More Amazing Math!

God's math continues to amaze me... actually it blows my socks off! For those of you who know me, you know that is tough because I don't wear socks unless I absolutely have to... don't wear shoes either unless it is necessary!

This week our total giving to date climbs to $212,000!!!! (That is total cash on hand!) Our giving since Easter has been $135,000. Isn't that awesome! God is so good! We sent out 40 letters to "friends of CoJ" to seek contributions and prayers and they are coming in! In addition some other bigger donations are on the horizon as well!

The appraisal should be in on Friday and we could go to settlement soon! So amazing! I am still praying that the selling church will offer to go halves on the cost of fixing the downstairs bathrooms.

God is sooooo AWESOME! In many ways, I think it is the principle of when one gives generously it sets off a chain reaction. I often wonder if that is how the feeding of the 5,000 happened... the little boy generously shared what he had and the others followed suit and there was more than enough!

The Joy of Giving Birth...

No, Sharon and I are not having more babies! But our church is!

In all our years of ministry, there is nothing more joyous and difficult than calling gifted people into the set-apart ministry. We have done this 4 times officially and have been part of naming gifts in several other people. Two of those 4 persons are actively serving churches now and it is a joy to follow their progress.

Most recently, here at Community of Joy, we licensed Doug Potvin to the set-apart ministry in January and he is now serving our sister church the Greenhill Church of the Brethren in Westover, MD. On Sunday, that congregation will vote on making Doug their Pastor. Previous to this, he has been serving as pulpit supply/ interim pastor.

We are excited about this step in Doug's journey and pray God's speed for him as he follows the call God has placed on his life!

What a pain to have to admit...

I didn't get a turkey this morning! The gobbler was gobbling hot and heavy on the roost and even for about half an hour after flydown. But he never came my way. At least not before the hen came from behind me and all but sat in my lap! She gave an alarm putt twice and I called to her and within 20 minutes she was back almost in my lap... about 8 feet away. I think she was going to a nest. She was a real beauty... almost a smokey phase... definitely lighter than normal. Finally after I could tolerate the pain no longer, I had to move and she flew away... but not too far.

Then as I was leaving, I saw a gobbler heading my way across the field. Unfortunately, for me and fortunately for him, he saw me about the same time and split!

Oh well, there's always another day!

Turkeys are driving me crazy....

Another beautiful morning on Delmarva... got a little hot by 9 a.m. but it was just gorgeous at 5 a.m. I love the early morning hours outside... the song birds start singing, the frogs chime in, the gobblers clang away and it's the Dawn Chorus as Pooh would say!

Again today, I saw turkeys and watched them for a long time. They would not come close enough to shoot. The BIG tom and his two hens flew down from roost about 6 and were silent after that. The big guy came out of the woods in full strut and stayed that way as he followed his two girls down the lane. I got up and circled around them only to find that when I got there an hour later, they were right in front of the very spot I had left! Now they are some smart birds. But I think I have the deal closed tomorrow.

I chose a new spot close to where they come out of the woods and it should guarantee me a shot! I don't plan to call at all... they don't respond right now when they are henned up and it just pushes the hens in the opposite direction. So, hopefully tomorrow, I can show you another beautiful picture!

Podcasting

I sure am loving the podcasting that these guys are doing for us. It's fast and easy and cheap. We upload our digitally recorded sermon early in the week and they edit and cast it within 24 hours and all that for only 29.99 a month! What a deal! I highly recommend them!

Riding the Wave of Momentum

We are riding high on the wave of momentum. The task for good leadership is to keep us up on that wave. Just like the focus point of a surfer is to stay atop the wave... that's what I want us to do at Community of Joy! To do that, we need to come together, pray, give, sacrifice, get excited, dream, dare to change things, plan, pray some more, give some more, sacrifice some more, consider ways to reach out beyond us into the community, invite our friends to join us, invite our work associates to join us, roll up our sleeves and jump in to the transformation.

