Ephesians 3:14-21

I received a letter just after Easter from Harlan Baxter. Harlan was the Senior Pastor here during the entire time of our building project. We worked as colleagues for ten years, but we have been friends for much longer than that, and we still talk about twice a month. I’d like to share his words with you, because they are actually addressed to you! 

Many things about wintering in Florida are very pleasant -- sun, beach, palm trees and all the rest; but there are some things that are less than satisfying: church, for example.  A couple of weeks ago I found myself in a bout of homesickness -- not for Minnesota, where we have made our home since retirement, but for First United Methodist Church of Moorestown.  It was Saturday, the day before Easter, and I was feeling that I had missed the most meaningful parts of those special days of preparation.  I had attended Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday services, but had come away empty and discouraged.
  
What was I to do? .... I called Steve.  
"Hey Steve, what's going on?  How was the lead up to Easter?”
 
He described Palm Sunday services, the receiving of new members with an awesome Baptism; Holy Thursday where the turn-out was so strong that communion nearly ran out; and probably the best-attended Good Friday service in years.  Then he told me about plans for that evening’s Easter Watch service, and for Easter Sunday.  I was fighting back the tears as I listened.
  
It is not just that I miss everyone at Moorestown, though that is true enough.  More than that I am realizing, now that I am in a position to make comparisons, that First United Methodist Church at Moorestown is a wonderful and unique church.  I have found no church that comes close.  How I would love to hear Steve and Hey Young's messages on a Sunday morning, to be led in worship by pastors and worship leaders who know how to lead without getting in the way, and to be inspired by the music, both classical and contemporary with which our church (notice I still refer to it as our church) ... is so blessed.

While I was senior pastor there, perhaps I took too much for granted.  While I knew that this was a strong and faithful Church, I did not fully appreciate what a special and unique church I had to work with.  Now, as I look back, I can sympathize with other former members who have come back and told me of their search for a church like First Church.  Though they usually do find another UMC, still they would tell me how much they missed their church home among us.
  
I think a lot about the new building there as well.  I remember the long and stressful building process, the weekly meetings with the contractor, and the pressure of raising enough funds to start the process going.  What I remember best, however, were the wonderful celebrations. First when we finally were able to break ground; then the very cold winter day when the final beam was lifted into place. I remember with great joy the laying of the corner stone and the dedication of the new building.

What wonderful moments these were!  During the last months there it was so good to see the Education Building in use and to hear the sounds of choral music or hand bells coming from the Susan Rodgers Music Center.  Then just recently I had a chance to see one more dream realized as Steve took me through to see the pre-school in session.  God has surely blessed our Church!

One of the great blessings that I always appreciated at First Church was the very generous support provided by so many faithful members and friends.  Knowing, as I do, that this will continue, I look forward to hearing the results of this next finance campaign, and to celebrate one more significant step toward paying down the mortgage.

(Personally, I hope that it will be paid off while I am still around to come back and celebrate with you!)  Jane and I will be remembering you all in our prayers as we always do.
 
Blessings,
Harlan 

Today is the fourth time that we have kicked off a Capital campaign for the new addition to our church complex. The first three times, because we knew how important this was, and because we wanted to get it right, we contracted with nationally known fund raising companies to help us plan and implement them. They were rather expensive, but we didn’t feel that we had much of a choice. We wanted to do it right. 

I was a bit surprised to discover that in two of those three campaigns, we were told by the company reps that the circumstances surrounding them would make it difficult for us to raise the needed funds. Because they were evidently unusual. 

The very first one was going to be a problem because… well, because we didn’t know what we wanted to do! We knew we wanted to build something – more than something, a building to connect the existing two structures – but we had no idea at all what that would look like. We needed to get some input, some design possibilities. But all that required funds, which we didn’t have. So our first campaign’s theme was – “we’re going to build something…help us figure out what.” We didn’t actually call it that, but that’s pretty much what it was. And our fund raising consultant said, ‘That’s not going to work very well.’ 

To which we replied, “You don’t know this church!”  And we were right, they didn’t! It worked just fine! 

The company leading our last campaign (P2R) predicted even more dire consequences. I remember very vividly sitting with our consultant over at Perkins Restaurant one evening, having dinner before a committee meeting. It was some time in late January, with Harlan Baxter, the rep, and me. We were about three weeks from our kick off date. 

Now, they had already told us, warned us, that raising funds to pay a mortgage is much more difficult than raising funds to build an actual building. People give to a building, they said, people will give when they see new construction, but paying for an existing building is a whole different thing. Much harder! “Don’t expect great results”, they said. (Especially since we refused to follow their plan, which was to publicly announce the amounts and the givers of the ‘top 10’ pledges!) 

As we sat there at that dinner, we knew the building was finished. We just had a temporary CO, but the building had been dedicated, and celebrated, and it was in use. The first mortgage payment was going to kick in sometime in the spring. So, our consultant was concerned. Worried. 

