Our Faithful Journey
Our Faithful Journey
Pledge Update:
We have received 105 pledges totaling $850,202.00. Thank you for your prayerful response!
Click this link to view the Our Faithful Journey video!!!
Lynn's Lines:
The journey of Benton United Methodist Church from Bellevue Street in Benton to 4615 Palmetto Road began in 1991 when a group of visionary leaders saw the future and purchased land at the corner of Palmetto Road and Old Palmetto Road near Black Bayou Reservoir. The vision was nurtured over the next seven years when many of those same visionaries took the step of faith to begin construction on the location, which led to the relocation of the congregation in April of 1999 to a new 11,000 square foot facility.
New home construction brought families seeking good schools and a strong quality of life to the area surrounding the Palmetto Road location. This rapid community growth helped to fuel dynamic growth within the congregation in the years following 1999. In 2004, our church leadership formed a long-range planning team, employed consultants, conducted congregational surveys, and studied community demographics in exploring where God was calling our congregation to be in ministry, and how best to fulfill that vision. In 2005, Allen Construction Company was contracted as a design/build agent in response to the long-range planning process, and Allen Construction presented plans to build a 22,000 square foot multi-purpose facility that would accommodate the continued growth of the congregation, and provide the space necessary to formulate ministries that would meet the needs of the ever-expanding community. Our congregation celebrated the completion of our newest facility in March 2006 as the space was consecrated and occupied.
Along every step of the way, the faithfulness of our congregation has been evident. You embraced the vision of the early leadership and supported the initial decision to purchase the land at 4615 Palmetto Road, and made your support tangible by committing the financial resources to purchase the property. Likewise, a capital campaign was conducted in the late 1990's to support construction of the initial 11,000 square foot facility on the location in 1999. During that campaign, the congregation committed over %500,000 to the total cost of $1.1 million dollars, and support continued to flow even after the completion of the campaign as our congregation reduced its debt on the facility to just over $300,000 by the time additional growth necessitated new plans for ministry development.
As a result of the long-range planning process in 2005, the congregational leadership chose to engage a capital campaign consultant to assist in raising the level of stewardship in order to continue the congregation's growth. After prayer and reflection, the Church Council voted in Charge Conference to conduct back-to-back three year capital stewardship campaigns to fund the construction of the new 22,000 sq. ft. facility. The first phase of the campaign, aptly named Building on Faith, was kicked off in April 2006. The congregation pledged $955,000 toward the total $2.1 million dollar cost, and as the first phase draws to a close, our congregation has received more than $1.2 million dollars as a result of that campaign.
The journey now continues as the Building on Faith campaign is scheduled to end in April 2009. We are preparing to launch the next phase of capital stewardship, called OUR FAITHFUL JOURNEY, in April with the expectation of retiring debt and building a bridge to the next sage of capital improvements and additions tentatively scheduled to begin in 2012. Your continued presence on the journey and your faithfulness in taking these steps with us will ensure that we reach our destination, and that we have been faithful in following the Lord's guidance at Benton United Methodist Church. In the days ahead, members of the OUR FAITHFUL JOURNEY leadership team will be calling you to enlist your help in kicking off the campaign. Please prayerfully consider what God is calling you to do in helping us complete our journey of faith.
