Worship Sundays at 10am

Fire Updates

08FEB2020
@ 0900 & 1100 hrs.
During the Sunday Worship Services, Elder Erin Gettis (at 9am) and Elder Ann Laudermilk (at 11am) read the following update to the congregation:
Good morning. The Fire Contracts Committee has some exciting news to share with the congregation since the last time we were here. We recommended to Session at the February meeting that we move ahead and sign the contract with the chosen architect to begin the initial design phases of work.
So what does this mean?  We are recognizing that the insurance company has not approved the full amount of the architect’s bid at this time, and we are acknowledging the church will likely be responsible for a portion of the fees and moving FORWARD ANYWAY. Working through the design phases will get us much closer to the answers that are required from the City BEFORE final insurance determinations can be made, and will get out of the stall that we are in, that you and others of the congregation may FEEL we are in.
The Contracts Committee is fully confident that TR Design is the most qualified and best fit for the job and the committee was not willing to let the architect be determined for us. We were weary of being bound by the control of the insurance company. Session agreed to step out in FAITH and to support signing the contract, despite some unknowns. Session made a decision to take control of our path forward.
So, in the coming weeks, the Design Committee, consisting of Brenda Flowers, Chris Nettles, Erin Gettis, Tim Lewis, and Pastors Claire and Paul, will be meeting with TR Design again to begin the process of sharing with them the results of the visioning process undertaken by Session earlier in 2019. Exciting developments are expected to quickly unfold!
Thank you and please continue praying for the Committees and the process.
22DEC2019
@ 1000 & 1200 hrs.
After the 9am and 11am services, the fire damaged sanctuary was opened up for church members to see.
08DEC2019
@ 0900 & 1100 hrs.
During the Sunday Worship Services, Elder Erin Gettis (at 9am) and Elder Ann Laudermilk (at 11am) read the following update to the congregation:
Good morning everyone and thank you for your prayers and patience with the process of the aftermath of the fire.
The Fire Contracts Committee wants to share with all of you the progress that has been made recently. As a reminder, in May we selected our contractor, CA Construction.  We also selected TR Design Group of Riverside as our architect and we brought that to you in August, the last time I spoke with you. We have been waiting for the undisputed amount to be settled with the insurance company in order to sign with our architect.  We were really hoping to have an update in this regard and say we had an executed contract with the architect but we are awaiting the insurance company as of today.
In October, the Insurance company sent a substantial check for the part of the claim that was undisputed. We have received several payouts thus far, totaling over 1.45 million dollars. This includes the contents claim, half of the organ replacement value, extra expense payouts (meaning improvements to this space), payments to several subcontractors, and the undisputed amount to date of nearly $1 million.    In October we were assigned a new general adjuster at the insurance company and things seem to be moving along at a better pace.
Soft demolition within the sanctuary has been completed as of the end of October.  If you are wondering, soft demolition means all of the stuff not part of the “contents”, which had already been removed, so building pieces that are removable and don’t impact significant structure.
Even though this building we are now sitting in was not damaged in the fire, there have been upgrades and work completed to improve this experience in the interim.  Do you like the new flooring?  HVAC and Electrical permits have been finalized. We are awaiting acceptance of payment from the City and we are anxiously anticipating coordination between our electrical contractor and the City for completion of installation.  Some of this work has been covered by the insurance.
The Session has continued to meet and discern next steps to prepare to work with the architect on proposals for the church sanctuary going forward.  Four elders have volunteered for the design committee to work with the architect and they are Tim Lewis, Brenda Flowers, Chris Nettles and Erin Gettis – making sure that both worship committee members and BAG members were included. Both pastors are part of the design committee as well for a total of 6.  It is likely that in the coming months you will see the Fire Contracts committee complete their call to duty.   The fire contracts committee members are Ann Laudermilk, Tom Safford, Tim Lewis and Erin Gettis. As Ann and Tom take a bow, be sure to give them extra thanks for their effort.
We continue to ask for your prayers for all of us working on this process, for the decisions facing Magnolia in the future and through the challenges that will continue to arise.  Every week presents new things to consider.  Thank you very
​much for your time.
21OCT2019
@ 0730 hrs.
Soft demolition has started on the interior of the the sanctuary building.
25AUG2019
@ 0900 & 1100 hrs.
During the Sunday Worship Services, Elder Erin Gettis (at 9am) and Elder Ann Laudermilk (at 11am) read the following update to the congregation:
Good morning everyone and thank you for your prayers and patience with the process of the aftermath of the fire.  The fire contracts committee has continued to meet and communicate regularly to go over all of the steps required.  Again, the members of this committee are Ann Laudermilk, Tom Safford, Tim Lewis and Erin Gettis.
​
We want to share with all of you the progress that the fire contracts committee has made recently. As a reminder, in May we selected our contractor, CA Construction and they came to May’s Session meeting to meet everyone.  CA Construction is a firm that specializes in construction for buildings that have suffered damage, and are experts in the insurance process.  Early in July, with the help of our contractor, we held interviews with four architectural firms over the course of two days. After narrowing it down to two firms, we agreed on TR Design Group of Riverside, which you may or may not be aware, is located directly across the street. TR Design has extensive experience designing churches as well as projects for local Christian campuses. For those of you who may know him, Brian Gridley will be the Project Architect for us. 

