By Jared Fields, Editor in Chief

Hillcrest Church of Christ’s main auditorium renovations have begun after the almost $1 million goal was reached in September after a special collection was taken.

The church started renovations to the roof and electrical systems and on Jan. 13 removed 1,300 seats in an hour and a half with the help of about 300 volunteers, according to Yancey House, Hillcrest deacon and administrative committee member in charge of facilities.

House, also a development program manager at ACU, said renovations to the church auditorium’s ceiling tiles, walls, floor, new pews, sound system, roof and electrical capacity and lighting could last another six months.

Also, beams will be added between each pair of columns for aesthetic purposes.

Along with the progress, the church faced some setbacks last week when it was broken into, causing a broken window pane broken office doors and stolen money.

Alan Clute (’90), administrative minister at Hillcrest, said a glass was broken in the upstairs window from a brick thrown through it. The suspect(s) then broke into church offices. The church reported less than $300 stolen, but House said the 12 broken doors – at about $500 a piece – will total $5-$6 thousand in damage.

“There wasn’t malicious damage done,” Clute said. “They were just looking for money.”

Clute reported the break in at 7:41 a.m. Friday morning after the janitor, who arrived at the church first, Clute about the burglary.

“Drawers were pulled out and there was change there and they took that,” Clute said. “We got off easy in that it was destructive and hurt the doors, but that it was not malicious and causing other damage.”

Clute said a camera and computers could have been damaged or stolen, and that no spray paint was used on the building.

House said a bid for a security system was accepted Tuesday and should be installed later this week. The church was already changing the locks on the doors due to the construction and renovation, and the police are still investigating the case. In addition, the church is asking the local police to patrol the area.

Clute has been at Hillcrest for eight years and said he can only recall two times anything similar to Friday morning’s break-in occurred – each was before he came to the church.

On the renovation, House said the church raised all the money without taking away from other programs or taking loans. The $1.105 million raised is more than the $975,000 goal.

With that extra money, House said the church will re-do the baptistery, the nursery that attachés to the auditorium to go along with the work already done on the facilities’ bathrooms and parking lot.

“We really started giving a lot more attention to the facilities,” House said. “In order to attract younger people, we can’t ignore our facilities.”

The old seats will be sent to a Church of Christ and university in Ghana, Africa.

House said the church sent an open-ended questionnaire to members of the church in September 2006, and the two most popular demands were to improve the seating and lighting in the auditorium. With the church making improvements to the church that the majority wants, House said the church has remained strong through the move where 800 people have attended the split worship services held at 8:15 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. with Bible classes at 9:45 a.m.

“I feel it’s the right time to be doing this,” House said. “We’ve been blessed by numbers and money in last couple of years.”