Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--7

Community Church of Joy: Moving Day

Joy finished and moved into its new worship center on its first campus in 1983. I came back to Joy after graduating from Seminary in March of 1984.

It wasn't many years later when Walt began to talk about moving. We had about 10 acres at that time and had basically built out the campus when we added the family life center. So in the early/mid 90's we started looking at relocating. We found a piece of land in Arrowhead Ranch. At that time Arizona was in a financial slump. Arrowhead Ranch had been especially hit and parcels of land were being foreclosed on. Walt found a piece of land that would eventually be bordered buy a major freeway. He began to walk it and pray for it. Tucked in the back of the land lived an older couple. Walt eventually learned from them that they had been praying for decades that a church would be built on that land. Eventually, through many twists and turns, including the conversion of the man who picked up the land and then sold it to us, Joy purchased the property. At one point Joy had almost 200 acres of land!

I can still remember some of the initial meetings on that land as we gathered some leaders to pray. I remember Joy hosting a big community event with Robert Schuller, on what was to be the freeway next to the church. The planning, the dreaming, the praying, the preparation was all very exciting.

It was during that time that Lyle Schaller recommended that for the sake of Joy, we create a new entity called the Joy Company. The purpose was to ensure that the ministry of the congregation continued without being too sidetracked by the new campus. So I became the Executive Pastor, responsible for the on-going mission of Joy and Walt and Paul focused on getting us to the new campus.

It was a massive undertaking--to clean out an old campus and move to a new one. And while ministry continued, it was at times quite stressful. But finally the big day came for the move.

On our last Sunday we ended the service by going dark and then leading the congregation out by candle light. Then one of Walt's long time dreams came true--we had a parade/procession from the old campus to the new one.

During the time of the move, my dad had a major heart attack. He was not expected to live. But 11 years later he's still here!

The following Saturday evening, March 7, 1998, was to be our first worship experience on the new campus. Unfortunately, the building was nowhere near ready. Due to el nino, the project was way, way behind. For our first weekend all we had were cement walls and a ceiling. No electricity. No window/doors, no restrooms. But we had to meet there as we had sold the old campus and the new owners were worshipping there on March 7.

There was no way we should have been allowed into that building. But we were. So on that Saturday/Sunday we had generators with power cords and lights all over the place, many of them running through puddles of water. We set up a portable sound system, screens and projectors, and had our first worship experience. Our Trash Can guys started things off and we walked in carrying the two candles that had led us out of the last service on the old campus. Not the best of circumstances, but a memorable experience none-the-less.

Over the next several months we came back to worship each week and a bit more of the worship center and campus was done. I think we finally finished everything in September!

Before moving we expected two things to happen:

1) Within 6-12 months we would see an increase in every area of ministry by about 50%. In fact, our worship attendance shot up immediately but then settled back down to a point higher than on the old campus, but not at a 50% increase. Our adult ed stuff actually imploded on us. We didn't see the anticipated growth in really any areas of ministry even through some experts had said it would happen. Then we heard from a congregation that had relocated as we had done. They told us to expect to actually go backwards for awhile. Some will leave because the drive is too far. Others will leave because it doesn't feel the same any more. And that was our story, too in the early days.

2) We expected the transition to be filled with chaos; that people would have a hard time adjusting to a new campus. But it didn't happen. We expected it in the first 6 months. As we neared our first year and things seemed good we thought we had dodged the bullet. But after about a year it all hit. And for some, it got nasty. We were in a new land, and the old familiar campus and experiences were now very different. Even though worship styles and preaching and teaching hadn't changed, it still seemed different. Rather than realizing it was the campus that was different, many turned it into a spiritual issue saying we had watered down the Gospel. Mind you, these were people who had come to Christ through our particular style of ministry on the old campus. But we weren't in Egypt anymore and some wanted to go back.

While lots of good things happened during that transition, it was one of the more painful times of ministry for me and for the entire staff.

About the time we started hitting our stride Walt had a heart attack followed by a six-bypass surgery. It essentially took him out for a year. We did the best we could holding down the fort but it's tough when the main leader is out of the game for awhile.

So the move was filled with both blessings and challenges. But to keep perspective, the move was massive. And it takes people of massive faith and vision to pull of something like that and to move it through the sure-to-come frustrations. I give huge credit to the Joy faithful who gave sacrificially, prayed unceasingly, and saw the campus as a tool God could use to continue to impact people for the Gospel. And in the end, challenges aside, that's exactly what happened with the campus.

We were able to do things on the new campus we couldn't do on the old one. And it gave us the space to reach new people and launch new ministries, including a new Christian school. That entire adventure of moving to and into the new campus is one I'm glad I was a part of. It was and continues to be a testament to God's faithfulness and the commitment of people passionate about sharing Jesus with the world around them.

In our 25 years Jan and I have been a part of building two campuses so far: We financially participated in Joy's old campus and in the new one. Long after we're gone, people will be worshipping in and doing mission out of those two campuses. Who knows, we may build a third one for Community of Grace in the near future. There are few things more satisfying than knowing we had a small part in mission centers that will impact the world for Jesus for generations to come.