An Aniversary (of a kind)

The first day of Vacation Bible School started earlier than planned, last year. A little before 6 am we got a call that the Feed Store (our recently renovated youth building) was on fire. I rushed down to the church to see the fire department already at work. But it was too late. The building was totally destroyed. In the weeks ahead we learned that the fire was the work of an arsonist, mourned the loss of so much hard work, worked with the insurance company, and tried to figure out our next steps.We again find ourselves in the midst of Vacation Bible School. No fire this year. Instead, we are in the midst of great change. The slab where the Feed Store stood is on the way to becoming a basketball / volleyball court. While laying down the pavement for the court, we also had the adjacent parking lot redone. Here are a couple of photos. Note the two handicapped spots right up against the Fellowship Hall. Also note that traffic flow will now be one way - from Church St. (by the EMS building) up to the Fellowship Hall, and then left to an exit on Mt. Pleasant St.











Our new building for youth is The Filling Station. (Just as The Feed Store used to be a feed store, The Filling Station used to be a filling station. Both just happen to lend themselves to metaphorical interpretation.) Tim (and his whole family) along with the youth have been putting long hours into making it a home for the youth ministry. They're racing the clock to have it ready for an open house Thursday evening (after the VBS program & hot dog supper).

While the parking lot workers were in our vicinity, the trustees got them to go ahead an paint the stripes on the parking lot at Butcher Boy. The old ones were mighty faint. See how these look.



The work inside Butcher Boy continues also. Here are Mike, Charles and Paul taking a photo break.