A group of Covenant members have treated the construction project team working on the new Fellowship & Education Building right. Often, these church members bring the workers lunch, drinks, snacks, etc., to help them through the day. One member of the construction team, who is not a Covenant member, was so moved by this generosity that he showed a little himself by making a donation for the new building.

Next winter when Covenant’s new Fellowship and Education Building is completed, northbound drivers on Mopac will be able to see a backlit sign advertising the church’s name and web address. The sign will be on the southwest side of the new building, hopefully grabbing the attention of thousands of drivers stuck in Mopac traffic.

Two 21-foot steel beams will be on the patio on May 11 and 18. These beams, each weighing 750 pounds, won’t be a permanent addition to our patio nor are they something the construction workers forgot to put away as they left for the weekend. Rather, they will be among the last to go into the new Fellowship and Education Building. Starting next week, church members will have the opportunity to create a message that, for years to come, will be displayed on the highest beam in the fourth-floor gymnasium.

In the original plans for the Fellowship and Education Building, Covenant was to have an iron cross rising some 20 feet above the building. The city, however, determined that the cross was subject to height restrictions and was limited to only 9 feet. The iron cross will be replaced with a large masonry cross, which will be sculpted onto both sides of the westernmost corner of the building. The cross will be visible on the façade of the building from both MoPac and 2222/Northland Drive, sending a message of Christ’s sacrifice to thousands of people every day

Rappelling off a dangerous slant. Scaling irregularly shaped buildings. Is it Spider Man? No, it’s construction workers challenged to re-roof the Covenant sanctuary. Like mountain climbers, the team is using cables and ropes to traverse the roof. The job includes pulling off the old shingles, putting down two layers of plywood with insulation in the middle and finally, affixing the new shingles. The team will also create a slight slope at the bottom edge of the roof to enable water to run off more effectively. Before they’re finished, these super-human roofers will also insulate, add plywood and a new layer of tar and rocks to the flat part of the building. The new roof will cut energy costs and eliminate leaks.

Covenant members may have noticed that concrete walls are beginning to form the foundation of the new Fellowship and Education Building. Anyone who lives in the Allandale neighborhood, and many neighborhoods in Austin, knows that the ground is unstable. Therefore, the concrete walls for the new building do not sit on the ground because it moves too much. Instead the walls sit on piers drilled into the ground. For all four floors, steel beams will support the concrete. The first floor gets extra support; the steel beams are inside the concrete walls and bolted to plates set into the walls. The steel frames for the other floors and the roof sit on top of the concrete walls.

By the end of this week, the construction area will most likely welcome a 200-ton crane to the site. The crane will have a 300-foot boom—approximately the distance of an entire football field—jutting into the sky, The crane’s job: to pick-up and place individual large pieces of steel that will form the outer foundation of the Fellowship and Education Building. Using construction lingo, the crane will make 50 to 60 “picks” a day. Within a couple of weeks, Covenant members will be astounded with the fast progress made during this stage of the construction process. Hopefully the joy of seeing this progress will ease frustrations with parking when the crane arrives.

It took more than 10 men, three 18-wheelers, two bobtails, a 70-ton crane and nearly eight hours to erect the 200-ton crane that has begun putting up steel to form the frame for the Fellowship and Education Building. Those who watched the crane go up (and yes, there were several spectators) said the crane, and its assembly, looked like a “giant tinker toy.” .

Covenant is building in order to fulfill the Great Commission—to make disciples for Jesus Christ. Covenant has been blessed with substantial growth for many years. It is common for every classroom to be filled, which limits the ability of the church to meet the needs of our members and visitors for Sunday school classes, Bible studies, and small group meetings. Wednesday night congregational dinners are often filled to overflowing. On Sunday mornings during the school year, and in Vacation Bible School (VBS) during the summer, our wonderful children’s program frequently is beyond capacity. (More than 350 children attended VBS in summer 2007!) While these are wonderful problems to have, they challenge us to make room for all those to seek to know Christ better.

A coordinating committee encompassing building, communications, intercessory prayer and capital campaign subcommittees, based on continued input from the congregation and appropriate experts, and oversight by your Session. This plan grew from earlier efforts, taking into account response to that effort from the congregation and neighborhood, and considering the current growth and direction of our church.

The current plan includes:

• a four-story Fellowship and Education Building on the site of the existing Children’s Hall, to create meeting, worship, fellowship, recreation, and gathering places for all ages, sizes, and types of groups; and

• improvements to the roofs of the Sanctuary and Eaton Hall

In addition, we have already completed improvements to the interior of the Sanctuary, the addition of portable buildings to accommodate classes and small groups during the construction process, and improved water and wastewater lines to accommodate the needs of the project. We enter this project debt free after paying off all debt on Covenant Hall, which was built in the 1990s.

