Lanny Peters, Pastor
Oakhurst Baptist Church
May 16, 2004
I came to Oakhurst 15 years ago feeling fairly certain that I would not be involved in a building campaign. Many in this congregation took a sort of pride in the old, dilapidated facility. It stood as a symbol that we placed our priorities in ministry and outreach, not in buildings. But to my surprise, our buildings have been on my agenda since at least the fall of 1992 when the church established a Long Range Capital Needs Committee. Some months later following worship on February 28, 1993, that committee presented a report that said in so many words, that our church home was practically in ruins. We were faced with the results of years of neglect and denial. There were safety issues that endangered the men in recovery who resided in our building as well as our own children. The electrical system was a fire hazard. Plumbing, air, heat and other systems were creating huge maintenance issues. Many spaces were not very usable, and there was a lack of accessibility for persons with disabilities.
The committee presented the bad news but then invited us to join them as “we envision some possibilities for updating our building as a place of sanctuary, nurture, and outreach.” It was this that caught our imagination. Could we do both? Could we renovate our building but not lose sight of our priorities?
These questions took us two-and-a-half more years and countless discussions to resolve. It was October 1, 1995 when we voted to erect a new building to replace the Education Building. In July 1996 we commissioned our original executive building committee. We broke ground on the educational building after worship on June 1, 1997. We expected to be finished with the new building in a year. It was over two years later on July 11, 1999 that we had enough of a building to have a laying of the cornerstone, with the words “Not Here By Chance,” inscribed on the outside. Inside we placed symbols of our ministries and a group photograph of all who were here that day. On Pentecost Sunday, June 11, 2000, we finally celebrated the opening of our new building.
Betty Thompson in her wheel chair led the dance across the bridge onto our new space. Betty had grown up here at Oakhurst but for the first time in all her years, she could now participate fully in the life of the congregation. After we moved out of the old education building, we soon watched it being torn down. We thought we were through building. We had no plans to renovate the sanctuary at all until the city of Decatur showed up to inspect for the new building. They condemned our sanctuary for faulty heating, electrical, and fire systems. It was so sudden that we did not have the time for the deliberate process that we usually take around here. We found ourselves unexpectedly out of the sanctuary in September 2000, and began worshipping in our new Fellowship Hall. We found out quickly how wonderfully adaptable that space is. To our surprise, even during that time new people continued to visit and many stayed. On All Saints Sunday, November 5, 2000, we had our dedication of our new educational building, capping a wonderful weekend.
On Easter 2001, we had our first service back in the beautiful renovated sanctuary. The next week we hosted the Alliance of Baptists national meeting, something that would not have been possible without our new space. On May 5, 2002 we had had our final dedication of our sanctuary and our new facilities. We basically had a new building from top to bottom; something in 1992 we never dreamed we could do.
Together, we have raised close to $1.6 million dollars, which we surely did not imagine we could do. But that is not the most astounding thing. The most amazing thing was that we did not stop doing what we do best. Replacing and paying for our building has been on our agenda for over 12 years, but it has not dominated our life.
Back in 1997 on the day of the groundbreaking, Gary Gunderson preached about “A Theology of Place,” and had this to say, “Maybe a happy by-product of our commitment to build the new building will be clarity about why we believe it is good news to us that this community exists. When are we happier than when we hear somebody say to someone who is rejected elsewhere, ‘Why don’t you come with me to Oakhurst, you’ll be welcome there.’ We can buy a new building. But we cannot buy the innkeepers. Where will they come from? Will God raise up enough to keep the doors open? The nature of the community determines the future. If we do nothing significant and avoid risks, we attract insignificant risk-aversive people. We believe those on the journey will continue to find our way to this corner. And we believe there will be people here to open the doors.”
While we were trying to figure out how to construct and fund our buildings, we were working on clarity about why we believe it is good news to us that this community exists. Last week, Eddie Ivery, a graduate of our Recovery program talked about what a place of hope our Recovery House next door has become. Yesterday, at our church picnic, I watched some of those men who were homeless just a short time ago playing kick ball with our children. The sound of their laughter together was not a small miracle.
While we were building and renovating, our church was chosen to be one of thirteen churches nationwide for a Lily Foundation pilot project on Youth Spirituality and Ministry. While we were creating safe and adequate space for our children, we have been just as concerned about how we nurture our children in faith. Last Sunday’s wonderful youth-led service was a powerful reminder of this. Two weeks ago, Mark Crenshaw was here to thank us for our leadership as one of three model churches in the Faith and Disability Project. He reminded us that having an accessible building was only a start; it was our church’s determination to continue working on being ever more inclusive that was more important. The award we received from the Atlanta Alliance on Developmental Disabilities this week was recognition of our commitment in this area.
In the midst of our building projects, a conflict with the Georgia Baptist Convention provided us another opportunity for “clarity about why we believe it is good news to us that this community exists.” We came out of it with a stronger sense of identity.
We were able to provide a powerful witness of what it means for us to be Baptist and inclusive of Christians who were created by God as gay. We have continued to offer a model of worship that utilizes the gifts of laity in vibrant and creative ways. Our attendance has increased and new people have joined because they found this place to be good news. We have just finished another membership class and next week 17 more enthusiastic and gifted new members join our congregation.
