Posted By: Tim Mannin
ENTRY FOUR in our writing series, EIGHTEEN, which is all about some of in's and out's of this church.
Possibly the most common question I receive about our church is…”so when do you think, you’ll get a building.” My first reaction is…“well, God has already provided two pretty amazing buildings for our church!”
- The Civic Center Music Hall
- The Community House
I never want to brush those things off as minor details. If you think about the incredible “buildings” that God has provided to help start this church with it ought to blow your mind. I’m not sure we could have had a better or more amazing facility for our church plant to begin having church services in than the Hall of Mirrors at the Civic Center Music Hall. What an amazing room for us to call our first home for our worship gatherings. It’s in the heart of the city, an iconic location, immaculate facility, plenty of space, and not to mention we have a friend who runs the Civic Center coffee shop. It’s been perfect.
The Civic Center would be enough, but wait there's more! I don’t know if God could have given us a better gift than the Community House. Our location on 23rd Street has been amazing to be able to create “presence” in the part of OKC that we wanted to sink our roots. God gave us a location that we were able to put our church sign up smack dab in the middle of the area we desired to be. God gave us what we needed, what we could afford, and then exceeded our expectations with it being an incredibly cool spot. It’s been the perfect location for us to have parties, groups, meetings, and to allow our team to be present in the perfect 23rd Street spot.
Okay…so what’s next? We can’t meet in the Civic Center forever...
No we can’t. We will meet there for a while, but eventually we will move on to a different building.
As of now…(Fall 2013)…we are working on the future. We are exploring properties in the area, keeping an ear to the ground, saving as much money as we can, and dreaming big. We are convinced God will continue to do the perfect thing in the perfect time for us
Essentially every option is on the table…
- We could find a new facility to rent.
- We could purchase property to build something new.
- We could purchase property with a building to renovate.
- We could do something crazy : )
The point is…we are in the prayer mode right now.
We need everyone to pray that the Lord will simply lead and guide us.
We are also in the explore, create, and find mode.
We are constantly exploring options, trying to be creative with options, and searching to find the thing we haven’t thought of yet.
We welcome your help, ideas, and creativity.
My final thought in this building saga is the most essential ingredient to the future of our church. Our church isn’t and can't become about a building. We are the church! The people of God is what makes a church...a church. We cannot pin our hopes on building it so they will come, but instead our hope must remain to be the church the best way we know how as men, women, and children of God.
When we do that we will be able to trust that God will provide in his perfect time…another perfect place.