Yes, I know the word “amazing” is overused, but I don’t have a better word to describe two amazing things that are part of Pantano. These two things make a huge difference in lives; in people they were designed to serve both in our city and in our church.

Serve our City

I’m so excited to announce that we are going to be doing Serve Our City again this year. Here’s how it works: on Sunday, November 17th, we’ll forego having regular services in our auditorium and do service in our city. Instead of gathering to worship, we’ll scatter to share the love of Jesus throughout our community. Put the date on your calendar and watch for more information on how you can sign up a bit later. We’ll have lots of serving opportunities for you as an individual, as a family or as a small group. There will be various kinds of service projects from which you’ll be able to choose. This day will be an amazing day for our city.

Our New Student Union

We had an incredible open house on Sunday as a couple thousand of us got to see the inside of the new Student Union for the first time. And this Sunday (8/25), our students will have their first full service in their new facility! Two Sundays ago, we had 305 students on campus, and it was standing room only in their old digs. This past Sunday, we had 381 – 76 more than the previous Sunday. I’m pretty sure our students will be inviting even more of their friends to join them. We couldn’t wait any longer to open and use this high tech, highly interactive environment that’s perfect for students.

I’ve been at Pantano 21 years, and in doing that math, that means I’ve been here for over 1,000 Sundays. I’ve had some great Sundays at Pantano, but this celebration of our students and the open house was my favorite Sunday of them all. Why? It was so fun to watch everyone as they got their first look at the inside of the Student Union. It was fantastic. Folks were smiling, grateful, and excited for the amazing experience this building will provide students. I was so jazzed to see the unified love and commitment for our students from those of us who call Pantano home. I love that we are a church that so values our children, students, and young people. Thank you, Pantano!

Thank you to all who helped make this possible! However, we still need to finish paying off the construction loan. It will take about $2.3 million to free us from this debt. I’m praying we can do this quickly so we can free up funds in our regular budget for more ministry and service to the people at our church, in our city and around the world. If you haven’t given or can give in addition to previous gifts, please prayerfully consider a generous one-time or regular donation in addition to your regular giving. To pay down the loan, we’ll need everyone sacrificing something. You can give on our mobile app, or online, with a check or cash, stock, or property. Just designate your gift to Room for More. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Let’s truly finish this project!

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There’s lots of significant and important things coming to Pantano as our children go back to school and our monsoons finally arrive. Take a look…

Global Leadership Summit – August 8 & 9

This event brings insight from the best leaders from around the world to challenge us to have greater influence. I describe it like a fire hose of information, insight and inspiration. You don’t want to miss it. I’ve not missed one for the last 14 years – it’s that good! For more info and to register, click here.

I Got Questions Teaching Series – Starts August 11

We live in a world that is extremely skeptical and often hostile to faith. We often get peppered with questions about the origin of the world, the truth of the Bible and the reasonableness of faith. Those hostile to faith declare that faith is irrational, irrelevant, narrow, outdated and foolish. Their questions often raise questions for us and in us. Do we have confident answers to the questions of the skeptic? This 5-week series will help us share how believable, reasonable and compelling our faith is.

Student Union Open House – August 18

Sunday, August 18th we’ll be celebrating the opening of our new Student Union! Our students will be participating in our regular adult worship and we’ll end a bit early so everyone can tour the new building and enjoy some Eegee’s.

High School, Middle School and 4th & 5th Grade Sunday Moves

On Sunday, August 25th, our Middle School and High School students will meet in the new Student Union at 9 and 11am. Our 4th and 5th grade group will move from KidZone to where the students used to meet – now called Zone45, on September 1st. Parents of our middle and high school students can park in the west guest parking lot near the student union.

Fight Night Marriage Event – Sept 6, 6:00 – 8:30 PM

Join us for a fun event filled with humor, fresh insight, and new strategies for your marriage. Fight Night is about conflict in marriage and focuses on how to fight fair. This is for everyone – newlyweds, “oldyweds,” seriously dating, and engaged couples. Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott will share with us via video why we fight with the one we love the most and how to fight a good fight. We’ve created this to be like a relaxed “date night” that will provide great information and tools to improve your marriage. We’ll have small group material to follow up on the event.

Early bird cost: $10 per person – deadline August 12. Regular price: $15 per person.

Price includes coffee, tea and dessert. Children ages 3rd-5th grade will enjoy a “Kids Night Out” with fun activities, games, and a kid-friendly movie. Childcare is available for kids under age 3. The cost is $6 per child and dinner is included for all kids. Click here to register.

Women’s Retreat Getaway – September 13-15 

The theme of the retreat is I am a Daughter of The Most High King. Women of all ages are welcome. Register here or contact Christina Fisch at 907.360.1415 if you have questions. The price of $235/Person covers the following (payment is due in full by August 17):

• Two nights (2 per room) accommodation at the Lodge on the Desert
• Four meals (two breakfasts & two dinners)

Pantano has so many great opportunities coming up.  Please consider getting involved in one or more!

