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December 2003 Update... (I think I can, I think I can...)

Building Task Force Selects New General Contractor
from our August 2002 Newsletter
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Skyline’s Building Task Force unanimously chose Daystar-Sills, Inc., as our General Contractor for the building project Thursday night, July 25, 2002, based on their competitive bid and experience. They bid the project for a total cost of $1,617,041.00.

Besides the Daystar-Sills bid, we reviewed bids from The Burns Group and from Evergreen Builders. While both of these bids were competitive, neither was as complete as the Daystar-Sills bid, so that the actual difference approached $75,000, in the estimation of the Team members.

Larry Steenhoek contacted Daystar-Sills on Friday, July 26, to inform them of our decision and to begin contract negotiations immediately. They have estimated that they will be able to begin work within a month.

We had to select a new General Contractor because our original contractor, E.A. Lockerman, Inc., could not qualify for a performance bond required by our lender, the United Methodist Development Fund (other banks and lenders require such a bond). Daystar-Sills has a $20 million bonding capability. Incorporated in 1991, they have completed over 400 projects in the four state area ranging from $100,000 to $6 Million, and a total of $50 Million annually.

Their projects include churches, municipal buildings, retail spaces, schools, medical facilities, athletic facilities, and hangars. Last year, Daystar-Sills completed Word of Life Christian Center (854 Old Baltimore Pike in Newark). You can see pictures of this project, similar in size and complexity to our project, on our website.

Besides our Team, Charlie Hughes, a former Skyliner now living in New Jersey and General Contractor with Summit Builders, and Dick Prettyman, a regular at Skyline with building and realty experience, have both reviewed the bids and provided the Team valuable information for our contract negotiation phase.

The members present at the July 25 meeting were (in the order they were sitting): Mark Hufford, Larry Steenhoek, Emily Ilyas, Bo Gordy-Stith, Bud Buckwalter, Gene Mentzer, Tom Good, Janice Melson, and Dave DeJuliis. Dick Prettyman also attended the meeting. Other Team members include: Kathy Wilson-Freeman, Michelle Keenan, Michelle Mash, Scott Mastrangelo, and Harold Vicari.

After making the decision, the Team closed with a prayer of thanks to God for providing the dream and the means to realize it, and specifically for Larry Steenhoek's and Mark Hufford's leadership. We also prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and blessing for Daystar-Sills. Thanks to God for each member of the Team who have served the Skyline community so faithfully and for so long. And thanks to all members and friends of Skyline who believe in this dream of extending our welcome to new life in Christ to our community.

Groundbreaking! Skyline Got the Loan!
from our March 2002 Newsletter
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It’s official! We praise God that the Board of Directors of the United Methodist Development Fund has approved our loan application #NE202 for $1,000,000 on February 28, 2002. This means that we can now sign the contract with our builder, E.A. Lockerman, Inc., and set a date to break ground for the addition of some 12,000 square feet or over twice our present worship and education space and four times the parking space for people to gather to praise God at Skyline.

The weeks leading up to the loan approval were spent in negotiations between Skyline leaders and Agnes Walker and Sam Dixon, Associate Loan Directors at the UM Office of Loan Administration in New York. Since the total cost of the project had increased $200,000, the internal committee was concerned about how Skyline will repay the loan, especially in the first few years.

In these negotiations, our Stewardship Pathway Minister, Bill Everitt, did a great job feeding information to the Office of Loan Administration. We also owe a great debt to Alan Brown, a great friend of Skyline and Gail Chupein’s husband (Gail is our Staff Parish Relations Committee Chair). Alan is a Certified Financial Planner with Delmarva Limited Financial Consultants. He has thoroughly reviewed Skyline’s present and projected financial health and wrote to the internal committee: “It is my professional opinion that the congregation does know what they are facing and do have the financial resources to complete the project, even if they have to do it out of their existing pockets.”

So what does this mean, exactly?

Alan Brown put together a spreadsheet that outlines future budget projections at Skyline, and our plan for paying off the 15 year mortgage. This plan, the centerpiece of our rationale for why the Board should give us the loan, includes the following assumptions:

Do those first two assumptions seem ambitious? When our capital fund consultant, Don Caldwell, projected we would raise $400,000 based on over a decade of experience with congregations across the country, many of YOU helped far exceed those expectations to pledge nearly $700,000 and enabled us to dream a God-sized dream. We’ll be sending more information to you as we know more, but keep in prayer that we continue in God’s will with this project.

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Last modified: 02/11/08