• The Building Improvement Plan is how Eastside Community Church will be addressing some of the repairs and improvements that our beautiful facility needs.

• Our campus has several issues that need to be resolved and the most cost effective way to address them is to do as much as we can all at once. While our campus is truly wonderful, there are some areas that need repairs, some that need updates, and some that need to change to fit how we use them. Any church building as old as ours, with a congregation growing as much as ours, will need upgrades for accessibility, security, and sufficiency. Simply put, our facility is not perfectly designed for our ministry, nor is it ready to handle the growth we are experiencing and anticipating, and in addition there are several malfunctioning or insufficient systems.

• Construction is scheduled to officially kick off in mid April. It is expected to take 8 - 10 months to complete the entire project.

• We are planning to continue to have our Sunday worship services take place in the Worship Center at 9 and 11 am. While the Worship Center will be under construction and will undergo some significant changes, we have been told by our contractor that we will be able to safely continue to host services in the Worship Center. During the week, the Worship Center will be an active construction site and therefore you can expect the Worship Center to feel like it is under construction. This includes, but is not limited to scaffolding, demo work, slightly reduced capacity, change in AV, bathroom relocation, and more. As the project progresses, the configuration and capacity of the space may change. We will all need to prepare to be flexible in this process.

• Creating a safe and secure kids space is a high priority in this project. In order to have a space that is safe, secure, and serves our families well, some of our Eastside Kids ministry will relocate during construction. The most significant changes include relocating Elementary ministry from downstairs to the first floor of our school, Scofield Christian School, and relocating check-in for both Preschool and Elementary families.

• Families with elementary age children will be able to enter the school main entrance to check-in and drop off their kids on Sunday. All elementary classes will meet off the school’s main hallway and will have “Large Group” in the Family Room located close to the gym.

• Families with preschool age children will enter from the exterior doors closest to the current preschool space to check-in at the new check-in location. Most of the preschool rooms will remain where they currently are, but the preschool “Large Group” time will relocate from its current location to a large classroom in the preschool space.

These changes will go into effect on Sunday, April 14 and will last for the duration of the project.

• With several different spaces under construction, we will all need to remain flexible in the months to come. Our staff has worked and will continue to work to coordinate changes in locations, times, etc. for our ministry programming. While the Worship Center will be ready for Sundays, it will not be available to use Monday - Saturday. You can expect to hear any changes to time/location directly from your ministry leader.

The current scope of the project includes the following areas of our building:

Worship Center

• Replace the insufficient sound system

• Replace the malfunctioning and obsolete lighting system

• Add acoustic paneling throughout the room so that attendees can hear from any seat clearly and without distraction

• Add handicap accessibility to the stage

• Renovate the stage to accommodate the new sound equipment

• Replace the screens and in the process build a new backdrop (wings) that will also eliminate the distraction of people walking “backstage”

• Replace the insufficient stained glass window screen with new motorized shades

Kids Ministry Space (downstairs)

• Eliminate the south lobby stairwell that currently allows unnecessary and unwanted access to the kids space (in the process, add some square footage to lobby on the south end)

• Add a downstairs kids check in area

• Create a secure line of entry to the kids ministry area

• Renovate the chapel (old choir room) to suit our kids worship gatherings and multipurpose ministry teaching
  

• Create green room for worship team, guests, and baptism participants

• Furnish classrooms with appropriate furniture for our kids ministry

Kids Check in and Bathrooms (upstairs)

• Build new bathrooms that have sufficient fixtures for our church attendance.

• Renovate old bathrooms into a nursing room and family room.

New kids check-in space upstairs

• New secure door entry for kids space (also a new backend of the school)

School

• Add an elevator to create accessibility to the third floor

Church Staff Offices

• Create a new reception office by the entry for security and efficiency

• Add five new offices in existing staff office space to accommodate staff members that don’t have offices

• Renovate the current reception area into a shared workspace

• Since the offices will be under construction, our staff is relocating to the north end of the building to “The Loft” which is our Student Ministry space. All visitors will enter through the north gym doors to be received by reception Monday-Thursday.

Each week we will need help to set up our chairs in the worship center on Saturdays and remove them after service.

If you are interested in serving in this way, please email Cameron Baxley.