{"id":2602,"date":"2011-11-05T10:29:38","date_gmt":"2011-11-05T14:29:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2014-07-21T10:15:11","modified_gmt":"2014-07-21T14:15:11","slug":"greeces-financial-woes-and-a-churchs-capital-campaign-a-interesting-juxtaposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/greeces-financial-woes-and-a-churchs-capital-campaign-a-interesting-juxtaposition\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece’s Financial Woes and a Church’s Capital Campaign – An Interesting Juxtaposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s not the easiest time to make investment choices, is it?<\/p>\n

Economic Challenges at Home and Abroad<\/h2>\n

Bad economic news continues to pour out of Greece as their crushing load of public debt threatens to take them over the cliff of insolvency.\u00a0 Some even questioned this week\u00a0whether their citizens would\u00a0approve of a massive bailout with other countries writing off 50% of their indebtedness.\u00a0 Imagine that–someone offers to write off half your debt and you’re not sure you would take that deal?\u00a0 These are wild times economically for sure.\u00a0 The future of the euro and the entire European Union are teetering in the balance.<\/p>\n

The economic losses have reached our shores as companies heavily invested in European debt are dealing with frightening shortfalls.\u00a0 This week’s poster child is MF Global, headed by former NJ governor and Goldman Sachs CEO John Corzine.\u00a0 Their company declared bankruptcy in the face of unprecedented losses.\u00a0 Now the bad news–the accountants have determined a shortfall of\u00a0600 million dollars.\u00a0 No one can determine where the money went.\u00a0 Gone.\u00a0 Poof.\u00a0 Not 600 bucks, or 6000 dollars–but 600 million<\/em> dollars.\u00a0 That is a very bad day–especially for the investors who will inevitably take yet another hit to their portfolios.<\/p>\n

What We’re Investing In During a Down Market<\/h2>\n

Compare all of this to a local church family seeking to raise 3 million dollars in capital campaign commitments to build a new student ministry and biblical counseling center on the campus of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.\u00a0 We call the project Faith West<\/a>.\u00a0 What would motivate the men and women in our congregation to make such significant sacrificial financial commitments during an economic downturn?\u00a0 Because they believe in making investments that will stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

The Best Investment Tip Ever<\/h2>\n

Only time will tell how the Lord will choose to bless these investments, but one thing is sure–they are as safe as heaven itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>Our Lord taught His followers how to make wise investments.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDo not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21).<\/p>\n

As of this writing, we are well on the way to making our 3 million dollar goal.\u00a0 As a pastor, I am humbled at that kind of sacrifice and I praise the Lord for the privilege of serving alongside such dedicated men and women.\u00a0 Only time will tell how the Lord will choose to bless these investments, but one thing is sure–they are as safe as heaven itself.<\/p>\n

How’s Our “Portfolio” Doing?<\/h2>\n

Thursday night a group of us attended a community\u00a0meeting to explain Faith West to our new neighbors and seek their input as we continue the planning process.\u00a0 It was a marvelous opportunity to explain that our church family desires to demonstrate the love of Christ by investing in new ministry opportunities in their neighborhood.\u00a0 Their response was appreciation and wholehearted support for what we were attempting to do.<\/p>\n

After the meeting our team went to a local ice cream place to debrief.\u00a0 In the providence of God, we ran into several residents of Vision of Hope<\/a>, our faith-based residential treatment program for at-risk girls.\u00a0 They were there to celebrate the birthday of one of the girls. We explained what we had been doing that evening and shared how we hoped we could someday be a blessing to our new neighbors through\u00a0the new ministries we are proposing.\u00a0 One of the girl’s moms pulled us aside and said, “you have already been a wonderful blessing to our family–I praise God for all the ways your church family\u00a0tries to\u00a0serve Him.”<\/p>\n

At that moment the spiritual planets lined up perfectly.\u00a0 Several years ago our church family, in conjunction with a generous Christian foundation, chose to make a special financial sacrifice to open Vision of Hope.\u00a0 The fruit of that investment was right in front of our eyes, not on a financial statement, but in the form of a changed life for the glory of God and a very thankful mom with tears of gratitude in her eyes.\u00a0 No one will be able to rob us of that joy regardless of the future of the euro.\u00a0 Here’s to believing that\u00a0dividends await us through our\u00a0ministry efforts at Faith West.\u00a0 Let the accounting begin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not the easiest time to make investment choices, is it? Economic Challenges at Home and Abroad Bad economic news continues to pour out of Greece as their crushing load of public debt threatens to take them over the cliff of insolvency.\u00a0 Some even questioned this week\u00a0whether their citizens would\u00a0approve of a massive bailout with… read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2605,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[95],"tags":[4417,4497,4496,4348,4365],"yoast_head":"\nGreece's Financial Woes and a Church's Capital Campaign - An Interesting Juxtaposition - Faith Church Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/greeces-financial-woes-and-a-churchs-capital-campaign-a-interesting-juxtaposition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Greece's Financial Woes and a Church's Capital Campaign - An Interesting Juxtaposition - Faith Church Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It’s not the easiest time to make investment choices, is it? 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