Click here to view the original article in the Kilgore News Herald.
For more about the Marquette situation, click here.
For more about the Wheaton situation, click here.
News
Pilgrim Lutheran Church's primary focus is on God's Good News about the forgiveness of sins by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. (The English word "gospel" essentially means "good news".) In addition to our traditional proclamation of God's Good News in our services and Bible Classes, we make use of various other print and electronic media to communicate that Good News and other news about the congregation that we share with our members and the public. You may use this page to see or go directly to the most-recent postings in the News category, or you may use this page to navigate to the respective pages for each of the subcategories as described first below.
Newsletters: PDFs of the congregation's "monthly" newsletter, including our pastor's column and monthly calendar
Minister's Moments: our pastor's monthly column publised in our local newspaper
May 06, 2016: Excavating the wall’s backfill
On May 6, 2016, crews excavated the backfill of the cracked foundation wall for the new Parish Hall in preparation for its demolition and reconstruction. Photo: Barbara Wuthrich.
After the Capital Improvements Committee met briefly on May 1, 2016, the go-ahead was given for the demolition and reconstruction of the cracked portion of the foundation and retaining wall for the new Parish Hall. Before the week was out, crews were on site excavating the backfill from the wall. The demolition was scheduled to begin May 18, and crews were on site both the 18th and 19th, but heavy rain prevented them from carrying out any work at that time. Estimates are for five months from resumed construction to completion. We continue to pray that the building is safely completed in God’s way and time.
April 27, 2016: Crack analysis and repair
This March 22, 2016, photo shows one of the cracks that appeared in the foundation wall for the new Parish Hall. Photo: J. Galler.
Although not everyone necessarily agrees, the contractor and his architectural engineer are convinced that the foundation wall for the new Parish Hall failed due to the timing of the March 8-9 heavy rain and their March 16-17 backfilling of the wall. (An official determination of cause by an independent third-party investigator was ruled out due to its likely cost and potential delay of the project.)
The contractor and his architectural engineer have a plan to fix the wall, which plan includes a thicker footing in the replaced section and additional reinforcement to attempt to keep the wall from sliding in the future. They are absorbing the approximate $10,000 cost of the demolition of the affected section of the wall and its replacement. (Although Kilgore and Gregg County were declared disaster areas, Federal Emergency Management Agency grant money was not available to pay for repairing any damages other than damage to residences.)