There we sat, and I was waiting for Harlan to fill him in on the rest of the story.  And he did. He said something like this: “We have a bit of a complication.”  And our company rep (I think his name was Ron) looked at him and me, and he guessed, “Don’t tell me that you are going to retire.”

Harlan said, “Yes, I am. July 1.” 

Ron says, “When will you be announcing this?”

Harlan says, “Next week. We don’t feel that we can honestly ask people to commit to this campaign without knowing that this is going to happen; that there will be a change in leadership.”

Ron: “Who is going to take over?”

Harlan: “We don’t know that. And we won’t likely know for a couple more months.”

Ron (to me): “Will it be you?”

Harlan and me: “That’s not very likely.” 

I can remember that Ron put his fork down and just sat there, looking at us for a pretty long time. Probably saying a silent prayer of thanks that he was working on a flat fee rather than a percentage of the total funds raised. Because it was pretty obvious from the stunned look on his face that he had concluded right then and there that this Campaign was going to flop. 

To his credit, he didn’t actually say that, however. What he said was, “This is going to be very difficult.” To which we replied, “You don’t know this church like we do!” 

And he didn’t.  Here we are, three years further down the road. We have been paying our mortgage on time. Every month. We have finished our three-year “Potential to Reality” campaign, and as we take this next important step into the future, it is my privilege to share with you today a kind of ‘state of the church’ address. For three campaigns now – over nine years – we have been raising special funds based on the concept of our investing in something that can happen here; we’ve talked a lot about potential, about dreams and about possibilities. 

Now, with God, all things are possible; and because we serve a God who is described in the Scripture we just read as One ‘who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think’ we’ll never stop talking about potential here. God is hardly finished with us, and that the direction that we’ve been going in will continue as long as we keep our focus and priorities where they should be. The future looks very exciting. 

Nevertheless, there have been – to put it in worldly terms – some very definite preliminary ‘payoffs’ to the investment that we, and others, have made in this new building project. So we’re not just talking about ‘potential’ anymore, we are definitely talking about reality. 

We have been involved in a process of learning about our church, and evaluating our church health through something called ‘Natural Church Development’ for about three years.  In the two surveys that we’ve taken so far, the results have consistently described not only a healthy church, but a very healthy church. As a result of that, we are being looked at in our Annual Conference as a model for the health of other congregations, and we are influencing the direction of many other churches, by our example and by direct coaching. 

I don’t say this to boast, because the way things work in the economy of the Kingdom of God, is that the reward of success is more responsibility. Jesus said, “To those who have been given much, much will be required”. And we accept that responsibility. So while on the one hand, we are honored by it, we are not satisfied with where we are, we’re not resting, we are doing everything we can to continue to move forward. 

Our Church Health Team (which is the group appointed to lead us in the process of NCD) is planning a massive information gathering project to help us put together a plan this summer that will enable us to better meet the needs of our faith community in the area of Holistic Small groups – that’s the “minimum factor” identified in our most recent inventory. There is an insert in this week’s bulletin about this, because we would love your input!  This is happening because we want to become even healthier, and we’re going to do everything we can to that end. 

Does this relate to our building project? Actually, I think it does. Because one of the things we have clearly learned in the nine years of this project is that when we trust God, things happen – and that we can dream big dreams. This project has ‘raised the bar’ for the entire work of this congregation. Just walking through this new building, even when no one is there (which is kind of hard to do!) is a powerful reminder of what can be accomplished when we work together and trust in God’s leadership. We love our church, and we are happy with this place that God has brought us to. But we truly see ourselves as on a journey. And it sure seems that the really scenic parts are just beginning! 

We talked for years about how wonderful it would be to be able to offer a faith based Christian pre-school to our community. One with high quality instruction, great facilities, knit together with an overriding component of God’s love. That is no longer potential! The First Light Pre-school, a ministry of First UMC, opened its doors last September, and has expanded since then from four classes to nine. We are looking at a maximum enrollment of ­­120 children by next September. 

More amazing than the numbers, however, is the quality of this ministry. I can say this, because I really don’t have anything to do with its operation, but ours is simply the best preschool in the area! And word is getting around, we are the talk of the town. We had nearly a full enrollment even before our wonderful advertising brochures were printed. Let us not lose sight, this is a ministry, an outreach of this church; our PreSchool exists as a deliberate fulfillment of our mission statement: to share the love of Jesus Christ with a hurting world through words and actions.  If we had not built this building, there would be no First Light PreSchool ministering the love of Christ to children and their families. 

