12/29/11 Progress

12/29 Pictures

The sky jack arrived today, so they are able to finish the strapping and studding at the peak.





The washroom walls are all out now, and the beams will be installed tomorrow, Lord willing. It really opens up the space!

The opening that had been made by the previous church (which was completely unsupported!) has been beautifully replaced in by a volunteer all the way from Ohio!

Even our young men are spending their break from school helping haul dirt and concrete!

Progress

 The change rooms/meeting rooms are framed in...

The washroom walls are down, floor broken, trench dug (almost all the way). Still waiting on the steel beams to finish the washroom area demolition.

Ducts down. Pile of dirt waiting to be hauled outside. Old wiring being removed.

New doorway between Kitchen and Pantry areas.

Right side change room, getting ready for wall beside stairwell.

We are thankful to the volunteers (about 20 a day so far this week) for taking time from their own holiday time off to come work with us.

We anticipate the beams coming for Friday's work. That would allow us to continue in the washroom renovation & start the Barrier Free washroom upstairs.

More pictures HERE

and the walls came down...

Starting at 8:00 this morning, 9 men made quick work of removing the two interior walls in the sanctuary.

2 14-yd bins were carefully packed by the end of the day, and a pile of rubble beside.

One wall down, one to go...

Breaking for lunch, then back at it...

Second wall coming down. There was also a false ceiling above the side rooms that was removed.

9 hours, 9 men, and 2 bins... Both walls down.

Rest up gentlemen, we have more walls scheduled to come down on Monday!

Miracle!

More good news! 

The HVAC and plumbing permits for the washroom renovations were picked up yesterday! 

The manager at the permit office said it was a bit of a miracle, 

though she said since we're a church,  

we were "in the right business" for such a thing.

Demolition began this morning!

Monday, work will also begin at 8:00.

Praise God!

Please continue to join us in prayer for the safety of the workers, the efficiency and speed of the necessary renovations, and our anticipated move in date of
Feb. 15th. 2012.

Farwell Reunion

Apostolic Christian Church

 Farewell Reunion

Come Join Us...

Sunday,
January 29, 2012
2:00 - 5:00 pm...

For an afternoon of reminiscing,
As we bid a fond farewell to...
274 Weston Rd.
Toronto, ON  M6N 3P5

Praise God!

Praise God for answered prayer!

The city has granted us the "building" part of the permit. We can now proceed with the demolition of 3 block walls, and the building of the stud walls in the sanctuary.  

We can also begin breaking up the floor for the washroom expansion. 

We are still waiting for the plumbing and HVAC permits....but we have our work cut out for us for now.

Stay tuned for updates!

Dec 17th, 2011

    The work day began bright and early. Brothers and friends from Kitchener arrived in full force. Wiring was the job of the day. Upstairs and downstairs was teeming with volunteers, pulling old wiring, and running new conduit and wires. The ladies were busy in the kitchen, feeding (about) 45 workers, and other helpers that day!

    There are  many people helping out in many ways. We would not be able to tackle this project without the volunteers: knowledgeable workers, tradesmen, and equipment operators, ladies cleaning up after the works, feeding them, and those watching the kids!

   Our plan is to finish the wiring in the new year, and also work on refinishing the benches. Once we have permits, our focus will switch to the washroom renovation/installation. Until then, we'll be sanding and staining.

Every helping hand, contributing mind, and praying heart are deeply appreciated.

The sign says it all

Seems more final in print, doesn't it?

It is an wonderful blessing that our church sold in such a short time, yet now we have a deadline. 

February 15th is when we move out. 

After 60 years of worshipping here, moving doesn't seem real. Not yet.

Please join us in prayer that the permits come quickly, and the renovations go smoothly.

Please also pray for our "Church" (the people) as we undertake the project of the "church". May it be a time for the fruit of the Spirit to be cultivated, and grown in abundance, and the bonds of love strengthened. 

