(adapted from the Congregational Meeting, December 15, 2006)

You may have questions about the relocation process and all the details that surround it. Below is a list of the most frequently asked questions and their answers. If you still have a question that is not answered here please send an email to the facilities committee and we will do our best to answer your question!

Will the new facility be handicap accessible? 

Yes, all new construction must meet current building codes, which includes full accessibility.

What is the current value of our building?  

We don’t know that yet, and ultimately will not know exactly until it is purchased.  There is a very small market for church properties, and while they often do sell within a reasonable period of time, this period is usually longer than what is required to sell a home.  We should expect 12-18 months.  An attendee of the church, Jim Crone, a local realtor and real estate broker, has agreed to volunteer his services in both the selling of our current property and in the acquisition of new land.

What will we do in transition? 

We will look at possibilities—like moving into a school or some other large facility temporarily.  The facility planning committee, along with the Board of Elders will be working diligently on these transition issues in the months to come.

What community are we trying to serve?  Portage? 

This is an excellent question; one that ultimately will be at the heart of any move that we make.  We are open to possibilities and are more concerned about the goals of our ministries than where we are located.  As we are walking through this process we are not limiting ourselves to a certain distance from where we are now.

What about the property (directly) to the west of us? 

This property is made up of approximately 10 acres with about 200 feet of additional road frontage.  This property is made up of two parcels, both of which are improved with two very nice homes.  Buying land with residences would be far more costly then starting with bare ground.  Even if we bought more land around here, we would still just be temporarily addressing our facility issues in our current building unless we were to bulldoze everything and start over.  That would be very costly.

Are we looking at vacant buildings? 

Yes, we will look at all possibilities for relocation.

How will we pay for it? 

In the months ahead, we will be starting a capital campaign and are currently interviewing organizations to assist with that.  This will help determine what we can afford.  We will obviously not go beyond what we feel is our limit.

Will there be a minimum and maximum amount that we will ask for from the congregation in terms of individual giving? 

We are still in process of looking at that through the capital campaign.  We only have rough estimates so far.  There will be phases to the campaign and the new church.

When we vote on relocation, will it be separate from the budget and other year- end things?

Yes

What if we don’t sell the building? 

At the very least, the ground on which our facilities are placed are very desirable for residential construction, and would be easily marketable for that purpose.  However, we believe that the highest and best use of the property, as improved, is as a place of worship, and thus will result in a higher sale price if sold improved, rather than as bare ground.

How long can we be here and be comfortable? 

It depends on what part of the church campus we are referring to.  As Pastor Greg has stated a number of times, with three services we could handle an attendance of as much as 800-1000 in our auditorium.  The dilemma is how this level of attendance affects the remainder of our facilities, such as nursery, children areas, restrooms, parking, and adult education.  What is clear is that assuming continued growth there is NO long-term solution on our current site, and if we wait until facility issues are at critical levels we would still have a two to three year timeframe to fix those issues.  The time to address those issues is now.

Are we going to rent out the new facilities to help pay for the new facilities? 

We haven’t made any decision on that yet, but our intent would be to fill our new facilities with our own people serving Christ and one another.

If we find a piece of property how do we know it’s the right one?

Our presumption is that God is moving ahead of us in all these matters.  At the same time, we will be working diligently to explore all possibilities in locating the right site.  Issues such as location, street access, utilities, zoning, soil structure, and cost will impact this decision.  Be in prayer as we walk through this process.

How will sports ministries be handled? 

Stated as an overall goal, our purpose will be to design facilities that remove, rather than create roadblocks from ministries.  All ministries.  The effect of this goal will be that we will look for a site that is large enough and flexible enough to grow with our changing priorities, and to build a facility that can be used in a number of capacities.  The days of single-use rooms in a church (like an auditorium or a gym) are long gone.  Sports ministries are one that will fit very easily in this multi-use philosophy.

Will we sell our current facilities to another church?

There is little doubt that the highest value of our current property assumes it continues to be used as a place of worship.  However, we will not limit ourselves to whom we sell to.
Will there be more committees formed? 

It is possible that new committees will be formed in the future. 

What is certain is that the current committee structure will change in the months and years to come.  If the congregation agrees that it is time to move, the facility planning committee will change to a building committee and this change will likely result in a number of changes in membership of those committees.  In addition, the capital campaign committee will be active throughout the process, right up until our new campus would be ready.

Will we have a storage area at the new facility for the church van, bus, whatever?

Yes.  The question will be whether that “storage area” will be a dedicated structure, or simply the parking lot.

After we vote to relocate who will vote on the new property decision? 

By constitution the congregation votes on it.

Will the church have a name change?

There is absolutely no discussion underway concerning changing the name of the church.