Our church has been in the process of building a new location for the past seven years. First we bought the land, then we started our fundrasing program–The Bridge to Our Tomorrow. We were projected to complete the program and be ready to build in three years, if my memory serves. At the time, I was certain we would start building way sooner than that. But three years came and went in a blink, we raised the money, but there were still obstacles in the way of us starting construction. So we settled into a holding pattern for a couple years, not really sure what was going to happen next. Finally, about two years ago, we started a new, shorter building campaign–The Making Room Pledge–and worked to raise more money.
By March 2020, we were ready to break ground. On the 1st of that month, we had our ground breaking service, complete with the golden shovels and much rejoicing and tears. We were set to bring in dozers and begin dirt work in two weeks.
And then the Pandemic hit.
All of our plans came to a screeching halt as the entire world shut down.
The next year was the strangest and most chaotic in our church’s history as we worked to navigate this ever shifting new reality. Any hope of starting construction had to be put on hold indefinitely, and as you can imagine, the disappointment was fierce. God had brought us so far, allowed us a glimpse of what we had dreamed of for years… only to pull it away. At first, we didn’t understand why we had to experience this delay. And truthfully, in some ways, I still don’t understand why He chose to make us wait.
But one thing I do know–God knew what He was doing, even if we didn’t, and His plan was perfect.
Ten months later, we finally broke actual ground for the construction of the new building. From that moment on, we have seen and felt God’s hand in every step of the process. While the world has continued to struggle through these tumultuous times and the construction industry experienced shortages, skyrocketing prices, and delays, we have managed to work at a steady pace and complete the construction of our new church in thirteen months. And we have miraculously stayed UNDER BUDGET! So much so that we will be able to start on the construction of a gymnasium addition in the near future.
We have seen miracle after miracle take place throughout this process. There is not time nor space to list everything, but it is truly amazing how God has given us divine favor with not only Himself, but man as well.
As we have drawn near to the end of this process, an air of excitement and antcipation has settled over our church like never before. I know I personally have been filled with a wide mix of emotions–bittwesweet sadness over what we leave behind, gratefulness for all of the memories I’ve made in our old building, excitement for all the good changes coming, anticipation of getting settled into the new building, joy at all that God has done during this time.
These final months and, especially, weeks have been filled with a flurry of activity. We have cleaned out closets, thrown out junk, and packed up decades worth of church history and memories. It’s been a little–or maybe a lot–chaotic. It’s been uncomfortable, and hasn’t been made any easier by the fact that we’ve had to gradually turn over our building to a new church that feels much like an invader taking over our territory. It’s painful seeing a place you have loved for practically your entire life slowly change into something unrecognizable in the hands of someone who doesn’t understand what that place means to you. Will they love this building as I have loved it? Will they take care of it? What sort of changes will they make?
It hurts, and I honestly don’t like it very much at all. I’ve never been one to really like change to begin with.
But at the same time, with each passing day, as each thread connecting us to our current location has been snipped, I have grown more ready for what is to come. I stand with breathless, stomach-twisting anticipation on the precipice of a future that has been promised to our church for many years.
Through all of this, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about passages in scripture that parallel our current circumstances.
In the Book of Exodus, the Children of Israel were led out of slavery in Egypt and began their journey to the Land flowing with milk and honey that was promised them. They set out on this journey full of joy at their miraculous deliverance and hope for the future. Then the journey didn’t turn out the way they thought, and they fell into the habit of complaining and railing against God and His chosen leader. While I don’t think our church has truly had that same attitude during our time of waiting, we have experienced one thing like the ancient Israelites.
Just when they stood on the edge of entering the Promised Land, they were instead denied access to it and spent fourty years waiting in the wilderness. Thankfully our delay has not taken nearly so long, but we can understand in some ways how those Israelites must have felt wandering and waiting. Most of those men and women never did get to see their promise fulfilled, because of their rebellion. But those that did make it until the end of the fourty year wait found themselves faced with a new difficulty.
By this point, they had settled into a comfortable routine. They followed the cloud of God where it led, had manna and quail fall from the heavens every day, their shoes never wore out no matter how far or long they walked. It wasn’t exactly paradise living in the desert. But they were provided for. They had everything they needed.
Yet now God had brought them back to the edge of their Promise. And it was time for them to step into it.
This meant leaving behind the comfort of what they had always known for the discomfort of a future they could not foresee. It meant heading into new battles against strongholds like the city of Jerico that seemed impossible to win. It meant a painful cutting of their flesh as all the men were circumcised in order to be in holy covenant with God.
Why couldn’t they just stay where they were comfortable, where they knew the routine of every day?
Because God had greater plans for them than the wilderness. He wanted to make them into a great nation that would bless the world. And they couldn’t do that where they were at.
So they took those difficult steps across the River Jordan and followed their leader into God’s promises.
We are like the Israelites, standing on the river bank, looking ahead into the land God promised to us years ago. Over the last few weeks, we’ve been forced to cut ties with the comfort of our past. We have crucified our flesh and purified our lives through prayer and fasting in preparation for our great crossover. It’s not easy, but I believe that, like with the Children of Israel, God has plans to make us into something greater on the other side of this transition.
But this isn’t the only great transition that I’ve been thinking about. Not only are we like the Israelites of old, but we are also representing the church as a whole as it makes ready for the return of Christ.
In John 14, Jesus said:
“My Father’s house has many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
A new “home” has been made ready for us, and we have had to make ourselves ready for it. So we’ve been cleaning out rooms and closets, throwing out trash and clutter, packing boxes, moving furniture. In this we are exemplifying the bride of Christ, for when Jesus returns, He will be coming for a bride that has cleaned out the rooms of her heart and made certain she is ready for Him to take her away.
Our new church is beautiful and so spacious compared to what we had before. It’s a promise we have been waiting on for years, and our hearts are filled with joy to finally see it fulfilled. But our new building is nothing compared to the majestic KINGDOM God is preparing for us! He is preparing the Promised Land of Heaven that will far surpass any human imagination or understanding.
How much more excited we should be about getting to transition into THAT new home! How much more diligently we should work to be ready to move when our Lord says its time! We must be the bride patiently waiting for her Bridegroom to arrive, her bags packed and her ear attentive to His voice as He approaches.
It’s amazing how God works in similar ways through the ages. Our “little” church in Willis, TX is echoing both the past and the future. It’s beautiful and humbling to me. And more than anything, it confirms in my heart what God is doing in our church. He is teaching us so many different lessons right now. He is making us ready for a very big future that He has planned.
I don’t know what all that future is going to entail. But I do know this–just as God has revealed His perfect plan for us throughout the last seven years, He will continue to reveal a perfect plan as we go forward. And whatever that plan is, it will be even better and more beautiful than we can imagine at this moment.
