Greetings!

Can you believe the abundance of beautiful flowers everywhere? As I walk around my neighborhood, spring continues to amaze me with new offerings every day!

In my last article, I spoke about returning to in-person worship and how much I was looking forward to doing it. Well, beginning with Palm Sunday, I’ve attended every service that’s been held and I must say, it’s been WONDERFUL! It’s a blessing just being able to gather together, but add in the music and singing and being with others outside my “pod.” WOW, what a rush! If you haven’t ventured to a Sunday service yet, please consider doing so, especially if you’re fully
vaccinated. Don’t forget to register on Realm! It’s very easy!! Keep an eye out for a Realm email every Tuesday, or just click here o haga clic aquí!

The Capital Campaign, Sing to the Lord a New Song! officially kicked off on Easter Sunday and will run through Pentecost. As I said above, I’m sure there will also be information about this somewhere herein. On Tuesday evening, April 27, beginning at 7:00 p.m., there will be a Zoom meeting where we can meet the architects of the new roof. Hope you are able to attend. You can register by clicking here!

We have found a Junior Warden in Lou MacMillan. Since he already attends every Vestry meeting as the main contact for the building renovation, Lou graciously accepted our offer to serve in this very important capacity. He is doing, and will continue to do, a wonderful job! We had a very good Vestry Meeting last week Thursday, April 22, 2021. Normally our meetings are on the third Thursday of the month, but that day (April 15) came upon us so very quickly, what with Holy Week and then recovering during the first week of Eastertide. As related in the Rector’s message in last Friday’s Messenger, the Vestry made some hard decisions at this meeting. We talked about the Capital Campaign and the renovation and our finances and where will we worship during the summer. So very much going on!

We started a new Bible Study journey. We are reading The Acts of the Apostles, using a companion book from Forward Movement. Join us on Thursday afternoons at 1:00 p.m. You can email Fr. R.C. to get signed up to recieve the zoom link. We’d love you to join us!

I need to share with you that with so much going on at St. John’s | San Juan, I have found myself at a point of in-action. I have become overwhelmed by the sheer number of tasks facing this Vestry and this congregation. Over the weekend, I came to the realization that when I am overwhelmed, I do nothing. I become frozen and can barely function. At one time I would have said about myself that I worked best under pressure, but that’s not so true anymore. I believe that Covid has affected how I process information and do things. Now when I feel myself coming under a lot of stress and become anxious, I shut down. Nothing gets done.

I am telling you this because I know that I owe phone calls and emails to some of you out there in the St. John’s | San Juan community. I’m sorry I haven’t responded yet, but I will, soon. I promise! I had thought that I would beg off and not write anything for The Chronicle, but I am forcing myself to remember two of my Mother’s favorite snippets of Scripture: “into thine hands” and “not my will, but thy will be done.” I have asked the Holy Spirit for inspiration with this article and I think we’re doing okay.

Thank you for reading. You will be able to find more information on almost everything I’ve mentioned in some other location within this Chronicle edition. As I close, I must tell you that I am also overwhelmed by all the kindness, thoughtfulness, compassion, and generosity of the parishioners here at St. John’s | San Juan. Thank you! I am committed to St. John’s | San Juan and every one of you! Please remember that if you have any concerns, comments, or issues, you may contact me on my cell phone at (360) 259-5933 or through my church email, fawn@stjohnsoly.org.

Welcome month of May and more May flowers! Blessings and peace…

Fawn Hacker
Senior Warden

Junior Warden Report April Chronicle

If you haven’t heard yet, the Vestry elected me as your Junior Warden last week, so I’ve renamed my report. While my “portfolio” will expand beyond the
Sanctuary renovation to include our two other buildings in the future, this report focuses squarely on the renovation. It’s quite long, so please bear with me.

VACATING THE SANCTUARY

With less than a month left in the capital campaign, we are moving full speed ahead on preparations to vacate the Sanctuary after the last Sunday worship service on May 29th. Father R.C. and I are meeting weekly to coordinate all aspects of the renovation, including plans for temporary worship. Several moving parts are in play simultaneously, and the decisions we make on some issues bear directly on the options open to us on others. It’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole, but we are making progress. We’re working as thoroughly, thoughtfully, and quickly as possible to identify the pros and cons of all workable options, including costs, to better inform ours and the Vestry’s decision-making. To give you a sense of the range of issues, here are four of the bigger ones:

I. The Fate of Pews
After moving our pews twice in the last couple months, we found they’re not in good shape – some are damaged, a few badly warped. If we reuse them, they’ll all need repairs and/or refurbishment before being returned to the Sanctuary. The extent and cost of those repairs are unknown.

We’ve heard that some parishioners may prefer a new seating configuration, perhaps slightly angled, but it’s not clear that geometry can work with our straight, 15-foot long pews. Re-bolting them to the floor at an angle (rather than parallel) to the radiant heat system’s hydronic piping that’s embedded in the concrete may risk damaging the pipes. We don’t yet have a reliable enough map of the system to be sure it would (or wouldn’t) work.

