New Building is Ready

During the past few weeks the finishing touches have been put on the new extension to our building. It will be ready for use on 25th May. When we merged our two churches together we started out with five main goals and the building project was number 2 on the list. From the past six months we are well ahead of our set goals.

Goal 1: was to make a successful transition between the two churches and combine the unique talents and spiritual abilities of each man on the leadership team. This goal was accomplished and our leaders in the congregation have successfully blended together as one. Deacon appointments were made in April as leaders from both churches now serve together. They have set a new budget for the church and implemented several new policies with clear goals of bringing more people to Christ.

Goal 2: was to build the new extension to our existing church building and do this debt free. Wow... we are talking about $350,000! This past Sunday we had a special "Offering Sunday" in which we have been preparing the congregation to give in hope to pay-off the new building. For the past four weeks we have gathered every Saturday morning to pray about this special offering and what the Lord would have each of us to give. Finally the day had come to receive this special offering. One by one on Sunday morning the people filed past the large box prepared just for this event and each person dropped into the box the offering they had been praying about. We handled this as a special worship time with soft music playing in the background. The congregation was silent and some spontaniously came to the alter to pray while others gave hugs to various people in the congregation. We didn't plan it this way... it just happened as the Spirit of God moved people in an unusual way. Spontanious singing broke out while more and more people left their seats to place their offering in the box. The box was decorated by several ladies in bright gold colored paper with the words "I trust God" written upon it. What an amazing testimony to the planning, sacrifice and heart of the congregation. When everyone that wanted to give had come forward we simply sat wondering... what did God just do! Amazingly on this day the special building offering on Sunday exceeded $100,000! In fact it was $108,000 plus a few notes of intension to give more next week! Which means that we can pay off the new building as well as some small existing debt. The church will be debt free in less than six months with a new building capable of meeting our needs. The leadership team set this standard and believed by faith that God would honor a well thoughtout plan subjected to much prayer. We have four godly men on our leadership team with great spiritual and business skills in addition to myself and Ken. The new building extension provides class rooms, fellowship hall, kitchen and new office space.

Goal 3: was to grow the congregation to the 300 people. This goal was not supposed to happen until the building was completed and we could start an evangelistic thrust with the congregation. But we have been having over 300 people in the worship service for the past six weeks. The congregation is so excited they can hardly contain themselves and the growth is taking place naturally....no evangelistic program can outmatch a good dose of the Holy Spirit filling of God's people.

Goal 4: is to begin two morning worship services. I know this not always the best situation but our building cannot legally seat more than 300 people at one time. We have been exceeding this most weeks but the city counsel is understanding and they know we have a plan in action to accommodate the congregations growth. We plan to start two worship services within the next two months. The only other option was to buy land and build another building but that is nearly impossible with all the city regulation which would cause us to have to move locations into a business industrial park. Our leadership team decided against that which is why we built the new extension.

Goal 5: is to grow our congregation to 500 and begin a new church plant next year near the University area of the city. This is the area that I am currently putting much of my time into. My role at International Baptist Church right now is to follow-up on new believers with discipleship and prepare believers for useful service within the congregation. I spend most of my days in a discipleship role with men's ministry and small groups. Some of these men and women will be used to start the new church. We already have one man prepared to lead this new church... he was saved at IBC many years ago and now has completed his training. He is working here with Ken and myself and plans to do this until next year when he goes to lead the new congregation. We will be sending him some of our best men and women that are prepared to serve in support roles such as music, teachers, and deacons for the new church.

Wow... so much happening so fast. We also have seen a new aspect of ministry started up recently at IBC called Christian Business Men's Committee. We have the only such group in Auckland and host this out of our church. I am leading this group for now but plan to turn this group over to "Doctor Theuns" in the near future. Our area is loaded with business professionals so we are planning to have several seminars about leadership from a Christian perspective and invite our local business professionals.

In the past four weeks eight people have trusted the Lord so we are planning a Baptismal service next week. Just keep praying with us, as we seem to be experiencing so many positive things happening right now.

Ciao,
Michael