I am a meteorologist and a former youth leader at church…I have a lot to say on both subjects…and then some
I thought that maybe Mary touched on this, but I looked on her personal blog and she hasn’t yet. I know that she has talked about our church and the problems we have had with getting into the new part of the building. Well that took a new twist this last week when the bank out of the blue, the bank foreclosed on the church and gave us 6 months to get out.
I say out of the blue, because, we were ahead in the mortgage payments, had paid off all of the contractors with our capital campaign last year, and were working with them to redo the original loan. The reason that we were redoing the loan, was that the type of mortgage we had, meant that we had to be in the new building after a year. Of course, we couldn’t do that, due to the design flaw that wasn’t discovered until a few weeks before we were supposed to inhabit the new part of the building.
A lot has been happening this week at the church due to this, most of it sounds positive, so I won’t speculate on what we could see in the next 6 months. In fact I don’t think that it is that important right now. However, as I was listening to the Lifespring Family Bible podcast, which is reading through the Bible in a year. The last couple of days was on the book of Ezra. This is the book during the Babylonian exile that the Jews were given permission to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. A new king told them to stop, then they were given permission to build again. As I listened, it seemed like it was a promise, that we too, will be able to to fix the building and continue.
I know exactly what it is like to be leading a church that has to deal with a heavy debt load. You need to have someone with financial expertise review your situation and help you put together a proposal to present to the bank. Purpose built structures such as a sanctuary or educational space is not easily converted to commercial use. It is possible your financial institution will want to consider an alternative to foreclosure. Are there any other dynamics at work in this situation, ie., is your property located in an area of high commercial demand, etc.? Regardless of what course of action your church takes, you need to act with wisdom and care. Consult with someone who is capable of giving you advice unencumbered by emotion. May God bless you and your people as you seek a positive solution to this situation. Sincerely. Earl.
Oh wow that’s crazy. I’ll definitely be praying for everything.