One alternative is to purchase new pews, perhaps in a style that gently curves, to provide a traditional look with a more intimate configuration. Still, without more design work on the interior remodel and some cost estimates, we aren’t ready to make that call just yet. Research is ongoing.

Buying new pews would present us other options too. One is donating our oldpews to another church in the diocese, or possibly selling them to an architectural salvage or recycling company. Another idea is to raise funds for new pews by creating collectible items from the old ones, like benches or cutting boards branded with the “Sing to the Lord” capital campaign logo.

Suffice to say we don’t have enough information yet, but believe the best option will be to store the pews, at least for now, in the Parish Hall, the only room large enough to accommodate them. We did investigate storing them in rented shipping containers placed outside so we could keep the Parish Hall open for worship, but the number of containers we would need, the cost, the logistics of siting them, and the space they’d take up were simply too great.

II. Temporary Worship Space
Obviously, a pew-filled Parish Hall is not an option for worship space, so we plan to hold worship outdoors for the summer, under one large tent or multiple smaller ones. When we learned how much space FORMA will require in our parking lot for their “lay down area,” it left us with little room to accommodate both a large tent and still have any space for parking.

Instead, we’re leaning toward the purchase of two or more 10-foot x 20-foot pop up tents that we could erect and place ourselves for worship services somewhere on the 20th Avenue side of the building. These smaller tents are relatively inexpensive and could be used at other times as well. A “bares bones” audio/video cart must be wheeled out to live stream each tent service. The logistics will be challenging too, because we’ll need volunteers to erect and take down the tents every Wednesday and Sunday.

Where will we end up on pews and tents? We’re not completely certain, but exercising all due diligence to close in on economical and practical decisions.

III. Disposal of the Moeller Organ
The Moeller organ must come out of its east chancel location to replace the roof above it. We’re planning to have FORMA remove the architectural wooden screens, which will likely go to architectural salvage. We may have two parties interested in taking the Moeller’s console, blowers, wind chests and pipes, though we may keep some of its pipes with the intention of someday building a small portative organ for the chapel.

IV. Chancel & Bell Tower
As with the pews, we will need to remove and store (if not dispose of), or protect-in-place, everything in the chancel space, from the altar, chairs, and music stands to the suspended altar cross and Schlicker organ towers. Likewise, everything now in the nave or stored in the bell tower must be moved out and stored on the first or second floor of the Parish Building during construction. We’re identifying every room, nook and cranny that can be used for storage space.

FORMA will take down and crate for safe storage both the altar cross and the aumbry lamp. They plan to build additional protection for the organ towers. While its down, we’d like a structural engineer to inspect the condition of the altar cross suspension cable – and replace it, if necessary – before FORMA re- hangs it at the end of the project. We will ask them to also protect-in-place both the Schlicker organ console and the grand piano, as they are risky to move, provided this approach works with their scaffolding plan.

PREPARING FOR CONSTRUCTION

We don’t yet have a firm bid price or signed contract with FORMA due to multiple factors:

• They’re still updating cost estimates due to price increases for steel and other building materials caused by COVID-related supply chain disruptions.
• We’ve asked them for more demolition work and removal/protectionmeasures, which must be priced.
• We’re clarifying some of the design details to better meet program needs, such as appropriate access to the Sacristy for the Altar Guild. These changes require engineering recalculations and design modifications, which take time.

As these issues are resolved, we expect to see a draft of the construction contract with FORMA soon, though possibly not before the capital campaign concludes. In the meantime, they and we are working out the important details for contractor mobilization, which brings us to two of those:

Parking Impacts

FORMA needs a large “lay down” area for a job shack, storage containers, building materials, lifts, and other items. They’ll need the entire north end of the parking lot, from Capitol Way to the second lot entrance on 19th Avenue. A second lay down area will be in the NE corner of the lot, near 19th and Washington. (Hey, that’s where I park!) Both areas will be fenced, gated, and locked, with a driveway between the two fenced areas to allow cars access from 19th to the Parish Hall entry doors.

This means the loss of 60% (23 out of 38 total) surfacing parking stalls. The recycle bins and dumpsters must be moved to a new location, and the building entrance on the north side of the building (“the Choir door”) will not be accessible.

We’ll likely keep only 15 parking stalls, those facing Washington Street and those closest to the building entrance, including the three ADA stalls. Staff will need to park in that area once FORMA begins to mobilize. We’ll let you know when these parking changes will go into effect.

Grounds Impacts
The seismic upgrades at the north wall of the Sanctuary spell doom for the two tall yellow cedar trees, azalea bushes, ground cover, and lamp post at that end of the building. All those must be removed or demolished to allow for excavation of the foundation during construction.

