Proposed Future Location to be Announced May 18
On Sunday, May 18, Scott Fjellman from the Future Location Task Force (FHTF) will announce the proposed future location of Northwood Church during morning worship services. Following worship services packets of information about the proposed site will be provided at the Welcome Table.
The FHTF was organized in May 2006 and has been meeting at least monthly since then. In May of 2007 an area developer approached Northwood leaders offering assistance and help in securing land that fits the established criteria of proximity to current Northwooders, accessibility from major road systems, visibility within the community and affordability for Northwood giving capacity. The proposed site meets all the criteria.
The announcement is being made in preparation for a June 8 Northwood Church Business Meeting to vote on a motion to enter into a contract for the securing of the proposed site. The Business Meeting will be held immediately following June 8 services and will include complimentary lunch for all who attend. Open Forums to discuss the land site and acquisition are planned for both worship service hours on June 1st.
Brian Doten commented about the land and business meeting, “For two years we have been praying for God to lead Northwood Church to her future location. God is answering our prayers! The proposed location is a beautiful site, is sizeable and meets all our land criteria. This is an historic moment for the Northwood Church family. I hope every Northwooder will review the packet of information provided and every member make it a high priority to attend and vote at the June 8 Business Meeting.”
FaithJourney Update
Northwood Church's search for land to buy and build has an official name: FaithJourney. FaithJourney was chosen because it best expresses where Northwood is right now-on a journey of faith trusting God to lead us to the best possible site to buy and build a church home that will minister for generations to come. Faith Journey is supported by Scripture as well. Hebrews 1:11 says, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Northwood's Future Home Task Force and Leadership Team believe Hebrews 1:11 and Faith Journey summarize our need to depend on God to help us find and fund our future home.
In 2006 Northwood began the process of determining how to locate land that could be suitable for our future church home. This process eventually led us to the point that we knew we needed to start some efforts to raise funds.
We began in 2007 with a group of dedicated and interested people on our committee, but that group had never worked on a capital campaign in the past, so we decided we needed some help. We hired a consultant that had extensive experience in helping churches raise funds to buy land and build church buildings. With his guidance, we quickly determined that putting together a coordinated campaign would best be accomplished in the fall of 2007. We began the process of dividing up responsibilities to meet our goal of beginning a capital campaign in November of 2007.
Throughout the spring and into the summer, we held focus group meetings to try and find out what our church was thinking about for land and location. We put together studies to find out what the demographics of our church area are. We figured out the timeline for creating a capital campaign, how much debt (if any) our church could handle, and other financial issues. We created logos, literature and tossed around ideas for how to better communicate our project with Northwooders.
As a team, our church offered up several folks who could lead various initiatives. These areas included communications, special events, stewardship education, land acquisition, prayer support, advance commitments and a Leadership Team liaison. It was amazing to watch these Northwooders contribute their skills and time to our project. We were able to plan a coordinated capital campaign, and put together an all-church worship service and brunch on November 18 at Rush Creek Golf Club to begin the FaithJourney Capital Campaign. FaithJourney was chosen as the name of the campaign to reinforce the idea that Northwood Church is on a journey of faith towards the future God has for us.
For the four weeks building up to the Rush Creek event, Sunday worship services included special FaithStories and a four week FaithJourney sermon series by Pastor Doten. Finally, at Rush Creek, we culminated our capital campaign with a brunch, a message from Brian, and some inspirational words from Wooddale’s pastor, Leith Anderson. At that worship service, we were able to announce that God was beginning to perform a miracle for Northwood.
A local land developer and Northwood began talking about the possibility of having some land donated to Northwood in the Maple Grove area. While the details are still being arranged, it looks probable that this land developer, a believer and friend of Northwood, is being used by God to help Northwood find a permanent location in the area, at a significantly reduced cost, or at virtually no cost at all. The land seems to meet our criteria with regards to location, proximity to current Northwooders, accessibility via major road systems, visibility, flexibility, space needs and, obviously, cost! During our initial efforts to sort this out, it is reassuring to know that God is watching out for us at Northwood, providing for our faithfulness along the way.
To date, we have now received pledges of $927,000 from nearly 70 families at Northwood and friends of Northwood. This money will be used to facilitate the development and eventual building of a new church building on our (hopefully) donated land.
In 2008, we have several remaining issues to address:
- The final transaction between the current land owner and the developer who wishes to grant land to Northwood needs to occur. Please pray that this transaction goes through according to plan.
- There are a series of legal issues that will need to be resolved, as the church goes through the process of obtaining legal title for the land, obtaining proper zoning requirements, etc.
- We need to begin a process to determine what our future home will actually look like. How big? How many rooms? What type of facilities should be available? How will it be paid for? What about parking? These are questions, along with others, that will need to be addressed throughout 2008.
We plan on communicating with you regularly regarding progress toward land acquisition. This will occur through occasional letters, Northwood News articles, FaithJourney updates in worships services and information on the website. Of course, any of the Future Home Task Force members are available for questions too. They include: Scott Fjellman (Chairman), Norm and Susan Beardsley, Steve Chaffin, Luis Ferreiro, Dan Koller, Scott Koppendrayer, Suzy Nardini, Ian Peterson, Andy Sherk, Paul Wisnewski and Leadership Team Member - Grant Case.
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Northwood's Future Home Prayer Team Update
April 29, 2008
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. —Hebrews 11:1
- Please pray that God will go before us, making the way smooth as we continue to take steps in the process of acquiring land for Northwood's future home. Pray for those on the Future Home Task Force who need to attend important meetings. Pray that they will have wisdom and unity, hearing God's voice in how to proceed.
- Pray that Northwooders will continue to remain focused on helping people to believe in and become more like Jesus Christ and to not to allow money or a building to become the priority. Ask God to give us unity as we remember God's purpose for Northwood Church.
- Praise God for the financial commitments many of our Northwood family members have made towards our FaithJourney. Ask God to bring others who will share in our vision for Northwood's ministry, giving them the desire to commit to our future home. Pray that God will receive the glory and give each of us the ability to honor our pledges, possibly giving more than we thought we could.
