Not Without You

“God’s Amazing Church” Winds Down

By Scott Anderson, Executive Pastor

Key Date: November 15, 2009

This is the date that we kind of ‘close out’ the God’s Amazing Church campaign.  What started three years ago with dreams to Build Up and Build Out will close having been instrumental in so much of what has been accomplished in Eagle Brook as a whole.  It’s always amazing to look back at what God has done with what we have made available.

Through the combination of direct financial support and child sponsorships, over $2 million has been invested in Mozambique in partnership with World Vision.  Let that sink in for a moment – to have that same kind of impact here in the United States it would take something like $100 million!  By serving the needs of people for both their physical and spiritual lives, we are seeing impact that will play out for many years to come.  Add to this a very different initiative like Norway, where we are working with local churches to re-ignite a passion for lost people there, and our international muscles have been stretched in the last three years.  Locally, we’ve had opportunity to serve people in need through furnishings, food drives, backpacks for inner-city schools, and much more.

The Spring Lake Park campus wasn’t even on our radar in 2006 when this dream of another site was rolled out – but it sure is a reality today! From 150 in 2007 to over 2,000 today, this campus has shown us that multi-site ministry is a viable and effective way to bring Eagle Brook to communities rather than always assume a monster campus (they are needed, too!).  By extending our reach to the West, we’ve had the privilege of seeing hundreds of people express belief in Christ for the first time.  We’re not experts at multi-site yet, but we’re close!

Our offices in Hugo which served us well for so many years at a very cheap cost had become a barrier to our ability to work collaboratively with each other, until October of 2007! That’s when we were blessed to be able to moved from that 12,000 square foot facility to a new 30,000 square foot facility in Centerville that allowed us to mover everyone back together for the first time in years.  Until then, we had whole teams in buildings spread out all over the place, so this has been a true gift to our staff.  Plus, we still have room to grow, so it should last us for a while.

Along with some other smaller cost items, I think it’s fair to say that the GAC campaign has enabled tremendous growth in us as a church, and not just numerically.  We’re a more well-rounded church because of this experience.

From a financial perspective, the economical challenges have impacted our ability to finish well, and there are a few remaining projects that await funding.  At present rates, it looks likely that we will hit about 85% of our original commitment level – good by national benchmarks, but pretty low compared to our track record.  I’d love to see us get over 90% by the end of November (about $600,000 more than expected).  This would get the last projects funded, and provide a clean slate for us as we move into the next exciting challenges that lie ahead.

Between now and November, anything you can do to complete your commitment, or even just make some additional progress, will be greatly appreciated.  We’re almost there!

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