1 minute read
THE WHY
WHY MULTIPLY IN THIS WAY?
First, as we’ve said, expanding to the Adam’s Mill property allows us to grow bigger by growing smaller. Second, Charlie has always said that his basic ministry goal is “to do more of what we’re doing, more effectively, with more people as God gives us opportunity.” In other words, do more of what we do here so more people near to us and far from us can experience the kind of ministry you find helpful here.
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This is what “multiplying ministry” is all about. It’s what “living on mission” is all about-following God’s lead to multiply this community of grace so that more people are invited to passionately pursue life and mission with Jesus with us.
WHY ADAMS MILL?
We could build an “Auditorium 3” on the back of the property. Our architect said that would cost us about $12.5 million, and that was indeed a possibility. We could sell our current property, move to a new location, build a 4500-seat auditorium which would cost upwards of $35 million.
We never considered this as a possibility because it violates one of our cultural principles “If God grows us bigger, we have to find ways to grow smaller.”
In 2016, the reason we built Auditorium 2 rather that a much bigger Auditorium was to grow bigger and smaller at the same time. Plus, we’ve never considered it to be good stewardship for us to build a huge building that sits empty and unused 6 days a week. Given the way we see God working, it seems good to us that we become “one church in two locations.” This is not a new idea. Before we added the Next Gen/Aud2 building, we were very excited about the possibility of purchasing property by Roper Mountain Road/I-385, which was about 5 miles from our current location.
The goal was to divide the congregation in half and we would become “one church in two locations.” For all intents and purposes, the Roper Mt property would function like Auditorium 2 functions today. However, as much as we desired for that to work, God closed every door regarding that possibility. Now, it seems that God has brought that same idea back into the realm of possibility.
