Capital Campaign Update: Spring/Summer 2010

We're excited to announce that during April we'll be giving the Porte Cochere Entry (under the Narthex) a thorough renovation with new slate tile floors at the entry and in both restrooms under the narthex. The stairs leading to both restrooms will receive new carpet, along with new lighting. There will also be a new wall of closets installed across from the mens' restroom. We hope to make this significant entrance to the church a much more attractive and welcoming space.

Also in April, we'll be finalizing plans for a complete renovation of the Fellowship Hall under the Sanctuary. Anyone who has seen it in recent years knows that it's a worn-out and depressing space with stained, smelly carpet and bad lighting. When we first presented plans for a Capital Campaign to the congregation in 2005, we showed photos of the disgusting carpet stains in this space as one of the main renovation needs. It hasn't gotten any better five years later! Our goal this summer will be to transform it into a modern and attractive space equally suitable for an elegant reception or a large church gathering. We plan to present more details about the renovation plans toward the end of April and begin work in late May with completion by August.

More information and photos coming soon...

Giving Update

As the books were closed on 2009, we're happy to report that we received $45,513 in December giving toward the Beacon for the Gospel Capital Campaign! This brings our total to $454,391, just $50,000 short of the total $505,000 that was pledged.

This is great news and will help us to complete the remaining projects more fully and effectively. Please pray that we would still receive the remaining $50,000 that was pledged, and perhaps even reach the full $600,000 Beacon goal that was originally envisioned in order to complete all of the renovation and restoration projects.

What's next in 2010?

As we close out 2009, it's worth reflecting on all that has been accomplished with the Beacon for the Gospel Capital Campaign. In early 2009, the finishing touches were put on a completely repainted sanctuary. In the Spring, the 2's and 3's department was transformed by a dramatic renovation. During the summer, the Capital Campaign provided $30,000 in seed money for the historic Aeolian organ console to receive much needed repairs.

In late June 2009, the official 3-year giving period of the campaign ended, having received over $400,000 in sacrificial giving. We know that for most people, it was not easy to give this money. Most made sacrifices and gave up vacations, dinners out, home improvements, or other good things in order to put these funds toward the vision of a renewed urban evangelical church at Memorial, serving as a Beacon for the Gospel to our city. These gifts kept coming in during the worst economic times in recent memory. Many gifts are still coming in, as people have desired to continue giving to help complete the full project list that was originally envisioned. We praise God for providing all of this through means other than our own.

So what's next?

The campaign still has more than $75,000 in the bank to put toward final projects. We spent the last few months waiting to receive additional giving and to see how much of pledged amounts might still come in. We are currently planning how to allocate these funds between important projects like a renovated Fellowship Hall, exterior lighting, 4's & 5's classroom, and exterior landscaping and playgarden. We will be formalizing these budgets in coming months and will keep you posted our progress.

In the meantime, more giving is still needed to help us complete these projects, so we appreciate all continued support and prayer.

2's & 3's Classroom - Before & After

The Capital Campaign team completed another transformative renovation in Spring 2009, converting the 2's and 3's classroom (in the basement of the Matthews Wing) from a dark and dingy space with loose floor tiles and sagging ceiling, into an ideal child's play and learning area. The design scheme uses bright colors with an urban motif, reminding kids that we are an urban, evangelical church. The floor tiles resemble a roadway complete with street signs and two roundabouts. The walls showcase graphical images of city landmarks above a treeline, with the grass-colored floor and refurbished playhouse alluding to a cottage in the middle of Forest Park, our neighbor across the street.

The Campaign Team's hope is that this new classroom will foster a more positive and creative envirionment for kids to receive Christian teaching, and will help remind children and parents that we value them and our shared commitment to spreading the Gospel to our City.

The renovations you see pictured below consisted of a new ceiling, light fixtures, vinyl tile and carpet squares, paint throughout, door hardware, faucets, and select removal of old furnishings and replacement with new items:

ENTRY BEFORE:

ENTRY AFTER:

REAR CORNER BEFORE:

REAR CORNER AFTER:

RESTROOMS BEFORE:

RESTROOMS AFTER:

PLAYHOUSE BEFORE:

PLAYHOUSE AFTER:

OLD CEILING AND LIGHTS:

NEW CEILING AND LIGHTS:

OTHER PHOTOS OF THE COMPLETED SPACE:

Reaching the Beacon Goal

We recently sent out a letter and an update on giving to the campaign with a renewed request for pledges to help us raise the remaining $95,000 needed to reach our Beacon Goal of $600,000. Below is a summary of the letter:

In June 2006, Memorial’s friends and members pledged $505,000 to “sharpen our tools” to optimize our historic building and grounds for gospel ministry. Through this Campaign, we’re preparing for the coming decades as we bring the welcome of Jesus to our neighbors and their families and communities here in the heart of St Louis.

