David Whiting Live

Parking Lot Prayers

The parking lot is well under way (you won't be able to miss the cleared lot on Sunday). You can notice the photos below. But what we really need is prayers that God might allow us to finish what needs done in the next few weeks so we don't have to park off site all winter. We really need some good weather for it to get done in time. Please pray and until it's finished - park far!

The lot was cleared.

The playground was relocated by volunteers and saved the school over $10,000!

And don't forget to move your clock back one hour today.

Great News on Parking @ Northridge

I have some great news! We signed a contract today for $398,000 for our parking! That's a lot of money, but we have it on hand (thanks to your generous, sacrificial giving through our Creating Spaces project).

That means, obviously, that we have been approved by the city for all our variances (we are well over 200 spots above code and we are over 50% of coverage in our buildings and parking)! You may not see anything by this Sunday, but you certainly will be the next Sunday.

Thanks for your prayers! And thanks to Matt Tomlinson for all his work in getting us to this place.

 

One Step Closer to Parking...

Last night's meeting went well with the City Planning Commission. Thanks so much for your prayers. It is interesting how I can get more nervous talking to five people than to 1200. The stakes were high. If they did not approve our variance, than we would have to move toward three services very soon and we would have an auditorium that seats about 300 people more than we can adequately park on site.

We were the seventh case (out of nine).  We listened to all the other cases to get an idea of what to expect, and then we had fifteen minutes to make our presentation. We probably took about ten, answered a few questions, and then they closed the case and took care of the final two cases.

We then went with the City Planning Commission members to their deliberation room (you are allowed to observe but not allowed to speak).

It was an unanimous decision in our favor and a comment was even made about how nice it was to see a church growing - as typically they are handling cases of rezoning churches for other purposes because they close down.

We aren't finished yet.  We now need a variance to allow more than 50% coverage of our property - which requires approval from a different group, but without a presentation. We expect a ruling on that within ten days, and if all goes well, we should have more parking before the end of the year.

To those that serve by parking far - THANK YOU! Hopefully, just a couple more months!

We Need Your Prayers TONIGHT!

Tonight we are making a presentation at city hall to City Planning Commission to request a variance that would allow us to add 168 parking spaces to our property. We already are beyond the allowance for parking (one spot for every four seats). The problem is, we average less than two people per car (1.9 average per car the last six weeks).  It also will take us over 50% on the green-space regulation, but that is a later variance we will need to pursue with another city group.

Tonight's meeting is only to request a variance to add the 168 parking spaces. I will be presenting the need for the additional parking along with our representative from Marathon Engineering - who will handle the technical issues and questions.  Please pray for a board that is open to our needs and that they might rule in our favor.

Yesterday, we had our second highest "non-special" Sunday ever.  And during the second service, we had over 100 cars parked off-site and we still only one had one open spot in our main lot. Logically, we can "prove" we need more parking.  But that doesn't necessarily mean a lot in these situations when requesting a variance.

To avoid going to three services, we really need this parking. Please, please pray!

Here are two drawings that will help you understand where the parking will be, if approved.  The first one shows it finished.  The second one may be easier to tell what is current and what will be additional parking.

Thanks for your prayers.

 

More Construction

This week they are putting in a sidewalk along the old building and putting in new walkways between those sidewalks and the gym doors and middle doors.  Here is the current progress (as of Tuesday afternoon):

 

 

Volume Levels at Church

Here is a document we have at our information desk for those who have questions about volume levels at Northridge Church.

Volume Levels and Hearing Safety @ Northridge Church

Introduction

Thanks for your questions and comments about Northridge Church's choices on sound volume levels during our church services. We knew that entering our new building with the new sound system, we would likely receive questions, thoughts, and suggestions. We take any questions about the safety of our volume levels extremely seriously and are continuously evaluating what will serve our congregation most effectively in the long run.

