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Swansboro United Methodist Church
Building Committee Update #4

The Advance Planning phase of the work of the Building Committee will soon be completed. Tripp Eure, our architect, is preparing a cost analysis for the proposed Ministry Center and the renovations that will be necessary to update our current Education Building and lower level of the Sanctuary Building as well. With Building Committee input, we will finalize the Facility Master Plan and ready that for presentation to the Administrative Board for their approval in early 2009. Please take a few moments to study the most recent versions of the Space Inventory for the Ministry Center and the Space Reallocation (for the current Education Building and Sanctuary Building) found here on the website. If the congregational decision is made to continue to the next phase of our Building Program then we will be ready to proceed to blueprints for the Ministry Center.

Throughout these past several months we have learned to be good listeners and have welcomed input from everyone in our church family. We deeply appreciate the very intentional way our Council on Ministries thoughtfully detailed for us what their needs were in every ministry area in the life of our church. Whether in hallway discussions after worship or Sunday school, Methodist Men or Methodist Women meetings, sometimes by e-mail, other times by telephone it has been a joy to hear from so many of you how excited you are as we prepare to take this next step, this leap of faith again to minister in new and powerful ways to our Swansboro community.

As our Building Committee wrestled with all the many needs of our vibrant faith community we are happy to say we have tried to be very Wesleyan in our approach. We have challenged each other and stretched each other’s thinking during long sessions on different aspects of the Building Program but by the end of each evening we had reached consensus on the work direction we needed to give Tripp. He in turn prepared us, guided us and has done an excellent job of bringing converging educational and ministerial needs in to a cohesive inventory for the Facility Master Plan.

We know from Jesus’ life on Earth and the example of his teachings that God did not call us to be timid Christians but to be bold in all we need to do to bring the Good News to our neighbors. Aren’t we also called perhaps to feed our hungry neighbors spiritually and physically, too? We have been on an exciting faith journey through the recent Stewardship season and have learned much about ourselves as we pondered new ways to dedicate ourselves through prayer, study, service, worship and giving. Now with Advent Season upon us we are preparing to welcome Christ anew. Continue to lift up prayers for the Building Committee as we lift them up for all the work of our Swansboro United Methodist Church.

John McLean and Julia Wax, Co-Chairs

We very much want to hear from our church family. Please e-mail your thoughts, questions and suggestions to us at

Julia Wax jwax@eirealty.com John McLean jpmcleanpe@coastalemail.com or if you prefer, by U.S. postal mail to the church office:


Swansboro United Methodist Church
Attention: Building Committee
665 W Corbett Ave
Swansboro, NC 28584


Listed below are the members of the Building Committee who also would welcome the opportunity to talk with you about the proposed renovations and Ministry Center. Our SUMC Building Committee:

John McLean, Co-Chair

Julia Wax, Co-Chair

Sandy Kellum, Secretary

Carl Cordoni

Jane Cotton

John Freshwater

Roger Fulp

Gwen Jackson

Charlie Johnson

Terry Proper, Lay Leader

Ken Raper

Louisa Ringo

Jane Sylvester


SUMC Staff attending Building Committee meetings include:

Senior Pastor John Tyson

Associate Pastor Rachel Moser

Ellen Creasman, Director Youth Ministries and Education

Merle Epperson, Director, Music Ministries


Architect, Tripp Eure, PETERSON, EURE and ASSOCIATES, P.A.