Our Dream of a Parish Hall
As our parish continues to grow, we are discovering if we are making the highest and best use of our space given our current and future ministry needs. Check out our updates below:
June 5, 2025
Our dream of a parish hall…
Please take our confidential Feasibility Study Survey using the link below:
May 29, 2025
Our dream of a parish hall…
The Good Shepherd Vestry has partnered with Horizons Stewardship to conduct a Feasibility Study to assess our church’s readiness to move forward to raise the funds necessary to expand our ministry by building a parish hall and replacing our worship space roof. This week you should receive a survey link from Horizons to use to offer your input on our project. *
We want to assure you that your response will be known only to the staff of Horizons. The rector and Vestry and other leaders will get a written compilation report, but no personal opinions or names will be shared. We hope you will feel free to be honest and candid. It can only help us. Thank you for your love of our Lord, your passion for our parish, and all the gifts you bring to our common life. Love is all!
*If you do not receive an email with the survey and wish to engage with it, please reach out to us HERE and we will make it available to you.
Case Statement
Our Dream of a Parish Hall
May 22, 2025
100 years ago, the members of our church built our current worship space. They dreamed of building a worship space that would be a powerful tool for the spread of the Gospel and a full century later we are the fulfillment and the continuance of that dream. The faithful diligence of our ancestors is inspiring, and we are all exceedingly grateful for what they built for us. Now it is our turn to dream. For more than 40 years the members of our church have dreamed of building a parish hall, so that we can strengthen the bonds of fellowship that tether us to God and each other in love. Now is the time to ask ourselves a question: Is God calling us to add onto the foundation laid by our ancestors by building a parish hall, so that Good Shepherd will be even better positioned to be the radiant light of Christ in our community for the next 100 years.
The Good Shepherd Vestry has partnered with Horizons Stewardship to conduct a Feasibility Study to assess our church’s readiness to move forward to raise the funds necessary to expand our ministry by building a parish hall and replacing our worship space roof. In the next few days, you will be receiving a survey link from Horizons for you to use to offer your responses.
We want to assure you that your response will be known only to the staff of Horizons. The rector and Vestry and other leaders will get a written compilation report, but no personal opinions or names will be shared. We hope you will feel free to be honest and candid. It can only help us. Thank you for your love of our Lord, your passion for our parish, and all the gifts you bring to our common life. Love is all.
May 1, 2025
You are invited to an information session about our Parish Hall project and Capital Campaign Feasibility Study. Following the 10:00 a.m. service on Sunday, May 18, Father Hendree will host this gathering in the worship space. All are Welcome!
April 6, 2025│Growth and Depth Abound in this Place! The Possibility of a Parish Hall
Beloved of Good Shepherd Church,
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
Spring is the long held dream of winter. Early blooms and little bits of green are emerging from the trees as God breaks ground on the cathedral canopy of the upcoming season of light and warmth. All the new growth in nature puts me in the mind of the growth of Good Shepherd. We are welcoming new members, and I see growth in you who have been here for years and years as we all go deeper in our relationship with God and each other in love. Growth and depth abound in this place!
In this final stretch of Lent I am thinking a lot about Easter season and the hope that Spring brings, and I am also thinking excitedly about the long held dream of a parish hall that we, the people of Good Shepherd, have harbored in our hearts for more than 40 years.
The possibility of a parish hall newly constructed on our property is full of promise. I imagine that if we build it we will use it almost every day of the week. It will serve as a large and accessible meeting place for a multitude of ministry activities including meals, classes, activities for children and youth, Bible studies, overflow seating, and prayer groups. If you press me to give one purpose that rises above the rest as primary in my mind and heart I offer one word - fellowship. Christian fellowship is the depth of relationship birthed from getting to know each other by spending time together in the glow of the Gospel. A parish hall will be a gathering place for all the members of our church to get together before and after worship and at all manner of other times in order to deepen our bonds of friendship and love. I can see a vibrant, intergenerational coffee hour, monthly parish breakfast, parish picnics that have outdoor and indoor seating, and events that don’t have to be canceled when it is cold or rainy. When we have a comfortable, accessible, spacious room in which to gather, we can get to know each other at a deeper level, then proceed into the world from a place of depth to carry the love of Jesus into the community. Likewise we can invite the community into our parish hall, like welcoming neighbors into our living room, so that they too can enjoy the fruits of Good Shepherd’s fellowship, care, and love.
