An Open Window

As you may have heard, our neighbor Mrs. Foster has rescinded her offer to sell us her 2 acres of property to our east so that she might build a small home and live there. She wanted to be sure I expressed her thankfulness and apologies to the congregation. While this is a disappointing development for us, there is a silver lining.

First, we’ve built a good and positive relationship with Mrs. Foster and we will gain an excellent neighbor. It also opens the possibility for a potential future purchase in the years ahead if she is so inclined.

Second, many of the donors have agreed to convert their gifts from property purchase to mortgage debt retirement, or helping to pay for the new sanctuary rooftop furnace that failed (approximately $75K cost).

With $350,000 gifts in hand, that means between the furnace and the mortgage payoff, we are now less than $90,000 away from being completely debt free, which is miraculous considering we had somewhere north of $825,000 of debt when I arrived three years ago.

So while disappointing, there is some Good News in it all. Thank you to each of you who have given generously to the property purchase, mortgage retirement, or sanctuary furnace. 

If you have have not yet made a special gift to these projects, please prayerfully consider doing so. I am confident that St John can be debt free (and warm in the sancatuary!) this fall as a result of your generosity.

A special thank you to Clint Lentfer, Jon Dawson, Hugh Miller, Craig Floerchinger, Kenny Gerondale, David Nicolai, Aimie Chase, Rick Clark and so many others who worked hard to make this possible. I am so blessed and honored and humbled to be your pastor. God bless you all.

Pastor Andy