Dear Friends,
Last week I recapped some of the exciting happenings and insider information in the life of our church that were shared at our recent Doing Life Together.
We asked for feedback at Doing Life Together from the congregation; ideas, questions and concerns. We received five pages of very exciting and positive comments from the evening, as well as some common questions and concerns. These are very important. This week I want to address the key questions so that you will have the information you need as we move ahead. Again, thanks for all your wonderful support and commitment. Please let me know if we can assist you or answer other questions as we prayerfully move ahead. Call us or stop by the Eagle Landing/New Hope Development Center. There is a question and comment box for you to use by the model.
Obviously the economy right now is in a great deal of flux and crisis. We are carefully monitoring this, and what impact and effects it will have on us. Fortunately, we are at a stage in the process where these events have less impact. We will continue to trust God for His timing and any changes to our plans. We appreciate your prayers over this process and project.
Question: Are we going to become a large business with lots of real estate to manage, and focus on making money rather than our mission?
Answer: Absolutely not! New Hope will only own our church facility and chapel, and possibly a ministry related facility. The rest of the center will be owned by a variety of interests. We will not be in property or business management, or be a landlord to commercial interests. We will not put the church at risk and be in the development business. We will own our new ministry center debt free. We are hoping to have a continuing residual that will come to the church to pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings so that all our tithes and offerings can go to ministry.
Question: Will we lose touch with reality and become an isolated “Christian village or community” living in a bubble?
Answer: This will not be a “Christian village or community.” It will be a life style community that has a faith component at the heart of it. Ministry and service will take place in many other venues besides our church facility-coffee shops, plazas, etc. as we live and have influence in our shared environment. The benefit to the retail, entertainment office and residential is that we are a value added to the environment of the village. People desire to live in community where spiritual values such as compassion, faith, hope, love, and service are foundational.
Question: Are we rolling in money because of all this?
Answer: This is a difficult time financially for us because many people see the plans and think that we have a lot of money. We have had to put out money now for planning, zoning and entitlement issues. It will be a couple of years before we realize any funds, and these will go to pay off our current debt and build whatever facility we can debt free. We will only build whatever we can pay cash for, even if it is a much smaller facility that what we currently own.
Our goal is not to make money, but to provide a more effective environment to reach people for Christ and help them to take the next step.
Question: Are we going to compromise our message or be swallowed up by the new development and lose our identity? Will we be controlled by the businesses around us?
Answer: We will not compromise our mission or our message. We have a strong voice in deciding what types of businesses will go into the village. We will also help develop the covenant and restrictions that will be a part of the development for the future long after the current developers are no longer a part. We will own our own facilities. While we will continue our present practice of using our facilities to serve and love our community, we will have control over them. They will first and foremost be used for ministry.
AN INVITATION TO BE A PART
This Sunday, October 5, Pastor Brent, David and I will be hosting a new member’s class at 12:30 pm. If God is leading you to be a part of this community, join us after church and find out more about the vision, direction, what we believe and how you can be a part. A luncheon will be provided as well as child care. We will be finished by 2:30 pm. You do not need advance reservations.
See you this Sunday!
Pastor Ray
A Note From Pastor David
When Was the Last Time You Saved a Life?
We have a great opportunity before us to make a difference. One of our church family, Sherri Holz (very active at New Hope) is in need of an immediate bone marrow transplant. It is a matter of life for Sherry. We all have an opportunity to be considered (tested) as a possible donor for Sherry. A bone marrow transplant in modern medicine involves basically drawing blood (much as though you were donating to the Red Cross), and they extract the marrow from that blood. No surgery…nothing invasive. The testing is a simple oral swab. Once a match is found, if you do change your mind, you are not committed. There are two options to be involved:
THIS FRIDAY EVENING, this testing can be done for free (or a donation up to $25) at the World Trade Center in Downtown Portland, from 4:30-8:30pm.
You can learn more about this at http://www.marrow.org/
We will also be bringing testing to New Hope, although it will cost $25 per test when done here. You will have the opportunity to either be tested, or just DONATE to those offering to be tested, or both. We will let you know more about this on Sunday.
I wanted you to know about this now, so you can be praying about it, and also because of the free testing THIS FRIDAY evening
-Pastor David
Posts
