Current CEF News

STEPPING OUT AND BUILDING IN FAITH

After 110 years in their beloved but deteriorating old church, the people of Trinity Lutheran in Reed City reached a painful decision – and in the process, they received a new measure of faith.

When Rev. Dean M. Davenport accepted a call to Trinity Lutheran Church and School, the congregation had already been chewing on a tough question for years: Should they make costly repairs to their beautiful, old memory-filled church or undertake the even more difficult and costly construction of a new facility?

With more than a century in their aging facility, Trinity Lutheran had settled into the traditions and comfortable familiarity that come with decades of worship, marriages, baptisms and confirmations. The decision would be a wrenching one for many.

Nevertheless, it was time to choose. Would they cling to the old and familiar for their own comfort – or undertake something new for the benefit of future generations? Pastor Davenport reminded his new flock that, “just as the old church had been generously provided for them more than 100 years before, it was now time for us to provide a place in which our children and grandchildren could worship.”

With a sincere desire to do God’s will, the congregation turned to Him for guidance and direction. Soon after, the decision was made to step out in faith and go forward with a building program.

Members of the congregation generously donated a beautiful, 35-acre parcel of land with frontage on U.S. Highway 10. A hill-top site on the donated land was selected for the new sanctuary. Another parcel, which had been donated by a member of the local community, was sold with his permission and the proceeds were given to Trinity’s building fund.

After considering their many hopes, dreams and needs for a new facility, Trinity zeroed in on what they felt was doable, practical and wise: a new sanctuary, administrative offices and a few classrooms. Total cost? $2 million. (For the time being, the school will continue in its original location.)

Over the years, as they watched the old church crumble, the congregation managed to save and invest $300,000 with CEF for future repairs or construction. That left a $1.7 million gap between their available funds and what was needed for the new building. In a leap of faith, Pastor Davenport and other church leaders determined that their goal would not be to raise $1.7 million. Instead, they set a goal of bringing the congregation to a new level of understanding concerning God’s sacrificial love for them. By encouraging them to grow and stretch within that love – and to emulate Christ in their love for one another – they felt their building program would be safe in God’s hands.

The congregation called on the Church Extension Fund in an effort to understand the complexities of a church building project and to lay the preliminary groundwork. Once the decision to build was reached, CEF President, Ron Steinke, and Paul Wills, Vice President of Marketing, visited the church and provided as-needed fund-raising, church-building and financing advice. Pastor Davenport said that “They managed to turn what could have been big issues into non-issues.”

With leadership and encouragement from Erv Keller, Trinity’s CEF Representative, many from the congregation became first-time investors in the Church Extension Fund. Others increased their investments. Thanks to Mr. Keller and his committee, personal investment in CEF jumped from $800,000 to over $1 million. “By increasing our investment, we earned a mortgage interest rate reduction from CEF,” explained Mr. Keller. Over the life of the loan, this will mean a tremendous savings for Trinity Lutheran Church and School.

In June, 2006, the new church was dedicated. While the congregation opted for a contemporary architectural style, they looked for ways to celebrate their history. Today, stained glass windows moved from the old church building are bringing light into the new sanctuary. And from Trinity’s well-worn century-old pulpit, as a testament to God’s faithfulness, the Gospel is still proclaimed. The pulpit and other church furniture were also moved from the old church building, refurbished and installed in Trinity’s beautiful new sanctuary.

A building program can be a wrenching time for some congregations. But Pastor Davenport sees few residual effects at Trinity. “With our new building, Trinity is as strong and solid on the outside as we are on the inside. Completing this building project and continuing to carry on our ministry with and through these special people is nothing less than God working in our lives.”

Keller, who also serves on the evangelism committee,often greets families as they arrive for worship. Since the sanctuary was dedicated, he’s seen a steady flow of new families visiting at Trinity. And that makes him smile. When asked how he felt about the thousands of CEF investors who helped make Trinity’s new sanctuary a reality, he replied, “I think that CEF makes God smile.”

A LITTLE CHURCH FULFILLS A "PIPE DREAM"

When St. Peter Lutheran Church opened its doors in 1882, Macomb Township was primarily farm land. The little white church served its congregation well for nearly 100 years. In 1979, a loan of $325,000 from CEF helped the church expand into a new and more modern facility. With a seating capacity of 300, the new sanctuary seemed ample. But by 1996, farmland was being gobbled up for subdivisions and St. Peter began to grow rapidly.

Soon, the church was bursting at its seams. They began offering six worship services each weekend. On Christmas and Easter, even with multiple services, as many as 600 people packed into the too-small worship center.

By 2002, Macomb Township was one of the fastest growing areas in the nation and St. Peter was one of the largest and most vigorous churches in the Michigan District. “We simply had to expand. People were moving into our community and they needed to hear the Word of our Lord in a church setting. We simply had to make room for them,” recalls Mike Krause.

When a new building seemed inevitable, Krause stepped in to oversee the congregation’s capital campaign. “We went to CEF with a loan request of $6.3 million for a new worship center.” The loan was the largest in CEF’s history, but CEF’s relationship with St. Peter’s had been a long and happy one. In addition to its previous sanctuary, St. Peter had acquired CEF financing for school additions in 1979 and 1988, as well as a home loan for a teacher in 1988.

But the thriving congregation did not choose CEF without considering other options. “In the end, the entire congregation was behind the idea of financing our new building with CEF, “ said Kraus. “First, CEF offered extremely competitive interest rates. Second, we didn’t want our interest payments going to a mega-corporation whose primary motivations are profits and the stock market. Instead, we wanted the payments to go into our own church district to fund other LCMS church and school projects in Michigan. Third, CEF was incredibly easy to work with. Whenever we had a question or problem, they were ready to help.

In an interesting turn of events, the church was also able to purchase and refurbish a 54-rank pipe organ from the Michigan District. Church Extension Fund had acquired and stored the organ when Our Savior Lutheran Church in Detroit had closed. For St. Peter, purchasing and refurbishing the Schantz pipe organ, while significant, was approximately 1/3 the cost of a new one. The congregation was thrilled when the organ debuted during their Easter celebration this year. The organ was officially dedicated on June 11, 2006.

Mike Krause summed up St. Peter’s growing experience this way: “We’re sharing the Good News with our community and we’re making a joyful noise to the Lord. What could be better?”