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15th Year Consecration Anniversary & New Building Announcement

Checklist
  • New Building Video - Exterior (Jaime)
  • New Building Video - Interior (Jaime)
  • Documentary Video (Emily)
  • Plans Slideshow (Ihab)
Introduction

In the Name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit; one God. Amen.

It is with great joy that we congratulate you all on the 15-year anniversary of the Consecration of our Beloved Church in the name of the Great Martyrs, St Rebekah and her Five Children. 15 Years ago, on Sep 19, 2011, HE Metropolitan Youssef and HE Metropolitan Serapion (back then they were both bishops, not metropolitans) came to the church and prayed the overnight Rite of Church Consecration. This is when a building becomes a Church. A table becomes an altar. And a basin becomes a baptismal font.

On the occasion of the 15-year anniversary, Fr Ephraim, Fr Reweis and I are very excited to announce to you - the beloved members of this blessed church - a new project, and the next chapter in the life of our church.

I remember that before we had this church, we would pray in the plaza on International Drive and we would have Sunday School with a thin curtain separating each class. And you could hear what the other class was talking about. And you could be distracted by a kid in another class. It did not take long for us to outgrow the plaza building.

And the Lord graced us with this beautiful building - Along with the Church and the Chapel, a cry-room, 8 nicely sized Sunday School classrooms, a dedicated office, a large Aghapy Hall, a bookstore.

By God's grace, the Church has continued to grow over these 15 years... Now, we have about 20 Sunday School Classes, the Youth Meetings, BRAVE Men's Ministry, Virtuous Women Ministry, St Joseph Ministry, Hymns School, Bible Studies. We have several branches of Sports Ministry - Basketball, Soccer, Volleyball, Ping Pong. Besides that, we are serving our community with the Medical Clinic and the Food Bank. We have several catechumens on their way to baptism, and even more inquirers than them. Many of you are serving the Church - in cleaning, in kitchen, in Orban, in transportation, in visiting the sick, in the board, as deacons, in Sunday School.

The service of the Church has grown beyond what we could have imagined 15 years ago, and just as we started to outgrow the plaza building, we have started to outgrow this building.

By the grace of God, who hears your prayers, and by the labor the Board of Deacons (at their head, Fr Ephraim and Fr Reweis), we are very excited to announce the construction of a new building for services and sports.

Now we will take a message from our beloved shepherds HE Metropolitan Youssef and HG Bishop Basil about our beloved Church, and then take a look at the new building's architecture.

Play Video
The Need for a Building
  • 20 Sunday School and Youth Ministry Classes serving 362 Children and Youth
    • We have classes in the Aghapy Hall
    • Many times we have to have a class in the Chapel, or a class in the Cry Room - at a certain time, we even had to have a class in the Orban room!
  • Offices
    • We have Board Members who meet with contractors, we have the fathers who are meeting with many individuals and couples each day, we have coordinators who are meeting with the servants in their group
    • Many meetings are forced into the cry-room because there aren't any available rooms and no dedicated meeting rooms
  • Gymnasium
    • When it rains, our children and youth miss on the play time because we are limited to outdoors
    • We get worried when cars are moving through the parking lot while our children are playing
  • Youth Areas
    • To give youth a place to gather for studying, for fellowship, for healthy physical activity
  • There are many ideas for new services, meetings for new categories of people and families, activities for our children, but no room to execute them.

God willing, this building will alleviate that pressure and give us the space, facility and flexibility to continue to increase the service.

We will very quickly go through the plans for the building. After that, we will dismiss you and in the Aghapy Hall take any questions or discussions or concerns.

Go through the Plans

  • This building will be elevated above the parking lot. That means the bottom will act as a parking garage - similar to the one in Disney Springs.
  • First Floor:
    • Gymnasium (Basketball, Volleyball, Pickleball) and Theater with all amenities - Locker Rooms, Changing Rooms, etc.
    • Five Large Classrooms (each one is about the size of St Pishoy classroom or bigger)
    • Medical Clinic, Dental Clinic - we want to continue to serve you all and our community in new ways and address the needs
    • Chapel - if you come on Weekday Liturgies, you see that we have outgrown the chapel as well. So this new building will have a Chapel that holds 100 congregants comfortably
  • Second Floor:
    • Lounge Overlooking the Gymnasium
    • Five more Large Classrooms
    • Two Large Meeting Rooms
    • Two Offices

It's a beautiful building that should be able to meet our needs for many many years to come.

I would like to introduce the Architect who is responsible for the plans - Mr. Jaime Plana (if you could please stand up). Mr. Plana has been working with Ihab Boulos over the last several years to design and architect this building, prepare and submit the plans to the county, make amendments, etc.

In the Aghapy Hall, Fr Ephraim, Fr Reweis, all of the Board Members and Mr. Plana will be available to answer questions, hear your feedback, and share in the excitement.

Dismissal
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