A new Venue?…Maybe

Written by cycleguy on May 6th, 2010

OVCF, the church I pastor, currently meets at the Owen Valley Sports Complex.   I wish I could take you on a tour of the building but since I don’t have a video camera or Vimeo or anything hi-tech please use your imagination.  You walk into a metal building that is a concrete gym that now has some type of plastic flooring purchased from the sports department of Indiana University.  Walk, tip-toe, stocking feet, shoes or boots you just cannot sneak up on anyone.  🙂  That main room serves as our worship area. It has one other room-a tiled room that may be 30×30 (my guesstimate).  This room is “home” to our nursery, our pre-school program and Kidmo, our Grades 1-5 program. We use foam walls to divide them.  But, we are out of room! There are some problems that are good and that is one of them.

So, we are seeking a new venue.  A few years ago we were able to use the Middle School cafatorium for our worship.  It used to be used for all the musicals and plays until the school system built a new auditorium shortly  before I came to Spencer.  Using the school worked well for a couple of months until we were told to leave because of some school board idea (“we said it could be used by the community but not permanently”).  So we went back to the sports complex.  We used the school again for two months when the complex was flooded in June of ’08.  They were okay with that because it was an emergency and had an ending. Long story short: we have petitioned the school to lease the same space to us for one year for a price.   I approached the superintendent yesterday (Wednesday) with that and he said he would investigate it and get back to me.

May I ask you to do me a favor?  Would you mind praying please for the school board to have open hearts and open minds?  We are offering a financial figure that could be a win-win situation for both of us.  (Our school system is hurting as are most).   It would be a fantastic opportunity for us to move on and expand our children’s ministry if this would happen.  If it doesn’t then we know that God has other plans.  We are not in any building mode right now, in any way, shape or form. The school would be a tremendous place for us to be for at least one year.  Thanks for praying for us.  I will keep you posted as to the results.

 

17 Comments so far ↓

  1. Michael says:

    We will definitely pray. Our church is “mobile” as well. Fully understand your problems.

  2. cycleguy says:

    Thanks Michael. I am guessing that only a “mobile” church truly understand the situation but prayers of all kinds are appreciated.

  3. Toby says:

    Will definitely be praying Bill. Hoping to get down there for a Sunday while I’m home in June!

  4. cycleguy says:

    Thanks Toby. That would be awesome! Just let me know.

  5. MB says:

    I used to go to a church that was similar. They used a school too. The school was always getting upset about stuff and taking away privileges. The church finally started renting an office space that had an up and downstairs with lots of space, but they got bigger and ended up needing a church building. We left that church, but I found out later that they got a building donated to them from a church that closed its doors. Anyway, you just never know what God is up to. Praying of course! 🙂

  6. cycleguy says:

    Thanks for praying MB. We know there are possible pitfalls. So far in our dealings we had none. we can always hope. 😀 Unfortunately, Spencer is a pretty small town and we have exhausted all possibilities for a place to “call home.”

  7. Jaycee (E.A) says:

    I pray that the school board will have open hearts and open minds, in Jesus’ Name, Amen. May God’s will be done.

  8. Jeff Harris says:

    I have always wondered why when many seats in many churches are empty that there is a need to rent more real estate. Wouldn’t it make more sense for Christians to join together to fill up the available seats first?

  9. cycleguy says:

    Thanks Jaycee. Prayer is appreciated.

  10. cycleguy says:

    Jeff: you are familiar with our situation. While we have space in the main worship area our kids are crowded big time. Can you clarify your thoughts more?

  11. *~Michelle~* says:

    You can count on me, Bill to be praying for you and your ministry! May God’s glory shine through it all….and may it all work out to His plan.

  12. Robin Rane' says:

    Joining everyone in prayer for every single member of the school board to have open hearts and open minds and the $ would be the exact number that God knows would work for you…
    love to you and yours my friend…

  13. Tom Raines says:

    Joining in the prayer that God’s will be done and He provides you with the space needed to take care of His sheep. Praying that He opens the doors and touches the hearts of those considering your options. May He open all unseen opportunities and provide you with what you need.

  14. Jim F. says:

    Prayed for it and I know God will bless beyond measure.

  15. jeff harris says:

    It just seems to me that if there are 10 churches half full there are 5 too many churches. That is a lot of overhead that could be used for other things. I guess my question is why start new churches when the existing ones are not full?
    It just seems that uniting would be more fruitful than dividing.
    I am not a fan of 638 denominations and untold numbers of non-denominations all dividing into separate little groups. I don’t think that is how it was done in Acts.

  16. cycleguy says:

    Michelle, Robin, Jim and Tom: thanks so much for praying. God can turn hearts if He deems necessary here.

  17. cycleguy says:

    Jeff: I agree with you in principle. Half empty church buildings makes no sense. When we were looking last summer to move out of the complex we talked with 2 other churches in Spencer but just could not make things work. Situation is the same as then. You are right that this was not what was done in Acts. I believe the situation was also different then. But this is a good point of discussion and I invite anyone else to chime in. Maybe I will bog about this soon.