PRAYING IT OFF

 ​For the past couple of years your church leadership has talked about the possibility, that one day, we would focus on the goal of paying off the mortgage on our church buildings and property. The goal was a good one, the benefits would be real and immediate, but could we do it?

We just were not sure that we could raise the money ourselves? Many churches turn to outside consultants that run the capital campaign for the church. We decided that this was a project we wanted to run ourselves. We love St. Luke. We know God has called us to be a part of this church, and we would present the goal to the congregation and see what the response would be.

The goal was simple, pay off the remaining balance of the mortgage with a goal of burning the mortgage papers. That gave us our slogan, "PrAY IT Off, Burn the Mortgage." We would turn to God in prayer, and ask all of the Saint Luke Saints to give towards the goal that our congregation could be debt free.

As you may have heard, the response was immediate and encouraging. Once the campaign was announced, gifts big and small began to appear in the offering plate. We reached our $40,000 goal in a matter of weeks and the final payment has been sent to our mortgage company. In a few weeks, we expect to receive the final deed to our church property! A celebration party and mortgage burning is now scheduled for Sunday, February 23.

This has been an amazing experience! We have reached our goal, and now will begin to build a property reserve fund to insure maintenance and care for our facilities. We are in a much stronger position to fund ministries and create new ministry partners. The ministry of St. Luke is in good hands. Let us give thanks for the out pouring of generosity. Together we reached an important goal in the life of our congregation.

We will now continue to focus on our mission as we,

Seek God, Serve Others and Share Life.

Grace and Peace,

​Pastor Cliff