Homes Can Be Scary
Back in October of 2005, Jen and I had become convinced that God was leading us to start a new church in Lafayette, so we drove down here from Chicago with our two little kids to visit some neighborhoods and to get ourselves a place to live. We weren’t planning to move until January, but we knew that since this was the town where God was calling us, and since this was a mission that we were committed to heart and soul, we were going to commit, jump in with both feet, and actually purchase a house.
During that week of research, we eventually stumbled upon the neighborhoods of the southside, found a builder who would build us a house on the lot we wanted, and as an act of total faith, we signed the documents to have them start building our house. We literally didn’t know where the money would be coming from because we had financial support pledged to us from families across the country, but it would only last for a couple years.
On faith, we signed documents committing us to a 30 year loan when we only had a 3 year commitment from our financial backers… a commitment that didn’t amount to enough money to rent space for the church and also pay me a salary.
My wife and I stepped out in faith that God would provide because we knew two things for sure: (1) If God had guided my wife and I to Lafayette, he would take care of us in Lafayette, and (2) if God wanted to launch this church in Lafayette, he would take care of it. All we had to do was have faith and be faithful.
Faith and Faithful
It has been 10 years since that October vision trip, and LCC is now a thriving church with financial resources to pay me and a few other staff members and to purchase a building of our own. Of course, it can be a little scary because we don’t really know what ministry will be like at 2301 Concord. We don’t really know how things will change or if that part of the city will affect our ministry at all.
However, we do know one thing very clearly. God has absolutely paved the way for us to take ownership of this building. When you consider that the appraised value of the building is $700,000 and we got it for $400,000 that’s huge! When you consider that our construction costs will be $200,000 but that our loan approval was for up to $606,000 that’s huge! When you consider that this new space will be enough for us to finally do the kind of children’s ministry we have been dreaming of for a long time, that’s huge!
Above all that, what we are certain of is that God has led us to this new building, and therefore, he will take care of all the uncertainties so long as we have faith and are faithful.
Still a Bit Nervous
I am still honestly nervous. There are so many unknowns. There is so much work to be done. However, I’m not really nervous about the money or the effort. The one thing that makes me kind of nervous is something I said in the Focus Group meetings before our Capital Campaign this past spring. What I’m most nervous about is that we as a church might find ourselves either complacent or inward-focused as a result of this building. We might begin to think that since we have a building, we have “arrived” as a church. Or we might allow the building itself to become a focal point of our ministry as if our main purpose for existence was to maintain the building.
We can’t let ourselves think that way. We have to become a church that now more than ever uses our individual influence to reach out to the lost all around us.
This is your time to tell your friends, neighbors, and coworkers about how your church is taking the risk of moving to a very interesting part of town. This is your time to talk to the cashier at your bank, the register attendant at Walmart, and the Geek at Best Buy to let them know you are part of a risk-taking church that cares so much about hurting people that we would set up shop right next door to where some really hurting people go for escape.
And most of all, this is your time to really get serious about your own faith. We are entering into a dark part of the city, and the temptation will be strong for us to lose our light. Our enemy will use this as a chance to distract us from the mission of the gospel. Our enemy will use this as a chance to get us to fight against each other. Our enemy will use this as a chance to lead some of us astray. If we can shine the light of Christ in a dark part of the city, Satan will lose ground, and he probably doesn’t want that to happen!
So what makes me nervous is that we would somehow lose our light.
Let’s get this right!
So, I’m calling on all of you to help us get this right by focusing on these few things:
- Let’s be people who strengthen our personal relationships with Jesus by spending good time in prayer and Bible study every single day and by prioritizing our weekly worship gatherings!
- Let’s be people who strengthen our relationships with each other by investing in our Core Group and Coaching relationships.
- Let’s be people who are unashamed to invite others into a relationship with Jesus.
- Let’s be people of personal integrity in this world, and in how we handle ourselves during our construction.
- And let’s be people who together create a beautiful home at 2301 Concord for ourselves and all the spiritually homeless people we can reach!
This is the time for us to step forward as a family together, to put first things first, and to let God use us to accomplish something amazing!
Thank you for being on this journey with us!
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