During the onset of Phase 5 (the quest to make our facility a more guest friendly place to be) we began to have financial strategy meetings. How were we going to raise the money to do the things that we were certain God was calling us to do? That was the elephant in the room. We knew that we had the calling, the divine inspiration to update our facility for all of our ministries to grow in; but didn’t quite know how we were going to make it happen.
During that time frame a gentlemen, who we will call The Benefactor, approached me saying that God had told him years earlier that he was to build a church. Because of that heavenly assignment he suggested underwriting the project up to one million dollars with no interest charges and no fees. He said, “Pastor the church can just pay me back as the people are blessed to give.” Well, of course I was astounded by the offer but chose to reject it.
You might be saying, “What! You rejected it? What were you thinking?” I can understand why you might think that. But I knew that God had more than one person assigned to help us accomplish this vision. I knew that God wanted to use so many other good people. I knew in my heart that God had harvests waiting for a whole lot of seed yet to be planted by a whole lot of different people. So ... I said, “No, not at this time. But let’s not take it completely off the table.” So, the brother and I walked away in agreement.
After a few financial strategy meetings we landed on the Phase 5 capital campaign to raise money for the renovation. We presented the vision to the congregation and they responded with pledges totaling $268,000.00. Praise God! What an awesome response! At a certain point in the project I met with The Benefactor to talk about his proposal. He subsequently made the funds available as we needed them to pay our Lakewood Construction contracts.
It was this man’s obedience to the call of God and great gift of generosity that enabled us to continue the project to completion. And as I stated earlier, we have lovingly referred to him as The Benefactor.
Spring of 2018 marks three years since the renovation was completed and the congregation has been faithful to continue to give each week and has, for the most part completed their Phase 5 pledges. Along with the $10.00 per family special offering each week and the Phase 5 pledges we have paid our Benefactor $307,000.00 of the $932,000.00 that he gave. We still owe nearly $625,000.00.This year we are shifting our focus. Phase 5 is over. It is history. God has been good through it all. He has blessed in so many ways and on so many levels. One of the great gifts that God has given us is the gift of The Benefactor without whom we would not have been able to finish. Our focus is no longer the building and Phase 5. Our focus now is shifting from the building to the giver. Our church has been so blessed by The Benefactor and his family and we are eternally grateful.
Now is the time for us, the people of Resurrection Life Church to be a gift as well. It is time to shift our focus off the building and put our heart and attention on the giver. This new project is called “The Gift Goes On”. There is much to be said about this, but let me first share just a few of the monetary blessings that have happened because of The Benefactor’s gift.
As much as The Benefactor has been a gift, all the more our Lord Jesus Christ is the gift of Resurrection Life Church. The gift of His anointing goes on at Resurrection Life Church. The gift of His salvation goes on at Resurrection Life Church. The gift of His deliverance goes on at Resurrection Life Church.
It’s about being able to love on others and share the amazing gift of Jesus with them and having them pass that on to others. The financial gift from our Benefactor is way more than just monetary. We are not burdened or weighed down with a mortgage so we can do more – we can be more involved. The gift from our Benefactor allows us to use our resources for ministries that reach out into our communities authentically and whole heartedly to reach those who so desperately need to unwrap a gift of hope, love and grace.
And now through us, the gift goes on!!!
