No, it’s not a typo! The offering for September 6th really was $53,329.00! Perhaps I better explain.
In our last church paper I shared that the elders had decided to resurface part of our parking lot. I had noted that the bid to do the entire lot was $110,000, but that since $66,000 would pretty much deplete our bank account, the decision was made to just resurface what we could afford.
The next day I received a text from a church member that said a check for $44,000 would be in the following Sunday’s offering, so we could do the whole thing! When I told “Cousin Bill” that we now wanted to do the entire lot, he told me that was really good for the church. To finish the job in several years would have cost substantially more.
When discussing the cost, however, he mentioned that he wasn’t certain, but thought the bid may have been for $112,000. When I checked, he was right, and when I hesitantly mentioned that to the donor, he said not to worry about it. Another $2,000 would be the next offering!
As amazing as all that is, there is even more to the story. You may recall that back in April we had $36,000 given to the church. When I mentioned that we were in need of parking lot repairs, the donor indicated that he really wanted the funds to go to missions. We of course honored his request, and were very happy to make it possible for Theo to buy a vehicle in Jamaica, start a major bathroom project in Haiti, and meet special needs that Kent Paris was facing in his ministry with those facing homosexual and gender issues.
Apparently God honored the desire to meet mission needs before our own, and saw to it that our needs were met as well.
There is still another amazing part to this story. Many churches are struggling financially due to the restrictions in place due to COVID-19. We, on the other hand, have not only been blessed with two amazing offerings, but checks began coming in the mail regularly when we couldn’t meet, and the level of giving has remained above what we projected we might need before the year began!
God is good, and His people are faithful!
God Bless, Rick
Chatham Christian Church 