Weighed Down

My opinion is that this truck could move even better if it was not so loaded down.  What do you think?  Many times I have people ask me, “Pastor, how can we help Gateway Church?  What can we do to make this place even better?”  I say, “Help unload our debt.”  

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” Speech writer Peter Robinson wrote this phrase delivered by our President Ronald Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was an important speech, and an important time for world history and for Germany.   Reunification for Germans would never have moved forward without the Berlin Wall first coming down.

Likewise, here at Gateway Church we have a wall separating us from being all we can be for the cause of Christ.  Eight years ago in 2000, we borrowed $500,000 to finish our building. Since that time we built children’s class rooms, finished our kitchen area, installed a baptistery and equipped our office. $430,000 of this loan has already been paid, leaving a total of $70,000 and a monthly payment of $4409...still a major burden for our ministry. As a church, we will be much more effective when this wall is gone, so together with your help; we are going to remove this barrier to church health brick by brick.  Picture this: on our own auditorium platform will be a display of 70 bricks, each one painted with the word “Gateway.” Each brick will represent one thousand dollars. On the other side of the wall will be a treasure chest waiting to be filled with the offerings that people bring in exchange for a Gateway brick.  My hope and prayer is that you will join Janet and me as we haul this wall off forever – done, finished, completed, over.  That debt will be obliterated by our offerings!  Then as a church body, we can  move on to increased stability, more growth and be prepared to reach out  to surrounding San Diego communities with news of God’s grace, truth and love.

Together, with God’s guidance and wisdom, we can do this! Families can go in together and cut one brick in half, friends can join with other friends and divide a brick up several ways, or some couples or individuals might take one a piece.  As our gifts in the treasure chest collectively grow, we will begin to visualize how Gateway Church can become more effective than we have ever been before.

In my home I have a knick knack shelf with little souvenirs from places all over the world where I have been blessed to travel. Upon that shelf I have a small chip from the former Berlin Wall. It’s my little reminder of that moment in history when people changed the direction of their country.  Now we can change the direction of our church.   Just think, you could have a Gateway brick to remind you of how you provided the resources for Gateway Church to bring glory to God by helping people outside the walls come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord.  “Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1b-3

                  God be with you as we press on for Jesus!  

In Christ,

Pastor Mark