It is easy to become discouraged with all the negativity that is swirling these days. These can be difficult days when we cannot see God’s hand at work. So, I always appreciate those seasons where God’s involvement is absolutely unmistakable! This past weekend was one of those times as we held a Ground Breaking service for the forthcoming Worship building on our church site.
It is humbling to think of all the different people that God has used to make this past Sunday a reality. It ranges from old to young, those part of the church and those not a part of the church, those that are still part of our church and those that are no longer here, those that know and love Jesus and those that do not yet know Jesus, those that have given financially, those that have gotten their hands dirty and those that have prayed and served behind the scenes. I say “Thank You” to each of those that have been a part of getting us one step closer to having a church home of our own!
I am always amazed at the way that the Lord works. Thinking through the unfolding of events over the last five years since we purchased the property it is clear that it did not happen the way I anticipated. Yet, everything happened at the right time!
The story of our current site begins years ago. The site is located on one of three major roads in our community. It also happens to be the state highway to the Southworth Ferry. This ferry terminal is scheduled this year to provide a “Foot Ferry” to downtown Seattle. The property had an old weather beaten “For Sale” sign for years. I remember thinking that would be a great location but that it would cost too much. If my memory serves me correctly, at the time, an acre of land was selling for over $150,000 (the lot is just less than 5 acres). I watched the single residence go from neglected to vandalized. The home had been stripped and was frequently used for drugs when we purchased it. A call from a gal in our church prompted me to pursue it. The long story made short is that there was already an accepted offer but we could be in 2nd position in case they backed out. Well, their feasibility study continued to be extended for 6 months. Then a couple days after we were told that the existing buyer would close the deal we got a call letting us know the property was now available. This kicked off the process of making an offer with no money. It was with the help of our realtor Jerry that we were able to get a signed deal. It was through the faith of our people and the sacrifice of our “Property Team” that we began a feasibility study. A former member of the church gave us a name of a Civil Engineer to do the feasibility study. He would end up becoming our site engineer for the project. It was with the financial help of Northwest Baptist Home mission that we were able to purchase the property by using our existing Division St building for collateral.
I am thankful to all those that helped and especially the Lord. The truth be told, I was not too interested in starting a building program. Yet, God’s timing is always perfect. We felt we could at least get onto the property in a year or two with a used office modular. Well the process was much more involved. I will continue with more next week. Let me leave you with one verse, “And Jesus said to them, my father is working until now and I am working.” (John 5:19)
-Pastor Joe Parkinson