From Pastor Doug PenningtonJanuary 2009
Greetings in the name of Jesus. At our last Church Council meeting, we had a discussion about our Community Life Center (CLC) plans and how we are pursuing this new building project in the current economy. I want you to know about the decision of the Church Council and the consensus of our leaders. Here is a summary of that discussion:
1. We are on track with our plans, but the timeline must be adjusted. Our 3-year financial campaign for the CLC brought in pledges of $1.8 million. After a little over a year, we have received $680,000 of that, so we are right on track. In 2008, even with the challenging economy, we received $399,000 toward the CLC. We have spent some of that on permits, drawings, studies and other necessary related expenses, so our balance in the CLC fund is currently $555,000. Although we had originally planned to have broken ground by now, the state of our economy has required us to rethink the schedule.
2. The need is still here, and is even greater now. Last Sunday we had over 1,000 in attendance, and the 9:30 service continues to be overcrowded. Even though we added two portable buildings last year, we are still stretched to the breaking point for Sunday School and children's space. Last Sunday we had to move the Middle School class into one of the portables because their attendance has mushroomed recently. We always said that we didn't want to put anyone but adults in the portables, but this was our only option. These are good problems to have, but they are challenging nonetheless. We are forming a task force to study our immediate needs and look at alternatives until the CLC is built.
3. We are convinced that building the Community Life Center is God's will for Lynn Haven United Methodist. In 1999, we developed a Master Plan for our relocation that included the CLC. This plan has been approved and adopted by a wide range of our leadership over several years, from the Long Range Planning Committee to the Church Council, Charge Conference and even our District Committee on Building and Location. This demonstrates that a broad spectrum of godly leaders have looked at this issue in a number of contexts over a range of years and they have consistently concluded that this is God's plan for us. The question we are left with is not whether we should build the CLC, but when is the right time.
4. We seek to balance responsible stewardship, courageous faith, and godly wisdom. In Luke 14:28, Jesus says: "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it?" Given the current state of the economy and the banking industry, our Building Committee, Executive Leadership Team and Church Council have agreed that this is not the time for us to take on more debt. As great as the need is, to overextend the church financially could have disastrous consequences and put all our ministries at risk. Our plan is to delay our groundbreaking until we see a significant improvement in the economy, both nation-wide and here in the church. In the mean time, our Building Fund will continue to grow so that we will need to borrow less money for construction when the time comes. If God should provide someone to write a check for a significant portion of the Community Life Center, so we would have to borrow little or no money, we may be able to break ground sooner without waiting for the economy.
5. We are committed to moving forward cautiously and deliberately. Our Building Committee has charged a sub-committee with re-evaluating our current needs and updating our projections for growth. We will continue with the time consuming process of getting permits from all the state and local entities that are required. We will use this time to look for innovative ways to continue to grow our ministries within the limitations of our current facilities. We will pray for God's wisdom in knowing the right time to break ground. Let me encourage you all to pray for our leaders in their oversight of this important project. We don't want to jump the gun and we don't want to drag our feet. We want to be right in step with God's timing.