Monday, December 10, 2007

CCL Chosen Unanimously!

After much prayer and deliberation by the Strategy Planning Team (SPT)we are pleased to announce that CCL Associates of Alpharetta, GA, were chosen unanimously by silent ballot at our November 15th meeting! God blessed us richly with this unity of spirit!

Last night, December 9th, the SPT made the recommendation to the church to contract with CCL to create a strategic and master plan for the entire site of First Baptist Covington. The recommendation was accepted at the congregational business meeting without dissent. At the same meeting, our team also recommended to have the Finance Ministry Team begin a capital campaign to fund our current debt and for new construction. This passed without opposition.

CCL will be in Covington tomorrow, Tuesday, December 11th, to begin this work.

Thank you all for the work you have done the last 9 months. You have blessed our church and me personally.

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The 5

MG&A have submitted the following as their last 5 completed projects:


  • FBC Naples – Naples, FL – Jim Evans – Administrator - (239) 597-6057

  • FBC Sugar Hill – Lawrenceville, GA – Richard Lee, Pastor - (770) 945-5092

  • Fairview Church – Lebanon, TN –
    Darrell Townsend, Building Committee Chair (615) 449-3643

  • Cottage Hill Baptist – Mobile, AL – Mike Breland, Director of Facilities (251) 660-2422

  • Westwood Baptist – Alabaster, AL – Les Hughes, Pastor - (205) 664-0122

CCL shared these last 5 specific completed projects:


First Baptist Church Woodstock GA
Dan Dorner, Executive Pastor
(770) 926-4428
His assistant’s name is Donna Burroughs

Heartland Church , Indianapolis IN
Darryn Scheske, Senior Pastor
(317) 842-5500

Midway Macedonia Baptist Church , Carrollton GA
Todd Wright, Senior Pastor
(770) 832-9605

Port City Community Church , Wilmington NC
Mike Ashcraft, Senior Pastor
Richie Marshall, Executive Pastor
(910) 796-0355

Oak Hill Baptist Church , Griffin GA
Paul Sewell, Executive Pastor
(770) 227-5974

Let's Give Them Something To Talk About

This is the area questions for client/owners will be posted. Please submit them to me as they come to mind sigljay@yahoo.com

Jason Hunt submitted the following questions:

How was communications during the different phases with the different project managers?

Did you have direct access to the project managers?

Were there ever issues of the managers seemingly ignoring calls/questions?

Were deadlines met? If not was a good reason given? If not how often were deadlines not met?

How would you compare your comfort level with the contracted company before, during and after the project? Were you satisfied from start to finish? More so before? During? After?

Growth numbers/projections. On target? If not by what percentage would you say they were off? Was an explanation given by the company if the numbers were off?

Financial feasibility/projections. On target? If not by what percentage would you say they were off? Was an explanation given by the company if the numbers were off?

In what areas did the company exceed your expectations?In what areas did the company not meet your expectations?

When mistakes were made did the company own up to them or make excuses/blame someone else?

Miss Geri aks:

Were predicted planning and construction schedules met in a timely mannner?

How close was the estimated cost of your facility to the actual cost?

Post construction, did you encounter large problems with electrical, technical and plumbing systems?

Would you use your company in another project?

Were you pleased with the outcomes of necessary communication attempts with your company?

Did you complete the project with an acceptable relationship with members of the company assigned to your project?

In general, is your congregation happy with the finished project?

Christy Galloway wants to know:
How effective they were in helping them come up with temporary solutions for space shortages and better utilization of the space they had during the building process.

Anna Mizel adds:
1. Would you use this firm on your next building project? Why or why not?

2. Did they meet their time and budgeting commitments?

3. If you used their planning services before the building and designing began, did you feel it wasuseful, effective and accurate?

4. Did you feel the interview meeting gave an accurate presentation of the firm's strengths and capabilities?

MG&A and CCL Get a Few More Questions

The Strategy Planning Team met last night and decided to continue to gather more information from MG&A of Birmingham, C.C.L. Associates of Atlanta, and to visit with some of their latest clients.

I have sent emails to both firms requesting the names of their last 5 completed projects with contact names and information. Waylon and Clif will then talk to at least 2 of the 5 clients from each and try to ascertain which company's project process and culture would be the best fit for FBC Covington.

We have been charged as a committee to create a list of questions that would be discussed with each of the projects to help standardize the interview process. The committee has set a deadline for Friday, November 2, 2007 to have any questions you may want to have answered by former clients of these firms. Please send your questions to: sigljay@yahoo.com

I have created another post called "Let's Give Them Something to Talk About" where I will post the questions everyone sends in.

Furthermore, I have asked for phone appointments with both firms to discuss:
  • Their project delivery processes and costs
  • Their criteria for creative process staffing (i.e. architects)

Finally, our next meeting is 6:30 pm Thursday, November 15th, in the deacons meeting room to discuss the final choice.

Please pray that God be glorified in this process, to give us His wisdom for this decision, and for the faith to trust Him as we continue this journey together.

Bless You All!

Jay

Monday, October 29, 2007

Who is Our Answer?

On behalf of First Baptist Church Covington I want to thank each of the Strategy Planning team for their dedication these last several months, especially these last few weeks. You are all a blessing!

This month was a whirlwind tour of the giant church builders. H&H Architects, CCL Associates and M,G&A all paid us visit...each so qualified... each different. I am quite sure any one of these firms would do an outstanding job for our church. The big question is which one... which one is God's choice for us?

Tuesday night, October 30, 2007 we will discuss our comforts and concerns of each one of these fine companies. We will hand out copies of each of their proposals and try and begin to ascertain which company God would have us partner with to build His church here in Covington.

We will also discuss the Fauntleroy & Latham ROC II presentation that was done at the end of September.

This meeting is a very important one. I pray you all can make it.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Robust Meeting Schedule begins September 26th!

We will have a robust schedule for the SPT over the next month, take a look:

Date: Wednesday, September 26th
Location: Meeting Room
Time: 7:30 pm
Topic: Presentation by Fauntleroy & Latham of rough ROC II plans

Date: Monday, Oct 1st
Location: KidStuf Theatre
Time: 6:30
Topic: Interview Architects from Dallas, H&H

Date: Tuesday, Oct 9th
Location: KidStuf Theatre
Time: 6:30Topic: Interview Architects from Atlanta, CCL

Date: Monday, Oct 15th
Location: ROC
Time: 6:30
Topic: Interview Architects from Birminghan, MG&D

See you there!

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Student Ministry Needs Presented to Fauntleroy & Latham

Waylon, the FBC Education Staff, and myself met with Sam Fauntleroy and his associate, Nat Parks, Wednesday, August 1st. The purpose of the meeting was to have F&L receive the same Student Ministry needs presentation we received last meeting. The ROC II sketch was also presented.

F&L got a great insight to our student ministry needs. The team was very forthcoming with suggestions and ideas for the building location and function.

The next step was to have F&L put together a cost proposal and contract that would formalize the sketch of ROC II. These documents will be ready for our discussion at the next SPT meeting.

Our next Strategy Planning meeting is August 30th, 6:30 pm in the Meeting Room.