Block Walls Down...

Cleaning out the S.S. Office!

Our new junk room...the nursery!

Meeting of the minds...

Walls coming down...

New opening...

Dust, dust, dust...

Very unusual...insulation between the blocks??

Unbelievable!!

Today was a block breaking and block smashing day!

The workers were at the church bright and early for a record-setting day: lots of demo was accomplished today. The new opening for our soon-to-be exterior door off the new stairwell to the basement was created this morning. Plus, two block walls that were part of the old Sunday School office and also Mother's Nursing room were taken down as well. Lots of dust flying everywhere (you can see it in one of the pics!).

Before the walls came down, the architect, engineer and vice-president were all out to check and double-check the measurements for load-bearing walls, etc. Once that was passed through and some minor adjustments were made, the place got real messy quick!

Yesterday and today more demo was given to the toddler wing in getting it prepped for work that will begin in there soon. Once again, another exterior new opening must be made for an entrance door into this ministry space. Lots of changes occurring to make this more functional and up-to-date.

I had to go up to Indianapolis for several errands: hospital visit, pick-up of some repaired a/v equipment, and also a visit to a Westfield church for some donated toddler chairs. This will be a blessing for our children's ministries which lost just about everything in the flood.

If your church has some good equipment or furniture (tables, chairs, etc.) lying around, give us a call to see if we can put it to good use. We will need lots of help once all the renovations and rebuilding are complete.

On my way home I stopped and filled up at the lowest per gallon price around: $1.77! Can you believe it? A couple of months ago we were paying about $4.15 a gallon here in Columbus, Indiana!! One welcome sign of some needed relief. I wonder where it will finally bottom out...

Keep us in your prayers. So much still yet to do...a big financial mountain yet to climb! But God...!!

Visit us on the web: www.columbusfirstassembly.org

Love to all!

Four pits...

A smiling concrete cutting worker!

Got real messy...

Suspended our new furnace from the ceiling!

New ductwork!

Pit #1

Pit #2

Pit #3

Pit #4

The dirty work of getting four sump pits in our church basement is going on right now.

Before the Flood of '08 back in June we had no sump pump pits in the basement. After the flood and now a definite necessity we'll add four new pits to better protect our basement. But it's hard and dirty work. First the concrete had to be cut...lots of it. Next it had to be chopped out. Next the dirt had to be dug out of the long runs. Then the pit and pipes have to be installed. All in all...a lot of work that must be done in the early stages of our basement reconstruction.

It's a mess down there but that clearly indicates solid progress in our rebuild project...bring on the dirt, man!! The plumbers were back working today. The heating contractors were back in today. Plus the building contractors were steadily making progress on all the wall structures.

Remember we opened up the fellowship hall, overflow room and toddler room about three weeks ago. But that was when it was much warmer outside. Now we have much colder temps and we had no heat. We desperately needed a furnace installed in the basement mechanical room. Well, we pushed and reminded our workers about this need and they got 'er done last Friday.

On Sunday we had warm (and I might even add "a little toasty") ministry spaces for our groups to minister in. It was just one furnace that we had installed but it still did the job of heating up the large fellowship hall space upstairs. What was hauled out after the flood was a 30 to 35-plus year old, worn out furnace...now we have a new high-efficiency furnace. Thank you Jesus for this another step of strong progress on our regional worship center facilities!

We received another gift in the mail today for our Flood Fund. Plus we received gifts in the offering at church this weekend too. Every week, little by little, people and churches and friends give to support our rebuilding project. We are trusting God to perform a miracle in rebuilding debt-free. If you would like to help us get to the top of this debt-free mountain, visit us on our website: www.columbusfirstassembly.org and click the online giving button. Thanks for your love and support!

God blessed our morning worship service yesterday. It was a powerful gathering of God's people. God continues to touch His people and build His church. It's always a joy to visit new guests each and every week.

Love to all. Let me hear from some of you...leave a comment below!

Scrap run profits little

One classroom filled with scrap metal

Large load headed to the scrap yard

Ye old scrap yard!

Plumbers on site

HVAC guys on site

Builders on site

Gettin 'er plumb!

Working on our new basement bathrooms & shower stalls!

Orange lines indicate where the concrete is to be cut out

Wall of metal studs

More concrete to cut out

The market for scrap metals has gone south.

Thought I would help to clear out all the scrap metal in our flooded-out church basement and take it to the scrap yard for a good profit. I enlisted the help of my youth pastor and away we went. There were long pieces of duct work... short pieces, long pieces, bulky pieces and skinny pieces. There were four A-coils from the washed out furnaces, plus lots of piping and also scrap wire.

It would serve two purposes: 1) Help to clear out the basement from all of the duct work that was removed from the ceiling and 2) Provide some money for our Flood Fund. Point one was accomplished because we had many workers in our basement today. We had the plumbers, we had the builders and we also had the heat & air guys too. Good work day in the basement today! Now they were able to move around a bit easier because these pieces were cleared out.

However, we encountered one problem for the scrap metal: The amount of money that they were giving for sheet metal had dropped to 1.5 cents per pound today. I think we had somewhere between 1,500 to 2,000 pounds of metal that we dropped off in four loads. If it hadn't of been for the copper A-coils that brought more money per pound it would have been a total waste!

So you are probably guessing what we made for our 4 to 5 hours of work, right? It isn't much and it isn't pretty....$81.00! That's right, all we made from all that hard manual labor work was only $81.00! Not sure what that will buy in the grand scheme of things but we will put it into our Flood Fund and trust that it will somehow grow into $281,000. What do you think? Have any good ideas??

We still are praying and believing that God will provide for every bill in this total makeover for our flooded-out worship and ministry facilities. You can help too! Perhaps you could give $81 or $800 or $180. No matter what the gift, it is deeply appreciated.

You can send all gifts to Columbus First Assembly, 2100 Tenth Street, Columbus, IN 47201 or visit our church website to make an online contribution: www.columbusfirstassembly.org

Thanks for your continued support and prayers during this lengthy rebuild of our regional worship center!

Much love to all!

Voting day!

The day has finally arrived...the elections for a new President!

I'm sure you will agree that the last 18 to 20 months have been a long and grueling race for the White House. Today my wife and I cast our votes for the various public offices and propositions. It is a right and it is a privilege to be given this voice in our democratic government. But as a Christian it is also a responsibility to vote from the foundation of biblical values and biblical principles found in God's Word. Either way, God is in control of Washington...not man! Rest in peace knowing that our God is in control.

Progress is now being made on the skeleton wall structure in the church basement. Little by little more pieces of the overall puzzle are being installed that will one day reveal the new ministry classrooms and ministry space. Not very glamorous work right now...but necessary for the final product. The work moves on...

We continue to believe and pray that God will provide for every expense in this massive rebuilding project from the Flood of '08. God is our source and God is our refuge. God is using people and churches all over the country to help us rebuild DEBT FREE. If you would like to contribute to this DEBT FREE CAMPAIGN to put our regional worship center back together, please visit our church website: www.columbusfirstassembly.org Thanks so much!

Have a restful night!

Love to all.

Watch to see how far we've come since that day on 6.07.08!