By God’s own grace and power, we are about to break ground on this project providing:

• A fellowship hall with space for us to eat and play together and with lights, sound equipment and a stage designed for contemporary worship.
• Thirty up-to-date classrooms for small groups, youth D-groups, classes, Bible studies, and prayer groups.
• A large assembly area and multi-purpose media room for programs, presentations, films, and lectures to educate our members and reach out into the community.
• An intimate and meditative chapel for prayer, small memorial services, weddings, and all those who seek a quiet moment with our Lord.
• A gymnasium where people of all ages can enjoy play, jazzercise, basketball, yoga, volleyball, broom hockey, square dancing, freeze tag, and many other activities.
• A fully-equipped nursery and children’s Sunday School area to will relieve crowding and better equip us to build the faith of our children.
• Four floors that will serve as a launching pad for sacrificial service with improved housing, laundry, and recreation space for our IHN families; a kitchen capable of feeding the hungry in our community; training space for new short and long-term mission trips; spaces equipped for adult day care; and convenient, accessible collection sites for clothing, food, and other donations to help those in need.

The Session formed an Executive Coordinating Committee (ECC), encompassing building, communications, intercessory prayer and capital campaign subcommittees. These committees gathered input from the congregation and appropriate experts, with oversight by the Session. The plan for the Fellowship and Education Building grew from earlier efforts, taking into account response to that effort from the congregation and neighborhood, and considering the current growth and direction of our church. The Fellowship and Education Building was designed to address the current needs of our congregation, and allow for future growth. In planning for this building, members of the coordinating committee conducted extensive conversations with staff and lay leaders for all church programs in an effort to address the most pressing needs of our church.

One early plan was to build the new Fellowship and Education Building where Eaton Hall is presently located. That met resistance from the local neighborhood association, as well as some of our members. Plans developed to renovate Eaton Hall so it could house the pre-school. The estimated cost of those renovations came in at approximately $1.3 million, and with the construction industry booming throughout Austin, it was difficult to find contractors to bid on a renovation project. At this point, the plan is to address the Covenant’s most pressing needs by proceeding with construction of the new Fellowship and Education Building. Plans for Eaton Hall are still in discussion. Those decisions will be made as we move forward.

Architects, contractors and engineers have put a lot of time and effort into diverting the surface water that drains from Mopac across our campus. We are confident that drainage will not be an issue.

The total project will cost approximately $16 million, including just over $2 million that has already been spent to pay off all debt on Covenant Hall, improve water and wastewater lines, acquire and renovate the portable buildings during construction, improvements made to the sanctuary in 2006, architectural and engineering fees, permits, consultant fees, interim financing charges, and other expenses.

This project will be funded by donations. Pledges and donations to date have exceeded $6 million, with more than $2.8 million of that amount already received by the church. The capital campaign is an on-going project. We are seeking responses to the capital campaign from members who have not yet indicated whether they will make a contribution. We are also asking those who have made a 3-year pledge to prayerfully consider extending their pledges to 5 years.

Frost Bank has given the church a loan commitment for interim financing (during construction and while capital campaign pledges are being fulfilled over a period of up to five years) in the amount of $12 million, and permanent financing (beginning in five years) in the amount of $7 million. The estimated debt service expense on a $7 million loan would be approximately 20% of Covenant’s 2007 budget, which is consistent with prior debt service expenditures at various times during Covenant’s history. The ECC and the Session have recommended that the congregation approve this interim and permanent financing so that construction can proceed this Fall.

Every dollar that is contributed during the capital campaign reduces the amount that must be spent on permanent financing.

The current construction plans will not add any new parking spaces. A task force is looking into this issue in depth, including exploring use of private land around and near the church for parking. Parking is a critical issue primarily at Sunday worship times. The Sunday morning shuttle service will be continued, and its use encouraged.

We are fortunate to have the portables available for classes and small group meeting space during our construction project. In addition, the Covenant Preschool will be housed in the portables for the 2007–08 school year. We own three of the portables, so they will be available to provide needed meeting space even after the construction is completed.

We plan to continue our relationship with the Northwest Recreation Center, which gives us access to parking and meeting space on Sundays.

Our sanctuary completely fills up only a few times each year, but our education and meeting rooms are full several times a week. We have had some groups meet in restrooms and staff offices and others have been forced to meet off campus. Our campus plan was developed to accommodate our small groups and other ministries while providing space for our congregation to worship and fellowship together.

Any major construction project involves changes along the way. We have continued to look for ways to improve the project while being the best stewards of God’s resources that we can be. We have also attempted to have open communication and transparency throughout this process, which means that the congregation has had information about the plans as they have developed. We will continue to look to improve the overall project as long as such changes are feasible. Input is always welcome.

The current construction schedule calls for construction on the new Fellowship and Education Building to begin in Fall 2007. Construction is expected to take about 18 months. Roof repairs to the Sanctuary and Eaton Hall will be done during the construction process. Other improvements are not currently scheduled.