"...a time to break down and a time to build up...."

~ Ecclesiastes 3:3

One of the questions we received during the SJXplained open phone line period was from Sara Sharp. Sara asked:

"Hi, this is Sara Sharp, and these are my questions.

First question: Did Saint John's originally have a balcony and when did they seal it up? And what is in there now in the room that used to be the balcony?

"My second question is: Why is there a fireplace in the Fellowship Hall? Can you actually make a fire in that fireplace currently?

"And: Which parts of the current building were there when they built the original building? Thank you!"

Read on for answers to Sara's questions from former Saint John's Senior Pastor, Rev. Bobbi Kaye Jones. 

Balcony, Fireplace, and Footprint, Oh My!

Thanks, Sara, for a series of leading questions that I am happy to address. A radical building program was already underway when I arrived as Senior Pastor in 2001. There were porta-potties in the yard. Programs were on pause or located elsewhere. Leak buckets were strategically placed in the sanctuary, and a lot of anxiety was in the air. 

Pastor Winn Alley had brought the congregation to this time of planning for the future when he suffered a stroke and had to take a leave. Nevertheless, the commitment to community we experience now was certainly present then, and, after taking a few deep breaths we moved forward. Generosity of spirit and finances was key to our faithful, hopeful completion.

Yep, there was a balcony. Generations of teens sat up there, no doubt passing notes and eye rolling (at least that’s what I did as a teen). Based on decades of worship attendance information, church leaders decided they could do without that seating capacity as it was very much going to be needed to house the new air conditioning capacity!  And that is what is in there now: equipment.

The Fellowship Hall was the original Sanctuary, and yes, fires have been had in the fireplace. I cannot speak to current fire-burning plans, but had we gathered for worship in Sunday‘s freezing temps wouldn’t that have been a cozy place to be?

On to the trickier question… Imagine the center of our building (stairs, elevator, restrooms, classroom) as open-to-the-sky because that is how it was! Over time Saint John’s was built around a large open patio. Everything, EVERYTHING, except the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall was torn down and replaced, and both those spaces were reduced and reconfigured. The front doors, to the Narthex, faced Allandale, not Wynona as they do today. The Chapel and the Bethlehem Room did not yet exist but were placed in space created after that Allandale entrance was removed.

Believe it or not, I taught Sunday School upstairs in the old facility with Catherine Foster when I was a freshman in college, as her son (Mary Foster’s brother) was my boyfriend then. It is a joy to still be here now as the spirit of Saint John’s continues to anticipate the future that God is preparing, welcoming it with the same generosity that made our present possible.