My heart was heavy, and my mind was frustrated as I left the office of a local businessman. He had asked me to meet with him concerning the development of the property across the street from our existing building which housed both our church and academy. “How could they do this?” I screamed in my mind as I had just found out they were going to be growing and manufacturing marijuana right across the street from my church. We had no say, and even though I was informed in a kind way, it was not what I wanted to hear. Of course, the church was upset, but what could we do? PRAY!
I remember praying over the situation week after week, and then, I found out they failed to obtain their license and would not be going forward with the plan. “Praise God, that's over!” But it was just the beginning.
Just a couple of months later, we began to receive strange phone calls, asking about our church academy, and soon, that same businessman approached me again. Only this time, hat in hand. They wanted to lease the space to another company who had received the license, only now, after due diligence, they found that our academy, registered with the state, was blocking their path. Our small unassuming academy was standing in the way of their multimillion-dollar enterprise due to distance regulations in the state. After much deliberation, they offered to pay us a very large sum to relocate the academy. Not the church, just the school!
We had been praying for some time to be able to relocate everything, so we took the offer, and the journey began. After purchasing an existing building for a mere fraction of its value with the funds provided in the agreement, Covid struck hard. Our existing building, which had interested buyers, was shut down for months. No one was looking to buy a church, because no one was able to have church. No one was loaning money to churches because so many were struggling in this new “online only” world. I remember saying out loud, “God, what is going on? Now I have two churches, but I can't even have church services, what will we do?” We were counting on the funds from the sale of our property to complete the renovations needed to relocate.
Then I contacted the Church Loan Fund. As we were financially stable, even through the difficult time of the pandemic, we qualified for a loan to carry us through, and today, just a couple of years later, we are about to begin work on an addition to enlarge our sanctuary space. Through the many difficulties and huge leaps of faith, God has been with us all the way! We have grown 30 percent in the last 9 months and are continuing to grow. We are utilizing overflow space to handle the miracles God has sent us in souls, and we are stronger than ever even after going through the pandemic. We have a large group in multiple phases working through our discipleship classes, hungry hearts and souls are being filled and baptized and new leaders are being developed every week. Our new seven-acre property sits on a lake surrounded by a wildlife refuge. We have been told by those who travel constantly that we now worship in what could be the most beautiful church setting they have ever seen. God is a miracle working God! Thank you UPCI Loan Fund for being a part of the miracle provision for LifePoint Church.