All Souls leadership's response to a challenge to the move

Dear All Souls members,

A few of you have asked to see a response to Dave Kroll’s presentation, made to the All Souls Board of Trustees on February 23, 2017. In his presentation, Dave challenged the church’s decision to move downtown without a revote. Dave’s presentation has been privately shared by email, but not everyone has had a chance to read it.

We ask you to please read the executive summary of Dave’s presentation and our leadership’s response to his presentation, in order to be fully informed about why the Board of Trustees, the ministers, and the Relocation Task Force are overwhelmingly recommending the congregation go forward with the relocation of All Souls.

Please find the executive summary below. Trusting that we all have the best interest of the church at heart, and to ensure we all have access to the same information, you can view Dave’s complete presentation, with our more complete responses, by clicking here.

Executive Summary with Responses:
Dave's Presentation: A second vote is needed on the decision to move downtown.
All Souls' Leadership Response: The April 9, 2017, vote honors both the 2011 decision and gives the congregation an opportunity to reaffirm it, or not.

Presentation: A new downtown church will only be about 45,000 sq. ft. in size, which is what we currently have here.
Response: There never has been, nor is there now a proposal to limit the size of our new church building. We have no design, square footage plans or any other limitations set for the new church building.

Presentation: If the new church building is “re-configured,” it will not solve the office, Religious Education, choir, and meeting hall space deficiency problems.
Response: The new building will resolve our needs for more nursery and Religious Education space, more office space, flexible worship spaces, and larger fellowship spaces.

Presentation: We no longer need an 800 seat sanctuary.
Response: Agreed. However, we do need technologically, up-to-date, flexible worship spaces.

Presentation: There will only be about 185 parking spaces made available at the new location, which is about the same number of spaces we have at the current location.
Response: There are approximately 275 spots available downtown, and approximately 30 parking spots on-site. There are 165 spots here. This commitment was reaffirmed by the donors in the past week.

Presentation: The recent downturn in the Tulsa economy begs the question, can we raise the money required for the downtown move.
Response: Our fundraising staff and consultants are confident that, with the congregation’s support, we can raise the money to build a new church. The vote on April 9 is intended to confirm the congregation plans to do its part to support the capital campaign.

Presentation: The “East Gate Park” expected to be built directly across 6th street from the new church is not going to happen.
Response: The proposed East Gate Park is not going in, however, development downtown looks promising. One of Tulsa's most beautiful parks, Centennial Park, is less than two blocks away.

Presentation: The new Gathering Place is in walking distance from our church. It adds value to our current location, both monetarily and in its appeal to those seeking a new church.
Response: The Gathering Place may be a draw, but the current location cannot adequately support a growing congregation. If our current church facility is inadequate for our current and future needs, having the Gathering Place nearby will not solve our problems.

Presentation: There are no zoning issues or any concern for limitations imposed by city regulations because we don’t need a larger parking lot or need to demolish the houses we own across the street.
Response: There are significant challenges to grow at the current location. This assumes the church will not continue grow over the next 50 years. We have sought legal opinions about zoning in the current location and can expect zoning issues.

Presentation: We could use the houses we own across the street for staff office space, accounting and/or development departments.
Response: Two-thirds of the neighborhood would have to approve our use of homes for offices or any other use. Furthermore, this will not accommodate the needs of our young families for classroom and nursery space, nor the church’s need for fellowship and worship spaces.

We want everyone to be informed:
Please visit allsoulschurch.org/relocation more information and details about the proposed relocation of the church, including a list of answers to frequently asked questions.
Click here to read Dave Kroll's full presentation with leadership's responses.

How We Have Informed The Congregation:

Five presentations by the Relocation Task Force open to all were held from December through January. Two of the meetings were made available to attend via GoToWebinar.
A video of the Task Force presentation is posted on our website.
The Task Force’s report to the Board of Trustees is posted on our website.
Frequently Asked Questions is posted on our website.
A letter was mailed in March to every member explaining the vote and answering most frequently asked questions.
Information about the Congregational Meeting have been shared twice a week in our weekly church email beginning in March, in our orders of service, and in Parish Notes.
Answers to Frequently Ask Questions were handed out Sunday, April 2, 2017.
Ministers have been making themselves available to answer questions at committee, choir, team, and board meetings.