My God Can

 

I can tell you that this land, this ground, is Holy Ground.  Can I tell you a story? [Scroll down or click here for a video.]

I can still hear Fred Magnello’s voice: “I am willing to be on the building committee but I don’t know why. We don’t have land, we don’t have money, but we have a building committee. I understand faith, but I’m a retired banker and this is crazy.” Maybe we were a little crazy, but in September of 1996, God blessed us with this land, 3.83 acres in the heart of Jackson Township. Here are just a few highlights of how happened.

While Stark State was a good home for quite a few years, they began to make it clear that at some point their facility was no longer going to be available. In spite of our lack of funds, by faith we began to dream and plan. We started a building/land acquisition fund, separate from the general operating fund, inviting donations while hoping not to take away from ongoing operations.

We began with a modest amount; at one point seeing the total cross the $15,000 mark. Then a member of Chestnut Ridge (our parent church) passed away and gave us a donation from their estate that doubled what we had. Then we received word from an individual that when we were serious about acquiring land, they would be willing to commit $50,000 toward that purchase. There seemed to be real reason to hope.

In the meantime, we were actively looking at whatever parcel of land came on the market, but discovered land in Jackson Township was very expensive. Some suggested maybe we should look elsewhere, where it might not be so expensive, but the call of God we heard was to be a light for Christ in Jackson Township.

Because of the high land value, we began to look at the possibility of moving into an existing facility, but again, nothing was working out. Periodically, we would meet just down the road at what was the Trinity Church of the Brethren (now Frontline Ministries International). Their attendance was in serious decline, and we talked with them about either sharing the space or buying it off of them, but they were not interested.

Then one day as I was driving past this location, a realtor by the name of Sandra Roth (from Beech Mennonite Church) was putting up a sign, advertising this small farm was for sale. I called the number and she immediately returned my call. She understood we could not possibly buy the 28 acres that were for sale, but she thought the seller, Mrs. Judy Reither, would be very interested in talking to us.

We soon learned that Mrs. Reither had carved out this front piece to sell separately. She was asking $210,000 for it and had a buyer willing to give her what she was asking. The problem was, they wanted to put a beer/wine drive-through on it, and she was a Christian woman who had hoped her farm would one day have a church meeting here.

When I heard the asking amount, I tried to graciously end the discussion. We knew we could not be paying rent as well as paying on a loan for the purchase of land; having no plan for putting a building on it. But Mrs. Reither would not take no for an answer and offered to sell us the same parcel for $150,000. Somewhat embarrassed, and after talking to our committee, we passed along that we were grateful and understood this was a generous offer on her part, but we still could not do it.

Then came the call that blew us away. The realtor said Mrs. Reither was willing to take $110,000, but we would need to decide within the next couple days if we wanted the land. She was determined to put a church on her property, but this was as low as she could go. At this time, we had about $35,000 in actual money, and the promise of $50,000, which still left us $25,000 short. After talking with the committee chair, that evening we had another donor commit $5000, leaving us $20,000 short.

We began to wonder if God was telling us we needed to step out in faith and borrow the $20,000 we were still short, but we were still very nervous. I made a call to the anonymous donor to let them know what we were considering, and to make sure they were still committed to the $50,000. After explaining the situation to them, they asked if I could call them back in the morning. I didn’t know what that meant, and I went to bed wondering if they were still committed to the $50,000.

When I called back in the morning (8 am on the button), they asked a few questions and then said the following, “If you’re giving 50, what’s another 20? We’ll give you $70,000. Go get your land.”

Totally humbled by God’s grace and provision, on September 19, 1996 we signed the papers and handed over the money. By the time the deal was done, we had less than $100 in our building account and had to start the climb all over again. It would be a 8 years before we could build; but for those of us who were there, we knew that God had spoken and this would one day be our home.  – [by Pastor Jim Bartholomew]