First Service - November 13

Our first service is approaching. Last weekend during our worship services, we announced the first 10:00am service will be on Sunday, November 13. That allows us less than a month to get the last building tasks completed. Our original target date for completion was October 30 and we'll still keep that from a sub-contractor and volunteer work perspective. We have two weeks of work dates this week and next.

This week on site, here is the work to be done....

• Paving the parking lot
• Retaining wall completed
• Concrete patio poured
• Carpet in 3 of the classrooms
• Plumbing and bath fixtures finished

With every passing day, it becomes clearer to see how incredible the new space will be for the youth. Both MS and HS youth groups are eager with anticipation of opening the building!!

New Pictures!!

Check out our new pictures! See the slideshow on the right side of the blog. Answers to prayer. Carpet and chairs are on site. Granite counter tops are in and are awesome! Most of the room lighting is in the auditorium. We are ready to lay carpet this week, volunteers!!

Fun Day!

The team of 8 volunteers who showed up today and worked hard. The parking lot is almost completely cleared and ready for blacktop. The garage is now all organized and the building has been cleaned up. Much work was done in the student auditorium and now ready for the contractors and week night volunteers to continue with stage construction, electrical and sound install.

Also, the site is ready for carpet, bathroom fixtures, and cafe area countertops.

Great day on the site!

First Service!!

We have set a date for our first service in the new addition. We are planning for Sunday, October 30th to have the back of the building open for children's ministry and the front of the building will launch our 4th service, which will be a 10am Sunday service. There is much work to be done, but we believe we can get there by the 30th.

This is NOT our grand opening service. We would like to try out the new venue for a month or so before we have an official grand opening service. We'll have many kinks to work out....stay tuned to hear when that date becomes set!

Thanks Saturday Crew

Greg was thrilled this morning when he told me about the progress the Sat. morning crew made. Much of the BFC trailer is packed up and lots of building clean up and other projects were accomplished! Thanks to all who came out to help!!

We'll have more work nights and Saturdays as we get closer to getting a date on the calendar of when we'll host our first service.

By the way, did you see the tower this weekend?? It is finished....and it looks great!!

New Cafe!!

The cafe area is starting to take shape. It will serve as our HS and MS cafe on youth nights.The cafe will be a second Oasis area on Sundays.  In a week or two, a granite counter top will be placed on it...which will give it an awesome feel!

Site News

Time to fill you in on the project....it has been too long.

First, and foremost, we have amazing people at Jacob's Well. We have had three weekly work nights for the past 4-5 weeks. These teams have just taken the orders Greg has provided and worked as hard as they could to get work accomplished. These teams have been crucial in getting sod laid, stages built, acoustical wall treatment designed and installed, light fixtures hung, along with many other project or clean up needs. Thank you to the leaders (Rick, Rick, Roxann) and all those who have served on those teams.

Here are a few updates on the building....

• Retaining wall is complete around the back half of the building. They will continue working on it as they make their way to the front
• Sod has been delivered and laid behind and around the side of the building
• Tower to be finished? We have had some delays but hopefully this week the tower will be complete
• Most of the interior doors are hung (Thanks Gary!!)
• Cafe area ceiling and walls have been painted...looks great!
• Floors have been scrubbed and cleaned in back half of the building in prep for carpet

We'll try to get you some fresh pictures of the progress in the next week or two.

Couple of prayer requests....please pray for the arrival of the carpet and the chairs. Once we know the delivery of both, we will be able to lock down our date for the first service!!

Check out this view!!

Thanks Darren for this awesome shot!! And thanks to JJ and all the photo team members. You've provided us with great photos during the project.

Check out the latest pictures by clicking on the slide shows on the right side of the screen.

Retaining Wall

We are putting up our retaining wall. The pictures you see here are near the back corner of the new addition. This wall will wrap around the side and front of the building ending at the front tower. Lots of wall. Dan, Jeff, and Paul are working with our landscaper. They are making great progress today!

This Week's Progress

Just a quick update to you all from the building project. Here is some of the work that was accomplished this week or other items of note....

• Sheet rock in the auditorium is complete. 3/4 of the sheet rock on the ceiling was hung by volunteers. The only remaining sheet rock to be hung is behind stage.
• Stages, Booths and Ramps....there has been great progress with backstage ramps, elementary stage and sound booth. The youth auditorium backstage and drum stage is well underway.
• Evening Work Crews: We have had great response to our work nights. 60 people will have put an evening of work in on the building.
• Lights, Lights, Lights: The hallway and classrooms all have lights installed and on! It make a difference when you see the room lighting in place. That entire part of the building has been painted too. It is nearly ready for the next stage....waiting the arrival of the carpet!
• Baptistery has been set. It is really fun to see the baptistery set in place. Now it is idea time to see how to finish it out. We have some great ideas in the works.
• Front Tower: The top half of the tower is near completion. Hopefully tomorrow or early next week the tower will be finished.