Things are really picking up and there is a lot of movement happening in order for us to make Room for More! While things have taken much longer than I ever anticipated, we are moving now! Our new building is called the Student Union so we can make room for our high school and middle school students. And, the new building will free up the old Student Center to become home for our 4th and 5th graders, which will make more room for our children in KidZone on Sundays. We also need room mid-week for students, large groups, classes, and events. We needed this new building yesterday!

With permits in hand, work has begun on the foundation. The building has been ordered. It should arrive around March 4th and it takes about 40 days or so to erect the sprung structure. The outside could be done before Easter! Then, we do the work on the inside and we hope to occupy it in July as our students and children return to school.

Check out what the building will look like by going online to our Room for More page. You’ll be able to see an amazing video and pictures of the new building, inside and out. You can also join as a prayer partner and give at that site as well.

The total cost at occupancy will be about $3 million. We’ve already raised a half million, so we are 17% there! It is my hope and daily prayer that we can pay off the entire cost by the time we occupy the building this summer. We can do this. We need to do this. We don’t want to add debt to our budget, even though we have projected that we are able to manage that, if necessary. Some might think it’s a miracle to raise two and a half million dollars in six months. That’s why I’m asking you to join me in prayer asking God to work in and through us to make this “miracle” a reality. We are the people God will use to make this happen. So, please consider giving a generous gift. I’m praying daily for some very large gifts combined with lots of sacrificial gifts from all of us. Pray with me, please!

You can give online or use any of our regular means of giving and identify that the gift is for Room for More. And, you can be creative in how or what you give; some folks are making items and selling them; we’ve had people already give possessions, like a car; our Seniors group is taking up a weekly offering; or you can give stock. Maybe you have an unexpected source of income that would allow you to give. Or, consider giving your tax return. Be bold and ask God to supply so you can share in putting up our building debt free.

This building is a tool that we need to continue to reach people and help them follow Jesus well. It is a kingdom asset that will be devoted to serving and helping people, especially our emerging generations; they are the church of today and will lead the church of tomorrow. The building is a vital tool that will help us make a difference right here in Tucson and for all eternity. I truly believe that, and that’s why I’m sold out to helping make the Student Union a reality. Join me! Together we can do this!

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It’s time for a Room for More update. Room for More is what we are calling our new building project. The new building, called the Student Union, will go where the old modular classrooms were. They are gone. We gave one to Desert Lutheran Church and the other one to Move City Church in Sierra Vista (which we started in 2008). We hope to start moving dirt and preparing the site in the next two weeks…Lord willing!

Originally, we were going to build a 19,000 square foot building. Half was to be for our high school ministry and half was to be a two-story staff office complex. Because of our continued significant growth, we realized we needed even more room not only for students but also for our children. So, the new building will have two high-quality meeting venues with a lounge and cafe between the two venues. The venues will house our high school and middle school on Sundays and will also provide large rooms for classes, events, weddings, funerals, and groups throughout the week. This is also a need because we are currently using every room on our campus on Wednesday nights!

And, this is so important; we’ll move our 4th and 5th graders to the existing student center in Towne Hall, which will make room for more children in our KidZone building. So, the new Student Union will make lots of room for our students and our children – two groups that are very important to us. They are the emerging generation of faith.

With this revised plan, we are going to build a 13,000 square foot building called a sprung structure. This building has a strong aluminum structure with an R30-rated insulated value two-layer surface. The exterior surface will match our campus paint scheme. It is maintenance-free, meaning we’ll never have to paint it, it will last as long as a typical roof and the replacement cost will be the same as a shingle roof. It is a sturdy and cost-effective way to build.

May I encourage you to go to the website at http://roomformore.church. You can watch the full video there. You can also download the Room for More app with a 3D virtual tour. Text the word “go” to 520-447-2777 to download the app. Enter the code “pantano.” Use the app on your phone to show and tell others about what we are building here at Pantano.

The cost of the project will be around 2 million dollars. We’ve set aside and saved some money from our general giving and folks have already started giving. We need to get this built as soon as possible. We are out of room now. People come first. Making room for students and kids and their families is the main thing! So, we’ve taken out a loan to get the work started, but we want to be able to pay off the entire loan by the time we get occupancy for the Student Union. Doing so will keep us from bearing the extra burden of debt. We think we’ll have all the work done by March 2019 and we’d love to do an open house with the loan paid off. So, let’s join together as everyone participates in any way they can. Please prayerfully consider how you can help us build the Student Union debt free.

You can give online. Choose “Room for More” in the “Giving Fund” drop-down box. You can give a one-time or regular gift. You can be creative. One lady gave us her car, which we sold for $3500. One person is considering giving some gold coins. We can receive stocks as well. Please consider how you can give a generous, significant, sacrificial gift.