THE SANCTUARY

This past week I got put on my first official project team here at Capstone, and guess where the project is located?!?!? Only the most awesome college town in the world... GAINESVILLE, FL!! It is called the Sanctuary Student Housing at the University of Florida. A few years back, the First Baptist church in downtown Gainesville decided to move to a new facility and Capstone decided to buy the property, complete with the sanctuary built in 1923 in order to preserve the buidling and use it as sort of a "front door" to a housing complex that will be built around it. You can read all about it in this Gainesville newspaper article here. The article is back from 2008 - it has taken that long to get funding for the project... as of right now we are hoping to move forward and complete the project by the fall of 2011. Very exciting! You don't know how cool it is to be working on a project in my college town... I can't wait to visit the site! (The picture above it an artist's rendering of University Ave with The Sactuary on the left and some of the proposed housing buildings to the right.)

One discussion that Josh and I had once I figured out what this project was all about was whether or not we should feel guilty for using a "church" as a clubhouse of sorts... It really bothered me at first. After some consideration and prayer, Josh and I really believe that God's "church" is His people... not the buildings they meet in. It is a little hard to remember this at times... this body of believers moved to another location in order to cut down on their overhead costs, hopefully they will be able to glorify Christ that much more with the money they are able to save and therefore give to furthur his kingdom. As part of the development plan, it is agreed to preserve the sanctuary as a historical monument as a reminder in Gainesville's history of the first baptistcongregation that was established in the city.

I am so incredibly excited about my new job. I am so thankful and just want to praise God for this wonderful opportunity He has provided for us. (Side note - my name is officially on the company wesbite - check it out!)