As most of you know, the meeting hall we currently use is original to our facility, built sixteen years ago when we were much smaller.
Many who visit are surprised at the relatively small size of our sanctuary. We have purposely waited to expand this room until needed. Currently, the meeting hall is no longer adequate for the Festivals. We are forced to split our congregation between the meeting hall and fellowship hall for services, with those in the fellowship hall forced to watch a video feed.
Also, our stage is far too small for our music ministry. This becomes even more apparent when we are celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles or Unleavened Bread. The stage is even too small for our weekly Sabbath, so it gets crazy during the Feasts.
We also do not have enough room for our children’s classes or dining during the Feasts. We have a solution that has been factored into our current footprint. We are planning to expand our meeting hall (removing the back wall) and use our current sanctuary for expanded dining and, if needed, more meeting hall chairs during events. This will be an intermediate zone between fellowship and meeting areas. With this expansion, we will also have a basement, which will allow our children’s class to meet downstairs with more than enough space. Because of the cost and work involved, we will be building the expansion in two phases. We have several members who are skilled in construction and contracting. Some of the construction will be subbed out as well. We have already begun re-routing electric lines thanks to donations.
Because we will be doing much of the work ourselves, we will be breaking this project into phases.
Phase 1 (COMPLETE) This phase required us to relocate the main electric line from an overhead line to a buried underground one. This phase is fully funded and is finished.
Phase 2 will consist of excavation, concrete work, framing the walls, and getting the roof up. Basically, the shell of the building. To get this 2nd phase done, we are estimating the cost to be 180k. We are going to start construction immediately and continue as funds allow.
Phase 3 will be interior framing, HVAC, electric, drywall, and all finish work. If all goes to plan, we hope to be on phase 3 at the beginning of 2025, even earlier, if we can raise the funds quickly.
Please check out the video below for more details on this project!
Building Renders / Concepts
New Expansion Floor Plans
You can see on the floor plans just how much bigger this new addition will be. A few problems with the current design are made evident when looking at these plans. 1st, there is a severe bottleneck in the bottom left where our current sanctuary meets the fellowship hall. With this new addition, we will be able to not only alleviate much of the congestion in this area. But nearly double both seating and dining space.
Main Meeting Hall Expansion
Here we have some 3D renders to help visualize what we are planning. We hope to nearly double the seating in the main sanctuary while doubling the seating for dining and other activities.
*Renders were done by a 3rd party; final build is subject to change.
New Basement Expansion
Due to the way the land lies , we will also have to build out a full basement, but this will go a long way to help facilitate more dining, extra room for children’s classes, and extra storage. The security team will have their own space as well.
We are hopeful we will be able to finish this project and be able to offer an even greater experience for those who come to visit. We thank you for your support!
For those who feel led to donate towards this project, just know that construction has begun and 100% of all donations made to this endeavor will be IMMEDIATELY used towards its completion.
You can also download our app and donate using the “Give” function as well. DOWNLOAD APP
Most online donations are subject to various fees that are out of our control. If you want to make sure YRM gets 100% of your donation, you can send a check or money order to PO Box 463, Holts Summit, MO 65043. (Please specify “Building Fund” in the memo.)
