"It's Getting Real" by Pastor Welty
Jim Welty
On May 4, the Building Committee met at the Ministry Center. We had a detailed discussion about submitting the plans for the new church building to the contractors that the Committee has selected. We reviewed some of the final plans, discussed the criteria and interview process. As I sat there taking all this in, the thought came to me, "it's getting real".
Over the years I have sat through more Building Committee meetings than I can remember, and sometimes those meetings felt as though we were just spinning our wheels with the best of intentions, dreaming of what might be someday in the distant future, but this meeting felt very different. Those words “it’s getting real” kept resonating in my head. After years of hoping, praying, investigating and dreaming, we are getting close to having a church building.
Our detailed plans will be submitted to five contractors that the Committee has chosen. After that submission, we will wait to hear back from those contractors about their estimates for the cost of this project. This is a pivotal moment in our church’s life. If the numbers come in much higher than we’re anticipating, we’ll have to reevaluate, but if they come in at the feasible level we are hoping for, then a starting gun will be fired, and we will be off and running.
I’m asking everyone who is a part of our church, members or adherents, to join me in praying for this process. Let’s pray that one of these contractors will look on our project with favor and even have a sense of calling to do this. Pray that they will be conscientious and honest with us, and pray for those who interview these individuals to have wisdom and discernment.
In the Old Testament we read that as the Babylonian Captivity was winding down, the people of Israel were preparing to return home. One of their challenges was going to be the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, but God oversaw that as we read in Ezra 1:1-3
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.”
God oversaw the building of the temple and appointed a king who was not a part of the Jewish nation to accomplish His purposes. Just as God oversaw the rebuilding of the temple, He will help us as well. He has faithfully led us through this process and will continue to do so. So please join me in praying that one of the contractors we are in contact with will be like Cyrus, an individual outside of the story in whose heart God works in a powerful way to accomplish His purpose in our church.