Breaking Ground in Faith
Today, July 9, 2024, is a significant day in the 75-year history of Evergreen Bible Church. Tonight at 6:30pm, we are breaking ground for our Phase II construction project! Phase II represents the completion of our site development that we expect will facilitate our ministry efforts for the next century. This event is certainly a celebration of the work God has done to bring us to this moment. But it is also a declaration of faith that God will finish what he has led us to begin.
Tonight there will be a lot of exciting things to celebrate. The excellent design of the new ministry spaces, the top-notch professionals God has brought for our project and the good news regarding our fundraising are some of the most prominent items. The wonderful family of believers God has gathered here at Evergreen is another incredible gift to praise God for.
However, tonight we will also share some of the sobering news regarding the estimated costs of the project. Inflation has been having a significant impact the last couple years, and there are some needed upgrades for our current facility we hope to do as part of this construction process. All this means costs are higher than expected and our leaders are working to discern the best way to proceed.
The situation was far more extreme in our Phase I project back in 2007. God had used our church family, which at that time was much smaller than today, to raise nearly a million dollars for the project. That mammoth task was way bigger than us, so when God brought it to pass, our celebration was ecstatic! But a month after our fundraising celebration we learned that the projected cost of our project had risen by the same amount we had raised. It was a punch in the gut, and we wondered if it was wise to proceed.
But we came together as a body and reviewed the work God had done to bring us to that point. We unanimously concluded that if God had so clearly brought us that far, he would certainly take us the rest of the way. So we had a groundbreaking celebration with full joy as a declaration of faith in the Lord.
I hope you will be part of tonight’s celebration of God and declaration of faith as we break ground for Phase II!
Pastor Toby
Categories: Evergreen Connection