It's going to be hard work and require much of us, but we must ride the wave of the momentum God has created for as long as we can!

Some things I'd like to see us consider, a neighborhood pig roast and open house, a saturday night worship gathering, setting the time of our first worship gathering on Sunday morning so that we can quickly add a second one without changing times of the established one, form a choir this fall for enhancement of our Sunday a.m. worship gathering, expand our praise team on Saturday nights, do some brainstorming of ways we can engage the college community, and....

Someone came up to me today after the vote was over and told me that we need to turn up the fire now... well, I intend to lead us in that direction! We MUST make changes and ride this wave of momentum as long as we can or else this building will do nothing for us!

One cool thing is that I the people of our church want to be faithful to Jesus' mission and I know that they will be willing to do whatever it takes to grow and help usher God's kingdom here on earth!

Another Step Forward in An Incredible Journey...

WOW!!!! Today, we finally voted on this building purchase. The vote was UNANIMOUS!!!! Funds are still coming in and we are riding a wave of momentum! THANKS BE TO GOD! What an incredible journey it has been and will continue to be as we chase the lion of transitioning into this building and a whole lot of new ministries and hopefully new people! Can't wait to see what's around the corner!

Learning Tough Lessons...

I am a procrastinator, sometimes. Sometimes it has gotten me into trouble and sometimes it hasn't. It's not a good habit to have and I can keep myself from doing it for the most part these days.

It concerns me to see that one of my daughters is becoming a procrastinator too! I call it her "under the wire syndrome". Today it about bit her pretty hard and I couldn't do a thing but let her work it out (called a natural consequence). She had a major school leadership conference today and she is the historian, so she worked late last night putting together a slide show of the year to show today. But when she tried to email it to the person in-charge this morning, about 15 minutes before she left for school and it wouldn't go through, she was sunk. So, she called me while I was in the woods turkey hunting and I answered (because I wasn't sure if there was an emergency). She wanted me to bail her out and I couldn't not from where I was.

Lucky for her that Tri was around and could walk her through what she needed to do to get the presentation on a cd. I hope she learns an important lesson from all this! It is never good to put things off, especially when it comes to using technology. It's a tough but necessary lesson and the sooner she learns it the better off her life will be!

Another Great Day....

It's day two of turkey season here and I just love spring turkey hunting! Today, was the same as yesterday... heard about 7 birds on roost with some hens. This time they were closer to where I wanted to sit, than yesterday. In fact, I busted one hen off roost and she flew a long ways away. About 6:50 a.m. a hen came out of the woods onto the woods road I was set up on and looked at my decoys and walked the other way (away from me!). A little while later, she was followed by a couple more hens and then a strutting big gobbler and then another big strutting gobbler and then a couple more hens and then a big gobbler that wasn't strutting. The strutters did not break strut or seem to care about my decoys. The non-strutter was very interested in my decoys, but I think he remembered the day before any how, a couple of rambunctious hens started running around and kept him from coming my way. That's when the FEVER set in! I knew it had to happen sooner or later... breaking my streak of a couple years taking my two birds on the first two days (one each day!). I should have never shot. BUT I did and they ran away in all directions. Then after things settled down, I stepped it off and it was over 50 yds.!!!! YIKES... the fever was the worst I have ever had!

A little over an hour later, I heard them gobbling from three directions and they were coming in... then they got quiet... and a little while later I saw two BIG dogs running around in the woods...so, I left until tomorrow... I am taking my friend Wil. Oh well, that's why it's called hunting! Oh what fun it is too! Those gobbles just get the blood pumping!

The picture is my good friend and turkey hunting mentor, Bryan Bilger from McVeytown, PA. We happen to share the same birthday...year and all! Hope he gets his boy a bird on Saturday!

Great Day...

