Bob the Builder...

...I am not! But Corbett the General Contractor, I'm having to become.

This is it, folks. Friday we close on the property at 705 E. Washington Street. That night, we're having a prayer service there, and work starts Saturday morning at 8am. There's a lot to do before our completion goal of April 18, but I think we have the manpower and just enough experts (you can have too many experts) to get the job done and do it with excellence!

I can't wait to get to work with my team to make the Auditorium a great place for our family to come together and worship Almighty God. It might not be Solomon's Temple (I wonder what his budget was for acoustical treatment?) but it will be the VERY BEST we can make it, because God deserves our very best.

I know that we don't have an unlimited budget and also that this is a temporary home for us--we'll be building a larger facility at IL-47 and Minooka Road within the next few years--but we are going to do our best to make 705 E. Washington a very special place to 1)Bring you in, 2)Build you up, and 3)Send you out!

I believe that for the rest of my life, 705 (as we've begun to call the new property) should be synonymous with Reaching People with the Gospel of Jesus. This property will be a tool that we use to connect people with Jesus, and there is no stone that should be left unturned.

The people of Morris and Grundy County that will encounter God at 705, they deserve the best we can do. The people who've been burned by churches before... the people who are skeptical at best about organized religion... the people who's lives seem to be doing just great without any more than just token acknowledgement or service to our Creator... Some of these people are going to come through our doors...maybe only once. Our task is to create an environment that gives them a reason to re-think what they've always thunk.

Now this can't be done just with a building. It will take dedication and sacrifice and leadership... people willing to make Sunday morning more about the guest than the member. But if we sell out to the vision of Building Bridges to connect people with Jesus, we'll see that come to pass. And we can help that along by providing a physical space that screams of excellence and encourages interaction. I can't wait to get started! Get ready Morris!