Thanks For Making Room For Me from Steve V on Vimeo

We are a couple of weeks into the ask we made of our body to finish giving to the new sanctuary. I am proud of the way our leadership has handled the process. Here are a few of the things that haven’t shown up.

  • No manipulation or fund raising tactics. We showed videos of people’s lives being changed. A fundraising company didn’t help us shake down or people.
  • No word from the Lord. Often times to kick of a campaign a pastor will stand up and say “God Told me that we need to build this building.” Cynically I’ve often wondered if that really was the case and practically it completely shuts down dialogue because to question the idea would be to somehow question God. There have been countless meetings where people have been able to come in small groups and hear and sharpen the vision.
  • No debt. I’ve been impressed how at each stage of our history how our elders have considered and then decided against taking on debt even if it means we move slower. They have been very clear to say that the Bible does not prohibit debt but it always warns against it. I think churches lose some of their credibility when they ask their people to get out of debt while at the same coming their body to large amounts of it recklessly.
  • No pledges. If you are going to give it give it. If you are going to give it tell God not the church.
  • No hubris. Along the way there have been several pauses where our elders have prayed and processed to make sure they still had a sense of his leading and that this is still wise way to move forward.
  • No freaking out. The day after the ask was the largest single day point drop in the history of the DOW. Being an insider I can say there is a bizarre kind of trust that the rest of the money will come when it is supposed to and we can just get on with our work.