Before pictures/ UPWARD awards

Here are some of the before renovation pictures of the sanctuary that I mentioned that I would put up in a previous post. I'm so excited to see how it will look when it's done. One of the men put together a virtual slide of what it will look like completed but nothing compares to seeing it in person.

Above is a picture taken from the back. The pews will remain but they will replace the carpet, paint the walls (which you can't see in this photo), put up sheet rock (?) over the paneling and paint it, change those lights, put chairs up in the choir area for easy take down when we have programs, and place the overhead screen (already been taken down) farther towards the baptistry. They will also get a new sound system and replace the speakers.


Here is a photo taken from the front near the pulpit. They are taking out the sound room and replacing it with chairs. The chairs we are getting are not folding chairs, have a pocket in the back for hymnals and such and will match the blue pews. They chose to use chairs instead of ordering pews for several reasons. One being the cost and also so the chairs can be used anywhere else in the church when needed. Jay sat in the sample chair Wed. night and said it was so much more comfortable than the fold up chairs. Also, going with chairs instead of pews leaves more money for the option in the future to expand or build another sanctuary.

This area is the vestibule. The doors to the right lead into the sanctuary. The doors straight ahead lead to the welcome center, nursery, and several younger children Sunday school classrooms. I'm not sure about what remodeling is to occur in this area other than the carpeting.

Now that I think about it, the welcome center, nursery, and rooms were recently renovated in the past couple years. I should have taken pictures of those while I was at it. Maybe I'll remember as I take photos of the progress.

UPWARD had the awards ceremony today. They had over 223 (last number I heard) children participate with several souls saved through out the season. The gymnasium was packed out with standing room only. They had 2 clowns there doing balloons and face painting. She also received a goodie bag and UPWARD basketball that her team mates and coaches signed.

Above is our Preacher doing the whole "introduction" speech as last minute people were coming in and looking for seats in the bleachers. (chairs were for players and their coaches) Here's Rebecca bouncing her new basketball on the way to her seat.
Afterwards, we rewarded her with a meal at Chick-fil-a. I'm not sure how much of a reward that is since we go there several times a week. We actually had breakfast and dinner there on Thursday. We also had breakfast there Tues. morning since we were out of milk. The girls are addicted to the chicken biscuit! We'll be clucking here pretty soon!