July 9th marks nine months since our Growing Together banquet where we were challenged, as a body, to BELONG, SERVE, GIVE and INVITE. In this time we have seen newer-comers engaging in the life of our church, we have seen members getting plugged into new-to-them ministries, we have seen more than $100,000 contributed to our building campaign and we have seen many Gospel invitations go out, including 150 VBS invitations given to Honeydew students June 21st! We are blessed to witness all of the good things God is doing in and through our Growing Together campaign.
I think it is beneficial, as well, to zero in on what God is doing in what was really the impetus of this campaign—continuing our building expansion before the expiration of our conditional use permit. It is hard to believe that, less than two years ago, we were on the verge of giving up on this expansion along with all of the time, money and labor we had invested in it. And, certainly, if it were not for God’s provision and direction, we would have done just that. However, as we continued to pray and seek His face, God did something unexpected—He opened the door for the timely completion of the permitting process. There were a number of factors that needed to take place in order for this to happen including a strong, unified sense among our members that we should move forward, the expression of that unity through sacrificial giving, and the ability for our architects to submit our application by the deadline of April 3rd of this year. Again, by God’s grace, all of these requirements have been met. As a result, we are on the cusp of receiving the final approval for our permit and preparing for construction in early 2018. However, as is not so uncommon, such a massive undertaking is not without concerns. One of the greatest of these concerns is the fact that our attendance is not abounding. It’s true, at Easter we saw our highest single-service attendance in a decade. But we’ve also experienced huge fluctuations in attendance and, on the whole, we are not bursting at the seams. At times, it is easy for such concerns to get the best of me. I relate well to the people of Israel who, after embracing God-sized dreams of the Promised Land, began to grumble during their 40 years wandering in the desert. (The word grumble occurs seven times in Exodus 16 alone!) Even though I was the one who preached the series on God-sized dreams, I face temptation to short-sightedness and grumbling. However, God constantly calls me back, challenging me to take the long view, to embrace His kingdom vision for our church. Truly, that is what this building expansion has been about from the very beginning. From the start, we have stated that we are not building because there's no more room to fit the people on Sunday morning. So, if that’s not why we are building, then what is the reason for expanding our sanctuary? In May, I put this question to our Growing Together follow-up team. I was so blessed to hear the responses that were shared—and I’m excited to share them with you. Why are we building?
In Christ, Pastor Dan
2 Comments
Ernest Stellingwerff
7/17/2017 02:42:27 pm
I might add some personal ways that moving forward with the building campaign has impacted me: First, my faith has increased both as we've made personal sacrifice and as I wonder how God will fill even our current sanctuary. Secondly, I've been driven even deeper into prayer, for our body, for our community and for myself and our impact on God's kingdom. Lastly, I've been amazed at how God has worked over this last year, providing financially (personally & corporately for our church) and also in providing workers (VBS, etc) and in blessing us with a lot of guests (many who have remained). Praise be to Him!
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Scott Tsao
7/26/2017 03:49:08 pm
Why are we building? My answer would be: "We need to be challenged to be better stewards of God’s money."
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Dan GannonDan has ministered at Renton Bible Church, with his wife Debbie, since 2003. Archives
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