The Lord Builds

Christmas decorations are up in the sanctuary. The first picture was taken on a sunny day with the light shining in through the stained glass windows. We’re also in the process of hanging the lighting on the back of the cross. Scroll down for a preview of the lights when they’re on.

Painting has begun in the worship center and preschool areas.  Here are some of the pictures from the worship center:

Looking at the side wall of the entryway (Glenhurst Doors). The light tan wall is painted, the others are original color.

The entryway received three different colors, plus the ceiling. This is the same scheme that will be used in the hallways and Grace.

The view from the loft at the North stairwell. The dark tan wall is painted, the lighter wall has not received paint yet. There are two tans used in the loft. The side walls of the loft receive the darker tan, and the back wall will be the lightest.

This is the Cry Room before anything was done.

There are three different blues in the Cry Room. Here you see two of them as painting begins.

A look at the door area with all three blues on the wall.

The finished (but not yet arranged) Cry Room. There will be new curtains coming.

This is the view of the loft from the chancel (everything inside the communion rail) area.

There are five shades of blue in the worship center. This is the middle of the five.

Again, the middle blue of five shades. It's hard to tell, but the section of wall immediately left of the organ (with the A/C unit on the wall) has received the lightest tan color. The other sections of that back wall will all have this color.

Work continues for the rest of the week. The paint job is scheduled to be finished by this weekend.

One of our story statements (and our next “Super Series” by the way…) at First Trinity is “Rooted and Relevant”. We like to think of ourselves as being rooted—both in God’s Word and in the Lutheran Christian Tradition (We’re celebrating 170 years this year)—while still being relevant to the world today. This means that the Scriptures and Christian church throughout history influences our ministry today. We are not a “traditional” or “contemporary” church. We are both.

With this key story statement in mind, we set out to look at improving the projection system in the Worship Center. Here are some of the issues that people have raised to us:

1. The screen is too high for those sitting in the front of the church.
2. It blocks the view of the cross when it’s down.
3. It’s not bright enough (especially since restoring the stained glass).
4. It doesn’t integrate well with the existing architecture.

So we knew what the basic issues were, and we agreed that all were important. But how do we be “rooted and relevant” in this area? Our first step was to find out how the projection system is currently being used, but more importantly, how will it be used in the future. We asked the Executive Ministry Team (Known as the EMT, composed of Pastor Chuck, the four ministry directors, namely Jim Brese [Attract], Mary Lou Hartnett [Care] Sue Steege [Transformation] and Dick McKie [Serve], plus our Ministry Operations Manager, Tim Hartnett) to give us their vision for technology in Worship and other areas of the facility for the coming years.

After reviewing the strategy, we started discussing some options, keeping “rooted and relevant” in our minds as we sought to find the best solution. Here were some of the options we looked at:

• Leave the screen “as-is” and simply get a new projector. This would solve only item 3 above.
• Install large LCD televisions on the side wall. This would solve 1-3 above, but we felt it would still not look “right” in our Worship Center.
• Install multiple screens on the side walls and buy two new projectors. This would address 1-3 and was a better solution for item 4, but we still felt it wasn’t quite right.
• Use the side walls as the projection surface and buy two new projectors. We felt like this would best meet all the needs because when the system is off, you can’t tell it’s there. When it’s on, it’s not detracting from the cross or the architecture of the church while still being visible from everywhere. It’s also farther from any direct light sources which wash out the image.

We debated the merits of LCD vs. projection and decided projection was the obvious choice. It allows us to use 100% of the wall space and looked the best when off. We then explored rear projection vs. front, but after consulting the building blueprints, there’s not room to use rear projection. We also felt it was important to consult with Eric Fesmire, our Contemporary Worship Director, about our proposed solution.

Confident we were on to a possible solution, we scheduled an appointment with Gary Krauss of A/V Solutions to see what was possible and get a quote for the project. We are currently looking for other companies to provide a quote as well.

We’ll also be setting up a test rig that involves ladders, projectors and laptops to see how it would actually look in our building.

