of the Mother Emanuel AME Church

LETTER FROM SOUTH CAROLINA BAPTIST CONVENTION STATE OFFICE

 

From: Dr. Richard Harris, Interim Executive Director-Treasurer, South Carolina Baptist Convention


The news of the tragic shooting in Charleston at the Emanuel AME Church breaks my heart and that of our leadership in the South Carolina Baptist Convention. This act of violence against our brothers and sisters in Christ is deplorable and evil, and appears to be anti-Christian. We stand with our brothers and sisters in prayer and in Christian love and sorrow. We stand ready to assist this church and its members where their beloved Pastor and District 45 State Senator, Reverend Clementa Pinckney, was killed. Our leadership is calling our South Carolina Baptist Convention staff to a time of prayer today, and we are calling on all of our 2,138 churches and church leaders to join us in prayer and support of our fellow Christians in Charleston. We stand ready to assist in any way possible and will be investigating how we can assist in any way.

The violent acts of unspeakable evil committed by this young man on Wednesday evening in one of our sacred houses of worship is evil and deplorable beyond words. He obviously needs the prayers of Christians. The appearance of such a tragedy in a Christian church in South Carolina is a wake-up call for the need of Christians all across the state and America to stand heart to heart and hand to hand in total rejection of such horrendous acts of violence upon anyone, particularly Christians. I would request that any Christian anywhere would join us in prayer and support for this wonderful church and church family in Charleston. Let’s be praying for all the families who have been touched by this tragedy.

RENOVATION OF THE WORSHIP CENTER UPDATE #3

TWO MONTHS AWAY We are approximately 2 months away from the renovation of the Worship center. I have been writing articles to share the vision and purpose. This will actually be the second major Worship Center/Sanctuary renovation in my 30 years here at JIBC. The first one took place almost 15 years ago. We moved away from the more traditional 1960’s gothic and dark worship center to more bright, welcoming warmer colors and fabrics. It was more of the trend in the 1980’s. We are now moving to a warm and welcoming style that reflects the 21st century and who we are as a church family.
THE LEADERSHIP TEAM APPROACH I am grateful for the team put together to lead in this project. It began with me moving the possibility of renovation forward. It moved to a Renovation Team listed in the first renovation article. That team then reported their findings and suggestions to the entire staff and Elders. We met with various church members seeking their input and ideas. We called in consultants with Church Interiors, Inc and others to help in the process. Then we presented the plans, as we had them, for the approval of the Church Leaders/Ministry Management Team.
WHAT IF IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE CHURCH? The only real question we have heard is concerning updating the pews with high quality chairs. I realize there is a love in many of us for the pews. But the pews really do not make us look like church…you do. Pews or chairs are just seating devises. Church seating in the 13th century started with stone slabs. They quickly updated to wooden benches with no backs. Stone, wooden benches, pews or chairs…the function was seating. It is not the pew that makes us look like a church…it is you. You and I are the church, the Body of Christ. The Worship Center is just the place we gather. The renovation will be warm, comfortable and inviting. The chairs will give us a little more versatility in that they can be moved, rearranged for weddings or larger crowds and, if need be, cleared out in case of a Hurricane Hugo type disasters. We are planning to keep and reupholster the pews in the balconies. We already have a sister church family in St. Stephens that had their entire worship center destroyed. They would like to have the pews and we think that would be a wonderful use for them.
THE GOAL The Renovation and Leadership Team is committed to continuing our warm and inviting place of worship. We want to reflect more of who we are…a more casual, comfortable church family. Changing the carpet and paint gave us the motivation and opportunity to address many issues in the worship center; carpet, paint, fixing cracks, better protecting the stain glass windows, addressing light, completing unfinished work from the last renovation, improving the balcony line of sight, etc. Praise God we are in the position to consider such a renovation. While some are just holding on…by God’s grace we are moving forward. To God be the glory.
Pastor Tom

WORSHIP CENTER RENOVATION UPDATE #2

This is the second article related to our Worship Center Renovation. Even as I am typing this article, some plans are still being made and fine tuned. So let me speak about what we know for sure. No one will be concerned at all or have questions about the change of our carpet. It has lasted 15 years and is now, because of the humidity, wrinkled in more places than it is not. It has stains that carpet professionals have not been able to remove. It is time. New carpet led to a new paint color for the walls. So now would be the time to sand the walls and woodwork, caulk and re-caulk the stain glass windows, fix cracks in the walls etc. It is not JUST putting on new paint. Just painting the ceiling is a major task requiring the best of professionals. Our renovation team and the consultants have come up with a lovely color for the walls.   

Direction of Renovations. 

Imagine a line like this:

Elegant    Classic    Traditional           Comfortable    Casual   Contemporary

Our last renovation 15 years ago leaned more toward the elegant, classic, traditional side of the line. We have never been elegant…we were just leaning that way. We certainly were a more traditional looking worship center. We are really not a traditional church. We are more comfortable and casual. We are far from what some would call fully contemporary. We are a younger, more casual and comfortable church family. It is reflected in our ages, our families, our ministries, our music, our values and our mission. Our last renovation 15 years ago took us from an early 1960’s look to a 1980’s kind of look. This renovation will still look lovely, warm and inviting. A great example is Victory Baptist Church on Woodland Shores: a very conservative church with a wonderfully beautiful more contemporary look. We really are looking to reflect who we are now and who we will be for the next 15 years.

