Vineyard Church of Knox County
A&R Update
I want to keep us abreast of the developments involving the Alexander and Rhoades building, at 211 South Main Street, that we have been praying about and pursuing for the last three months. If you recall, in the last Cornerstone I wrote that we had made an offer on the building. Well, the owners responded within a couple of days with an acceptance of our offer. So, we are currently "under contract" until December 31st, which means that we have the next four weeks to really investigate the feasibility of the project both financially and practically. Being under contract is sort of like dating in that we are using this time to get to know A&R so that we can make an informed decision whether we want to "marry" it or not.
Our “dating” strategy is simple: talk to as many people as possible who know more than we do. Really! We want to collect two cents from every “expert” we can. Does that include you? Please feel free to contact me if you feel that you have something to contribute, whether it be past experience in renovation or maybe a vision or impression from God, whatever. We value your input because we know that God works through all kinds of people.
Right now, we have more questions than answers. We are not sure if and how the financing of such a project might work out. We are not sure of the total cost of the whole project. We are not sure whether the entire space is feasible for our vision. Those are big questions, we know! But we are doing everything we can to talk with people who can give us answers to those questions, most importantly God.
You may be asking yourself why we made an offer on the building with such significant unknowns. I’m glad you asked! We, in this church, are committed to following God wherever He leads us, through any door He takes us. So, the simple answer is, We believe God opened this door and led us through it. Through months of prayer and strategizing, we simply felt that God wanted us to take this next step, that is, to make an offer on the building. Where He leads us from here--what that next step is--we don’t know! We don’t know how this process will end, whether we will actually purchase the building or not. But that’s ok! We can be sure that God led us to this point; we can be sure that God has a plan for us as a church that fits with the vision and mission He has given us; we can be sure that He will reveal that plan as we step out in faith.
Just know that we are committed to the vision and mission to which God has called us, specifically to be a church that is accessible to others (both physically and spiritually), a group of people who love God and others in very practical ways that make a visible impact on the hearts and minds of the people in this county and around the world. We exist to glorify God by restoring His creation one person at a time. We will do that from the High School Theater as long as He wants us to be there; we will do that from 211 South Main Street if He leads us there; we will do that from anywhere else He might lead us.
Lord, we will follow Your lead!
Blessings,
Chris
