Sermon - "The War Part 1" - Daniel 10
Series - Into the Lion's Den #21
Listen by clicking the box or download the mp3 here.
Sermon - "The War Part 2" - Daniel 11
Series - Into the Lion's Den #22
Listen by clicking the box or download the mp3 here.
Budget busting mortgages. Foreclosures. Financial shortfalls. That may sound like the climate of the business world, perhaps the personal finances of you or someone you know. The truth is that it sounds like the church world too. We do not have to travel too far to find these problems manifested in sister congregations, in fact we need travel no farther than just down the street. What a sad sight to see in the Kingdom of God.
Who had any idea about how quickly the financial boom of the mid-2000’s would come to a crashing halt in November of 2008? Who knew that unemployment would rise to 10% and underemployment would add an additional 7-10% to the total? Who ever anticipated that charitable giving across the board would drop as it has?
As you are well aware, our church entered into a pledge drive for a new children’s center two years ago. At the end of this month, that pledge drive ends and we are left with a great big question, “What do we do now?”
Obviously building our new children’s center is not an option. The amount of debt we would have to add to our budget would be disastrous. It would take no time at all for an angry bank to put a big “for sale” sign in our front yard.
Building a smaller building is feasible, but we would end up paying much more over the long haul. A substantial amount of the cost of the original plan was tied up in design and engineering, something that would have to be done anyway, even on a smaller scale project.
We can always maintain the status quo, worshipping in a building that we do not yet own with enough money in the bank to build half of a new building. Obviously, that’s not a great plan either.
I would like to suggest a better plan. Instead of planning a ground breaking or a ribbon cutting for something that we will not own, let’s plan a note burning celebration for something we can own. You may or may not be aware of this, but our current building and property is financed through February of 2017. At our current payment, we will pay out more than $335,000 over that time, of which only $196,500 is principle. To save you the math, that’s over $138,000 in INTEREST and fees. By paying off our current indebtedness, the potential interest savings are tremendous, more than $71,000!
The opportunity is before us to rid our body of this huge burden without touching the money pledged to the new building. The pledged money will remain invested and will one day be used to build a new building. Once the debt is retired, the finance team will continue to budget the debt payment, transferring those funds into the building fund. And of course, you are encouraged to continue to give as the Lord leads to the building fund. Rest assured, when the economic climate improves, then we will pick up where we left off with a substantial down payment on a new building already in the bank.
There are more specifics to this plan that will be shared this Sunday night, January 24, at a conference called specifically to discuss this issue. I am excited about this possibility. It is not a new building on the property, but it is a new day at Northside. Fifteen years ago, a handful of faithful people signed a loan agreement to borrow the money needed to buy this property and build this building. Today, we have the opportunity to honor the faith of those first cosigners.
Dave Ramsey would be proud,
Pastor Brian