BUILDING PERMIT

FORMA cannot possibly mobilize and start construction by June 6th, when our building permit will expire. We will apply for a one-time, six-month permit extension very soon to avoid any possibility of the permit lapsing, which would compel us to not just re-apply, but also redesign all the seismic upgrades to the more stringent and costly 2018 International Building Code, which the City of Olympia adopted in February 2021. A permit lapse would cause a major delay to, if not derail, the entire project – it’s a top priority to extend it soon.

SOLAR POWER WORK GROUP

The Solar Power Work Group held its first Zoom meeting on March 31st. Attendees were Tom Loranger (facilitator), George and Karen Bray, Dennis Cooper, Anne Hall, Bill Van Hook and myself. The solar project is on a separate track from the renovation, and it is not competing with the renovation project for funding from the capital campaign. It is a related, but stand-alone, project and financial decision.

The work group has collected and reviewed building electrical energy usage history and conferred with two solar vendors, South Sound Solar of Olympia and Capstone Solutions of Redmond. They are considering the pros and cons of different funding methods, including formation of an LLC or something called “CrowdLending” offered by Collective Sun, a nationwide nonprofit that helps nonprofits convert to solar. The topic is technical, the analysis and financing options complex, but this group is learning fast and clarifying the opportunities and choices.

The work group meets again on April 28th to review all the energy data, vendor input, and financial information, then determine next steps.

CAPITAL CAMPAIGN ZOOM MEETING

A “Meet the Architects” Zoom session will be held tonight from 7:00-8:00PM on Zoom. Meeting links can be found in the latest Messenger, in this Chronicle, and on Realm. (Click here and register for it just as you would for a church service). KMB Architects Mark Beardemphl, Bill Mathews, and Ruben Nunez will be on hand to talk about the project and field your questions about the roof, seismic upgrades, and interior remodel. Please join us, bring family members, tell your friends! This should be an enlightening evening. We will record the session to make it available for later viewing by those who cannot attend tomorrow.

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE!

Please visit the campaign website to find more information on the project, FAQ document, testimonials from fellow parishioners (you can add your own), video from Bishop Rickel (more videos coming), and an I’m Ready to Pledge button to pledge online.

Or complete a paper pledge card. Volunteer gift workers are reaching out now to send you a pledge packet – please respond to their email to get yours. The church needs either an electronic pledge or campaign pledge card for its recordkeeping.

We have 38 pledges totaling over $825,000 so far, but we need everyone to participate! Please add your name and financial commitment to this growing list by the campaign close on the Day of Pentecost, May 23rd.

And, if you have already made your pledge – THANK YOU! We are deeply grateful for your generous support to the future of St. John’s | San Juan.

Onward…together.

Respectfully submitted,
Lou MacMillan, Junior Warden

St. John’s | San Juan Episcopal Church
Treasurer’s Report for The April Chronicle

April 27, 2021

Finance and Audit Committees

The regular monthly meeting of the Finance Committee was held on April 20, 2021. Joining me were members Andrew Bird, Fawn Hacker, R.C. Laird, Christian MacMillan, and Lou MacMillan. We reviewed our current financial condition and a proposed plan to address our operating deficit and generate
additional revenue.

We still need to stand up a small Audit Committee, ideally comprised of three members with a background in finance, which would meet only twice a year, before and after the annual audit. Pat Le Roy and Lou MacMillan has agreed to serve. If anyone from the Vestry is willing and able to join them, please let me know.

Our Current Financial Condition

Our Budget Report for March 2021 may be found by clicking here. As of March 31, 2021, we are projecting a budget deficit of -$204,037 for this year. This deficit will be reduced by $10,000 upon our receipt of a check (which is literally in the mail) from Bessemer Trust representing an unrestricted bequest from the Peter Overton Living Trust, and it may also be reduced to the extent we have over-budgeted for parish health work in 2021.
Thanks to financial relief made available to us in the pandemic we will be able to reduce the deficit further to -$73,670:

• $63,367 in Round 2 Paycheck Protection Plan (PPP) Funds will be converted from a loan to a grant.
• $57,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) proceeds have also been applied to the deficit. The EIDL money, totaling $150,000, will have to be repaid to the Small Business Administration (SBA). Monthly payments in the amount of $641 will begin June 1, 2022.

Income from Pledges year-to-date is over budget by $7,780 (13.7%).

We have two additional sources of funds for operating expenses:

• Diocese of Olympia Master Trust General (Unrestricted) Account = $48,398.00
• Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Account at Edward Jones = $83,581.89

A proposed “Plan to Address the Deficit and Increase Revenue June through December 2021” was approved by the Vestry at its meeting on April 22, 2021. We look forward to sharing this plan with the entire congregation in a series of Zoom meetings in early June. Dates and times for these meetings will be announced soon.

