Gainesville, FL >> The folks at Abundant Grace Community Church have been hard at work on their new building. Pastor Mike Gilland sent us this update and photo last week....
It appears that we've hit a snag last week, and it is not certain just when we're going to be able to break ground. While we are ready to go on our end, we were informed that the county has just recently started enforcing a comprehensive growth plan that was actually written in 2002 but not put into place (due to legal objections by several developers). Well, we happen to be in a strange spot as our property is inside what is called "the growth cluster" but outside the "service area." A very small percentage of the county is in this situation, and we are in that small percentage. It basically means that, under these new guidelines, we are bound to be connected to city water and sewer. Unfortunately, there is no city sewer out here yet! The only way around it appears to be for our project to go through "Planning and Development," something we are praying we don't have to do. It would mean a great delay in the start of construction (up to 8 months) and a lot of money. Our civil engineers have appealed this decision, and we will soon know where we stand.
We had planned for groundbreaking to take place Oct. 9... that of course is on hold.
On another note, I've enclosed a picture of Phil and me standing by our new "Adopt-a-Road" sign. We care for over a mile's stretch of our highway on which our property is located (39th Avenue). Several times a year, our church members gather on a Saturday morning and clean debris along our area. It is a great way for our church to practically serve the community and enjoy fellowship together while they work - plus, they put our name on two of these signs!
Our church's community service director is a member of our church (his name is Bud Mayfield), and he also serves as a vocalist on our worship team. Bud made all this possible for Abundant Grace.
Photo: Senior pastor Phil Courson, Mike Gilland, and the Adopt-a-Road sign
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