While our current space has been a great spot to get Submerge launched (in OB, affordable rent, big enough space, parking lot, etc.), we’ve been very limited to only have access to the building on Sunday mornings. So we’ve continued to stay in prayer & keep our eyes open for another spot in OB that would allow us 24/7 access, so we can increase our ministry that we can provide for Submergers (like having a place to host Life Groups, Open Mic nights, kids-play-groups, etc.) and increase our partnering with the community. We’ve explored other spots over the past year, but hadn’t found one that had enough room and was affordable enough. Then God opened up this new spot, and confirmed it through lots of great God-stories! (including the fact that we’ve built a great friendship with the James Gang tenants who are moving out–who are now helping us in many ways, etc.) It has the space we need, and is within our budget. So after much prayer & discussion with our Board, we decided to move forward!

Part of the mission & dream of Submerge from the start has been to “submerge deeper into the neighborhood”, and getting to be located on a spot right on our town’s “main street” is another great step in accomplishing that! Having a spot on Newport has many advantages: 

• It increases our visibility an incredible amount (with so much foot-traffic & cars); 
• It will give us an even stronger presence during the community events we love being a part of (like OB Street Fair, OB Holiday Parade, etc.); 
• It opens up opportunities to be present at other OB activities (the weekly Farmer’s Market, Shop Small Saturday, Oktoberfest, etc.); 
• It increases our ability to form even stronger partnerships with local businesses (especially our immediate neighbors like OB Hardware, Mad Munch, OB Beans, etc.!) & OB Elementary (a block away) & OB Mainstreet Association
• It makes it easier to connect together as a church before/after our services & events (like having lunch together on Sundays after service on Newport)!

God provided an incredible deal for us in our current spot, which was the perfect way to launch a brand new church plant. And we always knew that anywhere else we moved to in OB would be significantly more expensive, so we’ve spent our first 2+ years as a church saving as much as possible, so that we’d be in a strong position to afford somewhere else as a 24/7 space, if God would ever open that door. He did, and now we’re prepared with healthy savings. And as people continue to give to God’s mission here weekly/monthly, and we hopefully add more donors as we move and grow, we will be able to continue doing God’s work in all the ways we’re joining Him.

We took occupancy of the building in April and have been working hard on renovations since then. We hope to launch Sundays there in mid-July, and have some other great opportunities to be in the building before that (Worship Night, Social Club, Street Fair, Volunteer Work Days — see Events page for details).

That’s always the question in OB 🙂. There are several options for parking on Sunday mornings at the new spot, including:

• You can park right on Newport: there is no 2hr limit at those spots on Sunday, and there are typically many open spots on Newport on a Sunday morning (especially during the non-tourist months Sept-May)
• Since we’re on the first block of Newport, it’s easy to park on the east side of Sunset Cliffs Dr (by Ebers) and have a really short walk to church.
• There is a paid lot next to US Bank just steps from our building in which we get a discount. Cost for 4 hours is $5 – if you’d like to take advantage of this discount, follow these instructions.
• We’re working on partnerships with some other businesses nearby (like Dirty Birds) to potentially share their lot for free on Sunday mornings.
• Also, there is a handicap parking spot behind the building in the alley (and a couple of other spots for our band to unload, etc.) 

We are excited to be able to have some space more intentionally designed for the kids! So during Sundays, we will have a room for parents to be in with their kids, with the service streaming on a TV in there, so the kids can have fun playing together and the parents can still experience the service. (And if we are able to grow to find enough Kids Ministry volunteers one day, we can start offering a version of that.)

We’re glad you asked 🙂. Here are a few ways:

• If you’re not already giving to God’s work here, please sign up to do so! This will be a huge help in moving forward with our new rent and continuing to do all the outreach work we do: submergechurch.org/give
• You can give to specific needs we have for moving into the new space (new chairs, Hospitality area, kids room supplies, bathroom revamping, etc.) either by donating a one-time amount (Sundays via check, or at submergechurch.org/give) or by getting items on our registry.
• Let us know what special skills you have and would have time to use as we revamp the building to get it ready to launch (painting, carpentry, etc.)
• Let us know how you’d want to volunteer in the new space on Sundays once we’re open: submergechurch.org/volunteer
• Help us spread the word about our new location–and be inviting others!
• Pray with us daily that God will provide all that we need and use this space in even more powerful ways than we’re imagining!