We can’t wait to see what God will do with our finished building; He has been doing so much already over these past years with our building indisposed. Join us in building God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven!

WHAT HAPPENED?
In 2017, we voted as a church to sell some of our unused assets to fund a building remodel project. We wanted to go into this remodel incurring as little cost to our congregants as possible and we were looking on track to do so. We hired a builder and began demolition on parts of the church with volunteer labor to save costs and the excitement was palpable! As time went by, less and less work was getting done by our contractor and it was getting more and more difficult to get answers from him about where our money had gone and what work was scheduled to be completed. In the early months of 2019, we decided to cut ties with our contractor and pursue a new partnership. Shortly after having that conversation with our contractor, we realized how bad the situation really was.

FRAUD
While work was getting done in the building, it was happening slowly and just enough was getting done to avoid suspicion of our contractor’s credibility. When we finally decided to cut ties with him, we were worried about getting back the money we had paid for work not yet completed. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only ones in this situation. It turned out that our contractor had been defrauding us as well as several other businesses and individuals over the years and it was all catching up with him. By the time we were aware, the FBI got involved and we were at the bottom of a long list of people looking to get their money back. We were out roughly $400,000 and more than half of our building was left unusable. (Context: https://mynorthwest.com/1423983/fbi-kirkland-builder-bilked-victims-millions/)

WHERE ARE WE NOW?
Thanks to the incredible efforts of our volunteer project manager, another contracting company was brought in to finish the job we had started. They assessed the building and saw how we could accomplish what we wanted while staying within what was left of our budget. We had to forgo a number of dreams we had for the building with the sole priority of finishing the remodel. We are happy to say that work is being completed and our new contractors have been amazing. Unfortunately, as they have worked to complete the remainder of the project, several creeping costs have shown up that were not brought to our attention by the original contractor and we are no longer able to complete this project within our budget.

At Lakeside we’ve experienced a season of renovation. It began with the renovation of our hearts and continued with the renovation of our facilities. As we close the chapter on the renovation of our facilities we look forward to how God will use them as we go beyond them to carry the message of the Gospel to Kirkland and beyond. Beyond these Walls calls us to ask God, “what’s next?” With thanksgiving for all He’s done we turn to God in anticipation for all that He will do as we open our lives and facilities for His purposes. Blown away by His generosity, we move to follow Him by being generous with our lives. Not content to see God at work, we desire to experience God.