Pastor's Corner by William Wu

September 2007

It’s really amazing when we discover God’s provision! On July 24th, we signed a letter of intent with Flory Construction, bringing us one step closer in the hiring this company as our G/C. I know many of us have been praying for the building project. More specifically, praying for a Christian, a Church Builder, who we can together built this building for His Kingdom. God answer our prayers. He knows our every need. Let us praise Him! He is Lord! He blesses those who seek Him on all things.

It was approximately eight weeks ago, while we were busy talking to the design team to correct columns misalignment, the architect informed the church that one column at the southeast corner was omitted on the architectural drawing. We also learned that one parking stall has quickly disappeared in favor of the missing column. What could be worse? The Architect informed us we must move the building approximately 2 ft to the north, as the new column encroaches onto Santa Clara Water District’s easement. Working to resolve some of the issues pertaining to moving the building, the Architect informed us that we can rotate the building counter-clock slightly and by doing so, we don’t need to move the building northerly by 2 ft. In addition, we can recover one parking stall next to the newly added column. These solutions were worthy of our praise and thanksgiving to our God.

While we were working together on resolving some of the outstanding issues, the high cost of trenching for the underground utilities was before us. We met with the PG&E representative to discuss possibly relocate the power transformer to the front of the building and closer to the power pole from across the street. In essence, this move will reduce the trenching and underground construction cost. The PG&E representative agreed with our suggestion. As such, our Architect was able to incorporate all the above changes: adding the missing column, rotate the building to avoid the easement, relocate the transformer pad to the front of the building on to the revised drawing. Three complete sets of drawings were submitted to the SJ Examiner for review on Monday 8/6/2007. Although some of these changes were insignificant, but none-the-less, the re-submittal was required. Please continue to pray that no negative comments will come from SJ Examiner on the revised drawing.

During our initial meeting with Flory Construction, David suggested a reduced fire rated building will lower the construction cost. We proceeded to talk with our architect. Meetings were held between our Architect and SJ Examiner to review the building code, occupancy and area analysis to determine whether reduced fire rating is applicable. Architect informed us that our request was denied. Four weeks ago, our Architect, Ming Ng and I met with the SJ Examiner, his manager, and a representative from the Fire Dept. to review our change request. We learned it was possible to change the occupancy on the ground floor. However, the fact that we have classrooms on the second floor, the building code for fire requires us to be Type V - 1 hour rating throughout the entire building. At the conclusion of our meeting, we decided to not change our occupancy and keep the building as originally designed.

A few days after our meeting with SJ Examiner, he wrote us a letter, appraising us the attic-storage has been declared unusable. This was a shocking surprise to all of us, including the architect. The Architect corresponded with SJ Examiner, quoting the building code and provided substantial justification on the attic-storage for church use. Given the documented support, SJ Examiner concurred with the Architect and reinstated the attic-storage for church use. Hallelujah, hallelujah, praise Him!

A few weeks ago, AMStar informed us in writing that the steel delivery has been postponed to the week ending October 19th. However, we may request for a partial delivery of structural steel and roof in September. We plan to further discuss the building construction schedule with Flory Construction. Once we determine the best schedule for our project, we will request for the steel delivery accordingly.

Please pray for the following:

1. completion of the building pad
2. agreement to hire G/C David Flory
3. start the underground construction
4. start the foundation
5. schedule the steel delivery
6. delay the rainy season

Please reserve Saturday, September 29 on your calendar. You are invited to a celebration dinner on the construction milestone and the sharing of the church building vision.

William Wu
Building Committee Chairman

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當我們察覺神的供應時，真是多麼的神奇啊！在七月廿四日，我們簽發了一封給Flory建築公司的「聘用意向書」，帶領我們向著聘請他們做我們的總承建商邁進一步。我知道很多人為著這件事禱告。更明確地來說，為著有一位基督徒的教會承建商代禱，以至我們能夠同心擴建祂的國度。神答允我們的祈求。祂知道我們的需要。讓我們讚美祂!!! 祂是主!! 祂在各樣事情上祝福所有尋找祂的人!!

大約在八個星期前，建築師報告出在建築圖樣上忽略了一支在東南方的柱，我們還正在忙於討論如何改正過來，同時亦知到因「柱」的問題，有一個停車位會被取消!! 有什麼事情比這更壞呢??!  建築師還指出我們一定要把崇拜中心向北移過二呎，因為「柱」會佔用了Santa Clara縣水務局所用之地。當我們還還在為移動的問題傷腦筋時，建築師建議我們將整楝建築物稍微移轉一下亦可，這樣做便無需北移，同時也可保留在「新柱」旁的停車位。種種一切都值得我們向我們的神發出讚美和感恩。

當我們仍在處理一些懸而未決的問題時，我們又要面對著〝挖坑工程〞的昂貴費用。我們曾與PG&E代表討論有關將變壓器移至較近建築物的前方，以致可靠近對街電纜的可行性，此舉將減少工程的成本；PG&E亦接納我們的建議。建築師便可就加建柱子、轉移建築物避開地役權及重置變壓器位置等來修正圖則。三項圖則修正已於8/8/2007送交聖荷西市府審核，雖然幾項變動都並非嚴重，但重新審核是必需的。故此，請為審批事宜繼續代禱。

在我們與Flory建築公司首度見面時，David建議我們申請降低防火評級來減低建築成本。於是我們與建築師和市府代表就建築條例、容納量和面積等商討降低防火評級的可行性。然而，建築師通知我們要求馬上被駁回。四週前，建築師、伍明輝和我會見市府的審查員、主管及一名消防代表商討有關改變，如果我們改變地下的人數容納量是絕無問題；但二樓因為有課室的關係，防火評級必須維持為〝第五級〞 – 因此整楝建築物必須有一小時評級的防火設施。最後我們決定按原定設計進行，不作任何變動。

與會幾日後，市政府之審查員通知我們樓頂之儲物室被審為不能使用，這實在令我們感到驚訝。則師馬上去信並列出有關支持新崇拜中心設計的建築條例，因此市府重新批准可以按原來設計使用。哈利路亞！讚美主！

八月七日，AMStar書面通知鋼架需延至10/19日才能運抵，但仍可要求結構鋼架及房頂部份於九月送貨。我們擬與Flory建築公司商討工程進程，一經決定建築時間表後，我們便會要求鋼材按計劃付運。

請為下列事項代禱：

1.      完成新堂的建築墊

2.      聘請David Flory的合約事宜

3.      排水管工程的開展

4.      地基工程的開展

5.      鋼材能依時運送

6.      雨季延後來臨

請預留9/29日﹝星期六﹞，誠意邀請你蒞臨參加一個為建堂重要里程碑而舉辦的晚筵，並分享我們的異象。

伍廷達

建堂委辦主席