Have a great and safe holiday weekend!

Week Wrapping Up

Tuesday night was hopping around here. There were 15-20 people who were out on site for our work night...moving stuff, throwing stuff, putting up plastic for painting, tackling projects here and there. Thanks to all who could come out.

Here's what is happening on site this week:

• Back Half of the Building: Has been taped and mudded. Sanding and texturing in that part is currently being worked on; by the end of next week all classrooms, children's theater and hallway should be painted
• The tile floors in the bathrooms have all been laid
• Light fixtures are installed in the cafe and just starting in the back rooms
• About a third of the stonework on the tower has been completed. Next week that should be complete.
• Inside doors will all be delivered by early next week
• Carpet and chairs have been ordered

We're having work nights on Tuesday and Wednesday nights next week. Come on out from 4-9pm if you want to lend a hand.

Evening Work Crews

Tonight's Crew: We had our first post-BFC work crew tonight. It went very well. We scraped and swept the floors and put down paper to prep for the painting. We also cleaned up some around the site. Thanks to the volunteers who helped out tonight.

The following dates are the work nights on the schedule. Come anytime from 4-9pm.

Tuesday, Aug. 16 (tomorrow)
Tuesdsay, Aug. 23
Wednesday, Aug. 24

It's Cabinet Week!

 The cabinets that were made in Virginia by volunteers in the spring. They were delivered across country three weeks ago and this week they are being assembled and installed. These folks make high quality cabinets. Sawdust is flying, drills are going to town, and people are busy putting cabinets together in each of the rooms.

The Welcome Center and our new Oasis (cafe counter) are going to be attention drawing features in our new gathering area. We hope you can see them soon in person. For those who can't we'll get pictures of those cabinets.

Can you imagine??

This is a picture of the children's theater. Can you imagine the crazyness that is going to go on in this room?? It's gonna be awesome!

Week J is in Eau Claire

Welcome to the 16 folks from the Kansas City area along with the 5-6 members from Jacob's Well. We look forward to another good week. Here are the projects being worked on the building:

• Most of the remaining sheet rock is going to be hung
• Finishing up of the sprinkler installation
• Jeb continues on with a couple of volunteers working on electrical
• Lighting fixtures will be installed in the cafe and other areas of the building
• Much of the classrooms and children's theater will be sanded, textured and painted
• Siding on the front of the building
• Beginning to lay ceiling grid
• Installing of exterior doors around the building

Should be another busy week on site!

New Team - Week I

The two Builders For Christ volunteer teams got a special treat this weekend. Jacob's Well held our annual baptism service at a nearby park. God held off the rain and it was a wonderful time of worship outdoors along with a great message from Paul on salvation and baptism. After service, 37 people took their next step and got baptized! BFC teams were among the 500 who attended the outdoor service.

Two groups are here this week along with some Jacob's Well volunteers. About 35 people are serving on site. Welcome to Redeemer Baptist Church, from Aurora, Colorado, and Sycamore Ridge Baptist Church from Brookville, Ohio. We are grateful to have you join our project this week and look forward to meeting all of you. You have been given a perfect WI summer day to work.....low 80s and little humidity.

Thanks Team!

Thanks to all who were on site this week. We weren't sure all 100 volunteers would have work to do this week, but after Monday morning, everyone spread out to the different corners of the building. It is evident to see all the work they got done. The siding is nearly complete on three sides of the building....with only the front remaining. Construction on the tower continues to go on with sheeting and the roof going on. Nearly all of the interior walls, doorways, children's theater and hallway framing is finished. You see in the picture the backstage hallway in our future children's theater.

We pray for safe travel for the team's return trip....especially those on the 24 hr bus ride. Thank you for all you've done this week.

Next week the site will be quiet with the exception of some sub-contractors finishing up some projects. We're excited to have a team from CO and OH visiting us the following week and hope they can make it to our baptism service at a nearby park. Should be a great service!!

Baptistry Arrived Today!

The baptistry arrived from Texas today. It's going to be great to have a permanent baptistry in the addition.

Siding Going On!!

Check out the brick around most of the building is done and siding is going on around the back of the building. Great working weather for the folks yesterday!!!

Welcome Week G Teams

Among the 90 people here this week, over 40 traveled via coach bus over 22 hours (stopping only for food and gas) from North and South Carolina. Needless to say, they were happy to see Jacob's Well this morning! Many of the Builders For Christ folks joined in our second service, which was full...must have had over 500 kids and adults for second service this morning.

Welcome to teams from Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Michigan and Nebraska! We are glad you are here and we look forward to your work on the building this week. Next on the work schedule is hanging more sheetrock, siding the exterior, and more duct work.