On July 31st Tim and Tom from our committee attended a full day of onsite meetings here at the church to coordinate several important things. 
– The first important meeting was to discuss the “undisputed figure” for structure loss.  CA Construction (our contractor) met with the insurance adjuster and the insurance company’s selected contractor to review the differences in construction bids.  As a reminder the bid from the insurance company was lower than the bid that came in from our selected contractor.  The end result of this meeting is that the church now has a higher undisputed figure for the cost of the damage to the church than previously quoted by the insurance company.  This resulted in a revised proposal from our contractor which was finalized and submitted.
– The second important meeting was between CA Construction and TR Design our selected architect. It was the first opportunity for the architect to begin gathering the data they need to prepare their proposal.  TR Design prepared a proposal for the insurance company and it was finalized and submitted this past week. Also of note, TR Design has been helping us with the temporary ramp which has some final structural corrections from the City and working with the ramp manufacturer.

The current status today is that the insurance approval process for the contractor’s revised proposal and the architect’s proposal has finally begun, since as mentioned both were finalized and submitted last week. Both of these items will be guided by our contractor CA Construction.

These items mentioned today are huge steps in the insurance process. We truly believe that the selected contractor and architect are an exceptionally strong team and will provide Magnolia with the best possible experience as we move forward.  We continue to ask for your prayers for all of us working on this process, for the decisions facing us in the future and the continued challenges that will continue to arise.  Every week presents new things to consider.  Thank you very much for your time.
19MAY2019
@ 1000 hrs.
During the Unity Worship Service, Elder Erin Gettis read the following update to the congregation:
Hello Everyone and thank you for your prayers and patience with the process of the aftermath of the fire.  The team of 4 has continued to meet and communicate regularly to go over all of the steps required.  The members of this committee are Ann Laudermilk, Tom Safford, Tim Lewis, and myself.
 
Our mission is to be the very best stewards of our Church resources and to make sure that the Church has those resources in place to move forward with the path once chosen.  There have not yet been decisions on whether to rebuild what was there, build something new, or a hybrid of the two.  The timing of that decision is closer, but not yet decided.  Either path though requires us to get the best most accurate bid possible to insure that the settlement is the best possible.
 
Our insurance company provided a single bid to do the reconstruction of the church and we were left to collect additional bids.  Due to our desire to be the very best stewards of this Church and the congregation’s resources we chose to collect additional bids, some were forwarded to us by the insurance company and some were companies that we found through our network in our community of the Inland Empire.  We had a total of 5 contractor teams that visited the site and 4 (including the one from the insurance company) chose to bid. 
 
From those bids, there was clearly one contractor that rose to the top as one that had our church’s best interests in mind based on the depth to which they ensured all aspects of the existing church before the fire were included in the bid.  We will be meeting with this contractor this coming week to clarify a few items on the bid before we announce to the session and the congregation.  Once selected this contractor will work with us as a partner in all necessary items needed to move forward and to coordinate with the insurance company.  This contractor has insurance and fire experience, they are a company founded on this type of work.
 
Further update on the church building itself, while it appears as if little has happened from the outside, a lot has happened on the inside.  We also have moved forward on the pews.  The restoration needed to the pews from the fire, smoke and water damage cost as much as purchasing new pews so we have chosen to settle for that amount and dispose of the pews. The settlement will be reserved for the future seating needs of the new sanctuary. All of the contents of the inside of the church have been removed and catalogued by a demo contractor.  We are now working with a 3rd party on the contents claim and determining the value of the contents.  We will be contacting some of you to solicit knowledge and more specificity on the contents list so we can be the best stewards of the church resources while working on the claim. 

