Obstacles We Didn't Foresee (2)

Plan C

As we were making our plans, another unexpected hitch occurred.   We had been in the shopping plaza for two years.  We had paid our bills on time, and we had kept the facility up.  The landlord really had no problem with us except for the fact that we did not attract business to the plaza.  He felt churches were best suited to be in some other location, so when our lease was up, he asked that we find another place. 

So we were faced with the challenge of trying to get a building project off the ground, we had to find a place for the church to meet.  By this time we were having 50 or more people at our services, so there was no way we could go to a private home.

One day we noticed classified ad in paper.  The Seventh Day Adventists had built a new building, and they were trying to sell their old one.  We discovered that it had been on the market for some time.  We approached them about renting to us until we could get our building ready.  From their perspective some income was better than none, so we were able to rent their facility. 

It was an old, but nice facility.  We never entertained any real thought of buying it.   There was no parking, and the structure needed work.  It served quite adequately for us during the interim.  There was only one office area, but I moved my desk into a large multipurpose room in the basement.  It’s the only time I’ve ever had a piano in my office.  Even though we had a piano, we really didn’t have any problem deciding about the nature of our worship.  We would remain an acapella church.  We were there about a year.  There was no nursery and Ann had babies, but she managed.

I think there must have been a certain naiveté on our part.  We were young.  We were Texans with a “can do” attitude.  We thought we could overcome any obstacle.  At this age I would probably think a long time before trying to plant a new church.  I’ve seen numerous church plants fail. 

The Jamestown church is still active, and became a self-supporting church a long time ago.  The last time I was there, we burned the mortgage.  It never occurred to us that we wouldn’t be able to make it happen.  From the outside some might say we were dumb.  Admirers probably thought us courageous.  In truth we thought we were following God’s lead, and we figured he would make it happen if that’s what he wanted.