Well, the day has finally arrived! After almost three years our plans are drawn, our financing is secured, our contractor is hired and this week, we break ground on our new Fifteen Hundred-seat Worship Center. Our contract states that it will be completed by October of 2011, just fourteen months from now! The expansion will include a large gathering area, a nice cafe and bookstore and a new office area for all of our staff except our Youth and Master's Commission personnel whose offices will be housed in our existing facility. That facility will be renovated and completely turned over to Youth and Children's Ministry, providing enough room for those departments to literally triple in size.
With our new auditorium we will be able to go to two weekend services and accommodate Three Thousand adults. Our Children's Ministry typically runs 1/3 of our adult numbers, so with just two services we could accommodate Four Thousand people and with three services we could accommodate Six Thousand people! That's more than twice what we're currently averaging each weekend!
I have no doubt that it won't take that long for us to need to go to three services! I can see this expansion taking the lid off our growth and allowing us to explode! We will draw up plans for a third phase the minute we need to go to a third service so we don't repeat the mistakes of the past.
I know the construction will provide plenty of inconveniences for those who attend our services week to week, but our people are so excited about making room for increase they will be thrilled to patiently endure the next fourteen months. The truth is, Crossroads Church has never been that convenient to attend as it is! People attend a church located in a very difficult location to get to (we're the church everyone can see and few people can find), endure difficulty parking and finding a seat, select from multiple services and bring their children up and down stairs to their classes because God is present in our services and lives are being changed!
Normally, when a store or a place of business has construction work going on, they'll post a sign that says "Pardon our progress." I think our sign will say "Celebrate our progress!"
Let the celebration begin!
