Friends in Christ,

Wonderful news about our continued discernment for St. Mark’s capital campaign: the Capital Campaign Task Force, under the leadership of Convener Judith Miller, has drafted and submitted a Request for Proposals for a building needs assessment to five well-regarded area architecture firms. The task force’s goal is for all the bids to be submitted to the church by mid-September. The firm we select will then assess all the systems of our entire physical plant for safety, use, repair needs, and accessibility. That assessment will establish our baseline set of needs that will help us narrow the focus of the building portion of our campaign. 

The Episcopal Church Foundation, our capital campaign consultant, made three recommendations after leading us through our roundtable conversations in February: 1. Bring our community mission vision into sharper focus, 2. Integrate new members into St. Mark’s culture and leadership, and 3. Improve our facilities. The buildings needs assessment will begin to address recommendation number 3, and now we shift our attention to recommendation number 1. 

Our mission work in the community is exciting and varied. From the diaper drive to the corn roast, we take our love of our neighbors seriously as a key component of our Christian faith. How can we do this work better and with a more clear organization? To address that question, leaders from each of the community-minded ministries of the church (Courage House, Outreach, Haiti Project, Common Ground, Kids Working To Succeed, etc.) will be invited to a multi-generational conversation October 1 at the church to share hopes and dreams for our future mission — and perhaps to imagine a more clear way to organize ourselves for stronger impact and welcome to newcomers. 

Pray for the task force, and pray for the capital campaign. If we keep the love of Christ and of neighbor fixed firmly in our sights, we will have great success. 

Ms. Judith Miller
Capital Campaign Task Force Convener

Ms. Kathy Katter
Sr. Warden

The Rev. Ian Burch
Rector