Blessing of new building

Sunday, Bishop High came to bless and dedicate St. Stephens' new home. Our service began outside with prayers, and then the declaration:

Let the door be opened!

Click here for a news story about the service

Here is a video of the service:

And a video of Bishop High's sermon:

Being the Church in Interesting Times

Check out the video that Katie Sherrod, our Diocesan Director of Communications, made about St. Stephens' story:

Diocesan news story about new building

Take a look here at the story about moving into our new building, along with more photos:

Click for the story

"Welcome Home" photos

Check out the St. Stephen's Facebook page, with a photo album from yesterday's first service:

"Welcome Home" album

Here are some samples of the photos Deb took : 

Doors are ready to open!

A gift from the Episcopal Church Building Fund

Cheers! We made it!

Deanna is ready for the service - she plans to cry a lot :)

Stan leads the choir in some warm-up.
From left: Jim, Barbara, Diane, Nicole, Marilyn (also Nancy and Rick - hard to see in this photo)

It's Tuna Sunday; Sharon is ready to help those who forgot

Ann is ready - Katie sets up the camera

Good morning, Riley!
It's starting to fill up now...

We can squeeze a few more chairs in...

A couple of folks may just decide to stand...

Opening hymn: "The Church's One Foundation"

Marilyn reads the first lesson

Lynne Waltman offers her first sermon as St. Stephen's intern.
When we offer ourselves, we're transformed.
Great job, Lynne!

Becky, Sr. Warden, welcomes everyone home

Fr. Vernon, Fr. Slaven and Jason preparing for Communion

Coffee hour - and we can stay as long as we want.
We don't have to get out of the way for a wedding!

Jean enjoyed the service

Note from Sr. Warden Becky McKneely

Good Morning All.

What a glorious celebration we had yesterday in our new home. I believe our count was 81 persons and we have a permit for 100 . We definitely will have to do some re-arranging for next Sunday in order to make more space and a wider aisle.

Praise God !! Katie Sherrod was there and crying a lot of the time as were others, rejoicing in this beautiful and blessed space that God has helped us create. It was a very moving day. I would only hope we had that space problem every Sunday. If need be we will go to two services.

There is more work to be done, but we are taking our time as we are all a little weary just trying to meet the deadline of August 17^th from the Wedding Chapel. I believe that was one of our proudest moments  to be able to leave there. It was our church home for such a long time, but we all truly believed God was calling us in another direction.

We thank everyone who has followed us, given their support, prayers and workshops to get us to this place. I feel we must continue to look forward and map out our plan as to where we go from here in the next three years, God willing.

We would like to extend to the Diocesan staff and our Brothers and Sisters in Christ in our area an open invitation to visit us when  they have the time. We perhaps will have an open house in the near future or some kind of gathering.

We look forward to seeing Bishop High in September, and our prayers are with both him and Pat as they continue to progress and lead us by example what faith really is all about.

Funny story about this last Sunday:  there were so many cars in the church parking lot  that the Hurst Police drove through at least two or three times to make sure everything was alright.

Always in Peace ,

Becky McKneely

Senior Warden –St. Stephens

Getting ready for tomorrow

Photos of getting ready for the first Eucharist - on St. Stephen's Facebook page:

St. Stephen's Facebook Album

Last Sunday in the Northeast Wedding Chapel

Today was our last service at the Northeast Wedding Chapel.

They've been very hospitable these past few years. Lynette shared her story of how we came to have the opportunity to worship there, which was a great testament to God's persistence sometimes in getting us to pay attention and accept a gift being offered. It has been a beautiful space to worship in.

We came casual; we held a spoken service (it's very different without Stan and the choir offering music - always good to be reminded of how much musicians' gifts add to our worship!)

Here are a couple of photos that Katie Sherrod took of the service:

Jason preached a short and excellent sermon

Click here for more photos Katie posted on the diocese's Flickr Photo Album

We had some announcements, prayers, shared Eucharist, and afterwards, we packed everything into a trailer to get ready to move. Packing up took almost no time at all - about 15 minutes.

The floors in the new place are being glazed, and then the whole place will get a good scrub-down. The chairs will be delivered, and we'll set up for our first service in the new place next Sunday. 

Lynne Waltman will be preaching, so that will be a treat, too. 

Even better - we won't have to take it all down afterwards!

It's official!

The building inspector also approved - This is the certificate of occupancy. Look at the line marked "Other"...

it says that St. Stephen's new home is

OK to Open!

Ready for inspection, sir!

After finishing up work on Wednesday, the tools, etc. were all cleared out to prepare for the building inspector and fire marshall's perusal:

Nave:

Kitchen:  

Here is the fire marshall. Bill gives him the tour:

"Looks good"

One down, one to go...
The building inspector will also come take a look.

Details, details...

With the bigger projects finished, now it comes down to smaller details.

Thermostat

New Exit signs

Air vents

 

Hardware on the cabinets and drawers in the sacristy and in the kitchen:

Drawer handles

cabinet door pulls

Door handles

Grab-bars for the 2 bathrooms

And there's also touch-up work.

Rick paints the fixed-up spot in the sacristy wall

"Hey, Rick!"

Ben applies spackle to fill in small indentions from the screws. (I didn't yell "Hey, Ben!" - because he was standing on a ladder...)

Preparing to put up the mirror

And - voila! First selfie!

The guys also put in backsplashes along the kitchen counters:

Catching up...

Here are some photos from the beginning of the week (Monday, 8/11):

Bill appears to be playing hide-and-seek, but I think actually he's getting the sacristy door to hang properly:

Pedestal sinks for the bathrooms.

Tracie washes dust off the sacristy walls - look how blazingly fast she is! The camera could hardly catch it. Ginny Middleton came to help, too, and washed some of the front windows:
  

Bill fixed the wall in the sacristy after the water leak was repaired:


And here's the mop sink - yay!

Update on Sunday, Aug 10

Bill gave an update today at church and at the vestry meeting. The interior doors are all in, and the rest of the cabinets are in.

Next Sunday, August 17, will be our last service in the Northeast Wedding Chapel. Set-up will be the same as every week for the past few years. We'll have a Eucharist with no music, and then, instead of packing everything back into the closet and up the stairs, we'll pack it into Bill's trailer.

Once all the paperwork is squared away, then we'll be able to clean everything and start moving in!

This week, there are smaller details to finish off.

Baseboards

Baseboards were painted ahead of time, to make installation easier (it's much easier to paint them by themselves instead of painting them after they've been nailed to the wall - no need to worry about getting paint on the floor or wall)

Cutting the baseboards

Here's a view in the nave, looking out the front window toward the parking lot. The baseboards are in place, finishing off the border between the wall and the floor. Also, electrical outlet face plates are in.

And the cabinets in the kitchen have their drawers and faces, and the sink has a faucet: