
Last night during our Wednesday Night Prayer Service, Grace church met its 1st Mile Marker Goal in the “One Mile for God’s Glory” capital campaign. We needed $412.40 to meet the goal and before the prayer service was over, a check in that amount was given. In fact, God has again worked a great miracle in our church because before church last Sunday morning, $2,788.40 was needed to reach the $25,000 mark. A gift in the amount of $2,376.00 was placed in the offering plate Sunday morning designated for the “One Mile” campaign. Then, between Sunday morning and the end of Prayer Service Wednesday night, God again did a mighty work by leading someone to give sacrificially for the future ministry of our church.
Now, here is the second blessing. We now qualify to receive our first donation from the generous offer made by Mr. Jim Walters to match our giving dollar for dollar up to $150,000. Rather than having received $25,000 toward the renovations and construction of our new place, the faithfulness of our congregation will double because of the love this kind man has for our church family and God’s kingdom work. Mr. Walters is truly a gracious steward of God’s resources because his example inspires us also to be generous and give according to the way God has blessed us. I praise God today for every gift that has made it possible to reach our first $25,000 mile marker and for the anticipated matching donation which moves our relocation work forward.
Here is a third blessing that you need to understand. The “One Mile for God’s Glory” campaign actually began on January 15th of this year when our church family brought their pledge cards to the altar and prayed that God would bless every pledge made for His glory. On that day, 54 pledges were received which amounted to a total commitment of $86,870.40 pledged over a two year period. On the following week, January 22nd it was reported that a total of $11,088 had been received and deposited toward the campaign. Since the third Sunday in January, faithful and steady giving to the campaign has resulted in our reaching the first mile marker of $25,000 by May the 3rd. The campaign has been active for 15 weeks and 3 days, which amounts to almost 4 months.
Here’s the blessing: based on our first $25,000 performance accomplished in the first four months of the campaign, our church is on pace right now to not only exceed the overall goal of $150,000 by the end of March 2018, but our giving performance is actually far ahead of what was pledged at the beginning. Our giving performance is almost double what we pledged at the beginning. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!
Not one of us really knew how God would work to provide the resources necessary for our relocation. We did the best we could to pray, prepare and challenge people to give as the Lord would lead them. At this first stage of the “One Mile” journey, we need to thank God again for His amazing work and blessing. God has done what we have trusted Him to do, but has far exceeded what we committed ourselves to do when we started. God is bigger than this campaign. He is greater than our planning, our expectations, and even our sacrifice. God takes our efforts and expands them, multiplies them and returns them to us, as the Bible says: 30 fold—60 fold—and even 100 fold more than what we could possibly do by ourselves (Matthew 13:8). We really do not serve a PUNY GOD. He is greater and bigger than all of us put together. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!