We are here to review three slides with you; a slide of the Master Plan, a slide of the interior of the proposed worship space, and a slide of a drawing of the exterior of the space.

Once again, I think it's important to reemphasize the rough draft nature of the project. We will have a lot of opportunities to refine the details and get to a finished product.

2. Review of Plans

A. Site Plan:

This first slide shows the land which we have been given. Please note the relationship of the land to Pouncey Tract Road, which runs roughly north and south. Also note that the County plans to build an extension of Shady Grove Road eventually. Both roads have been taken into account on this plan.

A frame of reference might help here. Please note the current circular drive, which would appear here [point with laser]. The fence line running east to west about fifty feet north of the house would be here [point with laser]. So you can see that it is a short distance, 190 feet, from the door of the house to the doors of the worship/ gathering space. The rear of the worship space is south of the tree line.

It's important to get a sense of the intimate nature of the master plan design. This isn't a UVa lawn or a typical quad found on college campuses. The worship space starts a few feet north of where the fence currently stands.

Now here are the important bullet points:

• Many people in the focus groups spoke of preserving the strong sense of community which we feel. This plan responds to our love of the gathered community which a church village plan gathered around a green area.
  
  
• Phase I structures are a worship/gathering space and a gazebo. The remaining structures are to be considered in future phases. These are an education building and a larger worship facility.
  
  
• This plan preserves the beautiful green space in front of the property; in fact it calls attention to the pastoral feel of the property. Meanwhile, the parking is tucked to the rear, behind the buildings.
  
  
• The house and garage are retained in the plan. They will be used for administrative offices, education, and small group meetings.
  
  
• The parking is brought close to the structures. This is one feature I'll really like, since I'm often five minutes late for worship. To be specific, all 160 parking spaces in Phase I are within 350 feet of the entrance to the worship/gathering space. By comparison, only 52 of 168 parking spaces at Short Pump Middle School are within that distance, and at Gayton Elementary only 94 of 131 parking spaces are within that distance, and this includes the illegal fire lane parking. That's a lot of number, but the bottom line is that parking is a lot closer.

Now let's look at the floor plan for the worship/gathering area. This is the structure which is at the north end of the village green. It contains roughly ten thousand square feet of area. The building is 120 feet wide at the front, and about 100 feet deep. The front wall faces the south and will have the winter sun exposure. Again, here are the bullet points:

• The worship/gathering area includes a large room 88 feet wide and 44 feet deep, not including the altar. The area seats a maximum of 407 for worship, with overflow of an additional 108 into a gathering area. Our average Sunday attendance is 300. Since we often have Sunday attendance approaching 400, it's clear that if we continue to grow as we hope to do then two services are likely in the near future.
  
  
• Also you can see that the altar has moveable platforms, which can be adjusted for different sizes and moods of services. We can also set up the chairs in different configurations, making the space more intimate for smaller gatherings (like Good Friday services) and larger with seating up to 500 for the big attendance times like Christmas and Easter.
  
  
• Two nurseries are provided, one for infants (15' x 18') and one for toddlers (18' x 18').
  
  
• Sunday School classrooms for three year old children through third graders are provided in the structure. One of these also serves as a parlor and a crying room. Three of these classrooms have moveable walls and would be combined for children's chapel (18' x 40') for up to seventy children in one room, or forty-five in one enlarged room and twenty-five in another room. There will be an adult forum in the worship/gathering space. Fourth and fifth graders through Senior High will use the House, with access along a covered walkway.
  
  
• A kitchen (18' x 22') is provided to allow for large group gatherings in the largest space. This reflects our many requests for more fellowship opportunities.
  
  
• Small group meeting spaces for times other than Sunday morning are provided in the parlor and the gathering area as well as the house.
  
  
• This interior should have the same feel as Gayton Elementary, but will have a great gathering space. The space will also have a lot more room for the altar and choir. It's important for us to have the same feel as the space we enjoyed at Gayton, without feeling like we were sitting in a gym. Many of us were, and still are, baby Christians, and Gayton is a place where we share happy memories. Gayton is where we fell in love.
  
  

This is the rendering of the Phase I structure. Again to give you a sense of scale, the peak of the roof is about thirty-five feet high. The top of this exterior wall is about twelve feet high. There are trellised areas on either side of the main entrance. The length of the building runs about one hundred twenty feet.

• The entrance is surrounded by a broad frontage of glass. This way, someone visiting for the first time will see inside for a few seconds before entering. That's important because I think we can all remember what a tough time it is to come to a church for the first time. The glass lets those outside see what's inside.
  
  
• Looking at this slide provides you with a sense of how this works for us. There's plenty of outside space for those of us with high energy, and a great wall outside where we can meet and talk, before or after service. We hope that you have had a chance to mill about the model and the rendering.
  
  

These last slides are a summary of the Growth Needs priorities which Michele reviewed, in the left column, with a corresponding column showing the response to those needs which you can see in the plans which we just saw. One priority, exercising good stewardship, is added here. It is really a combination of two of the other priorities on the list.

Priorities	Master Plan
Gathered Community	The Church Village
Reaching out and Inviting	Use of Glass at Entrance
Good Stewardship	Multiple Uses of Space; Future Planning
Preserve Beauty of Land	Unobtrusive Parking; Front Pasture; Village Green
Spiritual Growth and Education	Flexible Rooms and Worship Arrangements
Casual and Informal Environment	Friendly yet Worshipful Design
Fiscal Responsibility	Conservative Debt Level; Prudent Planning

3. Closing:

This is preliminary plan. It shows the overall concept. We are many months from having detailed plans. As these are developed, our guideposts will continue to be flexibility and opportunities for input and participation. Meanwhile, please ask questions in the coming months, but understand that now is not the time to have finished all the details.

Part of design refinement may be the changes we might make when the Capital Campaign pledges and outside gift pledges are known. Also there is room for improvements suggested by the congregation. For example, we were given a wonderful suggestion on January 12 to incorporate a quiet, meditative prayer space. We had not considered such a space in Phase I before. It jibes with the often expressed desire to accommodate a variety of worship experiences. This desire was often expressed in the Growth Needs Studies, and we will try to incorporate it in Phase I. Finally, the Steering Committee and the Building Committee offer heartfelt thanks to Jim DePasquale, our architect, for his thoughtful, responsive and attractive design and his participation in this process.

You know, this space doesn't have everything. But based on our desire to be fiscally responsible, this is a super plan. It has everything we need.

Think about this process the way you thought about your first house. You've been paying rent which is about to quadruple, living in an apartment that you don't own and don't control. It's tough to entertain large groups. Clubhouse rentals can get expensive. You don't want to strap yourself financially but there are some things you just have to have. Well, this building is the same. We know that we need a certain number of bedrooms, a kitchen, and a place for our guests to feel welcome when they walk in the door. We need a wonderfully comfortable living room that can be as formal or casual as we need, a place where we can bring in some tables when we have friends over for a meal.

We also know that when our family gets bigger we'll need our dream house, our sanctuary if you will. We'll need more bedrooms, a playroom for the kids, and a much bigger family room that can be a little more formal because we have all grown up a little. But for now, we're taking care of our needs. We'll have a lot more than just a roof over our heads. We'll have a home.

No matter where we go from here, I think the most important part of this whole process is that we always remember one thing. Just as a house doesn't make a family, a building doesn't make a church. We are all the church, and with God's great love and generosity, He'll bring us home.

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