It’s been about a month since we posted the new color scheme for our facility, both here on the The Lord Builds and in the lobby. We’re just about ready to begin painting the facility, but before we get to that, a few notes about the painting:

1. We’ve been waiting to get started on the paint project because we wanted to make sure our flooding issues were resolved. Thanks to the recent rain storms, we believe we’ve got the flooding issue under control.
2. Painting will be done in two phases. The first will be the Worship Center, Preschool areas and the main entry (Glenhurst) doors. The second phase will be all remaining public spaces, including hallways, Grace, the Workroom, Lobby and stairwells. We are waiting on an insurance settlement from the flooding before repairing flood damage in the lobby/stairwell.
3. There have been some questions about how the cross will look against the blue wall. We will be adding some subtle LED back-lighting to the cross to make it stand out. It will be a single color (white) and will probably have the ability to be dimmed as needed. We are working with some distributors to gets costs and options.
4. The “IHS” on the wall can not be back-lit because it is flush against the wall. We are looking at options to light it so it also stands out from the wall a bit. We’re leaning towards a mounted light that shines on it, but we’re still considering options.
5. The descending dove and Alpha/Omega symbols are being moved from their existing locations in preparation for painting and a new projection system. The walls where they are located now will become projection surfaces. We are discussing options for their new placement. If you have suggestions, please leave them below in the comments.

Here’s the painting schedule for phase 1:

• Entryway doors: October 12 or 13. If you are using the facility on these days, plan on entering through the gymnasium doors or the boulevard entrance.
• Worship Center/loft/cry room: October 12-16.
• Preschool halls/entries/stairwells: October 15-16.

This means that the paint job in the Worship Center will be finished in time for services on October 17/18. At this time, we don’t have an estimated start time for phase two of the painting project.

EDIT: The paint schedule has been updated. Our paint contractor was able to double-up the crews so we’ll have everything done in one week. Great news!

The entrance ramp project has been completed and the Stucco is nearly done as well.  Not much to say about it, other than the fact that all of our contractors are doing some great work for us. Here are some pictures of the finished ramp and the stucco progress:

The concrete pad for the garbage cans is smoothed out.

The finished project, drying.

The crew works on the Glenhurst entrance concrete. This is the replacement for the existing section that was demolished because of the tripping hazard.

The finished concrete work, as seen from inside the church.

The finished project from outside the church. Notice the new ramp on the far side of the brick column.

A closeup up the new wheelchair accessible ramp. There will be railings installed on the side of the ramp nearest the brick column, wrapping around the column.

A wide shot of the front of the worship center stucco repair. The two brighter columns are complete. The remaining await a final coat of stucco.

A close-up of the stucco work.

The stained glass repair project moves into phase two this week. The lift has arrived and the work crew is taking down the existing glass that will be replaced.  Some shots:

The lift in action.

Removing the windows from up high.

More window removal.

As mentioned earlier this week, the stucco repair project started this past Wednesday.  It’s now Friday afternoon and the first section is complete.  The crew of five has been working on the peaked roof that faces Glenhurst.  Here are some shots of the work in progress, plus the before and after shots for comparison.

This was the starting picture of the project.

Ladder access. The first piece of the work!

Scaffolding for the work, plus taping off all the things that you wouldn't want to get any Stucco on.

The scaffolding is almost complete. It took almost a complete day to get the scaffolding setup and ready to go.

Thursday was spent laying the base for the stucco.

On Friday, we see the final work beginning as the lighter color stucco is applied to the wall.

The ending product, free of cracks, chips and general decay.

Work on the stained glass windows and additional stucco repair around the building closer to the Boulevard will begin on Monday.

The stained glass repair has begun! We’ll keep you posted with pictures and updates, but for now, here are some starting pictures for comparison when we’re finished:

The church as seen from the corner of Niagara Falls Blvd and Glenalby.

This is the side of the roof visible from the Glenhurst lot. Notice the cracking in the stucco along the corner.

