About three years into serving at my previous congregation in Indiana, the church started a major renovation. Its goals were similar to the goals we have for our renovations at BMPC:
- Better accessibility for all members of the church.
- Better gathering and fellowship spaces so the WHOLE church could be together.
- Improved classrooms and meeting rooms for children and adults.
- New entrances that truly communicated a warm welcome to the larger community.
But the year we were under construction was hard. Classes were relocated, entrances were blocked, and everything was dirty all the time.
My favorite memory of life under construction that year is of a makeshift doorway to our office area that had to be built. Because one of the major pieces of our renovation was creating a brand-new entrance and stairway next to our office, they had to create a new door on the back side of the church. Technically, it became a door where a window was, and it still is today.
They built new construction grade stairs up to the window, put a steel door in the window frame and then new stairs on the inside of a classroom near our office. When we first heard that we would have to come into the office through a window for a year, it seemed like it was going to be cumbersome and exhausting for the staff and members.
But a year after our renovations were complete, few of us even remembered that weird door in a window. In truth, those who did actually remembered it with fondness, a time when things were a little upside down and mixed up while new and beautiful changes were happening all around us.
Here at BMPC, interior demolition of the Education Building has begun, and over the next few weeks and throughout the course of our renovations, we will have our own version of doors in windows. That means we are all making the needed adjustments in order to experience some pretty remarkable changes in this already remarkable campus.
Please remember that you can always check the Renovation Updates Blog on our website for construction information and its impact on campus life.
Here is just a glimpse of the changes that are already happening inside the Education Building:
