As I noted in my previous post, I wanted to share a bit about one of our partner churches, Calvary Baptist Church in Bethlehem, PA, who recently broke ground on a new campus. (To see photos and news of their recent groundbreaking event go to: http://thecalvaryconnection.org/?cat=4 ) They purchased 27 acres in a prime location at the intersection of Routes 22 & 33. The new facility will be seen by thousands of daily commuters along the Route 22 corridor, which extends to New York City. Their new property is in the fastest growing region in Pennsylvania.
From the day the Church settled on the land, they began holding Church / community-outreach events on the property, including bonfires and hayrides. During one Saturday night event, a family was travelling along Route 22 and saw their huge bonfire. Stopping to investigate, this family was welcomed-in by church members to enjoy refreshments. The family was new to the area, and although they hadn’t really thought about finding a church, they decided to visit Calvary the next day. After attending for three weeks, they dedicated their lives to Christ and are now church members. This church made a decision to step out in faith and relocate so they could continue to grow and reach more people for Christ, not realizing this would occur before a building was ever built!
Calvary didn’t just step out in faith with their building / relocation project; they are also a Church of wisdom when it comes to the financial planning associated with the relocation. At the groundbreaking event, the representative of the stewardship team gave an inspiring report (perhaps the first time that I ever felt inspired by a financial report). He let it be known that the land was fully paid for and the balance of money pledged and received would cover 70% of the cost of construction. He then challenged to the people to go beyond the pledges and to be debt free by the time they occupied the new building. He made this challenge in the midst of troubled economic times because he believed God could do such a thing despite what was going on in the economy. The ironic thing to me is that before the economy declined I did not think this church could raise the millions they did! (They started their capital campaign in early 2007.) As a little bit of background, based on the church’s annual budget and giving, our conventional wisdom (rules of thumb) projected that the church could not afford to build what they wanted. When the pastor told me he believed they could raise the needed funds, I thought to myself “well, we’ll see”. I was a bit skeptical because I’ve seen so many churches over the years try to build what they cannot afford, and I have heard many men of God proclaim “we have faith that God will provide” and they proceeded right into financial hardship. But I also felt a tinge of excitement with this pastor’s proclamation, and hoped he was right. Fortunately, unlike other church leaders that have proceeded on faith alone, Calvary’s leadership set up wise parameters in advance to prevent them from getting over-extended. They would only proceed ahead into construction if they reached certain levels of pledges and funds received. In this way, God’s guidance was confirmed by His provision. Although the church can afford a mortgage for the balance of the project costs (otherwise they would not start construction), their expectation is high that God will do something that most would consider impossible in a depressed economy. This is faith and wisdom working together. (I’ll try to remember to give an update by the end of 2010, when they should be in the new facility!)
