I never cease to be amazed at how the Lord works. This is true for our “Step In Faith” stewardship emphasis. It is amazing how the Lord has worked or should I say, as He is working. This past Sunday was the culmination of a month long focus to step out in faith as a church. And once again the Lord has worked through His people.
It was over a year ago we were faced with a financial challenge as a church. We needed to move forward on our Site Development Permit (SDAP), which had a two year time frame but did not have the funds available. Our property team decided to bring the information that we had to the congregation that we could only estimate at $15,000-$22,000. It was amazing when our congregation generously raised $18,000 in a single Sunday offering. Now the Permit did wind up costing more but God provided. It was that initial offering that opened the door for the next step in our site development. I could bore you with many stories of God’s provision but this has been how the Lord has worked over the last four years since we purchased the property. This week I received word that the Excavating contractor was done with the site work and only needed to wrap up a few loose ends. It was humbling to watch them mobilize (as they call it) off the site. The site looks incredible. It is easy to forget that a small step of faith brought us to this point.
We have used the proceeds from the sale of our Ministry Center building in December (2018), another incredible God story, to pay for most of the site work. The project site development work has gone smoothly for site development (a big thanks to our contractor partners) yet we were short funding needed to finish this step. The property team one again decided to bring the need before our congregation. This past Sunday was the culmination of our four-week emphasis that focused on our two next steps. The first is to complete our SDAP permit site work and occupancy of our modular office building. We estimated the amount needed at just under $100,000. The second step is raising additional monthly commitments to cover a Worship modular mortgage (estimated at $2000 per month.) And God once again moved through our congregation.
It is hard to verbalize the significance to our congregation of these project developments over the last year. The first step means that we now have a long-term site with all the permits and in-ground stuff behind us with a place for administration and mid-week ministries. The second step allows us to consolidate our worship services and all ministries on-site (we currently rent three venues for ministry each week.)
The response Sunday was an incredible blessing. We received total commitments of $77,815 with $53,775 in one-time commitments and $24,000 in monthly commitments. These gifts and commitments move us forward in our next step of faith. The one-time gifts will take us a long way to completing step one. The Lord has been working in others ways too like a $10,000 saving on our estimated paving costs. I have also heard of other gifts promised. The monthly commitment allow us to pursue step two and a worship facility of our own once step one is complete! I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s challenge, “For we walk by faith not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 10:13)
-Pastor Joe Parkinson