Re-opening the Sanctuary Fund this Fall for a 4th (Fiscal) Quarter Push!

We are re-opening the Sanctuary Fund during this 4th (Fiscal) Quarter! Learn more in this video and take a look at the rest of this page. We need to raise another $250,000. Here in Athens, we are familiar with a 4th Quarter push that (usually!) occurs when the Dawgs play at Sanford Stadium. In the same way, this is a chance for us to rally and finish getting our new space ready. Make sure to check out the video above and prayerfully consider making a gift today.

The sooner we can raise these funds, the sooner we can get things ready to do the work that God has given us to do!

Our Next Set of Projects:

Fellowship Hall Remodel (In Process, More Funds Needed)

Replace Sanctuary HVAC (Needed By This Winter)

Exterior Projects (Grounds, Parking Lot, Playground)

You are probably asking why we are raising another $250,000 instead of just raising $500,000 initially in the Spring. You might also be wondering if this will be happening every few months. Those are really fair questions!
Here's the deal, our partnership with City on the Hill Missions has improved. After our initial planning and agreement, they felt led to open up more of the campus to us. The funds we are raising now will allow us to finish out these additional spaces. We will also be able to replace the Sanctuary HVAC. This is one area we need to be proactive about in the next few months since the heat doesn't work at all.

You do need to know that this additional round of funding will allow us to finish out all of the major renovation projects we are looking at completing in the foreseeable future. That means we don't anticipate another major facilities campaign until the time comes to purchase this new home.

There are several FAQs that we want to continue to address:

How long will we be at this new home? We thought we would be at the Foundry Building for several years. However, it became apparent that we needed to look for a new option and the Lord clearly opened this door. Our initial agreement is for 5 years plus the option to renew for another 5 years. We also have a right of first refusal to purchase the church building and land. We hope this is a really long-term home for us! Conversations have already started about what it could look like for us to acquire the campus permanently. City on the Hill Mission has agreed to take these capital investments and improvements into consideration as we prayerfully walk through those conversations together.

What other options did we consider? We have looked at lots of options over the last few years including conversations with many churches, potential commercial leases, and even purchasing land and building. The commercial leases we were looking at were all 2-3 times the amount of rent each month and needed 2-4 times the amount of upfront costs to make them suitable for our purposes for a lot less square footage. We did look at the option to build, but buying land and building in the areas we would want to be would have required at least $5 million or more dollars. So we are really grateful for what the Lord has opened up at this new home!

Video Update Archive

Below are several videos from the last six months about this door God has opened, work days held over the Summer for our new home, our “soft open,” and our fundraising progress on the Sanctuary Fund. We have now completed these initial workdays, begun worshipping in our new home, and concluded our initial set of projects!