Capital Campaign Update

As of April 25, 2021, we have received 38 pledges and raised $825,315 in gifts and pledges for Sing to the Lord a New Song, our capital campaign for St. John’s | San Juan. Thank you to everyone who has contributed so far!

We are currently in the midst of the Congregational Phase of the campaign, in which e invite everyone to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the importance of our church in their lives and challenge themselves to make gifts that go beyond the usual limits of their giving. This phase will continue until we celebrate the conclusion of the campaign on Pentecost, May 23. If you have not yet received a pledge packet or would like additional packets to share with family and friends, please contact me at bobleroy05@gmail.com.

If you would like to make your gift or pledge online, please go to our website to our special campaign website, www.anewsongforstjohns.org. If you prefer to make your gift by check, please make the check payable to “St. John’s Episcopal Church Capital Campaign” and mail it to St. John’s Episcopal Church, PO Box 977, Olympia, WA 98507. If you would like to make a gift of stock, please contact me at bobleroy05@gmail.com for instructions on how to transfer the stock to the St. John’s/San Juan account.

As always, I welcome your comments and questions about our financial condition and capital campaign.

Respectfully submitted…
…Bob Le Roy, Treasurer and Capital Campaign Chair

Dear Friends:

Welcome to our March issue of The Chronicle. It has been an incredibly busy month at St. John’s | San Juan! We’ve completed our asbestos abatement, moved worship back into the church (which has required setting up all the audio/video equipment again), and have spent the month preparing to resume in-person worship on Palm Sunday, which is March 28. A lot going on!

We’ve also been preparing for the start of the public phase of our capital campaign, “Sing to the Lord a New Song,” which will launch publicly on Easter Day, April 4. The leadership team for the campaign has been working incredibly hard in the last few months to get us to this point, and we are all blessed to have them working on behalf of our community! Thank you to Bob LeRoy, our campaign chair; to Lou MacMillan, chair of the Renovation Committee; to Anne Hall, who has been our administrative support for the campaign; and to Michael Clifthorne, Fawn Hacker, and Andrew & Caitlin Bird, who have been meeting with parishioners and preparing for the big day on Easter; and to Jerry Campbell, who has been our consultant and mentor in preparing our team for their tasks. None of this would be possible without the efforts of each of them.

This is an exciting time to be at St. John’s | San Juan, and I am eagerly looking forward to welcoming folks back to worship in-person this Holy Week. While it won’t be exactly like it was before the pandemic, it will be a stop on the way back to being normal again. I’m looking forward to seeing you all again soon!

Faithfully,

RC

Greetings!

I hope this issue of the St. John’s | San Juan Chronicle finds you safe and well.

I’m very excited about returning to the sanctuary and in-person worship beginning on Palm Sunday. And the reason I’m jazzed is that I received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination last week Sunday and I will be fully protected (almost) by Palm Sunday. Of course, I plan to continue masking and to practice social distancing, but attending church services is very high on my list of things I really want to do. I’m looking forward to being able to get registered once the new database is fully operational. Look for information about Realm!

During the Parish Health Committee meeting held a few days before the Vestry meeting, those on the team recommitted ourselves to the goals of building trust, transparency, openness, accountability, and social connections.

The St. John’s | San Juan Vestry met on Thursday evening, March 18, 2021. We spent some time doing small group breakouts to meet and greet and thereby get to know one another better. Everyone agreed that it was 15 minutes well spent at the beginning of the meeting. And, we did a “test run” of this Friday’s upcoming social connection, the “Heavenly Happy Hour” where this month we will do a Show & Tell event. There’s more information in other articles in this edition of The Chronicle! Please join us for this social time. We’re going to have a so much fun. Find your most interesting “thing” and be ready to show and tell about it. There are links to the event in all St. John’s | San Juan communications! I look forward to seeing you there.

I think the Vestry meeting went well. The new class learned a lot about what they have volunteered to do for the next three years (and I learned more about what a Senior Warden does). There is so much going on at St. John’s | San Juan, and it will be so for many months, as we move forward with the Capital Campaign, the re-roofing adventure, and figuring out how to sustain all of our programs and missions! Please read the Treasurer’s Report for more information on our finances. Other contributors to this edition will have lots to say about what’s happening at the church. I believe, with your continued support, the Vestry will do amazing work this year.

In addition to this Friday evening’s Zoom Show & Tell gathering, other offerings from the church include: book/Bible study on Thursday afternoons and a new program for Holy Week. We will read The Last Week by Marcus J. Borg & John Dominic Crossan which deals with Jesus’s last week, from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday. Beginning on Palm Sunday at 9:00 am, those interested will meet via Zoom for 30-45 minutes to discuss the chapter for the day. I’m in! Of course, there will be all the actual Holy Week events to consider – live streaming and in-person. More information will be available in this Friday’s edition of The Messenger coming out later this week.

