by Chuck McFarland

...You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill.
- Matthew 5:14 (The Message)

For the last 81 years Bethany Presbyterian Church has stood on the top of Queen Anne as a place where God is discovered and shared. As you know, we’re preparing for a seismic retrofit, so this may continue.

We are making progress! The preliminary planning meeting with the city took place on 5/18 and generally went well, although the city requested some insulation requirements, which we are evaluating. This is great news as the meeting establishes the scope of the project in terms of compliance requirements.

Thank you to those who were in prayer for this meeting! The city’s request will be worked into the process for pricing and code confirmation. Both the City and Bethany are interested in seeing this project happen as the net result will be a safer environment for the hundreds of people that gather weekly in our buildings.

On 5/20, five General Contractors took a tour of Bethany as part of the contractor’s bid process, which will involve reviewing each contractor’s references, experience, construction teams and plans for completing the project. This competitive bid process has been well thought out and will not only yield the selection of the best contractor to complete the work, but this process will also help inform the planning team as to the total cost of the project.

Mary Bess Kelly was named as the lead prayer person for the Seismic Project Team and is committed to consistently being in prayer for the project, fundraising, meetings and construction. Pastor Dan exclaimed, “Mary Bess is one of my heroes, dearly loves the Lord and is a wonderful addition to the team!”

John Battle, Project Chairman, reports, “I am excited about the team that has been assembled to work with the architects...they are an excellent group, working well together.

Latest estimates on the start of construction are for February 2011.

Past articles on the Seismic Project (found in the following months of the Briefs archives online, www.bethanypc.org): April 2010, March 2010 and December 2009.