It seems
like we have heard it a million times. The often repeated question… “Are we
there yet?” You know, the one that comes from the back seat as your family
makes the trek to Grandma’s house, a vacation destination, or to wherever it
takes over the “reasonable” 30 minutes or so of travel. Then, when you are
truly “almost there”, the entire car builds with excitement for what is in
store at your anticipated destination. Maybe it is the excitement of opening
presents or eating Grandma’s homemade goodies or the relaxing visit with those
you have not seen in awhile.
Well,
our Orange Friends Church family has been asking “Are we there yet?” with our
building debt for several years now. We can finally turn to one another and
say, “Yes, we are almost there!” We can feel the excitement building as we
anticipate what God is going to do among us as we arrive at this long awaited
destination. We have been on the road of paying off our mortgage for a very
long time and it feels good to pull in the driveway of being a debt free
church.
At the
beginning of December we began a debt elimination campaign with a little under
$25,000 remaining on our mortgage. As of today we have about $10,000 left to go!
The over $15,000 that has come in so far has been given by only 15 families!
Just imagine what we could do if every family at Orange Friends Church gave!
Maybe
you are newer to OFC and you were not able to be part of the building of the
Family Life Center in 2001. God gave a vision (or destination) to our church at
that time to reach out to the community by building a space for sports
outreach, teen ministry and a clean and safe nursery for our preschool aged
children. We now worship every Sunday in that same space. Whether you were here
when our church family stepped out in faith to build, or whether you are newer
and are enjoying the fruit of that vision, will you consider a generous gift to
completely eliminate our debt on this building?
Once we
arrive at this destination of being debt free as a church family, imagine what
God wants to do with our ministries and work. I believe that this will mean
that we are freed up financially to…
- Impact the lives of children and their families through the "Next Generation" vision. This plan includes converting the Chapel (previous sanctuary) into effective children’s ministry space and hiring a Director of Children’s ministries in order to reach out to more families in our community.
- Help hundreds of individuals and families to overcome addiction (CRACK House ministries), receive provision in the midst of homelessness and hunger (Faith Mission), and provide escape from human trafficking for young girls (Gracehaven ministry).
- Provide food, shelter, clean water, education and other practical needs for those around the world who are in need.
- Provide the necessary building and property improvements/maintenance so that our church property can continue to be a beacon of light for Jesus Christ in the surrounding community.
Please
consider participating in the debt elimination at Orange Friends Church. You
can make a difference no matter what you are able to give. Be sure to send your
gift marked for “debt elimination” to the church office (or place it in the
offering plate) before December 31 to get the tax benefits for 2011 and to
ensure that we are financially free for the 2012 ministry year.
As we
arrive at our destination let’s celebrate and rejoice for God has been generous
and has provided everything we need.
Pastor David
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