The Capital Campaign will be officially kicked off on Easter Sunday and run through Pentecost. Please be thinking about what St. John’s | San Juan means to you and how you can help reach the goal of a dry, seismically stable sanctuary along with new, more inviting and useful space where we will be able to gather for many years to come. We must complete this work for us as well as our future members! Won’t it be amazing to not see rainwater running down the columns?!

The Vestry is still seeking a Junior Warden. Ricci Weatherman left big shoes to fill! Interestingly enough, Father R.C. mentioned that because we have a volunteer to take care of the building’s issues (along with those others serving on the Renovation Project), our newJunior Warden does not have to be someone willing to climb up onto the roof. And, the Junior Warden may be a member in good standing at St. John’s | San Juan and does not have to be a Vestry member in order to serve the church in this capacity. If you feel a calling to learn about taking care of St. John’s | San Juan’s church building and grounds, please let me know.

As Covid-19 vaccinations continue to be rolled out to every adult who wants one, I look forward to being able to greet folks in person perhaps as early as July. We have each adjusted our lives to staying safe and healthy and I believe we are so close to being able to get back to some semblance of normalcy albeit a different normal. Like everyone, I long to be able to see (in- person) those whom I have missed so much for the past year.

Thank you for reading this far – basically I think I’ve just restated most information that’s already elsewhere in this edition. I am motivated to continue working to making St. John’s | San Juan better than before and especially by everyone on our Vestry and their commitment to being connected and invested in the church. Please remember that if you have any concerns, comments, issues, you may contact me on my cell phone at (360) 259-2933 or my church email, fawn@stjohnsoly.org.

Have a wonderful, blessed Holy Week and Easter! Looking forward to seeing and worshiping with you soon.
FHS…Fawn

Build for the Lord a New Roof! Submitted by Michael Clifthorne

“Get thee behind me, Leaky Roof!” Matthew 16:23, Humorously Amended Version

As a thirty-one-year parishioner of St. John’s | San Juan, I can say without a doubt that I am ready to be done with The Leaky Roof. Like the Great Adversary, The Leaky
Roof has acquired a legion of names: Peeler of Paint, Corroder of Ceilings, Worry of Weddings, Seeper on Sermons, Terror of Tarping, Dripper on Deacons, Wrecker of Walls, Bain of Buckets, and more. The Scriptural comparison to Satan may be a little over the top, but you get the idea! And while we are all aware of the obvious damage to the interior esthetics of the sanctuary, and most of us have some sense of how The Secret Life of Water has seriously damaged and threatened aspects of the sanctuary structure itself, the impact of The Leaky Roof reaches far into our community life.

One, it has served as a powerful barrier to needed upgrades and renovation to the interior of the sanctuary for years. How can we direct time, energy, and money to
projects that could be ruined by a heavy rain? Two, The Leaky Roof has been a source of distraction and discord nearly since its construction. Everyone is frustrated with it, but it has been challenging to reach agreement on what to do about it. Three, it has been a drain (no pun intended) on resources needed for other goals of St. John’s | San Juan. The time, talent, and treasure spent on temporary fixes, band aids, bucket brigades, tarps, as well as risk to life and limb of those brave parishioners who have ascended the roof for repairs, is considerable. Finally, we can only ponder how many newcomers couldn’t get past the visual degradation they witnessed in the sanctuary, prompting them to look to other area churches. It’s even rumored that one prospective priest withdrew interest in St. John’s | San Juan on the basis of not wanting to face eventual repairs!

“So give me something new, where ceiling tiles don’t hang askew!” Poet, Renee Oelschlaeger

I recently came across a very short poem by Gary Snyder, haiku-ish in its brevity: “After weeks of watching the roof leak/I fixed it tonight/by moving a single board.” My first thought was, “Gee, we REALLY need to get Gary Snyder to attend St. John’s | San Juan because he’s got a delicate sense of just exactly how to shift things around.” It’s certainly a lesson in how even a slight change in our actions can have an important effect. Unfortunately, we are well beyond “weeks” of leaks, even decades of leaks. Are we aiming for a century? And we know that we are also beyond “moving a single board”, and that Gary Snyder’s efforts would probably pale in comparison to what our own Ric Weatherman and others have dedicated to the effort. Thank you, Ric et al!

So what makes the “something new” different this time? Personally, I am deeply impressed with the incredible preparation, assessments, and planning that lie at the foundation of this capital campaign. There have been a couple of forays into such campaigns in the past, but nothing compares to the careful, thorough, professional preparations that have characterized this campaign since discussion began three years ago. This project will rely on a team of professionals who’ve done extensive assessments of our building and put forth an expert plan for remediation and repair. I feel a confidence in this undertaking that is refreshing and inspiring, one that allows me to envision a truly leak-free roof, necessary safety-orientated seismic repairs, and the ensuing, uplifting remodel of our sanctuary space. In a nutshell, this capital campaign is something that my wife Lucy and I can step up to in a way that goes beyond the usual limits of giving. While it is a gift to ourselves and our church home, it is also a gift to those in our faith community who will follow us, long after we depart. St. John’s | San Juan’s sanctuary is a unique expression of our love for and faith in the Lord. That sanctuary needs our help in a significant way at this time. Lucy and I hope that you, too, will consider boldly stepping up to getting that darn Leaky Roof and its attendant problems behind us - once and for all. Let’s claim a new beginning! Please join us as we “Sing to the Lord a New Song, and Build for the Lord a New Roof.”

