Crossroads Permanent Home: Part II

This is a continuing series of posts about what's next for our church in terms of location and permanent buildings.  Make sure you read all the posts in the series.

When we left off yesterday, we'd only raised about half the money we were trying to raise, and Clark was more than a year behind in his plan to move out of the College Cinema.  It's important at this point to note that none of this took us by surprise.  By late Summer of 2010 it was obvious to me that Clark's timetable for moving had slipped dramatically.  But something happened while I was in Haiti that changed our course.

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God".  Romans 8:14

It should have been obvious to me when Tracey Solomon called me in Haiti telling me she wanted to sell the Enterprise Dance Studio so she could buy a building owned by someone I knew that God was up to something.  It should have been obvious when the person I knew who owned the building she wanted called me and told me how desperate he was to sell his building (BTW, the same building we'd looked at and planned to lease three years earlier, only to see the City of Enterprise intervene saying, "We don't want a church in that location").  It should have been obvious to me when Tracy called me back saying she wanted that new building so much she was willing to sell Crossroads her building, deferring the downpayment for a year, and carrying the note herself.  It should have been obvious.  But it wasn't...at least not to me.

"Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes?  There is more hope for a fool that for him". 

Proverbs 26:12

"No, Tracey.  We have a plan (PLAN A) and we're going to stick to it.  It's never been our plan (PLAN A) to do anything other than put our money together for a down payment and acquire the College Cinema.  that's what we've been planning to do all along (PLAN A)".  I heard myself tell her that a half dozen times.  She persisted.  It was shameful really.  She did everything in the world to make it 100% painless to purchase her building.  A building we were already renting from her every Sunday for our children's Ministry.  Finally, I had to begin admitting to myself that it was possible that God was opening a door for us to do something different than we thought He wanted us to do.  We did the numbers.  By purchasing her building, our operating expenses would be about $700 a month less than what we were currently spending to rent space in Morgan Square Mall for our Annex.  It would take a financial commitment to remodel the space for our full-time use, but we had resources.  Clearly...it was Plan B time.

"God is using your circumstances to position and prepare you to accomplish His vision for your life".  Andy Stanley (from 'Visioneering')

Over the Fall of 2010 as we waited to take possession of the dance studio next door to the College Cinema, we dreamed and planned what could now be accomplished.  Yes, it looked different than what we originally envisioned.  But it became clear that God was orchestrating all of this, in spite of what we had thought He was going to do.  The move gave us more time.  It gave Clark more time.  It gave us time to pray and learn and grow and get better at what we were doing without a $750 thousand mortgage hanging over our heads.  It gave us time to restructure and reorganize our entire approach to ministry.  It gave Clark time to seek the best possible terms for funding his project, and it removed his own self-imposed pressure to build before he was ready.

God has a vision - a plan and a purpose for what He wants to accomplish in and through Crossroads.  I'm in a hurry.  He isn't.  I look at the calendar.  He doesn't.  In the end, spiritual transformation (for a person, or a family, or a church) doesn't take place when we get what we want...it takes place in the waiting.

Tommorow, more about Crossroads PLAN B: what the immediate results and benefits of purchasing the dance studio were, and what it all means as we continue looking forward to a permanent home for our church family.