Today is the first day of Spring Turkey Season... and after the lousy rain and wind of the last few days, it was a gorgeous day. I had no sooner gotten out of the truck and heard several gobbles in the direction I wanted to go. By the time I got to the woods, there were about 8 gobblers sounding off on the roost. I quickly got set up and by 7:20, as they say, "the rest is history." We are having wild turkey for supper tonight. The turkey weighed 18 pounds had a 10.5 inch beard and inch and an eighth spurs.

Three big adult longbeards came in and another couple gobblers and many, many hens were in the woods behind them. When the turkey's saw my decoy's -- all heck broke loose and they attacked my jake decoy and started fighting each other. What a beautiful sight seing them jump and fly and run!

I talked to my buddy, Wil a little while later and then again around 11 a.m. and he had not heard a bird all morning. I on the other hand had heard about 8 on the farm I was hunting and several across the road. That's the way it is... that's why it's called hunting...you are not guarenteed anything!

As I was sitting there taking in the beauty of the spring morning... praying, appreciating God's creation and the relationship I have with him, I was struck by the thought that for me it was a good day, but for so many in our world and country, it is a very painful day. My prayers and heart go out for the folks at Va. Tech. And for the people in Sudan, and Iraq, and Israel, and Afghanistan. When will we learn that guns are not for shooting each other. And that some of the violence we see on t.v. and in video games does not help! They only increase the wrongful use of guns!

In honor of earth day... every little bit adds up!

Today, I took 177 pounds of aluminum cans to the recycler! In honor of Earth Day, they are holding a special all week... .80 cents a pound. That's almost double what they normally pay. We've been saving cans for a while now... and the take today was $141.60... all for the building fund! Every little bit adds up. Keep saving those cans!

Defying the Odds....

Thinking about Sunday's sermon ... the second in the series... Chase the Lion. This week we will look at defying odds. Definitely a truth God is revealing to us as a congregation as we move forward in considering this building. The bank said the odds were not in our favor. God said... I know NO bounds. When the odds are stacked against us... we must depend on the ONE for whom nothing is impossible!

Simply AMAZING!!!!

The more we step out and chase lions, the more God's awesome and amazing power shines through! If you haven't read yesterday's posts, you will need to before today's will make sense.

Just got a phone call from Heather -- the leader at the church we are considering buying. And she wanted to let me know that they had the roofing company come out today to open the down spout so that the water would drain off the roof... and the really great thing is that it is at their expense! I knew that this was something that would need to be done immediately, but I figured that we would have to do that! Not so! Thanks God for orchestrating that meeting yesterday and for laying the ground work for more of your math to become evident as we chase the lion!

More Good News in an AWESOME Story!

The good news is that the building inspector says that the building is structurally sound and in great shape. It has a few warts... and we all knew that it did. What building doesn't?! Even a brand new building is going to have warts.

The HVAC system is new in 2003. No evidence of termite damage. The floor concern some of us had is not an issue. The water coming in from the bathroom is being cared for by the plugs for now and eventually new plumbing!

The Easter Story Keeps Getting Better and Better!!!!!

WOW! I mean to tell you that God is AWESOME! Today the story continues and it is quite a story of God's resurrection... for all the details go back to the Early April entries here.

Last Tuesday we were supposed to have a building inspection on the church building we are hoping to buy and have a contract on. The inspector who came, indicated to me that he was uncomfortable with doing the inspection because he had a relationship with the church. Turns out his wife is a former member of the selling church. When he was uncomfortable, I became uncomfortable and we agreed to reschedule the inspection with someone else from his company. That person could NOT do the inspection until today (Monday April 16) and in spite of my pushing really hard for him to do it last week... he didn't budge... and I couldn't find someone who would do it sooner...so I met him there today at 9 a.m.