As part of this process, there have also been improvements to the existing church space (called the Fellowship hall or the 1880s sanctuary we are sitting right now) which has been conducted by various church committees and members of the Building and Grounds Committee.  There is improved lighting in the church, new TV screens, new chairs and at the moment we are reviewing bids for new HVAC to this building.  We are also moving along through the permitting process for the temporary ramp, moving closer to that permit being granted and the ramp installed.
 
We continue to ask for your prayers for all of us working on this process, for the tough decisions facing us in the future and the continued challenges that will continue to arise.  Every week presents new things to consider.  Thank you very much for your time.
23APR2019
@ 1900 hrs.
During the Stated Session Meeting, the Contract/Contractor Sub-committee offered the following update:
The insurance process is complicated and there are many steps within the process to learn.  We appreciate all of the concern expressed by many congregants about the fire and what the next steps are for the church.  We are in the process of collecting multiple bids to help establish the cost of reconstruction of the fire damaged sanctuary for purposes of estimation of the claim.  The next steps in the rebuild process are part of the discernment the session and fire committee will contemplate moving forward.  Please take a moment to pray for the committee as they continue to undertake the settlement of the insurance process.  If you have any further questions please contact Tom Safford, elders Ann Laudermilk, Tim Lewis, and Erin Gettis and any would be happy to share more details.
26MAR2019
@ 1900 hrs.
During the Stated Session Meeting, Elder Ann Laudermilk recommended to the Session on behalf of the “Contract/Contractor sub-committee” and the session approved for the sub-committee to negotiate a settlement with our insurance company for a payout of the pews based on the estimates provided and to authorize the company that collected and evaluated the pews to dispose of them. The settlement would be reserved to purchase new seating for the Sanctuary (note: the estimates to fix the pews were at or near the cost of purchasing new pews/seating). No decisions have been made re: contractors or about what direction we will go with the building.
27FEB2019
@ 1900 hrs.
During the Stated Session Meeting, Elder Ann Laudermilk reported to the Session that the “Contract/Contractor sub-committee” is soliciting bids for the demolition and re-build of the Sanctuary and communicated pros/cons of starting from new vs. putting back what was there. No decisions have been made re: contractors or about what direction we will go with the building.
27JAN2019
@ 1030 hrs.
During the Annual Congregational Meeting, Elder Erin Gettis shared the following summary of a report from the structural assessment of the sanctuary:
Summary of report from the structural assessment of the sanctuary:
Structural framing of the main sanctuary suffered significant structural damage. The parts that have not been structurally damaged by the fire include the following: 
– East and west walls, or the tall walls at either end.
– Reinforced masonry walls, or the north and south walls.
– Steel framing at the front of the church or the columns at the entry.
– The walkway roof framing on the north side of the building.
– The concrete slab and foundation.
– The exterior concrete flat work or walkways around the building.

A few caveats.
-The report repeatedly says “in their opinion”, and each of the points just mentioned includes language like “do not appear” and “can likely be reused”.
-The report calls this a “limited visual insurance investigation”, thus indicating that there is limited visibility on what can be seen.
-There will be some wait and see once construction and selective demolition proceed, in order to determine what exists, and what the resulting damage may be inside these elements that have been listed.
All of the rest of the building has been damaged from the fire or from the resulting firefighting effort and will need to be removed.

