Built on the Rock

Earthquake Repair and Seismic Upgrade

Our Sanctuary

The church is people, not a building.  St. John’s is people, not a sanctuary.  That being said, however, our sanctuary is the building where the people of St. John’s gather.  We come together to celebrate, to worship, to grieve, to welcome, to bid farewell, to grow, to fellowship, to serve, to support.  We come together to meet with our Savior as His body, and then to be sent out to live as His body in the world.

Our Sanctuary is where we welcome new staff members, and where we bid them farewell.  Our Sanctuary is where we commit loved ones to the Lord in the hope of the resurrection.  This is where we baptize and confirm and marry.  This is where the students of our school gather every week for chapel.  We come to the sanctuary for concerts, recitals, forums and meetings.   This is where the Lord feeds us at His table, and through His word.  This is where we join together in prayer and in praise.

I could go on and on.  But I think the point is clear.  Our Sanctuary stands right at the center of our lives as the people of God.

The Work That Needs Done

Our Sanctuary, though, needs help. As you know, it was damaged in the August 24, 2014 earthquake.  The seismic evaluation that was conducted after the earthquake also revealed other concerns that need to be addressed.  There is work that needs to be done in order to fix what was broken, but also to ensure that our sanctuary is ready for the next earthquake.

So what needs done?

• Anchoring all the stone veneer to the wall
• Securing the connection of the end walls to the roof
• Reinforcing the connection of the lateral walls to the roof
• Strengthening the Shear Walls in the sanctuary

The contractor for this project is Hoag Husted Construction.  Hoag is a member of St. John’s and knows our campus well, having worked on many projects in the past.  He will be serving as the general contractor coordinating the work of the various subcontractors that will be taking part in this project.

Funding the Work

The congregation authorized the funding for this work ($461,000) at the June 12, 2016 congregational meeting.  We will be using $102,000 from the Capital Reserve Fund.  We will also be making use of a $173,000 bequest from the estate of Esther Strohl that was earmarked for the building.  The remaining $186,000 will be raised from donations and offerings.

The stone veneer wall is a picture of 1 Peter 2:5 – “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”  The wall is made up of many individual stones, no two alike, that together become one wall on one building.  In the same way each one of us, the people of God of St. John’s, are part of the spiritual house of St. John’s, the body of Christ in this place.  And just as that wall is only complete when all of the stones are taking part, so also we are calling on all of the living stones of St. John’s to take part in supporting this work.

On June 19, we distributed “Built on the Rock” rocks at church with the encouragement to take them home and place them somewhere visible in order to serve as a reminder of this effort.  All of us are “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5), brought together by Christ to form one spiritual house.  All of us are needed in this effort.

How can you participate in “Built on the Rock”?  Let the rock remind you of three ways to be involved:

• Pray
  • Pray for God to lead us throughout this endeavor.
  • Pray for God to work generosity in our hearts so that we can gather the resources needed.
  • Pray for us as the people of God, that as we are making our Sanctuary more secure, so also the spiritual house of St. John’s would be made more secure, building firmly on the Rock, Jesus Christ.
  • Pray for Hoag Husted and all of the subcontractors, that they may effectively carry out the work. Pray also that they will be kept safe as they work on this project.
• Listen
  • Listen to the voice of God by being in the Word daily
  • If we are to be “Built on the rock” in our lives and in our homes and in our families, it will only come about as we listen to our Savior and put His word into practice (Matthew 7:24-27)
• Give
  • Talk to God about the amount He would like you to put toward this project.
  • Make an offering to support this work, above and beyond your regular tithe.

May God richly bless us as His people, building us on Jesus our Rock, as we seek to repair and secure our sanctuary for the future.