May 7, 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing you today with an update on our search for land and/or a permanent building. In short, the search continues in full force with a high sense of urgency. Though the need for our own adequate space is extremely compelling, our search process is guided by a few key parameters:
- We feel it is important relocate within a reasonable distance of the school we have occupied from the beginning. Since most of our membership drives 10 miles or less to worship with us, we are trying to stay within that radius of Chandler Traditional Academy. This general area is consistent with the vision we feel God originally identified as our mission field (which has come to be practically defined as NW Queen Creek & Gilbert).
- In order to ensure that ministry (not buildings) is always the priority, our by-laws provide specific guidelines about how much of the Tithes and Offerings can go to leases and debt service.
With Pastor Dave's oversight, we have a number of people involved in the search for a better facility. Starr Gregory is taking an active lead. She is a licensed real estate agent and frequently searches various databases available to her. We also use two commercial real estate brokers for sites that can be purchased or leased. Over the last year, we have made on-site visits to more than 20 locations and entered into serious lease negotiations with one. Unfortunately, the negotiation broke down because it was new construction and the "build-out," required to make it useful to us would have taken about two and a half times more money than was received at that time in the IMAGINE campaign. It is important to note, however, we feel we took a number of creative approaches during the negotiation that we believed would benefit both the landlord and Life Link Church. In the end, the landlord chose to stay with his original position, which simply could not work for the church.
Our search process has been thorough to ensure that we find a facility that serves the church family well. Problems disqualifying the sites researched so far range from lack of visibility (meaning they would be difficult for members and visitors to locate), to lack of parking, too small, in need of too much remodeling, too far out of our area, concerns about land fissures and ground cracks, etc.
Many of you have been terrific about contacting us with ideas and leads. Please continue to do so. We check out everything. Just call the church office and give us as much specific information as you can.
Finally, we are in constant prayer on this matter. We believe, with all our hearts, that God has the perfect plan. In the natural, we become impatient, but God is in control and we know it is foolish to attempt to rush and substitute our plan for His. Thank you for joining us in the search for our own space.
Sincerely,
David
Alley
Secretary/Treasurer
