This past Sunday (December 8, 2013), David Wigg, Chairperson of our Greater Things Steering Committee, made the following announcement:
David Wigg, Chair of the Greater Things Steering Committee
Good morning. As you know, the commitment phase of our Greater Things campaign is now complete. The total amount committed over three years stands at $509,480 – over half a million dollars. Even more impressive, well over half of the money has been committed for the first years, $287,000. On behalf of Todd, the Greater Things team and the Board, I want to thank you for your giving.
During this campaign, I have been telling friends outside the church about this project and how things are going, and they are completely stunned that a group of people this size is capable of raising this much money. Seeing the project through their eyes helps me to see how amazing this result is. These few months have been a faith-building experience for me. John van Dijk (our Treasurer) and I have talked about how exciting it has been to hear people’s responses to this challenge. So again, thank you so much.
The next step in the Greater Things project is to get started. As Todd has said many times during this campaign, we have some urgent ministry needs and “doing nothing is not an option.” So we will be moving forward and with the intention of starting the building phase next year, in 2014. The full cost of Phase I has been estimated at $750,000 and our goal was to pay that off completely over three years. Now, we know that we have commitments that will allow us to pay off $510,000 over three years. The difference between the $750,000 cost and the $510,000 commitment is $240,000 and we are working on a plan for how to approach that. We are working on getting firm costs and it might be that the estimates were too high. We will be looking at options to break the project into stages so that we can defer some of the costs until later. We will also be working with the Brethren in Christ Loan Fund to see whether there are options for adding a longer term loan to cover some of that difference in a wise way. Our goal is come back to the congregation early in 2014 with a plan for how to proceed.
So, before I go, I want to mention a few things. First, just because this phase of the project is over doesn’t mean that it is too late to make a commitment. It is never too late – if you would like contribute, please speak to Todd or John or myself. Second, I have said so many times during this project that everything about this project belongs to God – the vision, the people we want to impact, the project, the finances. I have been excited over the last few months to see how people have responded to this campaign and I am excited to see how God will take what we have given – our loaves and fishes – to build something amazing for his Kingdom.
Thanks again for your sacrificial giving to His work.
David Wigg, on behalf of the Greater Things Steering Committee