New Building

Giving and Providence

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

In World Magazine we find an brief article on the decrease in giving during our present economic struggles.

Ministries are still completing the final tally of gifts received at the end of 2009, but Calvin Edwards, who leads a philanthropic advisory firm based in Atlanta, Ga., believes donations for many ministries could fall by 10 percent to 15 percent for the year.

via WORLD Magazine | Less to give | Rusty Leonard | Jan 30, 10.

Like many churches, ours is also experiencing slight decreases in regular donations.  Yet, we can testify to God’s providence.  In the midst of all this, we are able to afford a new, long needed ministry facility!  Not by our wisdom, our strength or our sacrificial hearts–but by the unmerited grace of God.

Dreams

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

Part of leading any organization, I suppose, are dreams. Dreams about the future, about what could be, what must be.  Over the past few years God gave me a dream for our congregation.  Three years ago our community lost our full-time Youth for Christ worker.  The local ministry has continued with a part-timer and her volunteers, but  they can’t do a full-time work.  Two years ago my oldest started Karate.  As we’ve gotten to know other parents, we’ve heard a common complaint–nothing for youth in our small town.  Shoot, we don’t even have a movie theater.

So, as our new building began to take shape, one of the dreams I found was a drop-in center.  A place where community kids could come after school, hang out, be safe, have fun and hear about Christ.  It seems to be strategic, in that there is really nothing for the youth of Beecher.  It seems to be missional, in that we can love the families of Beecher through this ministry–and win the opportunity to share Christ.

Like all dreams, this one has costs–financial costs, volunteer costs and, no doubt, unknown costs.  Currently I’m praying for 100 kids, and the volunteers, money and whatever else we need to minister to those kids.  As I’ve already written about, God’s been faithful with this building.  And He isn’t giving it to us as a knick-knack–He wants it used.  I look forward to seeing how God will do more than we can ask or imagine in using this ministry to reach this community for Christ.

Another Look at Church Buildings

~ brandon ~ Leave a comment

We are in the midst of constructing a new building.  The walls are up and the interior is in process.  So, I found this article from LeadershipJournal.net quite interesting.  I’d encourage you to read the whole thing, but this quote kind of sums up my view of our new building:

Ideally, we are a church without walls. Were trying to create “living temples,” people who live for Christ and make a difference in the city wherever they go. Buildings arent bad—we need creative, adaptive spaces. But we want our facilities to reinforce the message that the church is not primarily a monument but a people, living temples.

via Space Frontiers | LeadershipJournal.net.

Providence

~ brandon ~ 1 Comment

Our congregation has been trying to build a new building for 10 years.  Through various fits and starts we came to possess 10 acres of land (which moved 3 times), we designed a functional building, found a builder who could build it, raised almost 50% of the cash necessary, grew a budget to pay the mortgage and started construction.  The beginning of construction meant we had to decide what to do with our present building.  We decided to sell.

Selling it, of course, seemed much harder than it sounds.  The building is 105 years old, brick and about 3600 square feet.  It has only four rooms, a sanctuary (about ½ of the overall space), a small office, a large kitchen and a fellowship area.  And the building is landlocked—streets on two sides, homes on two sides—with no room for adding on.  Our bank would not venture a guess as to what it was worth, realtors told us they had no idea what to list it for, who would buy it or how long it would take.  Oh, an all of this while the local housing market is in the tank.  So, we put up a couple of signs and agreed on an asking price.

Within a week we received a call.  Another congregation in our area had been looking for a building for years.  They tried to build, but couldn’t afford it.  They tried to buy and ran into roadblocks.  Now they wanted to come and look at our building.  So, we welcomed them to have a look around.  Then I went on vacation.

While I was away this other congregation made an offer, below our asking price but still above what most of us thought the building was worth.  A meeting was met, and in the end we received exactly what we wanted for the building and they received exactly what they wanted—a building.  This whole event is what we call ‘Providence.’

God provided for us more cash as we complete our building.  This comes during a time when most churches are seeing declining offerings.  God provided this congregation with a new home.  After years of searching they’ve finally found a place to call their own.

What amazes me most is how big the providence of God is.  It is not merely big enough to guide our building process.  It is so big that our building process is God’s way of providing for the needs of two churches:  larger space for us and new space for them.  In one stroke God met the needs of two separate congregations.

God is good, all the time.