In an advertisement for a well-known oil filter company, an actor portraying a mechanic would extol the virtues of regular oil changes by announcing: "You can pay me now--or pay me later!" Translation: Routine maintenance prevents costly repairs later on. Is Zion in that situation today? I believe we are.
Two recent capital expenses suggest that we have been living on borrowed time by deferring maintenance. The first is, of course, the badly-needed roof repair over the old bell tower attached to the original sanctuary, now the Social Hall. After years of deferring repairs, it has become apparent that we need to fix the roof, re-point the brick, fix the door and supporting structure, and replace copper flashing. To fail to do anything about this matter is to imperil those who use the old sanctuary for their ministry: Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible School students and staff, our nursery school students and staff, the monthly meals for the needy, and our newest ministry in the basement--the food pantry.
Horst Construction, the successful bidder, has already begun the repair, at a cost of nearly $41,000. The bell tower repair task force, headed by Burnell Hostetter, has raised $11,500 (over one quarter of the cost) through special donations over the past two-and-one-half months to help offset the cost of these repairs. But there will come a time when the work has been completed and the workmen are gone, and we may forget to continue our support of this worthy project. The bill will be paid and any needed resources will be taken from the Endowment Fund. We ask you to continue to make these payments now. In fact, as the economic stimulus checks arrive from Uncle Sam, please consider donating a tithe of this amount to Zion. We hope that the old sanctuary can be ready to celebrate our centennial next year.
Our second capital need is for computers. Those who don't have computers, understand them or use them cannot understand that our congregation--in fact, Christianity the world over--depends on technology to communicate the message of God's love and mercy. Many of the current computers in our system are outdated or useless.
Communication within and outside the congregation, development of worship materials, and accurate tracking of our financial resources are all dependent upon efficient computers, good software, and adequate support.
We do not have an in-house person to manage our computer needs, so we have worked with CT, Inc. in Salunga to provide some expertise in this area. Your Council recently approved the purchase of four new Apple computers (three desktops and one laptop), their software and installation at a cost of approximately $7500. This will allow us to provide a new desktop to Joan, Marie and Bob (whose computer "crashed"
six months ago; since then he has been using his home computer for church work). Pastor Thomas will use the new laptop to replace the used desktop we acquired from HACC. Dennis Dezort, our Director of Music, has an Apple which is still in good working condition. Pastor Whitesel's laptop is still usable, but it will need to be replaced within the next two years. The two computers used by Joan and Marie will be deployed to replace the failing computer at the media center in the rear of the sanctuary and to the Finance Office to replace the outdated computer that tracks our financial data.
Why Apple computers and not Microsoft-based equipment? Apple is more expensive, but the quality of the product and its ability to lower repair costs were major factors. We believe that we can get four to five good years of service out of new Apples compared to a normal three-year class life for most other computers. Again, we can pay a bit more now or pay a lot more later in repair costs for the hodge-podge mixture of machines we have had. We feel the prudent decision in using church resources is to address the problem today. An Apple was Adam's downfall. Zion can use these Apples to spread the Good News of Christ's love and mercy here in Hempfield and around the world.
Office
Hours:
8:30 a.m to 5:00 p.m Monday through Thursday (Office closed Friday during the summer)
Our offices are located next to the church at
75 Brandt Boulevard
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Bringing all people to Jesus Christ and membership in his family, nurturing them to Christ-like maturity, and equipping them for their ministry in the Church, and their life-mission in the world, all in order to magnify God's name.