This weekend has been some of the most unusual weather... with over 4 inches of rain and really high winds! When I arrived at the church, the inspector and our realtor were already there. Also there was one of the leaders from the selling church... who was downstairs wet vacuuming the water that was coming up from the toilet flanges. She had called a plumber and and had him come to plug the pipes... but his effort did not stop the water from coming in. The inspector used some of the wax from the toilet to add to the plug and got the water to stop coming up. This whole ordeal lead to a relationship forming between myself and this leader... we even talked theology for almost 45 minutes and found much in common. We talked about appraisals and our desire to offer a fair price but our concern over the appraised value. It was the face to face meeting that I have been hoping for and I didn't even have to request it... God orchestrated it in a way I could have never done! I now have her cell number and she has mine and she knows how much we want the building and hope we can come to some agreement on price should our appraisal come in lower than the asking price. I know how much they want to sell it to a church and are hoping the building will be a blessing to us.

Also, the inspector found the standing water on the roof. The good news is that the roof was not leaking! However it did have about 2 feet of water standing on it. A roof drain is blocked and I knew that from our previous inspection. But Heather called immediately and is having some one come over to open the drain at their expense!!!

If that weren't enough, she loaned me pictures of what it looked like prior to the addition. And loaned me a copy of some plans that they had drawn up for that addition and a much larger classroom addition as well as the design for a parking lot. The plans have dimensions and show some exciting vision and possibilities for the space. How COOL!! YEAH GOD!

More Chasing Lions...

If you go really far back in my posts, you will see the idea that I was VERY EXCITED about opening a Third Place -- a coffee shop as a modern well to connect with our community. I thought that was the direction we were going as a church... but then this building popped up and we headed that way. WELL, it turns out... that the coffee shop might still be happening. One of my team members and friends is pursuing it on a personal level. What a lion chasing story this will be! Can't wait to see what's around the bend!

Chasing Lions...

Preaching a series right now at Community of Joy called Chase the Lion, with great appreciation to Mark Batterson of National Community Church in D.C. for many of the ideas. I had chosen this series long before I knew what God was up to with the building possibility for us. How Divinely Timely! We are about to chase the lion... BIG time at CoJ! I had to work real hard to convince the bank to give us pre-approval for the financing. I was confident that if God were leading us in this direction, he would provide what was needed... and man alive has he ever! It truly is awesome... money is still trickling in and we've gotten almost 100% of the pledges. It's an awesome ride. Next Sunday we vote on the purchase!(though that hardly seems necessary with all the funds that have been voted already!)

Open House Saturday

We are hosting an onsite open house on Saturday so that our congregation can look at the inside of the building we are buying. It is at 816 Smith St. from 5-6 p.m. Saturday. We will vote on purchasing the building on April 22 after our worship gathering and before a carry-in meal!

AMAZING....

Most statistics show that when a church does a capital campaign, only about 80% of the money that is pledged comes in. Well NOT here at Community of Joy ! Yesterday, our Financial Secretary took 111,000 plus of the pledged 125,000 plus money to the bank. She told me that in addition to that, she has sent notice to liquidate 10,000 that came in a stock gift and has been told by the remaining givers that their money will be in this Sunday... which will make 100% of the money pledged -- given in less than 2 weeks! The folks at Community of Joy are AWESOME! And the amazing thing is that we haven't yet voted on buying this building. But I guess in some ways, we have voted with out money!

And to think the banker wasn't sure if they should loan our small group of 45 the money to make the purchase! They totally missed the GOD FACTOR in all of this! Thanks be to God!

Don't miss the easter story...

I just noticed that the incredible story of what is happening here at Community of Joy has been slipping into the "older" posts category and I don't want anyone to miss out! Start with the earliest story and read forward! It is quite a powerful story of how God is leading us!

If only the church would be as quick!

Today, I was rear-ended by a young lady while I was stopped at a red light on Rt. 50 and Civic Ave. I had just come from a meeting with a plumber at the building our church is hoping to buy.

