Today we held a Membership Meeting to discuss the status of the Sanctuary. Rev. Mark Fisk gave an update on the many options considered by the Board of Trustees. The Board recommended that the church replace and renovate the Sanctuary (including rebuilding the roof and moving the south wall out 8 feet). In addition, while the Church is closed for construction, the Board also recommended addressing other facility issues including re-roofing the Main Building; renovating the Family Room; expanding and updating bathrooms in both buildings; replacing the flooring in the Annex; reconfiguring the doors in Annex Room 1A; and evaluating and re-striping the Lindsay parking lot to add more spaces. The total estimated cost is approximately $300,000. The Membership approved the Board's recommendation, with a vote of 89-1. Financing options were also discussed. The Church obtained preliminary costs from banks for the financing. Congregants expressed interest in lending directly to the Church to avoid incurring bank fees; this option will be explored further. In addition, three congregants volunteered to cover one month of the Church's estimated $2,000/month mortgage for each of the next five years.
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With the ceiling down, it became apparent that the damage to the trusses was more extensive such that the preliminary repair plan is not adequate. We are gathering information to determine costs and appropriateness of different options. The initial 2-week, $48,000 repair plan will not work. We are looking at a larger, longer, more expensive project which may require both Board & Membership approval.
We are also waiting for the engineer's report on cause, to determine eligibility for insurance coverage. We hope to have ballpark costs and timelines for different alternatives, to determine our best option(s), next week. We are grateful for the prayers, donations and volunteer support which are sustaining us during this transition. There is Good in this! First, kudos and thanks to the crew for getting the ceiling down while keeping the roof stabilized.
The dumpster is full of sheet rock. A truckload of old insulation has already been taken away. The pile in the photo will get hauled off eventually. New insulation will be going in with the new ceiling. What did we discover when the ceiling came down? 1) It wasn't just "king posts" that came out their gussets, causing the trusses to drop. Some of the trusses broke, either clear through or fractured. (see picture, right) 2) The entire sanctuary roof, not just the elevated portion, has broken supports and needed to be shored up. The shoring now stretches from one end of the sanctuary to the other. 3) Some of the electrical wiring up there are potential hazards and need to be replaced while everything is easily accessible. A crew from Porter Construction started first thing Wednesday morning to start preparations to remove the ceiling and assess the roof trusses. The sanctuary floor and walls had to be covered in large sheets of plastic to protect against all the dust, insulation and debris to come. The lights and speakers had to come down, along with the large "beam" over the stage. Did you know that's not actually a beam or weight bearing? It is a hollow, decorative piece.
Over 200 people joined us in the Auditorium at Franklin at Brimhall Elementary School for today's Sunday service, which included a meditation by Rev. Mark Fisk, inspirational music by The JaJas, and an incredible talk by visiting instructor Rev. Laura Barrett Bennett.
Rev. Laura reminded us all to remember that in every situation, "There is good in this." Unity of Mesa has witnessed this firsthand with the structural issues with our Sanctuary: From the many people who have given of their time, talents, and treasures to help with moving chairs, assessing damage, and paying for repairs; to other organizations in our community, including AMC and Mesa Public School District, who have provided us with venues for our Sunday services; to the professionals who have guided us through identifying the structural issues and the solutions; to the new visitors who have found us as we have moved from one location to another. Despite outward appearances to the contrary, there is good in this! The structural engineer provided us with a proposed plan for repairs, which the church put out for bid last week. The construction company that the church retained will begin repairs early this week, which we anticipate will include removing the existing ceiling, repairing all of the trusses, and then replacing the ceiling. Once the ceiling is down, the structural engineer should be better able to determine the cause of the damage, confirm the repair plan, and determine whether additional work will be needed. We anticipate the repairs will take approximately 2.5 weeks; we expect to continue to hold Sunday services at the Franklin at Brimhall Auditorium through at least February 1. The estimated cost for the project is $50,000. Additional donations dedicated to the cost of repairs would be much appreciated. Tonight we started an exciting week of S.E.E. in the Field, with nearly 50 students joining us for classes taught by Revs. Paul Hasselbeck, Laura Barret Bennett, Mark Fisk, Judy Hildebrand, and Kathy Kellogg. We appreciate the love and energy this group will bring to the campus this week. Today was Unity of Mesa's last Sunday at the AMC Mesa Grand 24. Rev. Mark Fisk spoke about "Entering the Mystery" and Rev. Judy Hildebrand led the meditation. Our music team Erahn Patton and Jimmy Boyd rocked the house. We are grateful to AMC for being such gracious hosts and offering us the facility at a discount.
Next week we will moving to Franklin at Brimhall School Auditorium (4949 E. Southern Avenue, West of Higley), with guest speaker Rev. Laura Barrett Bennett who will be speaking about "The Center of the Universe." Youth Ministry (Nursery - 12th Grade) will be held in classes on-site at Franklin/Brimhall. We now have an engineering plan to repair the roof trusses: The ceiling has to come down. We are awaiting the results of asbestos testing and a determination of the cause so that we can figure out how to proceed. We hope to know estimated costs and have a repair timeline next week. Visit www.unityofmesa.org for updates.
Over 120 people joined us on December 27 at our temporary off-site location - AMC Mesa Grand Theater. Rev. Judy Hildebrand closed out our year-long discussion of Living Originally, accompanied by Unity of Mesa's Love In Action Choir and music director Jimmy Boyd. Apropos of the message topic, AMC had a fire drill in the middle of service. Complimentary movie tickets were provided to everyone in attendance for the inconvenience.
Merry Christmas to all! Thank you to those of you who joined us last night for our outdoor Christmas Eve Candlelight Services at 4:30 & 7:00 PM. And a special thank you to Robin, Mark, Hayden, and Sophie Horn and Jeff and Moriah Salzman for their work setting up our outdoor sanctuary.
Last night a construction crew finished shoring up the Unity of Mesa Sanctuary roof. The Sanctuary will continue to be treated as a construction area until our structural engineer certifies it for public occupancy again. As a result, Christmas Eve Candlelight Services will be held outside behind the Unity of Mesa Annex at the previously scheduled times of 4:30 and 7:00 PM.
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