This summer, and now into the fall, I have had a project at home to repair and replace some of the limestone steps that are at my front door. I obtained bids and decided on a contractor that is well known in Columbus for work on historical homes. The project was supposed to last at the most 4 weeks. That was in May, and it was just this past Saturday when the new rail was finally put into place. So a project that was supposed to last a month has taken 5 to complete. But the way it looks, I’m feeling like it was worth the angst to see that it was correctly completed.
This is the way that the project for making improvements to the sanctuary have also proceeded. The original time estimate as that it would take only 3 months to complete, but there has been one unforeseen delay after another and it is beginning to feel like we have been under construction for a long time. But now parts of the project are starting to wrap up, because the windows are being installed the rest of this week. The fence is gone from in front of the building, but I am not sure if there will be time to get the temporary wall down before Sunday or not, but soon there will be a very visible sign of progress. And we will reap the benefits of having energy efficient windows in place for the very first time. The HVAC part of the project will soon start to move forward and you will see a new heating system put in place on the West wall near the planters, and for the first time in many years we will have heat coming into the room from both sides of the sanctuary. The air conditioning will be in place before next spring, and the organ restoration project will also be in progress. So much progress will be evident very shortly. St. Stephen’s will once again be a light on the hill.
This is also how we might feel has been the progress towards calling a new rector. But just like the 2 projects mentioned above, there actually has been a great amount of progress. What we have done through our many meetings and gatherings is the same as putting the infrastructure into place. Infrastructure work is often the most important part of any project; for that is the foundation and pipes that have to last the longest. The work of the search committee will shortly ramp way up, but that will also be the time that the members of the committee will need to maintain confidentiality. Once the Search Committee completes the profile and sends out the call for applications, they will continue to communicate general information about where they are in the process but, in order to maintain confidentiality, they will not be able to share names of clergy or details about the candidates. We will know by how quiet they will become that the process is entering the final stretch. This will be the same as when we called Faith to be our interim. This is actually a very exciting time in the life of St. Stephen’s.
Mike Harbin, Junior Warden