While we were building and renovating, we started a new partnership with a church in Cuba, continued to drive families to visit relatives in prison, were part of an interfaith Habitat House build, and significantly increased our church school offerings. Over the last couple of years, we have taken leadership in a vital and growing interfaith witness. In two weeks, I will travel to Morocco as a part of a grant that I wrote for a group of pastors to be involved in interfaith spirituality and dialogue.
In 1999, we were named in a study as one of “300 Excellent Protestant Congregations” in the country. It was not because of our new building. We have not just survived this building project, but we have thrived.
On the back of our new campaign brochure is the covenant stone and the sign that says; “Oakhurst Baptist Church meets here.” The building is not the church, but it does give us a place to meet for “Living our Covenant” with God and each other. One of those ways is making the building available to others. In my sermon on September 22, 1996, the day the initial plans for our new building were presented, I closed by saying: “I have known many churches that built new facilities, and were cautious and protective about who used them. I thank God I am part of a church which will not be satisfied unless we find as many ways as possible that his building can be used in ministry. I can’t wait to see what God dreams us for us to do with this new building-which, I believe, is the only way God gets interested in buildings anyway. I for one am glad I am going to be around to see what God has in store as we build for ministry.”
That day is here. I hope you took the time to look at the recent newsletter, which had two pages of listings all the groups and events that have taken place in our new space, well over 50 different kinds of gatherings. Last Wednesday, after being duly warned by a member who had worked many years as a poll manager as to the potential hassles, we voted to allow our church to be used as a place for residents in our area of the county to vote. Next Sunday, we will host the Decatur High School Baccalaureate service. And at the reception following, we can enjoy that wonderful courtyard created out of a valley of mud by faithful Oakhurst volunteers.
I could go on, but you see what I mean when I say that replacing and paying for our building has been on our agenda for over 12 years, but it has not dominated our life. And I say that in spite of the fact that this is our third building campaign. Our first one in 1996 was propelled by the dream of a new educational building. The second campaign in 2000 was in anticipation of a newly remodeled sanctuary. We have been told that the most difficult kind of campaign is reducing debt on a mortgage. It is much easier to get excited about a new building coming up than it is to pay off a mortgage. But the helpful campaign newsletters and the testimonies the last three weeks and the beautiful brochure has created a sense of excitement as we realized that reducing payments on the mortgage is a great source of funds for missions and ministries that help define who we are. With advance gifts of over $330,000 already pledged, now every dollar given is worth two because it can go to pay down the principal on our loan. . We have “freed ourselves from a crumbling building; now we must free ourselves from the burden of the mortgage.” (Billy and Carolyn Hall, campaign co-chairs)
The scripture, which was used as our call to worship, is the same one used back in 1996 when we began our first campaign. We reminded ourselves then and now of the Psalmist’s words: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. We set forth our desire to allow God to be “the foundation stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.” According to the prophet Isaiah God says, “I will make justice the measure and integrity the plumb line.” That reminds us of the title of Walker Knight’s book about Oakhurst, which I hope, will ever be our call: “Struggle for Integrity.”
As we pay off our mortgage, I think we also do well to listen to the other piece of advice from that Psalm, “One who trusts will not panic.”
Our church covenant begins with this affirmation: “We are together only to be the church of God in Christ. We are not here by chance, but God through grace is making of us a fellowship to embody and express the Spirit of Christ.” That is why our campaign theme has been “Living Our Covenant.”
Out of that rose another theme as one way we have lived out that covenant. It was inspired by a quote from Katie Cook in a profile of our church for Baptist Peacemaker. She said, “It seems that Oakhurst…has always been in some kind of trouble. For the last 40years, this congregation has been in the forefront of the civil rights movement, the liberation of women in the church, struggles over disability issues, and justice issues surrounding the full inclusion of gays and lesbians in the life of the church. They seem to have always been ‘dancing in the dragon’s jaw.’”
The words in the brochure say it so well: “wherever our people go, wherever our story is told, the Oakhurst promise speaks out in hope. It says that God makes peace among amid intractable conflict. It affirms that God includes, recovers, forgives, redeems, and never, never gives up. The promise lives, too, in our covenant, this declaration of freedom from prejudice, self-absorption and fear of the other. We each found our way to Oakhurst by separate paths, but all of us sensed here a still, small yes in the grace and compassion that animate this oddly lovable church. So we stayed to claim the promise as our won and to help it ripple outward. For the many who ache to find such a promise and despite the threat of every new dragon-Oakhurst keeps dancing.”
It wil take all of us, those who have been here from the beginning, those who have joined us along the way, those who just arrived, and those still yet to come. But by the grace of God, even the dragon of 1.3 million dollars worth of debt will not stop us from dancing. Following the next hymn, we will bring today’s our gifts and indications of our commitments. You are invited to come and bring your regular offering to support the ongoing ministry of our church. And you are invited to bring your this card which you can find in your bulletin to indicate what you are able to provide to help reduce our mortgage and thus free up resources for our Oakhurst mission in years to come.
Let’s keep living our covenant. And let’s keep dancing!