When we signed the contract in May to finish the construction on our building, the contractor told us that they expected to be finished by December. We thought to ourselves, “Sure! It’ll never happen.” Now, they’re talking about Thanksgiving and from what we can see, it just might happen.
As far as building construction goes, we are small potatoes compared to typically non-residential construction, and contractors like jobs like ours to “fill in” those gaps in their larger projects. Granted, this would tend to slow things down for us but it would help our cash flow. Guess what? There are no big jobs, or, at least, they are few and far between thanks to our current economy. We are it. They want to finish our building so that they can get their money.
There’s only one problem: we don’t have the money to complete the project. Well, the obvious question is, why did you proceed? We had to. We didn’t want to lose the generous foundation grant. We didn’t want the financial exposure of expired permits and reapplication which would require us, literally, to go back to the drawing board. We have already absorbed the cost of unexpected new building code regulations. We were concerned about deterioration of the existing structure. We didn’t want to lose our tax exemption. The city needs revenue and it does not allow unimproved properties to be tax exempt even though they are owned by a church. Once that tax exemption is revoked, it is a long process to get it back. There are other reasons.
Did I mention that we need this building to multiply our existing ministries and to launch new ones? In order for our church, any church for that matter, to grow, to be alive, we have to be continually reaching out.
A donor is putting forth this challenge. Someone has come forward with a new gift of $50,000 for the building. He is asking you for gifts of any amount that will match (and yes, exceed) that amount. This is not a matching grant. It is a gift that is already in place for which we thank the Lord. But he feels so strongly about the ministry potential behind this building that he is asking you to join him towards seeing it come to fruition. Yes, it will be our house of worship but it is also designed as a multi-purpose ministry center. That is who we are.
We are mindful and grateful of the many and generous gifts that have come in both large and small. We are learning by experience that we serve a mighty God and with Him, all things are possible.
For Jack Roberts and me, we count it a privilege to labor in this corner of God’s vineyard and we thank you for bringing this matter before the Lord.
Together in Christ we are blessed and kept,
Bob Hall, co-pastor