The vestry hears your voice asking that we continue to chase the parish hall dream that the people of Good Shepherd have had for so many years. It seems clear that it is time for us to answer the question, Is God calling us to grow in this way at this time? It is an exciting question, and I am eager for us to answer it together. After Easter we will dive into further discussion and discernment about a capital campaign and parish hall design as we seek to align ourselves with God’s dream for the fellowship of our church. Do you want to be a part of this visioning and building project? Stay tuned, your invitation to participate is coming soon.
Remember this always - God loves you, and I love you too!
Love is all,
Hendree+
December 8, 2024│Strategic Plan Presentation & Forum Video
To follow along with the LAS Architecture Firm Presentation, CLICK HERE.
December 8, 2024│Strategic Plan Presentation & Forum
You are invited to join us on Sunday, December 8 immediately following the 10am service in the worship space for a Strategic Plan forum led by our design and architecture firm, Lord Aeck Sargent (LAS). Come offer your input on the future plans for our Good Shepherd Campus.
Common Ground/Sacred Ground – A Conversation: The 2024 Vestry has been tasked with engaging an architecture firm to help Good Shepherd develop a strategic plan for its Buildings and Grounds. Last month, we engaged the services of Lord Aeck Sargent to help us envision a campus that honors our legacy, embodies our values, and prepares the way for our future as we grow together. Please join us for a conversation about the master planning process and our shared aspirations for our spiritual home.
September 19, 2024
This week the architecture and design firm with whom we have contracted, Lord Aeck Sargent, will meet with church staff and members of our strategic plan small group for interviews about the current building use and a vision for future needs.
The strategic plan small group is: Martin Woodford, Fred Downs, Beth Bell Brown, Roger Kirkpatrick, Wendy Van Meter, Jeff Fugate, Scott Heersche, and Fr. Hendree.
September 10, 2024
The Vestry has contracted with the architecture and design firm Lord Aeck Sargent (LAS) to do two things. One, help us discover if we are making the highest and best use of our space given our current and future ministry needs, including consideration around the possible construction of a fellowship hall. Two, LAS is doing a comprehensive conditions assessment of all of our buildings. Their work began last week!
May 22, 2024
The Vestry has received a recommendation from our Strategic Plan discernment team on the hire of an architecture firm. They have accepted the recommendation and asked our Director of Operations and Treasurer to engage the firm. We will soon have a signed contract and will be able to let you know who the firm is and offer more details about the timeline for our project. Stay tuned for more exciting news to come soon!
May 2, 2024
Our discernment team has now interviewed a number of architecture firms and will soon decide which firm to recommend to the vestry. The firm we hire will help us determine 3 things. One, they will do a comprehensive capital needs assessment. Two, they will do a space study of all our buildings to determine if we are making the highest and best use of our space resources given our current and projected mission needs. Three, if we are not making the best use of our space, what renovations or construction should we undertake so that our space better serves our vision. Included in the third item is an answer to the question of whether or not we should build a parish hall for large gatherings. Stay tuned for more information to come soon, and please feel free to reach out to me or a member of the discernment team with any questions. They are: Fred Downs, Martin Woodford, Scott Heersche, Wendy Van Meter, Beth Bell Brown, and Jeff Fugate.
April 25, 2024
A team of parishioners is in the process of interviewing architecture firms, one of whom we will hire to help us determine what we need to do in terms of renovations and additions to accommodate the current and future needs of our growing, vibrant parish. Stay tuned for more information and news of how you can participate. It is an exciting time to be at Good Shepherd! I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for you and the way you offer yourself in love and service to the life of our church.