Our goal has always been to raise $600,000, and we are currently about $95,000 short. We ask you to prayerfully consider helping us in this final push to reach $600,000. What will this gain? It will light the church’s exterior as a literal Beacon for the Gospel in St. Louis. It will provide for a more complete renovation of the basement fellowship hall. It will construct a top-notch play garden by our award winning landscape architect Ted Spaid. Picture the worn-out asphalt disappearing, and finding in its place an SUV-sized interactive sculpture of a lion surrounded by lambs, with little children playing among them.Three large projects remain, and these three promise to make quite an impact:

1. New exterior lighting—to make Memorial's building and tower, visible from Forest
   Park, literally shine as a Beacon for the Gospel.
2. A Children's Play Garden—including interactive sculpture and play equipment. This project will include an ADA accessible ramp to the Chapel and Nurseries.
3. A renovated Fellowship Hall—where internationals come to hear about Christ, where wedding festivities abound, where kids run free and where the entire congregation can
   gather together to share a meal. This project will include renovations to the
   Porte Cochère entry and stairwell up to the Narthex.

Combined, even scaled back versions of these three projects will easily take up our current funds and the remaining outstanding commitments that we expect to receive by July 1. However, if friends and members like you are able to help us to reach $600,000 in total gifts, then we will be able to fully fund each of these projects as well as several smaller projects we still hope to complete. Please contact us if you can offer help in reaching the goal.

Beginner Classroom Renovations

Renovation of the Beginners Classroom (2's & 3's) in the basement of the Matthews Wing of the building is underway. Volunteers actually started removing the old suspended ceiling last Summer since it was stained and the ceiling tiles were sagging dangerously due to years of moisture and aging. This month, the classroom was temporarily vacated so that the full renovations could begin. Below is a rundown of what the renovations will include:

• New ceiling and lighting throughout
• New flooring throughout with a mixture of carpet tiles and brightly colored vinyl tiles
• New plumbing faucets
• New door hardware
• New furniture and toys provided by direct donations
• Repainted surfaces throughout
• Repainted wood playhouse

Below are some photos of volunteers beginning to repaint on March 3 after the new ceiling and lights were installed:

The Newly Painted Sanctuary

The moment the sanctuary was finished being repainted, it seemed like it should have been that way all along! The colors specified by the architect and refined by the capital campaign design team have turned out wonderfully. The sanctuary is now a more warm, inviting, and grand space for worship. The elaborate plaster and stained glass are now accentuated by their surroundings, rather than being lost in a sea of white paint. This project was a long time coming and took a full 2 months to complete by professional painters. Below are the before and after photos:

BEFORE:


AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:


BEFORE:


AFTER:

Repainting the Sanctuary

The long-awaited repainting of the sanctuary has begun! The painters have been hard at work on extremely tall scaffolding painting all of the plaster surfaces in the sanctuary, including the ceiling. For decades, the sanctuary has been painted in an off-white color that did little to accentuate architecture and ornate plaster detailing. The new paint scheme includes warmer color tones specifically selected by an architect who specializes in historic church sanctuaries. He also selected the colors for SLU's St. Francis Xavier College Church, and Second Presbyterian in the Central West End.

Below are some before & after photos showing the progress so far:

BEFORE:


AFTER: The archway now is painted with great detail, with gold leaf on the medallions:


BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER: The warmer brown around the windows will allow the stained glass to stand out more, while the "almond cream" pillars and arches will create the appearance of a collonade along the side walls:

New Sanctuary Sound System

In Mid-October, an all-new sound system was installed in the sanctuary. It consists of new main speakers for the sanctuary, in-ear monitors for the worship band, new wireless microphones for the pastors, and special microphones mounted on stands for the choir. The system has been fine-tuned for Memorial's sanctuary and should eliminate issues with interference and garbled sound that had plagued the old system for years. We are grateful that God has provided for this new system, which will help us join together in worship more fully, being able to hear and receive the Word more clearly.

Senior Pastor's Office

We start this week on refurbishing Pastor George's office. Cat Geyer, interior designer, has been working with George and the Capital Campaign to select new carpet, furniture, desk, lighting, and paint colors. Much of the old funiture is very outdated and mismatched, having been cobbled together over the years from different parts of the church. We look forward to providing our Senior Pastor with a refreshed, updated, and beautifully coordinated new office.

New A/C in the Rear Auditorium and Large Parlor

Work is underway to replace the old air conditioning system in the rear auditorium of the church. This old system has been a problem and a hindrance to ministry for decades and we're thankful to have the opportunity to finally replace it.

Because the air handling unit was just sitting in the corner of the room exposed, whenever the A/C would come on during a meeting, the booming sound of the system would dominate the room and interupt or obscure anything taking place in the auditorium. This system also served the large parlor just as poorly, with the loud sound coming through the ducts and disrupting meetings and classes.

The old system was also poorly designed and very inefficient. It was impossible to cool the large parlor without having the whole system running and also cooling the rear auditorium. The air circulation was poor and there was only one thermostat on the auditorium side of the wall, so the system would not shut off even when the parlor cooled down and it had to be operated manually much of the time.

We found that a good solution was to install a stand alone "split system" in the large parlor with a whisper-quiet air handler, while installing a new, quieter, and more efficient conventional air handler in the rear auditorium. It will be enclosed in a new utility closet that will be insulated to muffle the sound, with additional supply vents to reduce air sound.