Notice the cracks and broken window trim. Also note the discoloring from the sun and weather. This blocks light from coming in and dulls the stained glass.

This is a shot of one of the windows from the bottom up. Notice the discoloring and the trim pulling away from the wall. Trim will be taken down and refurbished for use again. The window will be replaced with plexiglass.

Cracking from weather damage along the bottom of the windows.

This is a sample of the work that will be done. The darker section is the finished product before painting. Paint will match existing color.

Work is underway and should be completed within a couple weeks.  The stucco work is being done by C. Bono, Inc. and the trim/glass replacement is being done by Lancer Door and Glass.  Pray for nice weather to speed the work along!

At the Congregational Meeting last month, First Trinity approved approximately $80,000 in total to get started on some immediate projects that need doing.  We hope to have many of them completed by Christmas!  Some are already scheduled and others are in various stages of discussion.  Here’s what we’re looking to do in these next six months:

1. Repair the stained-glass windows in the Worship Center.  This involves replacing the storm windows on the outside to prevent future leaks and repairing the damage from previous leaks.  The work should be done in late July or early August.
2. Repair the Glenhurst Entryway concrete.  There’s a tripping hazard on the way into the doors. We’ve discussed a few options.  More on that later in a future post.  We plan to have the project started shortly after VBS.
3. We will be starting to dig into the detailed plans for the Basement.  This includes lots of back and forth with Carmina-Wood-Morris as they help us explore how to best design the space for our needs.
4. We will evaluate options for sound and light control in the gym.
5. We will explore options to improve the aesthetics and effectiveness of projection in the Worship Center. At this point, we’re working to obtain bids for proposals.
6. We will be painting most of the facility.  We are working with Carmina-Wood-Morris and their interior designer to choose paint colors.  Some repairs, such as the stained-glass windows, need to be completed before we paint.
7. We are exploring what to do with the cry room to make it more friendly for parents and their children.

The sanctuary, set up for the Jami Smith concert.

The Loft in the Sanctuary.

Eye level while sitting in the Loft.

Major: Worship

Minor: Large Events, Meetings

What’s it used for?

• Two worship services on Saturday evening.
• Two worship services on Sunday morning.
• Large events (Power Team, Jami Smith, etc.)
• Band rehearsal.
• Voters Meetings.

What are the challenges?

• Stained glass windows are in need of repair, causing leaks which in turn damage the paint.
• Video projector is under-powered for the room.
• The projection screen covers the cross when it’s down.
• Chancel is uneven, which is a challenge for dramas.
• Overflow seating in the loft can’t see everything happening in the chancel.

What’s the vision?

• Repair stained glass area.
• Repaint walls.
• Change projection system to improve quality of picture and aesthetics of the room.

Stuff We’re Thinking About

• How do we improve visibility for the seating in the loft?
• What can be done to make the Baptismal Font more drama-friendly?

Lobby, as seen from main entrance.

Bulletin Boards in the Lobby.

Lobby, as seen from Sanctuary.

Major: Gathering space pre- and post-worship

Minor: Information delivery (bulletin boards, mailboxes, tracts), small receptions

What’s it used for?

• Bulletin boards are space to tack up information for wide range of ministries and purposes.
• Mailboxes for members to receive information and fliers.
• Food pantry drop-off.
• Displays with tracts.
• Coffee hour.

What are the challenges?

• Water damage in some areas.
• Paint is chipping in places.
• Bulletin boards aren’t kept up to date.

What’s the vision?

• Repair ceiling and walls.
• Repaint all walls.
• Remove most bulletin boards and replace with video monitors with up-to-date information.

Cry Room, off the Lobby.

Major: Cry room

Minor: Small meetings of 2-4 people

What’s it used for?

• Cry room for kids during worship.
• Food pantry storage.
• Archives room.
• Storage.

What are the challenges?

• Room is sub-par as a cry room due to decorations and quality of toys/furniture.
• Archive and storage space is poorly organized and difficult to access.

What’s the vision?

• Update the decor.
• Upgrade toys/furniture with an emphasis on kids.