Questions?
We would love to answer any questions you may have about the various project!
Please email info@riovistachurch.com
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Hey Rio & BCS Family!
We’re excited to announce upcoming renovations to the Fellowship Hall, Prayer House, and Rio House! With the goal of maximizing efficiency and and missional effectiveness of our space the Fellowship Hall will be redesigned to provide a more welcoming and functional space, the Prayer House will become a dedicated place for city wide prayer ministry, and the Rio House will undergo repairs to continue providing refuge for single moms and children.
This project is fully funded, thanks to the diligence of our financial team and the support of our generous community! Join us in thanking God for this wonderful opportunity for us to grow in relationship with Him, not only here at Rio, but across Fort Lauderdale.
Main Campus
Fellowship Hall/Worship Center: At the end of May, we will be undertaking a major renovation of our Fellowship Hall, with some minor alterations to our Worship Center as well. This is something that many of us have dreamt about for decades as a church/school ministry!
The new design is crafted to create a more welcoming environment (both on Sundays and throughout the week), multi-purpose functionality (it’s designed to allow us to hold separate events in the Fellowship Hall, a newly designed and expanded Parlor, and the Worship Center at the same time), technology integration (each of the three environments will contain well integrated audiovisual systems designed to facilitate the various church and school events that will take place in each space), storage solutions (the renovation will expand our limited storage capacities), and community engagement (the design is meant to foster and facilitate fellowship and social interaction). We’re starting these renovations the moment that school ends and will be doing everything we can to finish as quickly as possible (and to contain our mess in the meantime). We anticipate that these renovations will be completed sometime this fall.
The
Alcove
Provide intimate meeting space
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Create a cozy alcove for Bethany Parents to connect
Welcome Center
New engagement + welcome desk
Coffee
Bar
Create space for people to gather, socialize, and connect
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Multipurpose functionality for various activities
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Increase multi-use storage
Tech
Booth
Upgrade and improve AV/Tech Booth
•••
New and flexible technology
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Reduce congestion in the South entry
The
Parlor
Improve and expand Parlor
•••
A space for Bethany and Rio to host learning groups, informational sessions, and other various community engagement events
•••
Improve media
Design
Concept
New and improved traffic patterns into the Worship Center and Fellowship Hall
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New enhanced partition for the Worship Center and Fellowship Hall
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Upgrade + increase restroom occupancy
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New relocated Mothers’ Room
Prayer House
As you may know, the church owns the house immediately east of our main property on 9th street (formerly known as the “700 House”). It’s a 2/1 single family home that Rio purchased many years ago. We’ve used the space for meetings, counseling, prayer, bible studies and occasionally for short term housing for visiting missionaries or ministry leaders. We’re repurposing this space to be used primarily as a 24/7 prayer room not only of our own prayer ministry here at Rio, but ultimately as a prayer house for our city(with flexibility to use it for some of the other above-stated purposes as well).
Our vision is to see our church (and the church in our city) become a “house of prayer” and this house will play a central role in facilitating that effort. To accomplish this, the Prayer House will require only very modest interior alterations. We anticipate officially launching the Prayer House sometime this fall.
“A 24-7 Prayer room is a creative prayer space that enables a chain of unbroken day and night prayer, bringing friends, communities, and churches together to seek the presence of God.”
-24/7 Prayer Movement
We desire to see Rio Vista, as well as churches across South Florida transformed into a house of prayer. We believe that, apart from Jesus, we can do nothing! So, our intent is to create a dedicated place from which we can ask him to “rend the heavens and come down.” (Isa. 64:1(a)).
The Ancient Celts used the phrase “thin places” to describe where the veil between heaven and earth becomes so thin that prayer flows easily, and the still, small voice of God is heard clearly. We’ve visited several 24/7 prayer room over the course of the last two years in preparation for this project and our experience is that these places are transformed into exactly that: a place where God’s presence is palpable and where one hour in His presence feels more like ten minutes.
Rio House
With a sincere desire to honor God’s commandment in James 1:27, in 2012 Rio Vista Church opened a multi-unit transitional housing facility called the Rio House. For several years, this facility has served as a safe home for formerly homeless women and their children, offering a healthy environment and loving Christian community to families in need. We are excited to announce that Rio Vista Church has a great opportunity to continue and deepen the work that God began at the Rio House by partnering with an outstanding ministry called CityHouse. As an organization, CityHouse exists to provide hope and renewal to homeless single mothers and their children. In partnership with CityHouse, Rio Vista Church members will be effectively trained and equipped to continue caring for and serving homeless single mothers and children in our city.
As we prayerfully enter into this new partnership, Rio Vista Church desires to beautify and renovate the Rio House in order to make some necessary updates to our property, which will help prepare the Rio House to be a place of refuge for these mothers and children. For more information on CityHouse, please visit their website www.cityhouseinc.org
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:27
