Yesterday at our services I announced the latest developments in our next steps together as a congregation.
You can watch the video here or, if you prefer, read on to learn more about our next steps. We continue to be excited about what's ahead, even with the shift in plans!
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Several months ago we announced an exciting new chapter in our life together at Connexus. We announced that it’s time to expand our mission more boldly than ever before by securing a permanent facility for Connexus. The facility will become a hub for all ministry of Connexus and will serve as a helpful base from which to equip our current campuses and future campuses.
I believe we have been uniquely positioned to make an impact in and beyond our communities. Few churches are positioned to make the kind of impact we can make if we take our boldest step yet. I’m ready. I trust you are too.
As part of that, we launched the 20 Mills Road initiative. 20 Mills Road is the address of a new building being constructed in Barrie’s south end.
In March, we entered into a due diligence phase on 20 Mills Road. We needed to meet two major conditions in order for the proposal to work. One was to secure rezoning by the city of Barrie, which was granted in June of 2012. The other major condition was to secure financing for the project.
For a variety of reasons, we were unable to secure financing for the facility. Part of that centered around finding a willing lender for a facility that was fully leased and part of it centered around the total costs for financing that project, which in the end seemed to us to be unduly high.
As a result, we have decided not to proceed with the 20 Mills Road initiative. I realize that will be disappointing to many, and I promise you we felt that disappointment too. But moving forward, we actually feel more hope than disappointment.
Here’s why: While this may be a twist in the road, I promise you this is far from the end of this journey. In fact, it’s still the beginning. We’re committed to continuing our search for the right location a permanent facility. If it’s not 20 Mills, it will simply be somewhere else. We’ve agreed that this continues to be the right moment and the right opportunity for us to make the boldest move we’ve ever made.
So our leadership continues to be committed to finding a permanent facility in Central Ontario. We will simply find a different address and different terms.
Here’s how the journey will continue: To get us there, we’re excited to announce that this fall we’ll be launching something called Bold.
Bold will be a spiritual journey that will provide the resources we need for this next chapter. Bold will grow our faith, grow our mission and expand our vision and raise the money we need to secure our new facility under the best possible financial terms.
I’m sure some of you will have more questions than we can answer today, that’s why we’re hosting two town hall meetings this week.
- Wednesay, July 25th @ Mariposa Inn, 400 Memorial Avenue, Orillia. 7-8pm
- Thursday, July 26th @ Barrie Country Club, 635 St. Vincent Street, Barrie 7-8pm
I’ll be there along with some from our Leadership Team and would love to continue the conversation. We’ll answer any and all questions about 20 Mills and clarify even further our next steps together.
It’s going to be an exciting journey. Thanks for your prayers and your support. I’m excited to be in this bold new chapter together.
– Carey