Luckily no one was hurt. My truck sustained bumper damage and her van also had bumper damage. The accident site is just across the road from my insurance agent's office, so I went there after the police let us go. He immediately started the claim process from our end in case she didn't start one on her end (she did!) Two hours later I got home and have been on and off the phone ever since! First it was her insurance company, then it was the body shop I chose, then it was my insurance company's personal injury guy and then it was my insurance agency's damage gal. And then friends have been calling!

As all this is taking place, I am thinking... wouldn't it be great if the church responded to "accident's" in the same way with the same speed and concern?! It definitely has impacted me to know that I am not a number or a name, but that my situation matters!

Fortunately, I am part of a church that is VERY good at responding to needs we are aware of! And I want us to do better! To help people who are in times of need experience God's love and presence as they travel through the struggles!

Podcasts finally up....

The podcasts are finally up...here.. for the links. The first podcast is our sharing with the congregation the prospect of the building.... it includes Jim Replogle our Leadership Team Chair and myself and Tri Townsend our Leadership Team Vice Chair. Neat story!

Be Careful What You Pray for...

Be careful what you pray for... never thought you'd hear a minister say that, did you? Well, for 8 years, I have been asking God to bless us with a location for a ministry center...and now it is happening! But it is happening is such a way that doing the preparation work for moving toward settlement is becoming a full-time job. When I was sharing with a friend how busy this is keeping me... he said... "how long have you been praying for this?" WOW! Thanks God for your blessings!

Things are really falling into place on this deal.... can't wait to see how it all turns out and what's ahead. Saturday night from 5-6 p.m. our congregation will tour the building and then on the 22nd we will vote on whether or not to purchase it. It almost seems silly to need to vote on such a deal... and in many ways they already have voted with their gifts.... see that blog about the details of that.

It's DEFINITELY EASTER here!

It is DEFINITELY Easter here! God is so AWESOME! He constantly amazes me and I stand in awe at what he is doing in my life and in the life of the congregation that I pastor. Read the blogs previous to this one for more info on the full story.

Here is a continuation of the Easter story that God is unfolding right now.

A week ago, we told our congregation about the contract we have on a building and launched our capital campaign. We had at the time, $77,000 in the building fund and our goal for the campaign was to increase the fund by $3,000 and then double it... thus raising it to $160,000 in the next 60 days so that by settlement, we would have at least $160,000 in hand. And a second goal was to raise the monthly mortgage amount in pledges for the next two years.

I talked on that Sunday about God's math being 5+2= 5,000 remainder 12. Well, that is exactly how God added the funds together.... We took the offering early in the service and had our assistant Treasurer count the special offering and the commitments. Drum roll please.........

When it was all said and done one week after announcing the building contract and the campaign our little group of 45 or so people raised an additional $125,300. So when you add that to the cash on hand... $ 202,300 is what we expect! And if that isn't just the most awesome Easter gift ever, God didn't stop there. .... the monthly pledges to the building fund over and above the regular giving for the next two years was $1800.00 per month!! And as has been true for this journey so far... I would expect that God is not done blessing us yet!

Isn't God AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

I was thinking that this large amount might deter some folks who haven't given, but after talking to a friend who I knew was planning to make a gift and telling him the story... he has me convinced that the story is not finished yet! Stay tuned!

A Retirement Haunt...

Gotta love my church family... They sure put up with a lot from me! Twice a year we have a very special worship service that is modeled after Jesus' last supper with his disciples before his crucifixion. It's called the Love Feast. A very special service.

In it, we examine our relationship with Jesus, eat a simple meal together, wash one another's feet (I know, I know what some of you are thinking... but it is a VERY humbling part of the service) and receive communion. It's held on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter) and on World Wide Communion Sunday (the first Sunday in October).

