I met with one of our building's owners today - he wanted to run by me the possibility of giving (that's GIVING) the church part ownership of the 567 as a contribution. He explained that he doesn't normally give to churches, but felt like our mission and vision for the church and it city should be supported. That's the Vision Caught - caught from a different perspective. Here is a guy who doesn't attend our services, has met with me only a few times, yet sees the transforming impact we are trying to have on our city! No details on the building, just a conversation - more to come as he talks with attorneys and cpas. Yeah - that's crazy.I stopped him during the conversation and explained that we have really outgrown the 567 and are not interested in buying the building. He stopped me and said, that doesn't matter. The church would simply own a portion of this building until it is sold - in fact, we could do what we wanted with our portion of ownership.
Then we went for a walk around the block. I shared with him our vision and future space needs. I told him about a building 5 or 6 blocks away that looked like a great fit. He didn't like it. Not the building, but the location. He wants us right in the heart of the city. And that's where e want to be. So we talked about a number of building possibilities. BIG buildings for a BIG future in downtown Macon. That's really all I can say on that one - we aren't rushing anywhere. We have a great home for now - but who knows what God might do in the future!?!?
All cool stuff - a great meeting. But the best part of the meeting came when I got to answer 2 questions from a guy who grew up Episcopal and attends church twice a year to make his mom feel better:
1) Is Ghandi in heaven today - why or why not?
2) Why do you think your church is growing so fast?
The answer is the same - the Gospel! I hope that vision is caught as well.
