The mission of our church is to make, mature, and mobilize disciples. As a part of this purpose, we whole-heartedly believe that every follower of Christ is called to grow in the area of stewardship to be ‘unleashed’ personally into the harvest. The key to being unleashed is relieved of unnecessary obstacles (see Hebrews 12:1-2). The leadership of our church is convinced this is the time we should also take action to become ‘unleashed’ from the hindrance of debt so that we can ‘unleash’ these resources into the Kingdom of God for the spreading of the Gospel.

During the early 2000’s a Long Range Planning Team (Vision Team) was formed to seek God’s direction as we planned for future growth and ministry. In 2002 the church approved a comprehensive report from the Vision Team that included the construction of a community family center. This led to a capital campaign to raise funds to build “The Bridge” as well as make various improvements to the church campus. Some of the improvements included demolition of the Fulton apartments to provide much needed additional parking across the street, expanding and modernizing the nursery, preschool, and children areas, converting the Annex to the Healing Bridge Clinic, as well as numerous other upgrades. The construction and renovations were completed in two phases and were funded in part by the “Because We Care” campaign. The total cost of the projects was $7.4 million. A large portion of this amount was financed and, as you may have noticed in the church bulletin, our church still owes approximately $3.3 million.

Over the last couple of years, a number of members, as well as the Finance Committee, expressed concern over the amount of debt still owed and the impact it had on possible ministry opportunities. We pay a little over $300,000 per year to the bank to service this debt. Questions were raised as to what our church could do if we were not burdened by this debt. As a result, our Finance Committee selected Ekklesia Essentials to assist us in eliminating our debt and freeing us to do more for the sake of the Gospel. In addition, a Capital Stewardship Team was selected and commissioned to lead us in this effort. Some of the team have joined our fellowship after the construction was completed, while others have been members for most, if not all, of our church building programs.

Our team decided to call our campaign “UNLEASHED” to be descriptive of what our church can do if “unleashed” from our debt and freed to accomplish God’s will for our church body. So we are asking you to join us on a spiritual journey as we are challenged to learn God’s best principles of stewardship so that we can apply them to our lives personally. As a result, we believe God will ‘unleash’ us and our church fellowship for the sake of the glory of Christ.