As you can tell by now, I’m prone to poetry, which I believe helps us capture essences of life. I leave you with this final excerpt from Joyce Kilmer’s poem about the wandering and homeless entitled “Roofs”. It spoke to me; it may you as well.

"They say that life is a highway and its milestones are the years,
And now and then there's a toll-gate where you buy your way with tears.
It's a rough road and a steep road and it stretches broad and far,
But at last it leads to a golden Town where golden Houses are.”

St. John’s Episcopal Church Treasurer’s March Report (March 23, 2021)

Finance and Audit Committees

The regular monthly meeting of the Finance Committee was held on March 16. Joining me were members Andrew Bird, Fawn Hacker, R.C. Laird, and Christian MacMillan. We reviewed our current financial condition and plans to address our operating deficit and generate additional revenue. We still need to stand up a small Audit Committee, ideally comprised of three members with a background in finance, which would meet only twice a year, before and after the annual audit in June. Pat Le Roy and Lou MacMillan have agreed to serve. If anyone from the congregation is willing and able to join them, please contact me (bobleroy05@gmail.com).

Our Current Financial Condition

Our Budget Report for February 2021 may be found by clicking here or by going to our website, www.stjohnsoly.org, clicking on “About Us”, then clicking on “Our Vestry” and scrolling to the bottom of the page. The Net Income year-to-date of $89,390.74 includes the receipt of $115,000.00 from our unrestricted account with the Diocese of Olympia Master Trust, withdrawn to pay for the asbestos abatement work recently completed in the sanctuary. Payment for the work in the amount of $112,682.00 was made earlier this month. Income from Pledges year-to-date is over budget by $5,084.78 (13.4%).

We have received, signed, and returned documents from Bessemer Trust in New York City regarding a $10,000.00 unrestricted cash bequest and hope to receive the funds in early April. We have four additional sources of funds for operating expenses:

• Congregational Grant for Parish Health Work (approved but not disbursed) = $21,300.00
• Diocese of Olympia Master Trust General (Unrestricted) Account = $46,600.00
• Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Account at Edward Jones = $140,011.11
• Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Round 2, Account = $63,367.00

We have the following payables due as soon as possible:

• Church Pension Group = $29,429.00        
• Diocese of Olympia (14.5% of $60,000.00 withdrawn from the DIF and applied to operating expenses) = $8,700.00        
• Diocese of Olympia (14.5% of $54,577.00 in Round 1 PPP Funds applied to operating expenses) = $7,913.67        
• Diocese of Olympia (14.5% of $72,000.00 in EIDL Funds applied to operating expenses) = $10,440.00
• Total = $56,482.67

At its meeting on March 18, the Vestry approved the withdrawal of $57,000 from our EIDL Account to pay these bills in full.

Given current levels of giving and operating expenses, particularly personnel costs, we continue to project a significant budget deficit for 2021, -$140,637.34 as of February 28. Our recent receipt of $63,367.00 in Round 2 PPP Funds reduces the projected deficit to -$77,270.34. We propose to address the deficit by taking the following steps:

• Placing the Music Ministry on hiatus effective June 1 until such time as we can raise sufficient funds to restore and sustain it.
• Initiate a series of concerts to generate revenue for the Music Ministry and engage the broader community.
• Following completion of the upcoming forensic audit and selection of a new Treasurer (hopefully, no later than June 1), I will transition to a new role focusing on stewardship and development for both the St. John’s and San Juan communities.
• Establish a Patrons’ Society for the Concert Series and the Music Ministry.
• Establish a Planned Giving Society.
• With the return of in-person worship and activities at St. John / San Juan, set a goal of returning Individual Contributions (Pledges, Contributions, and Loose Plate Offerings) to 2018 levels by December 31. This ambitious goal, if achieved, would increase our revenue by over $111,000.

Respectfully submitted…

…Bob Le Roy, Treasurer

Renovation Committee March Update

The Sanctuary is Asbestos-Free
Michael Clifthorne, in his piece "Build for the Lord a New Roof!", writes: “I am ready to be done with The Leaky Roof.” He might have added, '…and The Toxic Walls.' Our Sanctuary has long been plagued by both maladies, the already asbestos- laden walls made even more toxic by water damage and resulting mold growth caused by – you guessed it – The Leaky Roof!