May everyone, at the end of the work day, be able to say 

"I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD." Psa 122:1

Dec. 10, 2011

Working with partially frozen dirt looked much easier than working the mud from a few weeks ago!

The bench sanding is coming right along. It is a messy job! Good thing he was wearing a mask!!
Thanks to the ladies for another amazing lunch, and coffee break!

The walls have all been strapped and studded in preparation for insulation and drywall.

But, now we wait on permits...

Dec 3, 2011

Bench Sanding Continues!

The kitchen cupboards were removed, revealing "walls of many colours" underneath! The metal cupboards must have been original to the building, since they didn't even bother to paint behind! Kitchen designs are in the works, and the other designs are coming together as well.

The bathrooms are as bare as we can make them, and are just waiting on permits to begin demolition of the walls to expand both bathrooms.
One more Saturday of nice weather is our prayer too, since the foundation is still partially unfilled.

Please join us in prayer that the City has quick turn-around for the permits...since we now have a closing date on our old church of February 15th! Praise God that we were able to sell our existing church in a timely manner, but now the countdown has begun!

We want to thank everyone again who has contributed thus far in the project. It is a blessing to know we are surrounded by prayer support, helping hands, and brainstorming minds! We trust the the Lord will be the rich rewarder.

To God be the glory, great things He has done!

Nov. 26, 2011

By looking at the pictures, you'd never know it was the last weekend in November... in Canada! The Lord certainly heard our prayers, and afforded us one more Saturday of good weather. The rain held off until Sunday, so the workers were able to finish applying the tar, attaching the membrane, and back-filling.The foundation work is done for now. The front entrance and grading are still in the planning process.

There were many volunteers that  worked hard removing the floor tiles, and scrubbing appliances.

Special thanks to the Ancaster ladies for a delicious lunch.

Bench sanding continues...

No more floor tiles!

Volunteers from Ohio even helped any where they could, from taking down the bathroom partitions, sanding benches, removing floor tiles, and 

removing the sign. 

Hopefully soon the neighbors will start to realize that we are fixing the church, not tearing it down! What an amazing testimony and witness opportunity this project has been, and will continue to be. We have had support from a few people not directly connected to the church, that have since stopped by, just to see the progress (and see if there are any homemade baked goods for the coffee break!). We can only pray that more would come on Sundays to worship, not just Saturdays to work! It has also been nice to see interest in our work from people passing by...and the invitation was extended to join us for services....as soon as we have the place put back in order. We are excited at the possibilities of being a more visible and obvious church. Most people have a hard time finding our current location...It's hard to drive by and miss our new location.

We are blessed with an abundance of support.  It is a tremendous blessing to have access to such a wealth of knowledge, ideas, and experience in many facets of this project.

Nov. 19, 2011

The Lord blessed us with another beautiful fall day! The sun was shining, and the labourers were many again. We didn't get as far as we had hoped on the sealing of the foundation in the front, but the workers have made a considerable "dent" in the interior. During the week, some volunteers unscrewed the benches and moved them together, demolished the pulpit area, and removed the sub floor of rooms beside pulpit area. They filled the 2nd bin, and had a stack that filled the 3rd bin within hours this morning! The fourth bin is now being filled. 

We began to strip the old finish from the benches, and after trying chemical strippers, decided that sanding was going to be the better way to do the 30 or so benches. Sanding will continue this week, hopefully with the addition of a few more orbital sanders!


"Thanks" doesn't seem to be enough to show the gratitude we have for all of our volunteers. We certianly appreciate the time (and equipment) and energy it takes to come, some from  over 1 hour away, to help. We would not be able to do this on our own. May the Lord be your rich rewarder.








Here is the work done in the sanctuary. It looks like we are going from order to disorder...but the end result should be well worth the effort. Singing already sounds great in the sactuary, and we look forward to when we fill the benches and sing "Now Thank We All Our God".