2nd Balcony Seat Restoration - Why Do It?
In God’s providence, due to our location in the heart of Boston and the facility that is ours, I believe that Tremont Temple has a unique stewardship to oversee gospel work that will impact not merely Boston, but far beyond. There are 1752 seats in Converse Hall, our main space of worship, and these seats have been filled at various times in our history to inspire and catalyze God’s people to make disciples. Much of the talk about Tremont Temple is about our history—rightly so. But I believe that if the Lord delays, he has glorious exploits for us to do in His name, both now and in the future. For this reason, I’m particularly excited about the 2nd balcony seating restoration project that we’ve rolled out this past week.
It all began with a conversation between Craig Parker, who hosts a weekly prayer meeting in Currie Chapel, and Ed Lopez, our facilities manager. Craig currently serves with the Navigators, with a focus on discipling prisoners, including those who are integrating back into society. He also happens to be a gifted furniture reupholsterer! When Ed mentioned that our 2nd balcony seating, built in 1896 and in abysmal shape is in need of restoration, Craig’s curiosity was piqued and after some investigation, and he came to recognize a unique opportunity, with the intersection of his love for the church, his work with prisoners, and his reupholstery skills.
Craig first shared with our elders, in conjunction with Norman, our Deacon of Building and Hosea, our Deacon of Finance about the potential project. Soon after, he shared with our congregation at our monthly potluck a plan to gather, train, and pay 8-10 former prisoners, overseeing them as they restore and reinstall each of the the nearly 800 seats of our 2nd balcony. Craig also shared that he has assembled a volunteer team to oversee things like fundraising, marketing, website design, and videography, and with our blessing they have begun this fruitful labor, including a new website dedicated to inspiring people to contribute in a number of ways. Here is a link to the website:
https://sites.google.com/bu.edu/tremont-temple-restoration/home?authuser=0
It’s true that this is not an urgent matter like a broken elevator or crumbling facade! We know both of these staggering needs quite well, and we’ve long experienced the anxiety of emergency building repairs. But we may consider this restoration opportunity as an investment in our future as a church. Converse Hall is our historic worship space and it’s always been used for large, gospel conferences that have informed and inspired God’s people to further heights of faithfulness. As we look to the future to what God may do with our church, my prayer is that we would be united in our excitement and expectations for God to do great things with Converse Hall, and our church, where the gospel is held in highest regard.
