The Bend (Ore.) Church celebrated Easter weekend with a mortgage burning ceremony for the payoff of their new church property. Don Livesay, president, and Al Reimke, vice president, came from Oregon Conference to give their support to the celebration.
The celebration marked a major stepping-stone in the long road toward getting a new church in Bend, which began in 1998 when the church family realized they were outgrowing their present building. The building committee finally purchased a six-acre parcel on the outskirts of the Bend city limits in November 1998.
After purchasing the property, the church worked on different forms of fund-raising to pay the mortgage so that they could build a church. Their previous church building went up for sale, and funds came in quickly at first. With the help of systematic givers, the property was totally paid off in June 2003 after five years of hard work.
God had a plan, however, that no one could have foreseen. During those five years, the older Bend church never sold and the Bend city limits had expanded to include the new property, making it worth much more. Right after it was totally paid off, the Bend congregation received an offer for approximately twice the price they had paid for it. In that same week, they were approached about a church on 14 acres that had just become available on the market. It was fairly new and needed to be sold due to the previous congregation disbanding, leaving no one able to pay for the church and property. They were willing to sell it for considerably less than its value. The building had classrooms, offices and a large meeting room with the thought that they would build the sanctuary later.
The Bend Church members agreed that God had led them to the six-acre parcel and allowed them to buy and sit on it for five years while it was being paid off. It was time to sell it for a huge profit and to invest the money in the 14 acres with a building already on it. During the week that they purchased the new property, the offers for the original Bend church started coming, which rekindled the church members' motivation.
Fund-raising began again. People gave generously. They shared testimonies about how God had blessed them in their giving and had allowed them to even give more than they had originally planned. In March 2004, only three short months after purchasing it, the Bend Church was able to totally pay off this new property and building.
God had another lesson to share with them about His timing. As they were paying off the new property and building, they sold the original church after its having been on the market for five years.
The Bend Church family is planning on building a sanctuary onto the existing building of their new 14-acre parcel. The congregation still has a long way to go and more steps in their path before they are done. But if you ask them if they trust that God will be there, working out all things for the good in His time, they will answer an absolute “yes!”
The Bend congregation recently purchased this building on 14 acres and plan to add a new sanctuary to it.
Building committee chairman, Bob Rees, watched as Joy McDougal, Bend Church treasurer, lit the mortgage of the new property and building.
