Three guesses as to what book of the Bible I was studying for my quiet time this morning. You guessed it…Esther! In particular, Esther 4:14 where Mordecai argues that Esther’s ascendancy to royalty was not just for her own benefit, but was divinely appointed so that she might “save” her people (a beautiful foreshadowing of Jesus Messiah).
I do believe that God works in and through human affairs to bring about His divine purposes. I have seen this time and again in something as mundane as our building expansion, which was already in the planning stages when I arrived at Renton Bible in 2003. The next few years would see a stewardship campaign which brought in $300,000 and the completion, by volunteer labor, of a half million worth of infrastructure work for the sake of our expansion. It was around the same time, however, that the economy tanked and, by God’s grace, we received one of many letters sent out by the City of Renton offering free 9-year extensions of our conditional use permit…and all we had to do was ask! At our annual meeting in 2009, the postponement of our project was made official due to both the economy and lowered attendance. Yet we vowed to revisit this decision annually. We sought the Lord every year and every year agreed it was not time, until...until our 2016 annual meeting. At this meeting, we realized it was do or die. In view of the time it would take to raise the money, we either needed to act now or let this project die…and with it the huge investment in money and countless volunteer hours toward the hope of a new sanctuary. The city had already made clear no further extensions would be granted. But God's work in our congregation leading up to this point was evident at that 2016 annual meeting. There were a number of important factors which said "now is the time to build,” including an uptick in attendance of 14%, strong giving, Sound Transit's decision to pay us $2,000 a month for a park & ride, Dan Charles' commitment to stay, after retirement, to see this project through and a congregational meeting where the vast majority said, "Let's build!" Any one of these factors, alone, would have at least encouraged us to consider building. But all of them together communicated powerfully that God had finally answered our prayer of, "How long, O Lord?" In October of 2016, we commenced with the Growing Together campaign in which the vast majority of our people committed to Belong, Serve, Give and Invite. The commitment to Give, alone, saw $395,000 committed, far exceeding our base goal and just $5,000 shy of our high goal. We were simply overwhelmed by God's provision displayed in the sacrificial commitments of our congregation…commitments which would rise to $463,000 in 2017. And by God's grace, we are on track to see these commitments fulfilled this October, 2019, which, when combined with what was already in our building fund and rent paid by Sound Transit, has reached more than $750,000—the original estimate for what it would cost to build our church. Our God is an awesome God! That original figure, however, was not for a “finished” expansion, but to do enough to pass inspection. We always knew that finishing (painting, flooring, window coverings, etc.) would cost more. Not only this, but there was a significant bump in the cost of materials between the original estimate and when we actually broke ground. Thankfully, once again, God has supplied richly, not only in funds and workers, but also in donated goods including tens of thousands worth of commercial grade, barely-used carpet from a Seattle high-rise. Even so, under the direction of the Design Team and the elder board, we have moved ahead with plans to finish the sanctuary (painting, staining the floor, etc.) so that our building might not only pass inspection but so that it might be ready to be used for ministry. With this in mind, we are asking our congregation to consider anew a commitment to our Growing Together campaign, for the sake of finishing what was begun nearly two decades ago. For some it will mean renewing their commitment here at the conclusion of this three year campaign this month (October); for newercomers it will mean joining our Growing Together campaign by making a new commitment (for more details, see page 3!). It is simply awesome to see what God has accomplished in and through our congregation and to also see that we are so close to finishing the vision God gave this body so many years ago. We entrust the completion of this project to God knowing that it is only by His hand that we have gotten this far. Praise be to God for His indescribable gift!
1 Comment
Darryl Staszewski
11/8/2019 12:08:55 pm
Thanks for this message.
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
June 2022
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