Dear Friends,
Below you will find good news about our capital campaign, the start of this semester, and information about exciting opportunities for students, alumni, and community members in coming weeks.
I'm excited to begin by announcing to you that we met the end-of-year match in 2020. Many of you made extraordinarily generous gifts and commitments, helping us receive a $200,000 match! Thanks to all the commitments and gifts received, we have now met our primary campaign goal of $3.5M. The campaign will remain open for additional gifts and commitments until March 31, 2021 to help us cover increased costs for building materials, landscaping, and to meet extended legal expenses from an unpredictable permitting process last year. Thankfully, we are now well-positioned to begin the renovation of the Study Center, with demolition scheduled to start during the week of Feb. 1, 2021. The construction process is expected to take approximately a year.
Since we began, I have often remembered Psalm 127:1 — "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain." This has certainly been true in every aspect of our work, from seminars to speakers to relationships and community building, only the Lord can have the impact that we pray for. And the same will certainly be true of this construction process. We hope that the Study Center will be a home for community, education, and spiritual growth in Chapel Hill, and only the Lord can accomplish this.
As construction is beginning soon, we are in the process of considering alternative sites for casual and responsible hospitality for the coming semester. Please pray that the Lord will help us provide for students this semester the way we were able to last semester.
Finally, our undergraduate and graduate student groups started meeting last week, and our seminars have mostly begun. Any student with questions should email andrew@ncstudycenter.org — it's not too late to join!
For all members of the community, we had a wonderful evening with Dr. Kavin Rowe on the lessons the early church has to teach us in our current moment (Jan. 13). We have two additional events coming up, one with The Common Rule's Justin Whitmel Earley (Feb. 1), and the other with political commentator David French on Christian leadership (Feb. 18).
May the Lord guide us all into the joyful work ahead this year,
Madison Perry
Executive Director