Dear St. Paul’s Family,
When I think of all that has happened in Keever Hall, I see a place that has been the birthplace of many stories.
Vacation Bible School. Church Picnics. Oyster Roasts. Oktoberfests. Funeral receptions. Movie/TV Daycamps. First Sunday Breakfasts. Monday Night Feedings. Woodcutters. Quilters. Yard Sales. Youth group programs. Hale’s Kitchen alive with activity. I haven’t even mentioned the bacon yet!
For many of us, some of the most important hours of our lives in this church have been spent in that Fellowship Hall. It is because of those stories and those hours that we owe Keever Hall an honest look.
Over the past several months, a team of congregational leaders, staff members, and building professionals has been studying the buildings we share—what condition they are in, what they need, and what it may take to address those needs. We are calling this season of study, conversation, and discernment Agape: Love Builds Here.
Agape is the New Testament word for the kind of love that shows up and does something. It’s love with work boots on. Every generation of this congregation has had to put that love into brick and mortar at some point, and it appears the task has come around to us.
Why We Are Beginning with Keever
Keever Hall is where we’re beginning for a simple reason: its needs are the most immediate and visible.
In the upcoming months, we’ll be sharing a series of short videos — just a few minutes each — walking through what’s actually going on in that building. The heating and cooling system. Water getting in where water should not be. The foundation. The attic. The basement, and what our insurance has to say about it.
We’re doing this on video rather than only on paper because these are things that are best understood when they are seen. We want you to see what the team has seen because the question before the congregation is not simply, “Should we fix up Keever?” It’s whether continued patching is faithful stewardship, or whether a larger and more lasting response is needed.
Our hope is that the videos and the accompanying information will help all of us understand the situation, ask informed questions, and discern together what God may be calling us to do.
The Larger Vision
Keever is first, but it isn’t the only thing. Our sanctuary has foundation, drainage, and structural needs of its own, and we’ll be sharing more about those in the months ahead.
A Welcome Center also remains part of the longer vision — a place built around hospitality and plain necessity, with the nursery and restrooms finally close at hand rather than scattered across separate buildings.
What Happens Next
All of it comes together at the annual meeting in November. At that meeting, the congregation will receive the findings, hear the emerging options, and determine together what the next faithful step should be.
This conversation is not finally about preserving buildings for their own sake. It is about creating safe, welcoming, and useful spaces where ministry can continue for generations to come. Agape is not simply about what we hope to build. It is about the love, welcome, service, and ministry those spaces will make possible.
Between now and November, we are asking you to do three things: (1) watch the videos, (2) ask honest questions, and (3) pray with us. There will be a time to make decisions together, but that time is not yet. For now, our task is to see clearly, listen carefully, and discern faithfully what God may be calling us to build together.
Watch for the first video in early September.
In Christ,
Pastor Jonathan