Standards of Safety

Because the pastors and staff of Northridge are not scientific experts, we are thankful that the US government has done much research in the area of hearing safety. The government's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has researched and published its recommended sound levels for employees.

You can find their chart of safe sound levels by clicking HERE.

To summarize the article, OSHA standards for permissible sound levels, given various lengths of time are the following:

15 minutes per day - 115 dBA
30 minutes per day - 110 dBA
1 hour per day - 105 dBA
1.5 hours per day - 102 dBA
2 hours per day - 100 dBA
3 hours per day - 97 dBA

The table goes further, but we will stop there since it is very rare that the church will ever have more than one hour of music in a particular service, let alone more than three hours. 

Applying These Standards to Northridge Church

In order to adhere to these standards at Northridge, we use a sound pressure level meter to measure the volume levels. For most services, we target a sound level of 88dB to 95 dB. Only occasionally will we go beyond that level, though sometimes the levels could reach as high as 100dB. 

(For a more technical explanation, ask for the document at the info desk.)

Example for Consideration

On a typical Sunday morning, you will normally experience about 20 to 25 minutes of music. At a Vertical Worship service, it may be 40 to 45 minutes of music. Let's round up to one hour to be safe. That person can listen to music at 105 dB without concern for hearing damage. The normal maximum level of 95dB is well below that threshold. 

Safety, Comfort, and Preference

Finally, we must acknowledge that even within the range of safe sound volume, various people will have strong volume preferences. Scientific findings will not necessarily make it easier for people to enjoy sound levels that are higher than they desire. And we know that Northridge's historic sound level is much lower than current goals. 

The sound engineer is responsible to ensure that the sound levels do not exceed safety standards. However, within those guidelines, Jeff Mapes and Mark Nelson work with the sound crew to choose the levels on Sunday mornings, as the sound engineer changes from week to week. If you have concerns about a specific meeting you have attended or will attend, please contact Jeff Mapes, Mark Nelson, or David Whiting. One of them should be able to tell you the dB level used at that service.

We also know even within the OSHA guidelines there are some who have extra sensitive hearing. And it could cause a level of physical discomfort due to certain sounds or the overall volume. If this is your experience, please know that we are very sorry for the discomfort. The discomfort does not necessarily mean that your hearing is being damaged.

What we have most often discovered is that one's personal preference for musical styles affects their appreciation of the volume level. One might love a domineering, body-shaking pipe organ at 100dB, but be irritated by a worship band at 95dB. Because of that, we encourage the use of earplugs, and will offer a supply of them at the information desk. 

In Conclusion

As we told the church when we moved into the new building, it will take us six months to work out sound issues, and we continue to experiment to find what is working best for us. We want the volumes appropriately loud, and will continue to work on the right mix for our building and church. Thanks for your patience! We will continue to find the right balance of appropriately "loud."

Thanks again for your comments and questions about our sound levels. We appreciate your courage to bring your thoughts to our attention, and we hope that your concerns have been addressed here. If you have any more questions at all, please feel free to contact Jeff Mapes, Mark Nelson, or David Whiting.

* This document is based on a similar document used by Covenant Life Church; we thank them for their permission to use its contents.

Grand Opening Celebration Video

We made a video honoring our workers. We used it at the Grand Opening Celebration. In case you missed it or wanted to see it again - here it is. I love this summary video.

As always, if you receive this by email or in facebook - click on the title above "Grand Opening Celebration Video" and you will go to the blog to see the video. Or click HERE.

