I am thankful for hundreds of BVBC households that have pledged and given to make Phase III possible.

I am thankful for Bill Parsons and Sam Stein, who have logged more hours than anyone else to make it possible and for Brenda Wilson and Mark Smith, who have served faithfully from the start.

I am thankful for the pastoral staff, who agreed to follow my leadership, even at the risk to their ministries.

I am thankful for Lanny Weaver, whose leadership is always strong, and who keeps meetings short.

I am thankful for Steve Schambach and Howard Gerlach, the two Board chairmen, who have shepherded the Board of Deacons and the congregation through this long process.

Let us all give thanks with a grateful heart.

I have had many difficult moments during the past 20 months. The Phase III building project has made demands on me that I have never before experienced in ministry. Many times, I have said, "I can't do this."

Every time - every time, I have found new and unexpected strength to "this," whatever it may have been. It's part of what Psalm 23 means, when it says, "He restores my soul." As a result, I approach every new challenge and risk of this project with joy and hope and an awareness of God's strength in me. A kind of peace has settled over me, which now seems big enough to face and surmount the challenges.

Often, that strength has come to me through other people. I am more convinced than ever that we do this project together, or we won't do it. Don't stand on the sidelines. Look for ways you can make it happen. Look at the inevitable problems and inconveniences as new ways to work together and to trust God.

Pray, not for ease, but for great courage and greater faith in our great Father.

You, the BVBC congregation, don't hear nearly enough about Phase III. So much that is happening now is detailed and at times even tedious to do. To an outsider, it's like watching grass grow.

The Finance Committee is talking to banks about loans; banks seem favorable toward BVBC. George Yu continues to do construction drawings; they should be finished in January.

Conversations about lighting and sound in the new sanctuary have taken many hours; we have reached a preliminary agreement on what we can do.

The staff is discussing ministry plans for the construction period, when the congregation meets off site; we have specific plans that we believe will sustain momentum and morale.

Pray that we are faithful in the unseen work so that what we see someday will be beautiful and fruitful.

I have a CD from the music department at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. The first line of a song by their male choir goes like this: "Built on the Rock the Church doth stand, even when steeples are falling."

Every time I listen to that hymn, it reminds me that the Church is not a building; the Church is people.

If BVBC meets in Concord High School during the construction of Phase III, it won't be the same as now. We won't have the same pictures on the wall. The auditorium will look like an auditorium, no matter how much we try to give it a Christian ambience. We will experience inconveniences.

Those are matters that do not change the character of what we are - the Body of Christ, His Church, His Bride-to-Be. The people we greet today are the elect of God, the kingdom of God made visible.

Pray that the Spirit will open our eyes to the riches of His glorious inheritance, the Church.

Take a look at the artist's renderings of our proposed new sanctuary and gathering space. You can find them in the vestibule, the room just before you exit to the parking lot.

The gathering space catches my fancy. It would offer BVBC something it has never had before - a place for people to stop and talk.

Building bridges needs to happen here among the BVBC congregation, as well as between us and friends who are outside this or any church. A large gathering space makes that possible.

So, I hope you'll have a look or another look at the drawing, and allow it to fire your imagination with possibilities of fellowship that we struggle to have today.

Pray that now and then such fellowship will strengthen the ties that bind our hearts in Christian love.