First and foremost we are asking that you pray and seek God’s leading on what He is asking of you. Prepare your heart to hear Him, and then listen to what He says. Talk with your spouse and your family about what this commitment will mean for this next exciting season of your lives. Also, if you aren’t involved in a small group or study group, we ask that you engage in one during this season.

Devoted Next Steps is our one year anniversary of the Devoted kickoff that began in May of 2016. We are asking that everyone at 2|42 take one of (3) DEVOTED next steps:

1. Some of you will be committing to DEVOTED for the very FIRST time and will be making a 12-month commitment to DEVOTED from June 2016 – June 2017. Thank you for joining hundreds of us on this exciting journey as we all sacrifice generously as a church to help more people take next steps with God!
2. Others of you are already on this DEVOTED journey, and you will be committing to FINISH STRONG in this final year of DEVOTED as we all complete our commitments together by June of 2017. Thank you for your commitment to this journey!
3. Others of us are on this DEVOTED journey and we have had either an increase in faith or in finances, and we are being led to INCREASE our DEVOTED commitment as our next step. Thank you for your continued generosity as you continue to follow God’s leading and determine what a DEVOTED next step looks like you for you in this next season. God wants to do BIG things through 2|42, and we need every single one of us to be a part!

Finally, we ask that you prepare to be amazed. It is an awesome God we serve! He is going to show up in huge ways and we anticipate a significant impact from our collective DEVOTED commitments. Please mark your calendar for Commitment Weekend June 18 & 19th and prepare to experience a life-changing worship service that will forever be remembered as a defining moment for our church and for our own faith.

Be creative as you explore ways you and your family can give towards this initiative. You might have some stocks, property, or other items of that nature. Or you may have some stored resources that God has blessed you with in the past that he just might be calling you to give out of during this time. Please contact Bob Smith at bobsmith@242community.com if you would like to discuss this opportunity more specifically.

September 11th the Lansing Campus will officially launch. We set aside 8 months to help the people of Meridian Christian Church hear our vision and interact with the 2|42 teams. We are so excited that even while the campus has not launched, over 400 people have joined us on weekend services in Lansing, that’s an increase of 125 people joining the team.

Moving our existing building is not a viable option. We can leverage our existing facility to increase its capacity by 30% in Brighton. Maximizing our existing building allows us to keep our debt low and continue on in our next steps as a church.

The completion timeline will be largely dependent on the generosity of 2|42 through this Devoted season. The construction priorities are:

1. Brighton parking lot. (DONE)
2. Student Ministry additions in Brighton. (Fall, 2016)
3. Kids and Adult auditorium renovations in Brighton. (Easter 2017)

1. Phase 1, 400 seat Auditorium & Children’s Ministry areas. (Fall, 2016)
2. Phase 2, 850 seat Auditorium, Common’s area, student and children’s ministry areas. (Easter 2017)

1. New entry way, remodeled lobby, new worship audio, video and lighting systems and remodeled children’s areas. (Fall, 2016)
2. Property on west boundary retained for future expansion (Done)

The activities for the Brighton facility will be different than what we have experienced in the past because the building needs to be usable during construction. Taking this into consideration, the activities logistics will take place in the following sequence:

1. Parking Lot (Can be constructed with limited disruption to the existing paved parking spaces)
2. Additions (Constructing the additions will have little impact on the functions of the building interiors)
3. Kids and auditorium renovations (Kids will be temporarily moved to the new student space, and we are considering methods of being able to renovate the auditorium and still safely use it every weekend for services.)

With the amazing growth that the Ann Arbor Campus has experienced, we have decided to take the new building, renovate half of it, and move in by fall of 2016. Then renovate the other half for a move-in date of Easter 2017. This is the only way we can see to continue to make room for all the people you are bringing to church and who are taking next steps with God!

The bible doesn’t teach that debt is a sin…but it does teach that debt is very dangerous. We understand the need to handle any debt with great wisdom. Church extension funds across the country, as a standard, do not want to see debt as more than 35% of a church budget. 2|42 Community Church currently has 19% of its budget allocated towards debt. We anticipate keeping the church debt at 25% or lower of the overall budget at the end of Devoted.

The investment into facilities allows the church to continue to grow. The potential for influencing more people to use their time, talents and resources to make an impact on the poor and reach people for Christ is exciting. God has placed 2|42 in a unique position to engage the people in our communities to live a Christ centered life and make a difference in the world around them.

Like we did in Brighton, we are moving into a facility with 800 seats that can be adapted to accommodate more seating as the church grows. We pray that God fills those 800 seats and that we will need to make room for more people quickly. Part of building momentum is having spaces where people can see the church grow. Right-scaling our spaces for each season of the church’s growth helps us do that. With 800 seats we anticipate we can grow to just above 4,000 attendees in Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor also has 27 acres to Brighton’s 12, so expansion when the time come will not be difficult.

We start by asking the question, “What does each Campus need to get to the next level?” In this instance, we anticipate the costs to be about equal between the Campuses. We believe we are near 6 million dollars in construction costs for each project. We are in early design stages for both facilities and those numbers can change as we move forward and respond to changing circumstances such as the sale of the existing Ann Arbor facility, the success of the Devoted campaign, the growth of the church, and construction costs.

We love that question because there is so much more to do to reach people in Livingston County. We are maximizing our current facility and taking advantage of the asset we have. We look forward to expanding the influence of 2|42 through more campuses in the future.

The property being purchased is part of a former research and development complex owned by the Pall Corporation. In the mid 1990’s, a byproduct from their manufacturing process leaked into an on-site well and ultimately into the local groundwater aquifer about 100-feet below the surface. This leak contaminated the local aquifer.

Since the contamination accident 20 years ago, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) has required that the Pall Corporation remediates the contamination. Those remediation measures subsided about 10 years ago and the MDEQ continues monitoring of the site.

As part of our due diligence, 2|42 had completed a Phase I environmental survey, created a Due care Plan and have had additional soil and air samples tested. None of the testing we have done have revealed any health risks.

As 2|42 has grown, we have been adding services to make more room for more people. Saturday evenings and Sunday mornings are the times during the week when most people will attend church services because it fits into the rhythm of the work/home schedule. We have added services during those times but are quickly running out of opportunities to add services during optimal times.

10% (about 533K) of 2|42’s 2016 operating budget goes towards local and global missions. This includes local, global and kingdom missions throughout the year.

Staff salaries are set using 3 different information studies that take into account church size, region of the country, etc. 2|42 keeps their salaries right at or below the median salaries determined by these studies.

It’s catchy, we think we can do it, and it aligns with the vision we have always had to plant more churches. It is the audacious goal we believe God is calling us to. The potential impact of 20 new churches by 2020 is tens of thousands of people and we are excited to help make these new churches a reality. 2|42 is raising one million dollars to go towards church planting and future campuses.

Church Plants in 2015:

• SouthPointe Christian Church – Huron Township
• Mile City Church in Livonia
• Emmanuel Christian Church in Belle Anse Haiti.

Church plants in 2016:

• Detroit Church in Midtown Detroit.
• We are also looking forward to assisting several churches that we help start, plant their own new churches (That makes us a Grandparent Church!)

We are looking ahead and making plans on what we can confidently move forward in for this next season at 2|42. We are always seeking God’s direction and asking what is beyond that, so we will continue to follow His leading in everything we do.

If you have any more questions please don’t hesitate to ask. Contact your Campus Pastors at:
Ann Arbor: derek.alonzi@242community.com
Brighton: kelley.runion@242community.com
Lansing: chad.cronin@242community.com