Welcome to the Yorkshire Church Blog

2 September 2022 / Greetings Yorkshire Church!

As we prepare to celebrate the unofficial end of summer, Labor Day weekend, there is much to update you on. Yorkshire Church has been a busy place, and you can see that by simply driving by our facility, or looking at the pictures in our weekly announcements!

Today (Friday), we complete our eleventh week of the building renovation project. Our tentative timeline completion schedule reflects a mid-September completion date, but I suspect it will be closer to the end of September. This is not due to a lack of effort, but moreso the additional work that has been necessary to address unforeseen obstacles and challenges. If you have the opportunity to stop by and take a look around the building and in the fellowship hall, you will be able to appreciate all of the hard work that our team has accomplished. Special thanks to Steve Spangler for his countless hours dedicated to this project!

As you may remember, the project estimate was about $267,000 which included a 20% contingency for unforeseen obstacles as well as additional improvement opportunities that reveal themselves during the construction process. At this point, the project is still well within the budgeted target. I believe with the addition of some outdoor lamp posts along the ramp, some enhancements to the ramp and retaining wall, as well as some finishing touches, we will be very close to our initial estimates. (For reference, we established a $275,000 credit facility with Traditions Bank).

At this point, the church is only paying the interest on the monies that we are utilizing for the project. We get a monthly bill from the primary contractor, Keller Construction. At this point we have paid just about $100,000 in construction costs. Once the job is completed, the final amount will be calculated, and the interest payments will convert to loan payments. We anticipate these payments to be approximately $2,000 per month. It is our hope that we will be able to make these payments out of the building fund account which is supported by your additional gifts to the “Building Fund.” This can be designated utilizing any of the standard means that you currently utilize for giving. Through additional giving to the “Building Fund,” we can continue to allocate our traditional income to the ministries that we are called to serve and the many other critical maintenance, repairs and improvements that our facility currently requires.

We are planning additional important investments in our facility. One major item is the addition of fire detection equipment throughout the building. We currently have no smoke detectors within the church, except for the kitchen area and hallway. During a planning session where we discussed our Fire Drill process for the Preschool, we realized that we have no smoke detection system in the Education wing to alert our teachers and staff in the case of a fire. We recently had a local Fire inspector review our facility and provide us guidance with how to remedy this situation.

We also need to continue to address our parking lot lighting for security purposes. Although the new renovations will provide ample protection for that side of our facility, we have several other areas where the current lighting fixtures no longer work (lamp posts outside sanctuary doors, office doors, and our primary entrance). In the area of lighting, we are also seeking proposals to replace the current lighting for the steeple with more efficient LED lighting fixtures which will be offset by a reduction on our electric bill.

Our parking lot is in need of significant repair which will include crack repair and resealing. The estimate for this project is $16,000. And there are many other areas of focus that need to be addressed ensuring no shortage of workload for our Trustee team going into the Fall! So, as you can see, any gifts to the “Building Fund” will be greatly appreciated, greatly needed, and will be put to good use!

In ministry news, our C.L.I.M.B. children’s Sunday School program is off to a great start. This program is for preschool through 2nd grade students and is a two-hour time of interactive learning and fellowship for our children. Each Sunday, from 9-11AM, children participate in what would look most like a day at Vacation Bible School which includes music, singing, crafts, snacks, and of course, Bible lessons. We hope that this program grows to serve not only current Yorkshire families, but to also be an outreach into our community where folks can drop off their children to participate. This will free them up to worship at 9AM and take advantage of our many adult Sunday School programs, or for others, to allow their children to have the opportunity to participate, even if they choose not to attend other church activities.

Our Preschool season started this past week with “Summer Fun Days” for our 4-year-olds on Wednesday, and our 3-year-olds on Thursday. Once again, we are blessed with wonderful children and families. What have been generally quiet hallways (except for the echoes of jackhammers, saws, hammers, dump trucks and earth moving equipment) are now filled with the joyful noise of our preschool children! Our preschool director Julie Mann has done an incredible job in conjunction with her staff of teachers in ensuring that our classrooms are ready and our curriculums are robust. The children arrived this week, but our preschool staff has been very busy for several weeks in preparation. I had the opportunity to meet with many of our students’ parents at our Preschool Parent’s meeting on Monday evening and again as they dropped off their children. Many commented on how happy they are to have a school like Joyful Noise where their children can learn important life skills in addition to Christian education. Recently, the preschool team made a list of what Joyful Noise’s core values are: Small Class Sizes, Dedicated Teaching Staff, Hands on Learning, Christian Education, Family Atmosphere, and Joy-filled Classrooms. These values are made possible by the wonderful support that the preschool receives from our church fellowship. This is a ministry that we can all be proud of! Go JNCP Team!

Next Sunday, September 11th, we will again celebrate Rally Day. This is a day where we come together to celebrate our fellowship with one another as well as our community. We utilize this day to kick-off our Fall season. We will be introducing you to our Sunday School teachers as well as our Preschool teaching staff. We have invited our preschool families to join us as we celebrate how God has brought us all together in ministry for a time such as this. We will do this with ONE combined service at 10:00AM which will be followed by outdoor celebrations from 11AM to 3PM. This will include music by Steven Courtney Band of Friends, Food Trucks, Bounce House, Face Painting and many games and activities. Rumor has it that there may even be a dunk tank again this year…(…really?)

I hope that everyone that is able will choose to come next Sunday to share in this great day of worship, fellowship, and sharing in all that God is doing through Yorkshire Church. It also gives us a great opportunity to meet many of our community neighbors!

Have a great day and a great week! Peace and Blessings!

-pastor dave.

dkominsky@susumc.org

717-858-5870

125 Edgewood Road, York, PA 17402 • (717)755-4952 •

www.yorkshirechurch.org