Well, at long last, we can shout, “We’re done with The Toxic Walls!” Advance Environmental finished asbestos abatement earlier this month, on time and under budget. Aside from one broken thermostat (since replaced with a brand-spanking new one), the work went off without a hitch. Below are two panoramic views showing “The Clean Walls,” – rougher and lighter in color due to abatement – but finally asbestos-free and non-toxic.

You’ve seen short videos and photos of this work as it progressed – construction of the containment, the huge plastic “curtain wall” that sealed off the chancel, workers perched in swaying lift baskets 40+ feet up – and now these two pictures. What you didn’t see (because I couldn’t shoot inside the enclosure) were pictures of the extraordinary measures required to protect the workers – and ultimately all of us – from the asbestos itself. Five negative pressure air handlers fitted with HEPA filters ran continuously, exchanging half a million cubic feet of air every hour. Workers in protective suits and full-face air-purifying respirators entered and left the enclosure through an airlock that contained a decontamination shower. All disposable protective gear and removed material was bagged, sealed and stored in a locked shipping container until removed from the site. It was a Herculean task, a kind of bunny-suited-aerial-act high above the Sanctuary floor – and it’s finished!

When we get back in the Sanctuary, take note of the newly exposed window frames and gaps around some of the stained-glass windows on the east and west walls. All those window recesses had asbestos-containing texture at the edges, so workers gingerly removed over 200 windows to scrape away that material, then re-installed the windows. As an extra precaution, they taped over the windows, applied a “fiber lock” spray to the walls to capture any stray asbestos fibers they might have missed, then carefully removed the tape.

You’ll notice too we elected not to expose the bare concrete along the column edges yet, for fear doing so might compromise the stability of windows nearest the columns. Rather than risk damage to the stained-glass, we will have general contractor FORMA perform this work later, as part of the seismic upgrades.

Deleting that work reduced the asbestos removal cost to $112,682. It’s a lot of money, but a good price in today’s dollars to detox our Sanctuary. Four members of our San Juan community – brothers Armando, Juan, and Gabriel Camargo, and Carlos Guzman – worked on this project and were featured in The Messenger on March 14th. Watch for more on them and the entire Guzman family in an upcoming Facebook video post for the capital campaign.

Moving Back for In-Person Worship
Volunteers have reinstalled the speakers, audio-visual equipment, and pews in preparations for resuming in-person worship starting Palm Sunday, March 28th. Thanks to Father R.C., Jim French, sexton Dan Kapsner, Caitlin Bird, the “Pew Crew” (Tom Loranger, Andrew Bird, Ric Weatherman, Tim Tayne, Ray Willard, me) – plus some folks I’m sure I’ve left out – for their hard work to ready the Sanctuary for both in-person and live-streamed worship. Thank you, volunteers!

Preparing for Part I Construction
FORMA staff – project manager Lonny Mason, construction superintendent Mike Hartwig, a safety advisor, cost estimator, and scaffolding sub-contractor – have been on site recently to get a clearer picture of how to translate 2D construction drawings into 3D building reality. Here’s what we know so far.

The first thing they’ll build is an enormous 40-foot high indoor scaffold filling the southern (red doors) end of the Sanctuary. They’ll lay one large plywood deck at the top level so workers can reach the timber purlins and car decking with chain- saws. Roof waste will be brought down in two trash chutes. (We’re checking the possibility of recycling any reusable lumber.) Additional decking along the scaffold perimeter will give workers access to the full height of the columns for exposing the bare concrete and bolting seismic clips spaced two feet apart.

Once the southern half is done, FORMA will take down and rebuild the scaffold on the northern end, in a somewhat different configuration to best access the chancel area. Filling the space between the two organ towers and topped by aluminum I-beams spanning from wall-to-wall above the towers, it will resemble a massive capital T. Heavy plywood decking will provide both a platform for the workers and protection for the organ pipes.

Based on FORMA’s plans, it’s clear we have a lot of work to do after the last of the spring music concerts. We will remove everything from the nave and chancel that isn’t nailed down: pews, chancel furniture, altar table, etc. What can’t be moved will need to be protected-in-place from damage and dust. One big job will be removing the old organ from the east chancel so that FORMA can replace that roof area. A volunteer work party will be needed to dismantle the wooden screens and organ pipes. We’d hoped another church in town that earlier expressed interest might still want the organ (and do most of the work!), but they’ve indicated they’re no longer interested. We’ve yet to determine the final disposition of the organ, but packing and storing it indefinitely seem out of the question.

We expect FORMA to start seismic work in June, first installing the X-braces, new concrete columns and in-fill walls, then replacing the roof in July or August to ensure the driest possible weather for opening up the building. Re-roofing will be done one bay at a time – a bay being the space between any two concrete ceiling beams – to simplify weather protection measures. We expect re-roofing to take about four weeks, with completion by September, before the fall rains arrive.

