Our Path Forward: Renew Campaign
Important Updates from the Renew Campaign
Dear Third Church family,
As you know, in May we re-launched our Renew Campaign, with an updated design for our building renovation and a reinvigorated excitement for our future. Many of you saw the updated design and made excellent suggestions to make it even better. Many of you also reaffirmed your original commitment to the Renew campaign, for which we are very grateful. Now we are sending you an update as we move into this final stage of our campaign this fall.
First, we wanted to give you a brief update on the design. After listening to the many suggestions and spending time reflecting and praying on what we heard, we’ve incorporated several of the most salient suggestions into the design. Specifically, we have added handicapped accessible entrances from the back parking lot of the building, as well as into the front of the sanctuary. We also added a wide covered entrance to orient and welcome people from the back parking lot. While these were not included in the cost estimates we shared this spring, we believe them to be critical to how we welcome people to our space. These changes bring the total cost of the plan to $12.5M.
Second, we wanted to give an update on the state of pledges and our progress toward meeting our goal. We have heard back from over 85% of those who committed to Renew last year and who have re-affirmed their pledge–this is amazing news considering the year we’ve had! Other people canceled or lowered their pledge for various reasons, and still others increased their pledge or made an entirely new one. All this brings our current total to $11M of financial commitments to the Renew campaign. Praise God!
We are excited to be so close to our goal, but also recognize that we have $1.5M to go. We are trusting in faith that God will continue to provide for this need, as he has already done in such abundant ways. We stand by the plan as it has been designed and are committed to seeing it realized.
What’s next? We have set November 1, 2021, as the official end of the pledge phase of the Renew Campaign. In the coming weeks, we are asking you to consider the following:
First, if you have not yet made a commitment to the Renew campaign, would you consider doing so? There are still many covenant partners and regular attenders who have not made a commitment, and we would love for every person to be a part of this. If you are ready to do so, you can do so here. Do you need more information or have questions before doing so? Reach out to our Campaign Team by emailing renew@thirdrva.org, they would love to talk with you!
Second, if you did make a commitment to the Renew campaign, would you consider increasing your pledge? While the last 12 months have been financially difficult for some, we know that for others of you it has been a time when God has prospered you. If that is the case, would you consider increasing your financial commitment to Renew? Additionally, while the original time frame for pledge fulfillment was 3 years, we know that some of you might be able to give more if you had an additional year to fulfill it. You can increase your pledge and adjust the time period of its fulfillment here.
Last, if you are new to Third over the past year, we want to make sure you feel invited into this work. We consider you an important part of the future we are building together! Save the date for a dessert and coffee we’re holding on September 23 where we’ll invite you to learn more about the campaign and how you can participate.
Some of you may be wondering: what if we don’t make our goal? We are prayerful and hopeful that we will make it. If we don’t however, we will prayerfully consider the right step to take.
We’ve said from the start of this campaign that we are serious about investing in the future of our church, and our building is one key way we are doing that. As your Session, we are honored to be able to lead you forward in this exciting time of ministry, and to see how God blesses our life together. Let’s renew our home to renew our mission!
In Christ,
Governing Elders of Third Church
Mary Damon
Lauren Earley
Listwella Donaldson
Parker Hale
Rick Hutton
Sue Kimball
Ron Klipp
Melissa Lincoln
Ward Marstiller
Ed Satterfield
Mark Sprinkle
Geof Stiff
Jerry Wibberly
Corey Widmer
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