Three Things You Won't Want To Miss

Three Things You Won't Want To Miss:

1. Sunday's service is going to be GREAT! You won't forget it. I can't wait!  It is going to be amazing! It is the "Grand Opening" for our new building (three weeks in).  It is for our neighbors who haven't gotten a personal invite to come the first three weeks, and we want to give them a "normal" service, with some added touches. You won't want to miss it!  We've invited all the construction workers that have worked on the building and will be feeding them lunch following the 2nd service.
2. At 10:00 on Sunday will be the "Open House Celebration."  Mayor Duffy will be here. It starts in the new worship center.  NO CHILD CARE.  So if you attend 8:30 - pick up your children from the nursery, 2's and 3's or HIGH POINT and bring them with you to the worship center.  If you are coming at 10:00 - keep your children with you until you drop them off before the 11:00 service.  The time in the worship center will be brief and children will be welcome.  We expect it to be packed!!  COME EARLY and SIT CLOSE. After the brief time int he worship center - the entire building will be open for you to see (backstage, baptistery, nurseries, HIGH POINT stage, youth building, etc...).  Free coffee donated from Starbucks and free snacks!!  Don't miss the 10:00 hour!!!  We have no child care because we want ALL areas of the building to be open for self-guided tours.
3. One other thing I would encourage you to "not miss." I have a good friend who I've been pushing for over a year to start a blog. He is a GREAT writer and a GREAT thinker. I've NEVER pushed you do check out a blog and anytime someone asks me to push something - I always say 'no.'  So this is totally from me, without his knowledge or consent... but I would urge you to check out Harlan's blog. You will see very quickly that he is a gifted writer and thinker. And more importantly - he loves God with his MIND!  I wish I could write like Harlan, but I'm trying to be thankful for my gifts.  Harlan can write - I can verbally communicate. We make a good team! Check his blog out by clicking HERE. (http://prodigalspath.typepad.com/a-prodigals-path/)

See you Sunday!

Northridge Church - First Sunday - part 2

Still unable to put my mind around my experience on Sunday... so many things I could tell, but I will let pictures do the job.  Make sure you read to the end!!!

 

Jud & Andrea - checking out the selection in the cafe cooler.

I think this is a cool area... my wife says it is "cozy" - I still don't know what that means...

Delgattis - during the dedication prayer.  I love this picture!!

This is a monitor in the front row.

Two more baptisms are happening this Sunday.

As News 10 was getting set up for a video interview, a more important conversation was happening first... I hope you hear his story one day...

A couple of other thoughts:

• This Sunday may be the BEST Sunday EVER to invite someone who has not placed their faith in Christ. I really believe that.
• Also - someone gave me an idea. If you have pictures from Sunday (or take some from this blog) - post them on your facebook - to give exposure to our church. Everyone who checks your facebook can get find out about Northridge... just an idea.

Tomorrow IS the Super Bowl for Northridge Church!

Hello Northridge!!  Here are some final thoughts before the big day tomorrow:

• Hundreds of you have given a lot of time and money to make tomorrow happen. THANK YOU!! A few have given a large part of your life to this project over the last three years. THANK YOU - can't do it. But I pray that God's blessing would be on you in a HUGE way!
• Don't be late tomorrow! You don't want to miss the opening video summarizing the project! (Thanks, Josh!)
• After the baptism - celebrate like someone's life has changed (let's PLEASE believe that trusting Christ and being baptized is more important than a football game)!!
• We know that at least one TV station will be there tomorrow. They want to interview people from the church.  If they interview you - here are tips I've given in the past about media interviews:
• • Try to talk about Jesus as much as possible.
  • Pray that the exposure that Northridge gets to point people to the Gospel - not you.
  • Try to speak in short sentences and simple thoughts... If it isn't a short, simple answer - it increases the possibility of being misunderstood or misquoted.
  • Remember that when you speak, you are not simply representing yourself...  Remember that what you say won't simply impact YOUR reputation...  I'm representing Jesus.
• Don't forget about EQUIP classes at 10:00.
• Don't forget to check out the bookstore and cafe...
• Remember - no food or drinks in the worship center. So grab your coffee before your EQUIP class.
• Some of you are parking off-site (with van shuttles).  THANK YOU!

Will you pray before you go to bed tonight for God's incredible blessing tomorrow?  THANKS!