As expected, February started at a much faster pace than January ended, and, even though the majority of the Nomads left a week later, the pace didn’t slow any. With as much help as we could gather, we began packing up and moving Pastor Barry, and also clearing out rooms so that they could be put to use. We also made some improvements to the sound system and assisted with transitions to welcome the new pastor.
Nomads at the end of a long day with Pastor Barry. Starting to Move
Knowing we had only a week of extra help from the Nomads team, we made every effort to use them to pack up and move as much as we could during their remaining project time. And move they did. We were able to clear most rooms of Barry’s possessions and even organize many of them on the receiving end. We celebrated with a meal together as the project came to an end, thanking the larger team for all of their efforts.
Knowing we had only a week of extra help from the Nomads team, we made every effort to use them to pack up and move as much as we could during their remaining project time. And move they did. We were able to clear most rooms of Barry’s possessions and even organize many of them on the receiving end. We celebrated with a meal together as the project came to an end, thanking the larger team for all of their efforts.
Some good food and fellowship to thank the team for their efforts. While all but 2 of the Nomads team moved on, Pat and Fred had returned from NH and Joe was with us the next Monday morning as we began to lay out the work for the next week. We gathered all of Pastor Barry’s remaining items into a common area, and then turned our attention to clearing out rooms of items the church no longer wanted. We managed to load a dumpster full just to the brim and took several loads of metal to recycling. Two pianos were donated to a school, and a freezer to a local food bank. Gradually, more rooms were cleared and cleaned along with the areas around the buildings.
Pastor Mike Moore Welcoming Pastor Mike
The first of February was not only a busy moving day, it was the first day for Pastor Mike, Faith’s new interim pastor. After kicking off the move activities, Dave spent time with him understanding how to best support him in his new pastorate. One change would be to use of the wireless lapel mike on Sunday mornings.
While Faith had a lapel mike, it was very low end, and had not been used in quite a while. We spent some time testing it, believing it would be workable as a temporary solution. However, on Sunday morning, it kept dropping out, making it ineffective at best, and increasing the urgency of finding a replacement.
By the next Sunday, we had the recommended high-quality replacement in place, and had spent several hours installing and testing it as well. But on Sunday, it too continued to drop out, forcing us once again to drop back to a fixed pulpit mike. What little confidence we had in our ability to make it work was fading fast.
The first of February was not only a busy moving day, it was the first day for Pastor Mike, Faith’s new interim pastor. After kicking off the move activities, Dave spent time with him understanding how to best support him in his new pastorate. One change would be to use of the wireless lapel mike on Sunday mornings.
While Faith had a lapel mike, it was very low end, and had not been used in quite a while. We spent some time testing it, believing it would be workable as a temporary solution. However, on Sunday morning, it kept dropping out, making it ineffective at best, and increasing the urgency of finding a replacement.
By the next Sunday, we had the recommended high-quality replacement in place, and had spent several hours installing and testing it as well. But on Sunday, it too continued to drop out, forcing us once again to drop back to a fixed pulpit mike. What little confidence we had in our ability to make it work was fading fast.
The following week, Pastor Mike’s son (whose profession is to install and manage sound systems) spent much of a day with us. He re-tuned the wireless mikes and modified our sound board settings, explaining how they worked far better than we had understood before. The wireless mike we had ordered was in the wrong frequency range for our city location, so he recommended we exchange it for one in a different frequency. And our FM radio broadcast, used by one of our hearing impaired members, would probably have to go, since it was blowing out all of the wireless mikes that were in use. He gave us the confidence to believe the next Sunday would be better, and it was.
Pastor Mike also needed access to the church’s pastor email, which meant transitions for Pastor Barry would need to take place. We took this opportunity to ensure this and other new emails created during the disaffiliation were working and being monitored by someone as well.
Pastor Mike also needed access to the church’s pastor email, which meant transitions for Pastor Barry would need to take place. We took this opportunity to ensure this and other new emails created during the disaffiliation were working and being monitored by someone as well.
Cathy showing the depth of the ruts in the soccer field. And more . . .
But none of the days seemed to be typical from the one before. One day, we started off re-keying a lock for Pastor Mike’s office, only to learn that a neighbor had gouged deep ruts in the field used by Kim’s Open Door for soccer. That involved a call to the police and expending effort to block the access to the field with fence wire and cinder blocks. Kim reached out to ask about a light switch that needed a replacement cover in her office. Dave met with a roofer who came to estimate a replacement roof on Asbury Hall, while Cathy arranged with a salvage yard to pick up a vehicle that had been abandoned in the parking lot. We went to the DMV to try to get a current registration for a trailer to be used during the moves only to discover it is still registered under the NE FL UMC District, and that brought the registration process to a halt for the time being.
It’s nothing if not interesting.
So the work continues. We have our smaller, but effective, team in place until the end of February, and we hope to make as much progress as we can while they are here to support the effort.
But none of the days seemed to be typical from the one before. One day, we started off re-keying a lock for Pastor Mike’s office, only to learn that a neighbor had gouged deep ruts in the field used by Kim’s Open Door for soccer. That involved a call to the police and expending effort to block the access to the field with fence wire and cinder blocks. Kim reached out to ask about a light switch that needed a replacement cover in her office. Dave met with a roofer who came to estimate a replacement roof on Asbury Hall, while Cathy arranged with a salvage yard to pick up a vehicle that had been abandoned in the parking lot. We went to the DMV to try to get a current registration for a trailer to be used during the moves only to discover it is still registered under the NE FL UMC District, and that brought the registration process to a halt for the time being.
It’s nothing if not interesting.
So the work continues. We have our smaller, but effective, team in place until the end of February, and we hope to make as much progress as we can while they are here to support the effort.
