I KNOW God Answers Prayer
Dear Church Family,
I have some extremely exciting news to share with you. However, for you to understand just how exciting this news is I’d like to give you a little background on the way God has been at work.
Over 3 years ago, when I first came to Harvest, we began the process of submitting a grant application to the John C Lasko Foundation. The final plans were decided upon 2 years ago and a we requested $560,000 dollars to finish, renovate and beautify the entire building with peaked roofs, offices, parking and a new lobby.
About 6 months after that was submitted we received notification that due to Mr. Lasko’s health the foundation was undergoing some major changes and they were no longer giving 100% financing for building projects. They also asked us to resubmit our application with these new guidelines in mind. At that point we knew that major adjustments were needed on our end and we went back to the drawing board. We designed a brand new prefab steel building and resubmitted the new set of plans to Lasko last November. In that grant application we requested $375,000 which was about 75% of the project. This was quite a reach since we knew the foundation only did 50% funding but the deacons and I just couldn’t say that we would be able to raise $200,000 in 12 months and building financing was not an option.
1 month after we submitted our application I received a call and the foundation informed me that it would take them 8-12 months to process our application. The deacons and I had a hard meeting and in that meeting we decided to step out in faith and begin renovating the current warehouse with our own funds. We felt like our church had to get something done before that time period. We did not notify the foundation about our plans but decided to step out in faith and watch God provide for the project without any external help.
We worked with the Town of Castle Rock, architects, and engineers to refinish our warehouse area as cost efficiently as possible. This May after all of our plans were finalized we realized that we were about $10,000 short on funds to start the project. The deacons and financial committee decided to wait to submit our application for a building permit from the town until we had raised those funds.
A couple of days after this meeting I received a notification from the John C. Lasko Foundation that the board was going to meet earlier than expected and they asked if we had made any progress or modifications to our project. They also notified us that they would not be able to grant us the $375,000 that we requested and asked for an explanation on how we would raise or borrow those funds. I met with the deacons and other financial advisors in the church and presented this new information to them. It was our decision to modify our grant request from the new prefab steel building to our current renovation on the warehouse and add in the necessary parking and external maintenance that we had not budgeted for in this phase of our remodel. We requested just under $88,000 so that we could complete our current project. We also decided that we would not announce this decision to the church. We did not want to slow down our progress on the building or discourage the people if the application did not go through. The whole reason for doing this project was to trust God to get it done and we laid it in His hands.
During this time frame I did a fund raiser and had a goal to raise $5000 1/2 of the funds we needed before we could go forward. To all of our surprise we raised over $10,000 in 2 weeks. We immediately finished all of the paperwork with the town and we finally got our building permit July 27, 2012. We were ecstatic about getting the permit, but apprehensive since we knew that we had a long road of fundraising ahead to be able to totally fund the project.
On Monday of this week Dan Wilson (our in-house general contractor) and I met together and discussed the necessary work and finances to accomplish the project. It was our conclusion that God would have to do a miracle for us to be able to finish this project in a timely manner. We felt like we were taking a giant step out into the dark in faith depending upon God to give that foot a solid place to land. However, we left that meeting with an understanding that, “Men could not build this church God would have to step in.”
Tuesday morning Willi Head was going through the mail and found a letter from the Lasko foundation. She opened in and at the bottom of the first paragraph the letter read, “You have been awarded a grant for up to $125,000.” She told me that she read it through 3 times before she called me. She had to make sure it was true. When she told me on the phone I was dumbfounded and speechless. God had truly answered our prayers with more than we could have asked or thought possible. Later that day I went down and read the papers myself (not that I doubted Willi’s word). I just had to see it.
Praise God the Lord of lords, King of kings, the Great Provider and Masterful Shepherd. He has chosen to provide for our entire project. I was doubtful that the money would come in and God gave us $125,000 through what I thought was a long-shot.
I can’t wait for the next few work opportunities. We get to work knowing God’s incredible provision. I pray that God will knit our hearts together in fellowship as we labor together to build a meeting place for his church.
This week we are going to begin digging the footers for the pad for the air-conditioning and heating unit. It is our goal to get everything ready this week to have the concrete poured.
We are working Thursday night from 6-8pm and Saturday morning beginning at 9:00. Come when you can. God has provided the funding and I believe he is providing the hands to do the work through each of you volunteering your time and efforts as we move forward by His grace.
Come for our special praise service this evening where we will thank the Lord for His marvelous provision.
In Christ,
Pastor Josh
