Join us this Sunday, September 5th, at either 9:15am or 11:15am for one of our preview services at the St. John Campus. We'll be working out the kinks in our new facility by having worship services to learn from. We'll be running our full programming (including childcare), but in learning mode - so you can expect things to not be perfect yet. Even if you are planning to worship normally at Austin High, we invite you to check out the St. John campus now, before our grand opening on September 12th.
View The For the City Center in a larger map
Here's a parking map.
The St. John campus is nearing completion. This past Sunday, volunteers went through orientation and on-site training, video streaming from Austin High School was tested, and chairs were set out for the first time.
This Wednesday, TeenRock will start their Wednesday night high school gatherings in the worship space. If you're a high school student, check it out.
As the pictures below show, we're getting really close to the grand opening on September 12. It's going to be awesome!
Photos by Jami Sall
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Work on the building is starting to get into the final stages. Check out these photos from late last week.
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Construction at the St. John Campus is continuing at a rapid clip. Here are some photos taken recently at the site:
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Last Thursday afternoon, during one of Austin's finest thunderstorms, our staff and elders and the For the City Network's staff met up at the St. John Campus to spend some time in prayer over the new and renovated space.
It was a surreal experience for many who have spent hours dreaming and thinking and praying and working towards the opening of this second campus to see it so close to completion.
Matt and Dave talked about what God's done to bring this new tool to fruition and previewed the months ahead. We then broke up in smaller groups and spread out through the different wings of the building to pray specifically for the Non-Profit Center and its initial tenants, for the children's area and the next generation of believers who will grow up there, and for our equipping space and the people who will be trained for mission.
Finally, we reconvened in the auditorium and took time writing prayers and scripture on the bare concrete stage. Our writing will be covered up with KEEP READING
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Here are some recent photos from the St. John Campus. As you can see, things are progressing at a rapid pace. The "store fronts" for the non-profit tenants are mostly completed with plenty of glass doors and windows, lots of painting has been happening recently, and air conditioning work is well underway.
Can't see the slideshow? (It's in Flash.) Here's a non-Flash version.
Photos by Jami Sal
Here are some photos taken from the St. John site last Friday. It's amazing to see how quickly this place is being repurposed and transformed into an entirely new space.
This fall, we're opening up a non-profit center and church campus in St. John. This campus will join Austin High School as a second location for the families and communities that make up The Austin Stone to gather for worship and Biblical teaching.
How will having two locations work? What will the new campus be like? We had some friends put together a short instructional-film-style video:
Questions? Check out the answers to some frequently asked ones or email us.
Don't have Flash? Watch the HTML5 version of this video on Vimeo.
These photos were taken April 29 at the site. Of note, the Worship Center/large gathering space now has a roof and drywall throughout the building is nearly complete.
The renovations and construction are continuing at a quick pace in St. John and now we finally have an answer to the question "Who's going to use the non-profit space?".
Initially, we hoped to have at least half of the available space filled for the opening of Phase 1 (the first floor) of our St. John Building in September. As it looks right now, we are going to have the space completely filled! God has shown tremendous faithfulness, and we are exceedingly thankful.
For the last couple of months we have been in meetings with numerous non-profits, looking for potential tenants that would be a good fit for what we're doing with the space. The organizations occupying Phase 1 of the center represent some of the best in the city at what they do. These first four non-profits are:
- Communities in Schools
- Capital Area Food Bank
- Caring Family Network
- Austin Lifeguard
Here's a little about who each of these organizations represent and what they KEEP READING
Here are a few photo updates on the building progress, taken last week at the site.
Now that the renovation of the For The City Center is underway and we are working on partnering with non-profits, we have started to put together a plan for actually moving in to the St. John Campus. It's getting down to detail time.
Now that so many big questions are starting to get answered - how many rooms do we set aside for equipping classes, how much childcare space do we need, etc. - we have moved on to asking the little questions. Things like, how many tables and chairs will we need? Where do we get those tables and chairs? These FF&E questions (Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment) are all part of a larger game plan for moving in to the facility and executing with excellence.
About a month ago, each of our ministry teams started work on a "Launch Plan" to prepare for the move into the For The City Center in August. Our leaders put together a timeline to help us along towards the move, so work on the launch plan has moved quickly.
Each team got together and started their KEEP READING
Here are a few photos taken last week at the site:
Photos by Jami Sall
In thinking about the effects of the new For The City Center in St. John, most of us think primarily about how it will immediately impact the St. John community, but we often forget about the ripple effects that the project will have.
For example, we like to talk about the spiritual renewal and the economic development that we hope for, but we don’t always recognize the enthusiasm that it generates elsewhere. Particularly among the people who are helping us actually renovate the facility.
We are really fortunate to have DMG Construction involved in the renovation of the For The City Center. DMG has been specializing in commercial construction since 1991 and has worked on projects at UT, DFW airport, and for La Quinta Hotels among others. All that to say, our project supervisors have extensive experience in large commercial construction projects.
DMG has been more than just a general contractor, but a partner in helping us be good stewards of the finances God has given us to build KEEP READING
As construction moves forward on the new multi-site in the St. John’s neighborhood, so does the pursuit of the non-profit agencies that will office together at the new building.
The task of seeking out the right non-profits to inhabit the new For The City Center is a thorough and carefully constructed process. There are so many factors to consider and pray through. And with approximately 9,000 square feet of leaseable space, there are often several different factors in play at any one time.
Our primary concern is that, above all things, the organizations have the same heart for the “shalom” of the city of Austin that we do as a church. We want to partner with groups who are working daily to renew and restore the City of Austin. In the process of getting to know each potential organization, we are seeking to discover their needs for space, their effectiveness, their fit with other potential candidates, and their degree of alignment with our mission and our heart.
Our For The City KEEP READING