Taking the great commission seriously, Image Church exists to grow the family of God by making disciples and building families. Since forming the church, this body of believers has grown tremendously, with entire families coming to the Lord. In fact, at the time of this writing, they will soon celebrate 21 baptisms at one time, the most in their church history!

So the need to find a facility that would allow them to continue to grow both physically and spiritually was imperative.

The decision to build a new facility was accompanied by a period of waiting, prayer, and trust—and the church was rewarded by seeing God’s hand at work. Grace Community paid off its existing building loan in 2020, and received a substantial donation in 2021. 2022 saw the church continuing to wait on the Lord for his guidance and provision, before deciding to move forward with building plans. All the while, the church continued to grow and expand, especially amongst younger families.

While the construction/renovation process can be an exciting time for a church, some of the most significant kingdom impact comes when the contractors put away their tools and turn the building over to the church.

The Paradox Church, based in Fort Worth, Texas, is a church passionate about saturating Fort Worth with the glory and grace of Jesus, with a particular focus on the downtown area. Originally planted 12 years ago, Paradox has since planted four churches nearby—and one of those plants has gone on to plant another church of its own.

The building itself was an unlikely choice—an old plumbing supply warehouse with stained concrete sides, huge loading dock doors, and an overgrown parking lot. But for CityView Church, this warehouse would become home. The transformation that followed seemed nothing short of miraculous, both visually and in terms of God’s timing and provision.

Many children in foster care feel unlovable because of the abuse they’ve suffered all their lives. Far too many young adults aging out of the foster care system will become homeless, incarcerated, in prostitution, sex trafficked, or dead within three years. Staggering truths like these led Susan Klaus to form Agape Ranch in 2014. Agape Ranch is a thriving faith-based non-profit offering a forward-thinking and compassionate community-based solution to the foster care crisis facing America today.

According to Kason Branch, Senior Pastor of Creekstone Church, “Purchasing a building that’s already renovated has allowed us to transition quickly and smoothly while focusing our resources on ministry programs and services that bless people immediately. Our new facility has been a real game changer!”

Remodeling a 70-year-old former car dealership has plenty of unique challenges; however, Coastal has experienced firsthand how God’s provision and timing are so much better than anything they could have planned throughout the entire process.

Robinwood Baptist Church (RBC) has needed revitalization for decades and ensuring the church’s survival has defined my ministry as the Senior Pastor. Our church’s vision is to remove obstacles standing in the way of accomplishing our mission. Thankfully, God has made those obstacles abundantly obvious (Prov 29:18).

Tate Springs was in over 1 million dollars of debt when I arrived, and if we wanted to get across the street, we needed to eradicate the debt. So, I leaned into Bart and Russ, who counseled Tate Springs and me towards eliminating our debt and communicating what I believed God’s vision was for Tate Springs. The result was paying off over $800,000 of debt in a little over a year!

If I could reiterate one thing— everything we did regarding moving the location of our campus and the type of building we built was all with the mission and vision as “the why”. It was and still is all about being the church God has called us to be and seeing more and more people come to know and follow Jesus.

Our testimony is that when we increased our giving up to at least a tithe, we have never missed the money because the Lord has blessed us even more than we gave.

The journey hasn’t always been easy.  Central Baptist Church faced financial challenges as building costs were greater than expected, and the $1 million project quickly turned into more than $2 million.  Yet amid challenges, doubts, and weakness, God proved His strength and faithfulness over and over again

For a long time, our prayer was to be debt-free, allowing us financial freedom not only from lenders, but freedom to give more generously to God’s Kingdom work.

COVID made ‘Going’ difficult; however, it didn’t diminish the desire to help spread the gospel. Fairdale Baptist Church recognizes the strengths of culturally similar brothers and sisters sharing the gospel with their community. Using interest earned through CET investments to support these ministries is a blessing and a joy to the congregation.

For other pastors wondering, like we did, “What are CET investments, and what’s the catch?” I offer this advice…

Have you ever felt bound by your facility's limitations, but knew God was calling you to do more? Maybe your church's vision surpassed your existing resources? This very challenge was met head-on by the dedicated members of Crossroads Church in Rowlett, Texas.