A Final Tribute to the organ. Fox music installed our Allen organ back in the early 1960’s. They had just become Allen distributors and they believe we were their first Allen customer. The organ has been in disrepair for years. Years ago, one visiting organist said he would never agree to play it again because it was in such poor shape. The Hunts paid to have someone try to repair it. They were not successful. They were among the very few who could work on that type organ and now they have gone out of business. The Allen organ we have is an “analog” organ. It is the same technology as the old TV’s with rabbit ears. Those were analog. Almost all of us now have digital televisions. It is the same technology as the very old cars and buses with governors to control the engine. Our organ is actually in the Allen museum. Really… no kidding. It is so old it is in a museum. Fox music and the Allen Organ companies told us no one would ever buy our organ; it was not likely to ever be repaired; and they did not want it even if we would give it to them free of charge. Have you tried to give away an old analog TV? Goodwill, Habitat and the Kidney Foundation will not take them. You can only take them to the garbage dump or maybe sell them at a yard sale.

 Fox and Allen did offer to sell us a new organ. You know what they call it? A keyboard with a midi. It is a digital keyboard capable of making organ music better than our Allen organ. Guess what? We have one. We have used it on occasion to play organ music. Currently the Korg Keyboard is being used upstairs in the weekly youth worship service. It is available anytime someone would want or need an organ sound. The organ was a fine instrument in its day. So was the Studebaker automobile last made when we bought the Allen Organ. It is not who we are. We live in a digital age. Not many drive a Studebaker with a governor. Fewer and fewer people still watch an analog TV. Likewise, not any thriving churches are playing 55 year old organs with governors. So, soon and very soon, the organ will be making an exit from the stage. We are grateful for the way it served faithfully for years and blessed by those who played it well. Finding someone who plays the organ is very difficult. They are a rare and dying breed. By the way, my favorite song to hear on the organ: A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.


See you Sunday, Pastor Tom

RENOVATION OF THE WORSHIP CENTER

Today’s article is the first out of four to share the current renovation plans.  We have not shared the plans before since we did not have plans to share.  Once the process began, we followed the same process we have for years.  We make sure we have approval and complete buy in of Pastor, staff, Renovation Team, Elders and then the larger Leadership Team.  Here is how the process began. 

Several months back JIBC received a very generous financial gift.  Shortly after that we received yet another.  This allowed us the opportunity to think about replacing the carpet in the sanctuary/worship center.  Perhaps you have noticed the terrible wrinkles just about everywhere in the worship center?  It is caused by the extreme temperatures and high humidity.  There was really no good way to repair the carpet, although we have addressed the problem.  You may remember we replaced the old boiler system (yes, I know it seems crazy that we still used a boiler system in the 21^st century).   We now have a controlled, updated, efficient heating and air conditioning system for the worship center.  No more lighting the boiler on cold mornings or draining and refilling the water tower when we need the air conditioning.

So, replacing the carpet led to the need to change paint color and repair cracks and unfinished wall repairs.  If you have ever done a remodel project, you know it is like pulling a small string on a sweater.  Once you start, it is hard to find a stopping place.  We were encouraged by our Elders to go ahead and think about fixing, replacing, repairing, updating everything that needed to be addressed. So we put together a renovation team to begin the process of putting a plan together.  It included myself, Dean Kelly, Pam Bingham, our Hispanic Pastor, Claudio (he is a paint contractor) and Pastor Sean.  Once this team started moving, they brought their ideas to the staff for input and help.  Once we had basic colors and fabric, we gathered with the Renovation and Team, Elders and Staff for further input.  This process took a month or longer to come together.  Word would start getting out that we were planning to renovate because we would include other church members by asking for their opinions and input.  But there were still no plans to share.

Bring in the experts.  Once we got the basics of the renovation plans in place, we called in others to help us.  And will still be calling in people with expertise to help us.  One example would be Church Interiors, Inc.  This is the company that the Southern Baptist Convention recommends to churches considering building or renovating.  They sent their consultant to look at our plans.  He did and he liked them.  He also, like pulling that string I talked about, made several more recommendations of remodeling.

Each week for the next three weeks, I will write an article about the renovation and why we are doing it.  Keep us in your prayers. To God be the glory!

Pastor Tom

A Personal Word of thanks:  You may or may not have heard, that our 30 year old daughter, Erin, went into full cardiac arrest on Wednesday, May 27.  Some of you are still learning about our family.  Our oldest child is our son, Bryon; then Brook; and then Erin.  All are married and are the parents of our 8 grandchildren.  Erin Wilkins, our youngest, is in MUSC-CICU.  As I type this, she is waiting to have an internal defibrillator put in.  They do not know what caused the event.  They know she is at risk of having it happen again.  She has come miles and miles from that horrible event at the playground.  Thank you all for your prayers, love and support.  Your love reached beyond our family to feed us, families in the waiting room and many nurses.  We are deeply grateful.  Pastor Tom, Janie and our whole family.