You can watch the announcement HERE.
The facilities task force team continues to meet to pray, plan and prepare for finding Restoration’s next physical location. We want to share updates about our progress to you, the church body, on a regular basis so that you can stay apprised of major movements for finding our next home. This is our fourth update which you’ll find a bit longer and detailed as Restoration grows more near its forthcoming move.
Wayfinding: An appropriate name to the sermon series we just went through, as we quite literally find our way to our next space. As time was winding down on our current lease over the past several weeks, it created the need to shift the focus of the facilities team as certain possibilities became non-viable due to the thinning timeline. To be honest, that didn’t feel great—to be losing possibilities due to nothing other than time—until we prayed about it. Our prayers centered around the direction and focus for the BIG picture of Restoration. The prayers were boldly answered with two resounding themes:
1. Don’t settle. In Exodus 33:1 it states Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ If we are to find/buy/build Restoration’s long-term ideal location, it may take time and have plenty of faith-building challenges along the way, much like the lengthy journey to the promised land. If we settle due to a short timeline, we don’t honor the legacy and vision God intends for Restoration.
2. Don’t rush. It seems impossible not to feel rushed as days are counting down, but that wasn’t the intent in this answer; the intent was a shift in our focus. Joshua 1:3 says “I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.” This verse echoes a reminder we have all heard at Restoration that we are defined by our community before we are defined by a building or a location. God promises to give us EVERY place we set our foot. So any place we are, for however long we are there, is OURS to use to spread his good word, do his good work and continue Restoration’s mission. This inspired us to feel comfortable that our next place might not be the permanent ideal, but it would be where we are and would be ours. It would serve HIS purpose. His meaning was ‘don’t rush to the finish, consider a pit stop.’
We pivoted our focus after these revelations, to the short term. To find and identify the best places available prior to our lease end that would allow us to set up our community and a worship experience, while also allowing more time to re-focus on the bigger vision. We found several highly viable and exciting options. We toured them and gathered all available data for these sites and so that they could be presented to the leadership team and staff. Since any of the sites could work for us, we compiled a list of top priorities for Restoration’s temporary space and created a voting system that would tally each voter’s ranking for each category, and by totaling those numbers, we could determine which site best met our needs.
The ranking categories were:
- worship day/time,
- setup effort/volunteer demand,
- geographic location,
- cost,
- length of lease/restrictions/freedoms and lastly,
- how well the culture or vibe that each space exhibited matched Restoration’s own culture.
One space rose prominently to the top, leading by a landslide in virtually every category: Mercy Road Church in Burnsville. Everyone in the room was elated when it won our semi-scientific, intentionally emotion-removing, points-based system since this location also won our hearts with its amazing lobby/gathering spaces, awesome kids rooms and ready-to-go sanctuary and tech systems. It felt like Restoration. It also reduces setup volunteer needs and is very cost effective. Another refreshing benefit is the feeling of being welcomed to be there by the existing church and its leaders and future potential partnerships with them. We feel it’s certainly the best temporary spot for us while we plan, prepare and fundraise for our next, long-term location. The timing of its availability also aligns nicely with our recently extended lease ending date that has given us our current location right up to our outdoor worship and baptism service (another prayer boldly answered). The location does require that we choose a worship day and time outside of when the church is in use, so we will be shifting our service time to Sundays at 5:15 PM. We will continue to livestream and record our worship gatherings so there will be multiple ways to engage with our worship and community in your schedule.
This location that God has presented us, feels much like a pit stop in a race, or an oasis while we wayfind through the desert for the future legacy of Restoration – a comfortable, but temporary stop on the way to the promised land.
Next Steps:
- Continue to pray. Pray for logistics of the move and perseverance, especially for the volunteers and for those less comfortable with change as this will certainly be more trying for them.
- Continue to Pray for the Facilities task force team. Our work is not done. We are so thankful for this space but we will continue to look for our future home..
- Look for ways to serve and if you feel a tug to help but are unsure how, just ask. There will be special needs during the transition.
- Please reach out for prayer or personal ministry/care needs as they arise. Restoration’s prayer warriors, ministry teams, Spiritual Care Coordinator Leanne as well as Pastor Rob are never be too busy to stop, listen and care for people who need it.
- Be graceful with each other. Moves and changes stir feelings and emotions in all of us. There is never a better time to show grace to those around you than in times of change.
- Pray about who you can invite once we are settled into our new place to make it feel more like home!