Musings on 25 Years of Ordained Ministry--13

Launching Grace--#1

Walt and I officially announced the launching of Grace on Sunday, January 16, 2005. We were set to hold our first service on Easter Sunday, March 27. That gave us about two months to put everything together. And I was to be gone a couple of weeks--one to Rwanda and then one to Hawaii.

Obviously, we had several balls in the air at one time. We set about putting a board together and figuring out a budget. We had to find a place to worship. We needed to get all of the equipment necessary for a worship service from sound systems to communion sets and so on. And we needed to figure out how to finance all of this.

We started weekly Wednesday night prayer meetings for those who were coming to Grace. We also held 3 visioning experiences to begin to talk about our mission together.

Jeff and I spent a lot of time driving around trying to find a place to hold worship services. Phoenix is a prime spot for launching new congregations so everywhere we looked was already booked from schools to small community centers. We didn't have much time. Finally, we found a school that was willing to let us worship Sunday evenings as they already had a church there on Sunday mornings. But that church was in the process of building and it looked like their building might be done before our first Sunday. We actually signed papers on the school the day Steve Talmage called me about the land for the first time. Our third visioning meeting was actually held at Sunrise Mountain High School, on a Sunday evening, to give us a chance to practice and get a feel for it.

Financially, Joy had made a commitment of $50,000 to get us launched. That was a huge help. They also provided offices for us for 2 years and the resources of copy machines, etc. (When we moved out to our new office they also gave us all of the recording studio equipment.) But we were on our own financially after that. We had to be self-sufficient from day 1 so we put together a very tight, conservative budget (which has been our MO since then. In 4 years we've so far had no payables and have been able to build up some reserves. It's taken sacrifice and generosity but I really appreciate the financial stability and integrity of the congregation.) The new congregation really stepped up and ensured that we would be able to make it financially.

On March 9, just a few weeks away from our launch, I was about to leave for Hawaii for a week. It turned out that the church using Sunrise Mountain in the morning was not going to be out of the school until June at the earliest. So we had to scramble to find a new place. Jeff contacted Zuni Hills (1/2 mile from where our land is). The church that had been renting there had moved out. So we were able to move in. Perfect! This all happened while I was in Africa.

While Zuni looked to be a go, we still needed to get the janitor to sign on. He had to agree to come and open, lock up, and clean up. He said it looked good, but as I was about to board the plane for Hawaii Jeff called to say that the janitor would not be available. That meant we couldn't get in. But...2 of the women who worked at Zuni who said they'd be coming to Grace volunteered to be the "janitors" and let us in each weekend. Zuni was back on!

3 days later, while I was sitting on the beach, Jeff texted to say that Zuni was off again. The two women had backed out. The principal, however, said that if we could find some teachers from the district who would take responsibility, he would let us in. We were able to identify 5 teachers. So Zuni was back on again. With a couple of weeks to spare. In the end, the principal gave us the keys and the code. We make sure each week the building is cleaner than when we got in. It's saved us the janitor fee!

Being at Zuni has been a real gift. And we've worked hard to be a blessing to the school, as well, through donations, clean up days, providing coffee for the teachers, etc. The school has been great in letting us store our stuff there. Not all is perfect. Our nursery is in a closet and Sunday school takes place in locker rooms. But it's not about the building. It's about mission. And Zuni came along at just the right time!

Finally, everything was in place. On Palm Sunday evening Joy held a special commissioning service for those of us headed to Grace. Pretty emotional stuff for me. Over 20 years of my life had been spent in that very very special place. I am who I am as a pastor in large part due to Joy, and especially due to Walt and his friendship and partnership. I worked with some amazing people over the years at Joy from staff to the congregation. Saying goodbye was bittersweet. I knew that the busyness of Grace would probably keep us from connecting with Joy much. At the same time, I was very excited about the new venture.