Some common questions that have come up:
-The report says that the project will need to upgrade the structural system to meet the 2016 building code.
-There may be changes that are required from code updates, structural requirements, ADA upgrades, but to what extent at this time is unknown.
27JAN2019
@ 1025 hrs.
During the Annual Congregational Meeting, Elder Ann Laudermilk and Pastor Paul shared the following statement, on behalf of the Session:
In the aftermath of the fire, our insurance company hired an Origin and Cause investigator.  Since the night of the fire, we believed and communicated a potential cause of the fire that has been refuted by this investigator.  The insurance company has accepted his identification of the cause of the fire.
The cause of the fire was determined to be candles inadvertently not being extinguished.  
(pause) Prayer
I imagine there are many emotions being experienced at this moment and many questions that are beginning to surface.  Your session assures you, we will make space for all of those.  In the midst of crisis, we proclaim that "God is Good – all the time and all the time – God is good."
I can confirm that our insurance claim is not impacted by this determination.
This concludes the statement from your Session.
19JAN2019
@ 0800 hrs.
Contracted company continues inventory and storage of items from the Sanctuary
16JAN2019
@ 0800 hrs.
Contracted company begins smoke abatement work in the office
06JAN2019
@ 1915 hrs.
Service of Wholeness and Healing held in the Historic Sanctuary
Picture
Redeeming what was broken. Pieces of the stained glass window in the sanctuary were re-purposed to create this art
06JAN2019
@ 1020 hrs.
Session (Elder Board) authorizes committee (Ann, Tim, Tom, Erin) to identify/contract vendors related to the fire
06JAN2019
@ 0900 & 1100 hrs.
Worship services held in Historic Sanctuary celebrating Epiphany
04JAN2019
@ 1300 hrs.
Structural Engineer surveys damage
03JAN2019
@ 1030 hrs.
New insurance adjuster surveys damage, contractor surveys damage
30DEC2018
@ 1215 hrs.
photo taken to thank firefighters and community
30DEC2018
@ 1130 hrs.
Town Hall Meeting notifying the congregation of what happened and updates:
At around 7pm on Dec. 23, multiple fire stations responded to a report of a fire at Magnolia Presbyterian Church at 7200 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA 92504.  Upon arrival, they found smoke exiting the sanctuary building wherever it could (at the seams, through creases, and through the stained glass that adorned the front of the sanctuary.  They made entry and began to put out the fire.  They were successful, but needed to cut holes into the roof to let smoke and heat out.  A story is told that when the firefighters shot water into the air towards the roof of the sanctuary, it never came back down; it was so hot the water evaporated.  One firefighter estimated the temperature to be about 2,000 degrees at the apex of the ceiling. The firefighters listed the cause of the fire as undetermined, but individuals and firefighters preliminarily identified a back room/alcove as the ignition point.  The room had HVAC runs and the compressor for the organ.  One surmised that the compressor may have been shot and created sparks that smoldered for a few hours before exiting that room and burning through portions of the chancel, choir loft, and communion prep room. The session of MagPres met on Monday, Dec 24 at 10am and chose to have the 7pm Christmas eve service in our Fellowship Hall, which is the historic (Riverside Historic Landmark #4) sanctuary.  We normally have our 9am contemporary worship service in that space and were able to make that space adapt for the 200+ who attended the worship service.  The service was also attended and documented by multiple news stations (you may have seen some of the reports).  Timm High was present at the Session meeting and the worship service.  He offered a helpful pastoral voice to the meeting and even helped set up chairs for the service. The support of the community and particularly local area churches was felt and appreciated.  Rev. Erin Thomas, from Calvary, was present offering support while the firefighters put out the blaze.  Calvary, Victoria, as well as other churches offered space for us to host our Christmas Eve Service (including Harvest, The Grove, Sandals and others).  Harvest solicited ways they could help and purchased led candles to help us create luminaria to light the parking lot and the sidewalk path from the parking lot to the Fellowship Hall.  Home Depot, the Flower Club, and an anonymous member from a Riverside Presbytery congregation, donated poinsettia and decorations to adorn our space.  One of the things lifted from this situation are people who through social media and verbally talked about role that Mag Pres had played in their formation, having attended youth group, a wedding, baptism, etc.  It was a reminder to me personally about the heritage and legacy this faith community has had in affecting the world positively for Christ. The plan for now is to have Sunday worship services in the historic building.  We had been anticipating building an ADA compliant ramp into that building and had been soliciting bids; we are considering erecting a temporary ramp imminently to facilitate entry into that building by people of all abilities, as it is now our primary worship space. At around 7pm on Dec. 23, multiple fire stations responded to a report of a fire at Magnolia Presbyterian Church at 7200 Magnolia Ave, Riverside, CA 92504.  Upon arrival, they found smoke exiting the sanctuary building wherever it could (at the seams, through creases, and through the stained glass that adorned the front of the sanctuary.  They made entry and began to put out the fire.  They were successful, but needed to cut holes into the roof to let smoke and heat out.  