(June 14, 2026)
Preschool update: Pastor Mark told the special churchwide meeting that the best hope is that the City of St. Petersburg will finally approve the building permits that will allow the renovation of the LEC to begin, which will lead to the opening of our new preschool.
Repeated delays have put new pressure on having the preschool ready to open in January 2027. If the permits come through, construction should begin quickly.
Once construction begins, the wing of the LEC that contains classrooms will be off-limits for the rest of the year. Gym, office and worship activities will continue uninterrupted.
As soon as we have work on the permits, we will post an update here on PCC Forward.
LEC upgrades: The acoustics company that PCC has hired to do the sound upgrades in the LEC says it should be ready to install the panels on the LEC walls and ceiling in August. the next big decision for the committee working on the LEC worship space is to make decisions about portable staging that will be needed since most of the current stage will be transformed into classrooms soon. The committee has not made a final decision on what staging to purchase but these illustrations give you an idea of what the committee is considering.
The staging comes in easy-to-construction sections that would be stored in our equipment storage closet during basketball season. It is a big decision because the staging, stairs and safety railings will total around $10,000.
Organ, Satined Glass, Bells, Kettle Drums update:
The Recovery and Reuse Committee has been busy selling, donating and preserving church property.
At the churchwide meeting, we heard from Tim Newby, a pipe organ expert and second generation owner of Central Music in St. Pete. Newby has been involved in church installation projects and renovations that are even bigger than our own big pipe organ around Florida and around the country. Newby has been generous with his time and expertise giving our church advice about the potential value of our newly renovated organ and what he sees as our most viable options.
Newby agreed with previous estimates of what it could cost to extract the organ from the current sanctuary, store the pieces and reinstall the organ in a new space. The estimates range from $300,000 to a half million dollars, which Newby said is far more than a new digital organ would cost.
Newby said most churches today are install the digital versions because they require so little maintenance and can be tuned to spaces great and small. He reminded the audience that our current organ was built for a massive sanctuary and would not be appropriate for a smaller worship center, which is almost assuredly what PCC will eventually build.
Newby said it is possible to use some of the current organ, but it would severely devalue chances to sell what was left. The best option, he said, is to attempt to sell the organ, as is, to someone else. He said it would not be an easy task, but it is not impossible to find a buyer, especially since our organ was recently updated. Even if a buyer did not want to purchase the pipes, which would be costly to remove and store, a buyer might want the newly renovated consolute, which is the soul of the instrument.
The church membership will vote on whether to sell the pipe organ in a special called meeting June 28th at noon.
The Recovery and Reuse committee met recently with stained glass experts to evaluate which sections of stained glass can be recovered from the Hamilton, chapel and sanctuary. No decisions have been made about what to save and store and what might be sold. More conversations with experts are scheduled in the coming weks.
The Recovery and Reuse Committee did approve the sale of some of the choir bells and the kettle drums to a charter school that focuses on music and the arts. The sale brought in $3,200 and PCC is retaining two octives of bells and chimes for future choir use.
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