What We Could Do with a Million Dollars

What could you do with a million dollars? With a million dollars you could:

Walk into a candy shop and buy 500,000 pieces of two cent candy. (This means if you ate one piece of candy every single hour of every single day for the next 50 years, you would still have candy left over. You wouldn’t have any teeth… but you would have left over candy).

Drive up to the window at McDonald’s and buy 334,448 Happy Meals. That means 334,448 little worthless prizes and 334,448 clogged arteries.

Sashay into a Starbucks (Is it true that people who get their coffee fix at Starbucks sashay more than the average person?) and order 240,964 half caf, quad, venti, sugar free vanilla, with double whip, extra hot, no foam lattes. Of course, then the question is would Starbucks have enough cup holders for 240,964 half caf, quad, venti, sugar free vanilla, with double whip, extra hot, no foam lattes?

Or… if you were a church you could write a big fat check to a bank every single month until the year 2020 and say “Jeepers, Mr. Bank, I sure like giving you so much money in interest payments every single month.” Quite frankly, you’d have more to show for your money if you went through the drive-through at McDonalds.

But that’s what we’ve been doing at Central. (We’ve been paying a lot in interest, not ordering a lot of Happy Meals at McDonalds).

Many of you have received or you will be receiving in your mail today or tomorrow, a letter from me. The letter tells you about an opportunity at Central to further our desire to make more and better disciples. It boils down to this: if in the next 24 months we could raise just a hair over a million dollars, we would cut off four years of payments and save… (This is awesome!)… over one million dollars in interest payments. One million dollars! I don’t know what our bank plans to do with the million dollars in interest that we will be paying them, maybe buy a lot of toaster ovens and blenders to give out as people sign up for checking accounts. But I know this, with an extra million dollars we could sure make a difference for the Kingdom. With a million dollars we could reach more people with the Good News of Jesus Christ. With a million dollars we could see more lives changed and more families restored.

You see, we have a choice at Central to either continue paying what we’ve been paying while our bank gladly takes the millions of dollars in interest from us or we could accelerate our payments and thereby free up a million dollars for real ministry (No toaster ovens here, pal!). It seems like a simple choice. It’s kind of like a two for one sale at Wal-Mart. When we give a buck, that buck will be paid onto our principle and (here’s the cool part) it will also free up a dollar that we won’t be paying in interest. That’s why we are calling for our church to “Now Finish the Work.” The building is complete, but the work is yet to be done. It’s time to “Now Finish the Work.” But that’s not all…

Here’s another cool part of this deal. It frees up money today for ministry! Because of rising interest rates, our payments have gone from around $29,000 a month to $38,000 a month. For you non-math whizzes that’s $9,000 in additional interest payments each and every month! Imagine what would happen to your family’s budget if your home mortgage went through the roof like that in 24 months. Around the church it has taken a huge bite out of our ministry options, and, quite frankly, has put a financial burden on us. Through this program, the $12,000 a month principle payments that we are currently making will be covered, so that $12,000 dollars can then be used to make more and better disciples right now!

Here’s what I am asking each one of us to do: PRAY. Not give? Nope that comes later… first we need to pray. Pray for our church, the ministries and pastors of Central, and pray for our future. This Sunday, there will be several people (Jim and Kathy Gorman, Dan and JoAnne Rexroth, and others) who will be asking you to sign up for a 30 minute block of time during the week of November 12th through the 19th to pray for our church and the days ahead. I think everyone who calls Central home will want to pray sometime during that week. (Won’t it be awesome for one solid week, someone at Central will be praying for the ministries, pastors, and future for Central.) And while you are praying for the church, ask the Lord in what ways He would have you come along side our mission of making more and better disciples. And finally, ask the Lord to give you and your family direction as to how you can help us “Now Finish the Work.”

In the next couple of weeks you will get a lot of information, every detail of the “Now Finish the Work” campaign. I hope to answer any question you might have. On November 19th we will have a TREMENDOUS Celebration Day! In the morning we will be celebrating the 25 years that we’ve been in Lenexa and in the evening we will be celebrating what God is just about to do! It will be an all-day party that I hope you will mark on your calendars now!

Great days are ahead for Central as we “Now Finish the Work” for which God has called us— Making more and better disciples!

Thank you for praying and investing in the Kingdom!