One related impact will be the loss of some parking stalls, likely just on the north side of the building, due to construction activity. More meetings with FORMA are planned soon, so we’ll pass on more details and impacts as we learn them.

Solar Power Array
We’ve formed a Solar Work Group to study and advise on converting our facilities to sustainable solar power. This effort is motivated by spiritual and financial concerns – the desire to care for creation and seek climate justice, and the need to reduce facility operating costs.

Members of this work group are George and Karen Bray, Dennis Cooper, Bill Van Hook, Anne Hall, and Tom Loranger. They’re vetting the options, including Collective Sun, a nationwide nonprofit that helps churches and other tax exempts purchase and install solar systems at discounted prices and on favorable terms using a range of different funding models. This work group will hold its first meeting on March 31, and report its findings and recommendations to the Renovation Committee and the Vestry sometime in the future.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the renovation.
And please prayerfully consider how you can support the capital campaign, which officially kicks off Easter Sunday.
Sing to the Lord a New Song! Build for the Lord a New Roof!

Faithfully,
Lou MacMillan, Chair
Sanctuary Renovation Committee

Dear Friends,
Welcome to the February edition of The Chronicle. It’s been a busy month! Our Annual Meeting was January 31, and we elected new members of the Vestry and delegates to Diocesan Convention (and you can read more about them below). We also observed Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, and moved worship out of the church, so a team could come and remove the asbestos in the sanctuary in anticipation of this summer’s renovations.

It’s been a busy month, and it’s about to get even busier. We hope to move back into the Sanctuary in the first half of March once the asbestos work is done; we’ll announce that timeline in The Messenger once we know exactly when. And once we’ve moved back into the Sanctuary, we have another milestone to look forward to: the possibility of resuming in-person worship. Thankfully, the number of new cases of Covid-19 have been dropping in Thurston County, and unless there’s a spike in cases in the next few weeks, we will be planning on having Palm Sunday, Holy Week, and Easter back in our sanctuary with a congregation in the pews.

To be clear, it won’t look exactly like it did on March 8, 2020, which was the last time we had in-person worship at St. John’s | San Juan. Congregational hymn-singing isn’t allowed under the current rules, for instance, and we won’t be able to do fellowship together following the services. Reservations will be required for each service, so we know exactly how many people are planning on attending and can ensure their proper social distancing. And we will continue to stream the services in all the same places we currently do, so anyone who isn’t comfortable coming back to church yet will be able to continue worshiping in the safety of their home. It’ll be a big step toward life returning to normal, after this season of social distancing and isolation.

We’ll have weekly updates in The Messenger as we continue to plan, and we will have more information on resuming worship in next month’s edition of The Chronicle. In the meantime, thank you for being part of this community, and we look forward to seeing you online this Sunday, and (hopefully) in person sooner than later.

Faithfully,
R.C.+

Good Evening!
It’s time to write something for The Chronicle, and as a newbie at this, I am at a loss as to what to say. The Vestry will not have its first official meeting until the evening of Thursday, March 18, so I will have at least a starting point for next month.

That being said, most of us met on February 18 to make follow-up calls for the Annual Pledge Drive. We’ve had some success in connecting with those parishioners who pledged in 2020, but did not submit a card for 2021. And, most have committed to filling out a pledge card for 2021. Filling out a card helps St. John’s | San Juan to plan better. In addition to these calls, there has been activity on the Capital Campaign. You will see the results of those meetings very soon.

The Vestry will be participating in some virtual sessions (starting soon and going for a few weeks) so we can get to know one other. Someone said that I was still holding a grudge because there was no vestry retreat last year. And, they’re right! Last year, the new class of vestry members never really had the opportunity to hang out with other “seasoned” vestry members. That’s because at the time we were scheduling the retreat, Covid happened. It’s taken me an entire year to feel like I know the other members, and now four of them have retired. Now we have a new team and we are still dealing with Covid restrictions. This year, however, we have time to figure out how to do mini-retreats to connect with one another so the new class can get to know the upper classes. There was no such luxury last year when the main focus at St. John’s | San Juan was just figuring out how to celebrate church on-line. Thank you, R.C., for hanging in there and getting it done!

We are also committed to engaging in some fun activities with our congregation. If you have any ideas for what might be a fun on-line event, please let me know. I hate re-inventing the wheel, so if you’ve participated in something that you thought was fun, perhaps we could recreate that. You may contact me at fawn@stjohnsoly.org or via cell phone (360) 259-5933.

Please keep reading this issue since the others who regularly submit articles for The Chronicle will have done their job.

I do have a favorite story that I wanted to share. I don’t know where or when I found it, and I didn’t note the name of the writer, but it has always spoken to me. Enjoy!

God Has His Eye on You

Malachi 3:3 says: “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.”

This verse puzzled some women in a Bible Study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.

One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver.

As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.

The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was a left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”

He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy – when I see my image in it.”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has His eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

Blessings!
FHS…Fawn