Below is the area where construction is occuring:

Here is the new air handler already in place and blue tape on the floor where the new closet will be built. You can also see the coolant line coming from the new split system in the large parlor on the other side of the wall:

The original baseboard is being removed from the closet interior so that it can be used on the outside of the new closet:

The old air supply and return vents in the large parlor have been patched and will be replastered:

Below is the new whisper-quiet air handler in the parlor. When the system turns on, the fin opens wider and even oscillates to help with air distribution. It operates by remote control and will be a huge improvement over the old system.

The Chapel in the News

The Chapel's first hosted art gallery show got a great review in The Vital Voice, a secular St. Louis newspaper. The headline of the article, "Going to the Chapel: New art venue paints a selfless picture" is very encouraging as the volunteers at The Chapel seek to be a welcoming presence serving artists & musicians selflessly.

We enourage you to read the article at the link above...

The Chapel...in action

As we continue work on additional building projects, it's exciting to see completed projects bearing fruit. The Chapel has already hosted many concerts and events since its grand opening in June, and the first full art gallery show opens this Saturday (Aug. 16) at 6pm.

Friday's concert at The Chapel featuring John Hardy & the Public resulted in a review with photos on the RFT website (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). Despite some unexpected sound problems caused by a short-term problem with two of the speakers, the event still garnered a favorable review.

The purpose of The Chapel is to enable us to serve musicians and artists in St. Louis, helping to lower the walls of suspicion between artists and Christians. The Chapel is off to a great start, and it would not have happened without sacrificial giving to the Beacon for the Gospel in St. Louis Capital Campaign.

July Update

Exciting progress is being made on the Campaign this Summer, with a new sanctuary sound system to be installed this Fall, including all-new microphone and speaker systems. New quiet and efficient air conditioning will replace the old systems in the rear auditorium and large parlor by the end of August. We are currently soliciting feedback from the congregation on proposals for repainting the entire sanctuary, and input-gathering will also begin soon on renovating the basement Fellowship Hall. Renovations in the Matthews Wing classrooms are also ongoing.

These improvements are made possible through God's provision and your sacrificial giving to the Capital Campaign!

Brief Update

With the chapel and nursery renovations complete, we are currently working on upgrading the ceiling, lighting, and flooring in the 2's & 3's classroom, with the 4's and 5's classroom to follow.

We also are working on plans for the new A/C for the auditorium and parlor, new sanctuary sound system and organ repairs, porte cochere roof repairs, and the outdoor playgarden.

This summer, the campaign team will also be seeking ideas and input from the congregation on renovating the Fellowship Hall. There are many possibilities for how it can be designed, so we will need to look at lots of different ideas to understand what ministries will be using the space and how best it can be designed to accommodate them.

More details coming soon....

The Chapel Hosts its First Event!

The Chapel is now 95% complete, and while the facility will primarily serve as a music and arts venue, we decided to have a "soft opening" by hosting the wedding reception of Lou and Jason Carmichael from the Memorial church family on March 15.

After seeing the The Chapel in action during the reception, we are eager to put it to use as a tool for the ministries of Memorial to help us communicate the welcome of Jesus to our city through the Arts. Stay tuned for an announcement of a grand opening concert event in either April or May.

(Photos by Abby Schamp - ImageArtistic, LLC)

Chapel / Nursery Floorplans

It occurred to us that we haven't posted the actual floorplans for the Matthews Chapel renovations online. The first plan below shows the existing configuration with the original chapel, hallways, and nursery:



The plan below shows the new layout after the renovations. The main changes in the chapel involve the expansion of the stage, new seating, and the addition of a fully equipped sound booth and prep area with full plumbing along the back wall. Extensive electrical work will be needed to provide for the sound and lighting equipment needed during performances.

The former lobby and hallway are being transformed from bland passageways into dramatic art gallery spaces with exposed concrete ceilings and contrasting wall colors.

The nursery's restrooms are being renovated to provide ADA-accessibility and to accomodate usage during chapel events, and the crib room is being separated into two rooms to better serve the nursery as well as provide a small dressing room for the chapel ministries to share:

Gallery & Chapel Progress

While the nursery renovations took center-stage in December, work was also ongoing in the gallery hall and the rear wall of the chapel, which will feature a sound control booth, food & drink prep. area, and emergency exit door. Below are progress photos:

View of the gallery hall looking north. Note the new bamboo floors, painted walls, and exposed concrete beams.


The new drywall along the south gallery wall painted bright white will make an ideal setting for displaying artwork. New track-lighting (coming soon) will be mounted on the ceiling beams:


The rear chapel wall features a new sound booth (at center), prep. area (at right of sound booth), and wall-mounted acoustical panels:


The front of the sound booth was created from the woodwork that was originally in the chapel chancel area:


Another view of the sound booth with rose window above:


The prep area will feature a sink, dishwasher, icemaker, and two undercounter refrigerators. The bare spot on the wall is where an emergency-only exit (connecting to the nursery) will be installed: