What’s Been Going on at the Sanctuary These Past Few Years?

What has been going on at the Sanctuary these past few years? This is a question a number of nonresidents have been asking lately.

Below is a list of 25 developments. They appear here in no particular order, just as they popped into the memory of resident caretaker Ted Staver and on to paper:

1. Removed all of the old equipment in front of the maintenance shed

2. Found a new home for the llamas and cleaned up the pasture area

3. Began the foundation for a future park by installing swings and a fountain

4. Built a screened-in garden in the park area

5. Landscaped the front of the Chapter House and removed the old greenhouses

6. Rocked in the parking lot island and areas around the Chapter House with over 25 tons of rock

7. Purchased a recreational vehicle and placed it on the Sanctuary grounds as a guest house with permanent wiring and sewage service

8. Converted one part of the Chapter House into a separate living quarters and thus was able to add one more permanent resident at the Sanctuary

9. Working on completing another living quarters later this year so that one more permanent resident will be living at the Sanctuary, for a total of 4 people

10. Installed a 1-kilowatt wind generator to provide power needed by the added number of people

11. Repaired the Church of New Pentecost and landscaped the area with rocks

12. Repaired the steps at the Cathedral Church of the Americas and stained the table and other key areas

13. Installed transformers to the upper level of the Sanctuary so that the Refectory and Cathedral Church now run on solar power

14. Planted 450 trees at the Church of the Christian Churches and upgraded the irrigation system to accommodate them

15. Removed tons of stone rubble at the parking lot of the Church of New Epiphany

16. Gave the entrance to the Church of New Epiphany a face lift, and it is now the first Church on the Sanctuary grounds to have its name at its entrance

17. Replaced the Communion table at the Church of New Epiphany and repaired the bell choir tables

18. Replaced the 15-foot cross at the Church of the Christian Churches

19. Painted all the crosses in the South Sanctuary (Sanctuary of Prophecy)

20. Repaired the vestment racks at the Churches in the South Sanctuary

21. Painted the Communion tables in the South Sanctuary (Sanctuary of Prophecy)

22. Repaired and permanently fixed in place the cross at the Church of the Americas

23. Completed all but the final phase of the water project (There is way too much to list here. See other Communiqué articles dealing with the Sanctuary water project specifically)

24. Restored the cross and table at the Church of New Philadelphia

25. Placed vestment racks at all the Churches in the Northland (Sanctuary of Revelation)

A lot of lesser projects are not mentioned in this list, but the above twenty-five projects represent the major developments of the past couple of years.