Horst Construction Builds Worship Center and Relationships with Fellowship Church

Early in his career, Pastor Marc Ramirez was involved with a church construction project in Florida. When ministry interruptions arose, the construction company was inflexible and lacked knowledge or understanding of church ministry. No surprise that the building process was fraught with challenges. Fast-forward to Pastor Marc’s leadership role in the construction project for Fellowship Church in Dallas, PA, today. After learning about Horst Construction, he stated, “This is the kind of company we want to work with.” With this project, he’s experiencing a completely different mindset—and vastly improved working relationship.

Drawn to the exceptional Master Planning process that Horst Construction offers, Pastor Marc and his congregation found a unique and attractive approach that was positive and focused on the journey of Fellowship Church.

“It felt like we had found the missing piece—a company whose desire was not just to complete a project for us, but also to work by our side as our partner throughout the journey.”
–Pastor Marc Ramirez

Fellowship Church had already been on this journey for a long time – about 9 years – at the time that Horst came into the picture. They started by forming a committee called “Project Jordan” whose sole purpose was to evaluate the existing land and determine the next steps. The committee found far more questions than answers, and although the church had about 18 acres of land, much was wetlands and therefore not usable. These obstacles stalled the process and left the committee looking for guidance.

The church has been using their gymnasium as temporary worship space since 2007, and is ready to have a designated space for worship. Although they’ve made the best of the current situation, the congregation quickly and excitedly got behind the intention to build a new worship space, in addition to planning a welcome center and area for gathering before and after services.

After making the decision to hire Horst Construction, the next step was to begin the monumental task of fundraising. Pastor Marc describes having some trepidation about this topic, with hopes that both the church leadership and the congregation were up to the challenge. With help from Christian Investors Financial, a vision-driven fundraising campaign was pieced together. Part of this campaign included the development of a campaign and coordination of a website of the same name, ‘A Legacy of Worship’ – in order to keep everyone engaged and informed.

Pastor Marc says “Looking back, it is very different than I expected. I never thought this process would be so filled with spiritual growth and unity for our congregation.” The combination of the website, several events, and Pastor Marc preaching a series that focused on the campaign theme has led to a surprising number of pledges and contributions. The congregation is coming through even stronger than before with a united outlook for the future ministry of Fellowship Church.

“Horst was a big part of our success with fundraising. While working through the Legacy of Worship series, we had the Master Planning documents on poster boards for reference and inspiration. Overall, Horst played a big part in our ability to drive the vision of the campaign.”

As the church moves toward the next steps in the building process, Pastor Marc feels ready to tackle any challenges. “I am so appreciative of the different mindset and approach from Horst. In working with Horst, I know that no matter what difficulties arise, we will overcome them together.”

Posted July 12, 2017