Today Coram Deo says farewell to the converted house on south 87th Street that has been our ministry headquarters for the past three years.
For the first 18 months of Coram Deo’s existence, we officed in the back corner of an office building owned by our mother church. And when I say “officed,” I mean that term loosely, since said church was in the process of renovating the rest of the building. We did our best to write sermons, counsel people, and meet for missional community despite the din of hammer drills and backhoes, the smell of paint, and the regular interruption of construction workers who needed to use our bathroom. Despite the distractions, it was a great blessing to have a sending church who gave us free office space while we got the church up and running. To this day we are grateful.
In the summer of 2007 it was time to cut the umbilical cord, and so we leased the cheapest 1400 square feet of office space we could find, which happened to be on 87th and Center near Canfield Plaza. It was pretty neglected, but thanks to the labor of some Coram Deo folks, we whipped it into shape. For the past three years this space has been the nerve center for the daily operations of the Coram Deo church community. It’s hosted missional communities, Bible studies, counseling appointments, baptism classes, membership interviews, staff meetings, premarital classes, Spring Break teams, preaching cadres, and church planters’ training, as well as facilitating the daily office work that keeps the mission moving forward.
Since 2007 our church has tripled in size, with corresponding growth in leaders and complexity, making this little office-house no longer feasible for many of these uses. God in his uncanny providence gave us a new office (more on that story later). So today, we pack up and say goodbye to 87th Street. We’ll move all of our operations to the new CD headquarters in the Access Bank building on 78th and Dodge.
Thanks for the memories, 2805. I know Kendal thinks fondly of his days fighting the spiders and rats in your dirt crawlspace to change the furnace filter. But alas, those days are behind us now. May the many coffee spills Walker left on your carpet be a nostalgic reminder of our presence.
2805, you had a good run my friend, you will forever be etched in the fondest places of my memories.
Thanks for allowing me to carve out the coolest desk space in the entire office, right by the kitchen counter — It was like you knew what was best for me. Thanks for hosting BGT 127 times. Thanks for hosting Cookie Madness: The Great Cookie Cook-off 2009. Thanks for just being the siren and harbinger of baked goods. Thanks for hosting the bracket challenge for 3 years and ensuring that I never lost and therefore avoided having to take that blow-up doll on a date. Thanks for bowl toss in the back yard (I will end with and forever hold the record). Thanks for pull-ups and push-ups. Thanks for all your white-board space. Thanks for letting me paint inspiring quotes on the walls of Walker’s office. Thanks for letting me spend the night on Bob’s couch those few times when I had nowhere else to go. Thanks for letting me store everything I own in the garage for my entire 2.5 year stay in Omaha. Thanks for not getting mad when Walker spilled that Papa Johns’ garlic butter on the carpet of the living room, leaving a long flare-like oily stain that is still strikingly present — I’m sorry, I tried 5 times to clean it up. Thanks for not getting mad when Walker poured that entire french press of coffee all over the carpet of his office. And thanks for holding back the chuckle when most of it got all over his face and burned him, sending him to the drug store for ointment. Thanks for hosting those rare and beautiful office acoustic concerts with Luke, which only a few ears have heard. Thanks for being patient during all those days when Bob had too much Mountain Dew and would dance on his desk and run around the office yelling. Thanks for being home to the 3 most beautiful admins I know (Ivy, Barb, Bethany). Thanks for letting us build a prayer closet by Bob’s office, which I desperately needed that time I was hiding from Bob. Thanks for blowing a fuse 2 times a day, reminding us that we should take a break. Thanks for front-yard football. Thanks for back-porch watermelon. Thanks for that one-time that we started the regular office ritual of playing hot-seat during lunch that conveniently ended after it’s inaugural round of Barb spilling her guts. And thanks for not laughing too hard and embarrassing Barb when she would wear her snuggie around. Thanks for being patient with Justin when he insisted that the floor was a better place for his books than the bookshelf. Thanks for understanding during all those times when we just had no idea where Frock was. Thanks most of all for staff lunch around the counter every day; those were the contexts for some of my favorite and most memorable times in Omaha. And thanks for being patient with Bethany as she learned to be the beckoner of staff lunch. For all this and so much more, thanks.
Also, I think I see my frisbee on the roof; can you mail that to me?
I drive by your new office building practically every day. Maybe I can come in and steal some coffee?
Jon, you should! The CD guys brew good coffee. Just keep the office # on hand.
There were also RATS in that crawl space?!?!?!?!
Well, that MIGHT be hyperbole. I mean, I never saw a rat face to face. Just their droppings.
Cadre and harbinger ? Excellent diction: one of the reasons I still read this blog.
Droppings in crawl space = rats in crawl space
… aaaaand I think my last comment may have killed any nostalgia you were attempting to evoke with this post. Geez. :/
Kendal — loved your extended reminiscing of memories. We miss you terribly !!
How is Seed Austin going ?? Please email us old people 🙂 John and Deb Hanes
Bob — thank you so much for sharing all the cool stuff going back to the beginnings of Coram Deo, and the blessings the office near Canfield’s held.
Blessings on your new office facility, may it generate terrific memories as well !!
John and Deb