Rebuilding A House Of Worship
There was a major remodeling operation that took place at one of our sister churches in Tampa, Florida. Members of the local community came together to tear out some dated interior structure that had some mold issues and needed to be renovated. Old sheetrock, ceiling tiles, flooring, and appliances were all replaced during the remodeling efforts. There were also some structural changes that were made internally that added structural support to the building in case of something like Hurricane Michael.
There were 3 weekends in the month of September that were allocated to the renovation efforts and they planned carefully to make sure they had the tools and the resources available each weekend to make the progress needed to complete the project on time. Families from other parts of Florida drove in to offer their assistance, cook food, and bring water.
The construction is only part of the process, the deconstruction of the building is equally involved and requires many helping hands to finish. As one group tore down walls and ripped out carpeting, another group was there picking up all the garbage and scrap material and hauling it into a massive dumpster bin where we filled the dumpster liners with sheetrock, old 2×4’s, carpeting, tile, and outdated appliances. By week 3 they had filled two full dumpster liners and had the building stripped of all the old sheetrock, wiring, plumbing, and structural defects.
Once the building was stripped to its frame, they installed new plumbing and plumbing fixtures, extended a few rooms to support the growth of the congregation, added new lighting, wiring, fixtures, carpeting, a sound system, and recording capabilities.
The church as a facility is now equipped for Sunday service, weddings, holiday events, and is available for rent for special events. Having a community come together and contribute labor during a time of need is truly an act of god. Tampa Florida has some of the tightest Christian communities in Florida and has always shined when it comes to community involvement.
We know that many of the members in this community subscribe to our newsletter and may be reading this soon. On behalf of the congregation, we wanted to thank everyone that donated time, food, and supplies to help get this project finished on time. We also wanted to give a special thanks to the professional construction contractors in Tampa that took the lead on this project and mad it happen, without your expertise, none of this would have happened.
Those of us here look forward to making our visit to Tampa in 2019 as part of our fellowship tour. We will be making a few trips along the coastline and looking forward to meeting many of you there. For those of you providing disaster relief for victims of hurricane Michael, we pray for you and the people you are helping. Your kindness is truly an act of God.