Anyhow, at this past week's service, as I was leading up to the communion time, I had a graphic on the screen that was supposed to be the classic art painting of the last supper. You know the one! Anyhow, I was in a huge hurry when I realize that I hadn't put the complete slide show together earlier in the day and I threw that picture into the show and was all ready for the night. Well, when that picture came up on the screen, I noticed that the table I was sitting at was busting a gut and I couldn't figure out what I had said that was so funny. (My back is to the screen and a long time ago, I gave up turning around to see if the correct slide is up -- I trust the computer operator fully!) My daughter was operating the computer this time and as we shifted gears toward another part of the service, she got my attention and told me what everyone was laughing at. I'll post the picture. It wasn't the classic art piece. This one has a star wars character in it. So, when I saw it... I told her to go to the next slide.

A few minutes before all this we had been listening to a favorite song -- How Great Thou Art... except this version by a group called Selah sings the second and third verses in an African language. When the song started playing, the group started singing along... until they got to the African language which of course they didn't know and then they returned to singing when it got back to English. After that was over, I said to the congregation, "I've just got one question" And my table thought I was going to reveal my mistake. When instead, I asked them why they stopped singing. And I told them that I intentionally used that song to remind us that God is the Lord of all the world not just those who speak English. Then I referred to the picture and said it was up there to remind us that God is the Lord of the Universe -- outer space creatures as well! Everyone busted a gut and it will go down as a memory in our congregation's sacred journey! Hope they forget it when I retire from pastoring this church in 30 years!

Podcasting...

Later this week, we will have our first ever podcast for Community of Joy! We are using a service to do this. You can find us from itunes or from our website.

The very first issue will be the story we shared on April 1... No Foolin' It's April Fools.... BUT Easter is Coming! The story of our upcoming potential building purchase. Check it out. Subscribe to the weekly podcast!

It just keeps getting better! The story that is... EASTER!

Wow! Can't wait to see how this story plays out and what God's gonna show us around the corner! It just keeps getting better and better.

Today I learned that a stock gift we were counting on as $5,000 turns out to be almost $6,000 and it was given last year, but for some strange reasons didn't get done in time for year end. The good news for us and the giver is that the stock appreciated since the gift was first attempted!

Also, today, we called a local pest control place to do a termite inspection and learned that they had already inspected the property last year due to a swarm that was seen and no damage was found. The treated the property and it has a warranty on it that can come to us after we buy the place for $175 a year!

And money is starting to roll in too. Can't wait to see how God works through us as we look toward him for guidance! Our goal is to double the $80,000 we have in the next 60 days! All things are possible with God!

And then... my neighbor is getting a new stove and fridge... hers are in mint condition, but she replaces appliances when the warranty runs out.... so, she is donating the fridge and i will ask about the stove as well. What a gift!

Wonder what God will do tomorrow? Can't wait to see!

p.s. don't worry... the pews gotta go... we have chairs which are much more comfy and more adaptable than pews. the lights will go too!!

It's Easter for us! What a story!

LONG story....I've been hinting about this story for a while now... finally I can tell some of it! I've been praying for this kind of thing to happen for almost 8 years now! The timing of it at Easter is NO coincidence! It is a God thing!

The congregation that I pastor has been looking for a building for some time now. In November 2005 we thought we had one lined up and boy were we excited! But then the selling church changed the terms and we didn't like them, so we backed out! I spent almost an entire year fighting the depression of that deflating experience and our congregation suffered as well.

In August of 2006 we found the big warehouse that we dreamed about becoming The Joy Center, but the sellers would not either reject or accept our offer... so we continued to pray. Also, in February of 2007, we met with the Mayor to talk about how we would like to use that building. She called many officials together to meet with us in March 2007 on site. It became clear to us at that time that there would be no Joy Center at that location in Salisbury and that if we wanted to pursue that it would be a LONG battle... that meeting was at 3 p.m. At 5 p.m. we were meeting our realtor at a building that was on the market.

Prior to all of this, our leadership team was looking seriously at an option of opening a coffee shop that would be for profit and a place to meet for worship on Sundays. I am really excited about this and had thought this would be the direction we went. But things didn't fall into place for that to happen.

