Many have been wondering - are we going to get into another facility? Are we going to move out of the school and into a more permanent building?

Some of you guys are hoping we do. Some of you guys are hoping we don’t. And that’s okay.

But we do want to avoid two extremes when it comes to this question.

On one extreme that some people may fall into is the belief that we need a building because then we’ll be a legit, real church. Then we can put our name on the steeple and invite our more traditional church friends who don’t want to come to a school.

That extreme is something we want to avoid because it’s not biblical. The church building does not make us a church, and to pursue it as a stamp of legitimacy is close to idolatry.

On the other extreme is the attitude that a building is borderline evil. Having a building will ruin us, it’ll mess with our authentic environment. Everything will revolve around the building, it will become this big elephant that needs to be cared for on a regular basis and will distract us from the mission God has called us to.

That extreme is also something we want to avoid becasue buildings are like any other resource -- they can be used for good or ill. 

So if a building is a sacred cow, we must let it go. If we’re afraid of a building because we think it will make us too institutionalized, we must let that fear go, too.

And only then can we answer the question, “Should we get into another building? Will it help us live out the vision that God has called us to, which is to be an authentic, inclusive, sending church where the grace of Jesus Christ deeply impacts every area of our ordinary lives."

Most of us will fall moderately on one side, but maybe some of you are right in the middle and can go either way. I was right in middle up until about 9 months. Then I drifted into the “pro-building” category. And some of you think I’m a sell-out for that reason. That's okay. 

Here’s what I see. I see a lot of volunteers coming early on Sunday mornings - some as early as 7:30am and then staying until 1pm to break down. This is partly why volunteers drop out of teams. It’s too hard coming early and staying late to break down multiple times each month. 

Then there is the issue of space.

While the auditorium can fit 500, we are running out of space in our Kids classrooms. We have all four class-roooms in that wing used up, and the elementary class is going to need to split sooner than later. And I know no parent wants to be dropping off their toddler in one hallway, then running to the other side of the school to drop off their 3rd grader.

And lastly - we have a church that loves to hang out and connect, before and after service. Those hallways will, by the time we hit 200 people, no longer work. If you were with us on Christmas Eve Eve - you saw it. We had 250 people and it was bottle-necked all over the place. You could barely move. You were stuck talking to the same person. Some of you were upset because you couldn't make it over to the hot chocolate. 

That’s what I see (although I exaggerated on the hot chocolate part). 

Still, it can be argued that we should continue to make the school work. 

So I asked Jack Miskin, who oversees our finances, to head up a building search team. On that team are Dave D’Amico and Jerry Schiavo. Jack is a 50-50 guy. Dave leans toward getting a building. Jerry leans against it. Perfect team.

They have been looking and will continue to see what is out there.

The three limitations we have is that we don’t want to change days of the week, we want to keep it to a 3-mile radius of the school, and we are not going to try to buy.

We’re trying to rent something. We do have funds in a church-plant budget that we can use for the up-front costs of getting into something, if there are any (our denomination would have to approve this). 

Also, we want to make sure that our goal of increasing the percentage of money we use for outreaches and global missions is increasing every year. We will not let a building take away from that goal.

If the building team finds something they think is a legit option, they will bring it to the pastors and life group leaders.

If the majority of our life group leaders think we should try to get into that particular building, we will present the specifics of that building - the pros and the cons - to our church body and bring it to a vote. If - and only if - 75% of our church body are for moving, we will do it (we do not take votes on things most of the time, but something this big I believe requires that much buy-in).

That’s the scoop on the building question at this point.

So if you find something that you think is a viable option, send it over to Jack, Dave or Jerry.

At the very least, please be praying for wisdom and direction on this issue.

Thanks True Life.