Progress Update – October 2024
Thank you for your ongoing generosity to the Renewal Campaign. Many of you have been fulfilling your pledges and donating to the campaign, helping us to grow capacity at our Santa Monica location.
Highlights and Praise Points
We have a signed agreement with our General Contractor, who has now begun pre-construction planning and permitting.
The architectural plans for the 1019 building are awaiting final approval from the City of Santa Monica. We expect to receive our permit from them next month.
We have reached an agreement with Southern California Edison for our electrical service upgrade!
We expect submittals soon from the General Contractor for ordering items with long lead times, including the elevator and electrical switchgear.
Roadblocks and Breakthroughs
Immediate Prayer Request
In August, we were ready to receive our final permit from the City of Santa Monica, but in the third round of approvals, the City gave us an unexpected requirement for rainwater run-off provision that necessitated additional engineering and design revisions. We’ve been working with our full team (construction manager, architect, civil engineer, and permit expediter) to accommodate this demand, and we hope to have the adjusted plans approved and the permit in hand soon. Please join us in prayer, that this happens imminently.
Prayers Answered
We asked you to pray specifically about electricity supply challenges with the 1019 building project. Southern California Edison advised that we may need to connect to power lines up to three blocks away, in order to get the supply we need – which would likely have meant huge delays in permitting and planning (possibly up to three years!). It has now been confirmed that we can draw power from our block directly, so we can press ahead with minimal delay and get the power supply that we need for our new ministry spaces. Join us in celebrating and praising God for this huge breakthrough! And please continue to pray for this new solution to progress as quickly as possible.
Construction of the New Ministry Center to Begin Soon
We’re very close to being able to start internal demo on the building at 1019 California Avenue. As you may remember, we were hoping to start construction in August, but with the power supply and rainwater run-off challenges mentioned above, it has been pushed back.
The new Ministry Center will be used for ministry meetings and events like The Nest, Vintage Dads, College & Young Adults, School of Discipleship and Alpha breakout groups, Prayer Ministry Training, Social Transformation events (like the recent blood donation drive), and offices for the staff.
VKids and VYouth are seeing record high attendance, and both Alpha and School of Discipleship registrations are over 650 people this term – we are in complete awe of what God is doing in our midst. Our current facilities are bursting at the seams and this new Ministry Center will create more capacity for these ministries and others, as well as help us to dedicate more space to Children’s and Youth Ministries in the current building.
Renewal Pledges
We’re nearing the fundraising finish line.
If you made a pledge to the Renewal Campaign, and haven’t yet fulfilled it (or put a donation plan in place), you can do so online or through your Planning Center app. In the app you can also see your pledge amount and your donations to the campaign so far.