So, the next day after that meeting where it was clear that we would not be opening a coffee shop, I was walking and praying through my huge disappointment and seeking God on the direction he was calling me. As I neared the end of my walk, I was planning to invite a member of my Life Transformation Group to join me for lunch so I could share with him was was happening in my life and seek his counsel. Before I could call him, my cell phone rang and it was Steve (him) on the line. I invited him to be my guest for lunch, and he asked where I was at the moment. I told him and he said he would be right over. He came and we sat in the living room talking when he suggested we go for a ride. I asked him where we were going... he said to the church building that the leadership team was excited about and going to see the next day at 5 p.m. When we got there, he was ecstatic over the possibilities. I was mildly luke warm. Still wanted to do the coffee shop!

I then called the realtor and my wife and asked both if they could meet me there in 20 minutes to go in the building and look around. They could and did. I came out of there slightly more luke warm. Knowing the leadership team would love it.

As I said earlier, the leadership team looked at the building after our meeting with the mayor and the closed door there on The Joy Center... see several previous posts for more on this. They were excited about the building pictured above. We talked about changes we would make and agreed to pursue it. I was getting luke warm now.

I called a roofer, I knew, to do me a favor in looking at the flat roof for me. While he and I and the realtor were waiting for one of the roofer's employees to bring a ladder, we were talking oblivious to anyone else around. When a hand popped right into the middle of our conversation and a voice proclaimed, "I don't mean to interrupt, but I just wanted to say Hi". It was the pastor of the church whose property is adjacent to this property... Someone I knew - his name is Kevin Wackett. He told me to stop by his office before I left the property.

The roofer found that the roof had at least another 10 years life and that only minor improvements would be needed now. So, becoming even more warm to the idea, I went to my friend's office. While there, Kevin told me that they had explored buying the building and the vote to do so lost by 4 votes shy of a 2/3 majority and their polity said they could not revisit the issue. They had an appraisal done and he shared with me the findings. He also told me that he had seen my truck there 2 times and had gotten his leadership team to pray for us (before they knew for sure what we were doing) and that he could envision us working together in many ways to love the neighborhood. (I have been praying for the body of Christ to come together in common mission for many years now) Needless to say, that by this time I am very warm toward the possibility.

Armed with some new info, our leadership team met to make an offer. The asking price is $425,000. We offered $300,000 with the stipulation that we would pay no more than appraised value. They countered at $395,000 with word that this was FIRM and that any contract they signed would have a 72 hour kick out clause in it. We debated for a long time how to respond.... and I went to the realtor to make the response fully anticipating to agree to the $395,000 with no kick out and the real number being close to the appraised value. I left the realtor's having made a $375,000 counter. They countered our $375,000 offer at $360,000! That's NOT a typo! They also produced an appraisal they had done in Nov. 2006 for $360,000. Now I am HOT! On Fire! EXCITED! Go God!!!!!! I just love God's math!

On March 30, we reached a deal and both parties signed a contract. Also on March 30, we got pre-approval from the bank. That is a story in itself. I had spoken with this banker in Nov. 2005 when we were pursuing the other church. When I told her my name, she remembered me and told me her rates.... 7.69% without a deposit there and 7.19% with a 100,000 deposit there. She even said if it was only the 70,000 we had in the building fund and would later be used for the down payment that would work. By the time she faxed me an application, she had lowered the rates to 7.19% and 6.99%!!!!!!!!!

Now we are asking our folks to make sacrificial commitments and we are collecting them on Easter Sunday to announce to the congregation what has been committed. I fully expect God to move in a BIG way! Can't wait to see how BIG!

The realtor is paying for our building inspection... not required by the bank, but something we want. What a nice gift!

We will vote on this whole thing on April 15!

This opportunity is huge and comes at a time in our congregation's life when we needed to have a resurrection... THANKS be to GOD!