Thursday, November 7, 2013

No Secrets: Growing a Family and a New Church

It's been a few weeks since I've posted Daddy's story.  
I pick up where I left off...

Growing a church and a family is hard work and setting realistic goals is important.  

Our youngest was three and we wanted to add to our family.  After 2 years, God blessed us with another girl.  In the midst of growing the church, our family had grown.  Moving into the newly built parsonage while looking for a location to build a church was a challenge.  



We had outgrown all of our present facilities.  Should we stay or move to the larger, neighboring town?  The county seat was growing with new homes going up everywhere.  The piece of property on the corner of Highway 15 was an eyesore to the community. Although grown up with pines and brush, we saw potential.  The ability to see potential was proceeded by vision.
God allowed us to see beyond what the physical eye would see.  When faced with a challenge we must consider, obstacle or opportunity?

With anticipation, I visited the mayor of the city.  "It won't happen. The owner will not sell."  I visited the owner, "It is zoned for residential property only, but if you can get it re-zoned, for a church I will sell."  I visited the mayor and in only a few days we purchased the lot for $10,000.  Our old facility sold for exactly what we needed to buy the new property.


Parsonage family 
in front of the new church.


The Church
(photograph by Katie D. Darsey)


3 comments:

  1. That's amazing, Bonnie. I think when God wants something to work man does not stand in His way-even if it sometimes takes work on our part.

    Blessings- xo Diana

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  2. How amazing to grow up being part of that wonderful legacy. Not always easy but we will never know the eternal significance of what your Fathers ministry was until Heaven. What a blessing!

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  3. My parents are charter members of a United Methodist Church in Huntsville, AL, that resembles your photo - 1960s architecture. They've always taken such pride in the fact that the church was built with such hard work from the original 28 families and continues with hard work from the current members. Great story. -- Jan

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