A story is told that when the firefighters shot water into the air towards the roof of the sanctuary, it never came back down; it was so hot the water evaporated.  One firefighter estimated the temperature to be about 2,000 degrees at the apex of the ceiling. The firefighters listed the cause of the fire as undetermined, but individuals and firefighters preliminarily identified a back room/alcove as the ignition point.  The room had HVAC runs and the compressor for the organ.  One surmised that the compressor may have been shot and created sparks that smoldered for a few hours before exiting that room and burning through portions of the chancel, choir loft, and communion prep room. The session of MagPres met on Monday, Dec 24 at 10am and chose to have the 7pm Christmas eve service in our Fellowship Hall, which is the historic (Riverside Historic Landmark #4) sanctuary.  We normally have our 9am contemporary worship service in that space and were able to make that space adapt for the 200+ who attended the worship service.  The service was also attended and documented by multiple news stations (you may have seen some of the reports).  Timm High was present at the Session meeting and the worship service.  He offered a helpful pastoral voice to the meeting and even helped set up chairs for the service. The support of the community and particularly local area churches was felt and appreciated.  Rev. Erin Thomas, from Calvary, was present offering support while the firefighters put out the blaze.  Calvary, Victoria, as well as other churches offered space for us to host our Christmas Eve Service (including Harvest, The Grove, Sandals and others).  Harvest solicited ways they could help and purchased led candles to help us create luminaria to light the parking lot and the sidewalk path from the parking lot to the Fellowship Hall.  Home Depot, the Flower Club, and an anonymous member from a Riverside Presbytery congregation, donated poinsettia and decorations to adorn our space.  One of the things lifted from this situation are people who through social media and verbally talked about role that Mag Pres had played in their formation, having attended youth group, a wedding, baptism, etc.  It was a reminder to me personally about the heritage and legacy this faith community has had in affecting the world positively for Christ. The plan for now is to have Sunday worship services in the historic building.  We had been anticipating building an ADA compliant ramp into that building and had been soliciting bids; we are considering erecting a temporary ramp imminently to facilitate entry into that building by people of all abilities, as it is now our primary worship space.
Pastor Paul and I first want to acknowledge the fact that we alI have experienced a big loss. Some may be feeling it more than others depending on how long and to what degree you have been involved at Magnolia. Because we are all different and responding to loss differently we will need to be patient and gracious with one another as we go through this healing process. There are 2 major response people go through when adjusting to loss 1) the use of coping mechanisms or 2) emotional reactions. .I imagine we all will probably experience a combination of the two depending on our temperament and what is going on. It will be important for us to be aware of not only what we are feeling but also what others may be going through.  Coping mechanisms are -Disbelief or denial- exhibited by numbness, confusion, withdrawal -Disorganization/dependence becoming demanding-feeling out of touch, making rash decisions, overly-demanding -Intellectualization-gathering a great deal of knowledge, staying busy, rationalizing the loss Coping mechanisms allow us to remain emotionally detached from what is going on around us. Some of the feelings we may be feeling now and even moving forward are all normal responses to loss of any kind.
  • Sadness
  • Anger
  • Resentment
  • Helplessness/hopelessness
  • Blame
  • Guilt
  • Frustration
  • Apathy
  • Fear, anxiety
  • Loneliness/isolation
So why am I bringing all of this up? Because we have a long road ahead of us and we will get tired. The process to rebuild will go slower than we want. there will be times of tension and disagreement as we make decisions on how to move forward. Ultimately this can be a time of opportunity and growth or it has the potential to rip us apart. We can get through this and come out the other side stronger if we are open to what God is going to teach us through this experience. We can become an example to our community here in Riverside if we are loving and gracious to one another during this time.
30DEC2018
@ 1000 hrs.
Unity Service held in Historic Sanctuary
28DEC2018
@ 1300 hrs.
Survey done on Organ; portions of the organ are salvageable
28DEC2018
@ 1000 hrs.
City official surveys damage, red tags building – NO ENTRY
28DEC2018
@ 1000 hrs.
Insurance contracted Cause and Origin investigator surveys property
26DEC2018
@ 1500 hrs.
Insurance Adjuster surveys damage
24DEC2018
@ 1900 hrs.
Christmas Eve Service held in Historic Sanctuary
24DEC2018
@ 1000 hrs.
The Session (Elder Board) of Magnolia Presbyterian Church met and chose to hold Christmas Eve Service (originally scheduled in the Sanctuary) in our Fellowship Hall (historic sanctuary) building
23DEC2018
@ 1915 hrs.
Riverside City Fire Department responded to reports of a fire in the Sanctuary on the Magnolia Presbyterian Church Campus (7200 Magnolia Ave); extensive damage to building was sustained due to fire, smoke, and subsequent fire suppression efforts; power and water were turned off to portions of the campus

Sunday Worship

10am Blended
Worship Service
In-person and Online

Magnolia Presbyterian Church

7200 Magnolia Avenue
Riverside, CA 92504

Office Hours

Monday-Thursday
8:30am - 3:00pm