Little Things Add Up

In the late 80s New York City, once a vibrant and desired tourist destination, a place of skyscrapers, dreams, and wonders, had become a place to avoid. Crime had overtaken the boroughs and byways. Homeless, vagrants, and vagabonds littered Times Square. Murder and robbery rates were at an all time high.

But then things changed. Slowly at first, but by the end of the 90s, the crime rate went from bigger than Texas to the size of small town Boise, Idaho. How did such a change occur? Malcolm Gladwell, in his book The Tipping Point says it came about through a relentless focus on changing the appearance that crime was tolerated. New subway graffiti was now cleaned overnight, broken windows were repaired as quickly as possible, extra police were placed near train entrances to keep the spry from jumping over ticket turnstiles. All of these small efforts piled up and eventually created a big change. The message at the heart of these changes was two fold: 1)Crime of any kind is not tolerated here, and, what I think is important for us at Valley View this year, 2)We take pride in our place.

Caring for our Facilities

When the little things are cared for, it shows that people are invested, that people care, that there is something good happening! You may have noticed that there are a lot of things being cared for and tended to here at Valley View this summer. Here is just a sampling:

Old Fellowship Hall walls and carpet removed in one day.
Old carpet glue sanded and removed.
Outer walls of Fellowship Hall (the permanent walls) painted in one morning!
Window in children’s wing replaced (Broken during last wind storm. Delayed shipping because of non-standard size).
Worn carpet in concourse replaced (Large diamond shape in center at top of stairs).
Stained carpet in hall connecting children’s wing and worship center repaired.
Gym floor refinished (it looks amazing!).
A/C unit replaced over the gym activities room.
Old Library/resource center cleaned out to serve as a temporary Life Group room.
Skylight louvers in process of being repaired (I was warned they would likely stop working when we started using them… so now we have an opportunity to fix them. Thanks for your patience.)
Water leaks repaired in the fire system and irrigation system.
Back entrance awning scheduled for major repairs in early fall.

Many of these repairs and upgrades happen in the background and often go unnoticed. But if left unattended, the facility begins to take on the feel of New York City in the 1980s. Instead, we want the facility to say “We care. You are welcome here.”

Physical-Spiritual Connection

The church is not a building. The church is the people. Yet there is a clear biblical connection between the physical and the spiritual. I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” We care for our bodies so that we can best steward our lives and testify to others about the gospel of Christ. We strive to care for the buildings and grounds He has given us so that others will walk in or drive by and think, “I can tell they care about our community. I wonder what they believe?”

Please be praying for Cliff Roberts who is heading up the Fellowship Hall refurbishing project and oversees our facilities. He has a ton on his plate this summer. Thanks as well to so many who have volunteered in the renovation of the Fellowship Hall. I’m excited about the day we will gather again in that room this fall!

Summer Series

As I mentioned Sunday, we are taking a break from the book of John in the month of July to focus on our annual theme for the church: Free and Fearless. What does it mean to live this out in our daily lives? We will alternate back and forth between the two themes over the next four weeks.

Pray that God continues to give us the means of caring for our facilities so that we might see Him use us to reach Valley Station, PRP, and all of Southwest Louisville.

Little Things Add Up