But that’s just one part of today’s story …

Take a walk through this structure on any other day of the week, and you’ll see lots of activity. Our Wednesday night Soup & Study has been going for three years, and has become a staple of our discipleship making process, offering classes from men’s/ women’s/ and youth small group Bible studies to a larger adult Bible class, to support groups like Divorce Care and Grief Share, to special classes like the recent Sabbath Keeping class, as well as classes in art and music appreciation.  Again, this would not be happening, not on this scale, without this new building. 

Sunday morning classes are being blessed as well. With quality and quantity. As Pastor HeyYoung expressed on the DVD, we know that we can dream big dreams, because we now have a space to do pretty much anything that God puts into our hearts to try! It has changed our attitude toward what we can do. Our younger youth groups, our youth choirs and chimers have more than doubled in attendance, in fact, in some cases, tripled, in the past three years. A coincidence? Surely not… 

This facility has opened the doors to our church to people from the communities outside of us as well. In addition to some things that we have been doing for years (such as being the Salvation Army emergency funds center, an Interfaith Hospitality Host Church, and the site for WIC), we offer a bright and convenient polling place to the local districts.  AARP uses our facilities, and we provided a room (and an elevator!) during tax season for some of our retired neighbors to get help on their 1040’s. 

When the Moorestown Community Library was closed recently for construction, we hosted a summer reading group in one of our new classrooms. One of our young dads (John Sims) had a vision for a way to get to know some of the other dads in his neighborhood by offering them some hot coffee and donuts on a Saturday morning while the mom’s slept in, and their kids got to play in our wonderful new playground. He’s British, so it’s called “Mum’s Morning IN”.  And it is another blessing to the community around us, made possible by this building. 

We’ve hosted three days of learning for our entire Capitol District, and judging from the continued great feedback from the district staff, and attending churches, we’re going to be doing this every January from now on!  They tell us that they’ve never seen a church like ours. It’s very humbling.

We were recently selected by our Bishop and Cabinet to participate in a project of the national Board of Discipleship of the UMC called the Romans 12 Project. Its purpose is to learn from growing, healthy churches in ways that can be shared with other congregations nationally. About 30 people were involved in this, it was an honor to have been asked. 

There are a number of new ministries on the horizon as well. One will be called ‘Inspirations’.  Led by Donna Braxton, this ministry is going to help address the physical needs of people who are going through Chemotherapy – like hair issues, and feeling good about the way they look. Donna is a talented hair stylist and cancer survivor, and we’re going to help her ‘set up shop’ – in the shower room of our new facility! – to offer her services to those who are walking down this difficult road in life. 

Well, I could go on, but I need to stop here; I think you get the picture. The building is doing everything we planned for it, and more. 

Now why is this happening? Obviously, a bunch of bricks and concrete is not what is driving this. We could say it’s the people, but that is kind of obvious – it’s more than that, more than just people.  In 2 Corinthians 5 we read this: 

¹⁷ …any one who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! ¹⁸ And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. 

This church is what it is because God is in us, and God is changing us. God is moving in us, reconstructing us to make us like Jesus, taking on the character of Christ. If our basic human nature (as we talked about last week) is to put ourselves first, to trust in possessions and money, and stuff that we can control as the source of our security in this world, in Christ that is changing; we are learning a new way to live. 

We are learning to be servants. We are learning what it means to give sacrificially for something better than anything this temporary world can offer. And because enough people have learned that, God has been able to use us in some amazing, noticeable ways to proclaim his glory to those around us. 

And friends, what has been happening here has been good, but we’ve yet to ‘tap out’ the blessing of God. Part of that new nature that God is forming in us, is to turn us into ‘giving’ people. To truly bring us to the point where we are trusting in God, and not in ‘mammon’ (possessions, earthly stuff).  The closer we get to that, as a church, the more amazing things will happen here. 

We have not reached the potential of our ability to serve, we have not reached the potential of our ability to witness, we have certainly not reached the limit of our ability to give. And (again, this is where we were going last week) every act of joyful, sacrificial giving that we participate in brings us closer to becoming the people that God wants us to be, and unleashes the power of God in our lives and in the church. It’s a double blessing – it blesses the giver and it blesses the receiver. (These aren’t just words, this is Scriptural truth.) 

And as much as is happening here that we can celebrate, again, we are just scratching the surface of being totally sold out to God. If we truly wanted to, we could not only pay off this building, we could pay it off today. We certainly have the resources to do that.  And one result of doing that would be that, just as building this building demonstrated to us what can happen when we trust God for big things, when we actually pay for it, we’re going to learn another level of giving and trust, and faith, and this congregation will make an impact on our generations that will resound to eternity.  I absolutely believe that! 

I believe we can, it is up to us to decide whether or not we will.  Will we step out in faith? Will we sacrifice some temporary blessings for more permanent ones?  There is work yet to do, there is a job to finish, and we have all the tools we need. May God’s Spirit continue to challenge us, and lead us, provide for us, and bless us, as we in turn seek to bless his Holy name.

Amen.