Good Problems

Having just finished our first Easter Season in our new building, perhaps we should look back and see where we have been and start to think ahead to where we want to be in the near future. It appears, because God has blessed us, that we have some good problems on our hands now - we are out of parking!When we built the first phase of our building, we knew that there was a larger plan and order of priority as to when we would do certain things. The first thing we knew that we would need would be more parking, and then at some point we would need to build more classrooms and offices. With those two additions we can grow a long while before we contemplate building a permanent Sanctuary. To me, that is a good thing. The last thing I want to do is have back to back Generosity Initiatives. What we didn’t anticipate was having to build more parking this soon.This coming month we will finish a quest that started two years ago and was the final indicator that it was time to build our building. We did a Generosity Initiative to raise two million dollars. We wound up having 1.8 million in pledges which enabled us to build a building without taking on too much debt. We all made aesthetic sacrifices to avoid getting in a situation where all we would be thinking about later was, “How are we going to pay for this?”  A lot of millwork and molding didn’t make it, a full kitchen had to wait, beams in the fellowship hall didn’t make the cut, flooring was scaled back, and we built a smaller parking lot. But because of that, we came in under the budget amount of money we announced for the building. I can’t tell you how freeing it is to have a team of people committed to excellence but also very conscience of money.So here we are, about to wind up our two years of the Thriving Generosity Initiative and we have a really good problem before us - we need to build additional parking; we are simply out of parking places on Sunday morning. Yes, we knew this would happen, we just didn’t know it would happen so soon. Every Sunday, our parking lot is full and there are also ten to twenty cars parked on the grass. And every week we know there are people who drive in, see the parking lot full, and drive on. That is what you do if you are a visitor. I was talking to Anne Rachael, my daughter who lives in Chattanooga and she was telling me about her church shopping. Almost every week I hear of a new community of faith she has attended. A few weeks ago, she and her friends went to a church that they had heard about and there was a little “buzz” about it so they decided to see what the fuss was all about. When they got there, there was no place to park. So, they left. As much as you want to see why everyone is going somewhere, if you are new to a place and it is full - you make the loop and keep on driving.Next week you will get more information about how we are winding up our Thriving Generosity Initiative on May 1st, when, during morning worship, we will have a service of celebration and an opportunity for you to contribute to the new parking lot. Is this the right time? How much will it cost? Can we afford it? The Session and Building Committee have been looking at this and talking to the city since the first of the year and are close to being able to start the parking lot, if we get the congregation’s approval at our Congregational Meeting on April 17th.Can we afford to build additional parking at this time? The good news from our own giving numbers and from our bank is - yes! Our bank approved us for a lot more money than we will need, and our attendance and giving suggest this is a wise move. Our attendance since we moved into our new building is up 55% and our giving is up 35%.  Anyway, next week you will get full details about the wrap up of Thriving, cost for more parking, and how, whether you have been here for years or are brand new, you can put your fingerprints on seeing the Kingdom of God advance and change lives.What a year! To see all our ministries experiencing growth, seeing people falling more in love with Jesus and talking more about loving their neighbors, and having so many more people longing to be better disciples of Jesus - that is a good thing! But because of that, it is creating more problems - good problems, but problems that we will have to deal with in the near future. I was in a meeting with our Parish Leaders and heard that most of our Community Groups are full. We will need more leaders for next year. We have had to redo how we do Meatssentials because we have too many people to meet at my house and cook the way we have in the past. We have a ton of folk who are going through Gospel DNA, or who are about to start in this discipleship ministry. We have added nursery helpers including a specialist for special needs kids (How great is that)!So, we are about to wrap up our first season of ministry here. It has been exciting, has seen us make lots of new friends, and has lead to some serious problems. I was leaving the house on Wednesday morning telling Teri about all the challenges before us and wanting some sympathy. She looked at me and said, “How great is that, most people would kill to have those kinds of problem. Aren’t you glad you get to face challenges like that.” Indeed! Thank God for good problems!!