From Jon Hendricks, Chair of the South Campus Building Committee ...

We have much to thank God for!

If you attended worship services March 17/18, you heard Pastor Jason Meyer recall that at January’s All-Church Quarterly Strategy Meeting, Pastor Chuck Steddom made an appeal for $350,000 for the South Campus Building Project. These funds would allow us to include classroom dividers, acoustic clouds in the Sanctuary, a partial kitchen space, and a concrete floor in a partially-finished gymnasium space. (Completion of the gymnasium/multipurpose area and kitchen were to be part of Phase 2.)

As Pastor Jason shared, our faith was too small. To date, we’ve received over-and-above special gifts totaling $899,000!

These gifts from several individuals and the Bethlehem Baptist Church Foundation not only meet most of the needs we shared, but they also provide the funds required for a completed gymnasium that includes a floor-to-ceiling dividing wall. This wall will allow us two much-needed classroom spaces. With these financial gifts, we will also have a fully functional completed kitchen.

God provided more than we could ask or think. We are very grateful.

And there’s one additional praise item: A new seat layout has increased our seating by nearly 8%. These additional 51 chairs brings the Sanctuary capacity to 715. Amazing!

As for the construction progress, all the pre-cast wall panels are up, the gymnasium roof is completed, and the roof over the remaining structure should be completed by late March. Glass windows are due to be installed by mid-to-late April.

The photo in the header was taken in the northwest corner of the Sanctuary space looking to the southeast. Notice the balcony floor planking. Although a finished balcony is not expected in this phase, the large concrete pieces needed to be installed before the building was fully enclosed. Check out the South Campus Facebook page for regular drone video updates of further South Campus construction progress. (See a drone video taken March 9 by South Elder Bill Zwicky.)

Despite the cold and snowy winter, our date of completion is still anticipated to be the first week of September 2018.

Thank you again for your prayers and generous gifts. Please continue to pray for ...

• wisdom in the many details that are still being decided
• safety
• God-honoring interactions with all the people involved in this project
• continued generosity toward our 25-month “Fill These Cities: 25 x ’25” initiative (March 2018 is month 16) and its four primary focuses: strengthening Bethlehem’s core ministries, building a South Campus facility, planting 25 churches by 2025, and engaging with 25 unreached/unengaged people groups by 2025