Wait, the Week’s Over?

Another summer-shortened week has FLOWN by. I barely blinked and it was gone. Here is this week’s “posthumous” update…
I mentioned in passing that we would be moving to a new office at the end of August, and promised “more on that later.” A good bit of this week was devoted to preparations for that, so this is as good a time as ever.
We have been in a great, huge and flexible facility since 2003: a former industrial building was donated to Southwest Christian High School, and provision was made for FaithSearch for very reasonable cost. The city of Chaska has been “encouraging” the high school to find a property zoned more appropriately as an educational environment for kids, so we’ve known the clock was ticking for some time. The school has found property and also a buyer for the building, so we were given notice that we had to be out by the end of August.
We have known it would come some day, but the notice got our attention and we got busy, more-actively communicating our real (and now pressing) need for new location. Within a week or so, we had been shown several possibilities while looking for different commercial office space available, and had begun in earnest to plot utilization of one in particular, again in an industrial area, but zoned for business. We would have had to shoehorn ourselves into the space, but it would have worked.
While there measuring, we were asked to take a quick look at two other facilities (“while you’re already out anyway”). One was another industrial/office, huge and much newer, that would have worked, but would require some finishing work (READ: cost). The other caused our mouths to drop open.
It’s a real office building, full-service, with lots of amenities, including everything we need or could think of and a few more. By the graciousness of the property owner, we were offered a lease that pretty much matches what we are able to pay, i.e. not very much, and CERTAINLY not what the space could be worth. I can’t wait for you to see it! We’re still waiting to be able to put our new furniture and office supplies into the space so you will only see it once that has been done. We found it from a company which is similar to office monster that our friend told us about, and they had some great stuff, so I can’t wait for it all to be delivered. At least then it will start looking like an office.
Now we’re rolling up our sleeves (literally!) and getting to work, weeding out all our stacks of paper and collected detritus from the past. We spent much of Wednesday and Thursday mapping possible furniture configurations, measuring walls, deciding what goes and what stays, what we’ll have room for and what we’ll have to do without. Speaking of the walls, they could definitely do with a fresh coat of paint, so our next step is to contact a commercial painting firm to get our new base looking at its best.
Once that is sorted we are also going to have to find a commercial cleaning service to make sure our building stays as clean and tidy as it can possibly be. Some friends of ours have recommended that we do some research online into companies such as Green Facilities who provide commercial office cleaning services, so we will have to get moving with our plans pretty soon.
We are then going to have a couple of volunteer workdays in case you’d like to help us get ready and move. The heavy lifting will be done by a contract mover (YAY!) but much of our personal office “stuff” we’re going to move ourselves to save costs. The days are Tuesday through Thursday, August 23-25 (at the old office), and Tuesday, August 30 (at both the old and the new). Call the office (952.401.4501) to let us know if you can help. We’ll be disassembling desks and cubicles, boxing files, staging and labeling things for the movers, light cleaning, etc. We can use your labor, your vehicle, and your smiling presence. 🙂
Thanks again for your prayers, your support, and your interest in my ministry through FaithSearch.
-rww