Carrying the Altar into the Driveway
- Steve Quillian
- Feb 10
- 4 min read
Tonight I tried to get into my storage unit.
The gate wouldn’t open.
Four codes. Two phone calls. Hung up on twice. Kids waiting in the car. Another woman stuck outside too. Weekend support nowhere to be found.
It felt symbolic.
Because I’m in the middle of burning the boats.
I don’t have a shop anymore.
I have a storage unit.
A van.
Some tools.
And tomorrow, I’m taking the Sash Factory into a client’s driveway in Hyde Park.
We’re going to build window sash on site.
Not as a stunt.
Not as a demo.
Not for social media.
To get the job done.
And to prove something that matters.
Historic house communities don’t need distant specialists.
They need local capacity.
They need artisans who can show up, set up, make what’s needed, install it, and move on.
They need teams.
Dismantling the Scaffolding
Letting go of the shop has been hard.
Moving tools was hard.
Deciding what to keep was hard.
Everything feels drawn out and heavier than it should be.
That’s what happens when you dismantle scaffolding.
Shops create gravity.
Systems fossilize.
Tools settle.
Walking away from that isn’t clean. It fights back.
But here’s what’s different now:
Everything that matters fits in my van.
Sash Factory.
Table saws.
Jointer.
Planer.
Vacuums.
Chop saw.
A portable production system.
Tomorrow, it becomes real.
We’ll pull into the driveway.
Unload.
Set up.
Build sash.
Restore windows.
Pack it all back up.
All in the same day.
I would honestly put money on the idea that almost nobody in America is doing this.
Not because it’s impossible.
Because it requires something most people never develop:
Sequencing.
Speed with accuracy.
Confidence in joinery.
Trust in your system.
Willingness to work without comfort.
Most restoration models depend on separation:
Shop over here.
House over there.
Weeks in between.
Outsourcing.
Waiting.
That gap kills momentum.
Mobile sash making collapses the distance between making and installing.
That’s the breakthrough.
That’s how sixteen windows in sixteen days becomes realistic.
That’s how small teams become powerful.
That’s how outposts become viable.
That’s how historic house communities stop waiting for help from somewhere else.
Right now it’s me and Israel. Two people.
My boys are coming along part-time.
If two can do it, three absolutely can.
And that’s the model:
A carpenter.
A finisher.
A manager.
Three people serving one neighborhood at a time.
That’s Window Craft.
Setting Up Church in a Driveway
There’s another layer to all this.
I realized tonight I’m not just changing workflow.
I’m changing how I worship.
For a long time, the work happened inside containers:
The shop.
The structure.
The system.
That’s how worship used to work too — place-based. Temple-based. Organized around location.
But Jesus told the woman at the well something radical:
Worship wouldn’t be about mountains or buildings anymore.
It would be about spirit and truth.
Paul later says it another way:
Offer your body as a living sacrifice.
In other words:
The worship isn’t confined to a place.
You carry it.
That’s what this feels like.
I’m setting up church in a driveway.
No pulpit.
No pews.
Just tools.
Wood.
Attention.
Service.
Spirit and truth.
Spirit: calling.
Truth: competence.
That’s the liturgy.
Tomorrow we’re bringing the altar to Hyde Park.
The Sash Factory is the ark.
The van is the tabernacle.
The driveway is holy ground.
Not because it’s special.
Because obedience is happening there.
This is what walking by faith looks like for me right now.
No shop safety net.
No scaffolding.
Just years of training in my hands and a clear sense of direction in my heart.
There are fires popping up everywhere.
That’s normal when you step outside the fence.
But I know why I’m doing this.
We exist to serve historic house communities.
Not from afar.
On site.
In real time.
With real tools.
With real people.
This isn’t about me proving anything.
It’s about proving that this trade is portable.
That restoration doesn’t have to be slow.
That teams can be built.
That neighborhoods can be served.
That artisans can own their work for life.
Tomorrow isn’t a job.
It’s a proof.
And we’re carrying the altar with us.
Want to Be Part of This?
If this resonates — if you feel called to learn Window Craft or help bring this model to your own historic house community — your entry point is through hands-on training.
This spring we’re launching workshops and building toward a permanent outpost in Uvalde.
You can start with:
Or by exploring what it takes to host a Window Craft Outpost in your town.
These aren’t classes for spectators.
They’re for people ready to work, learn, and serve.
If that’s you, now’s the time.
👉 Visit ArtisanArmy.com to learn about upcoming Uvalde workshops and outpost opportunities.
Come carry the altar with us.
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