Great friends of ours who are church planters told us over and over again: “As you go through the process of raising support for your church plant you will be SHOCKED by where support comes from.”
This may be the most true and prophetic statement in our church planting experience thus far.
Yesterday as Brandon, Katie, Jordan, Jeffrey, Emily and I were hanging the first of our doorhangers, Kim was resting. She had a rough and busy couple of days and was exhausted from a crazy week. While she was at home alone, she decided to get on Craigslist and search for a table for our upcoming Easter Carnival.
She found an ad for a good sized table for $20. So she replied. In her response to the ad, she told the man who was selling the table that we were from a church and needed this type of table for what we are doing.
His immediate reply was that, since it was for a church, he would love to donate the table. Kim thanked him and he called to let her know that he had a ton of other stuff listed from his office that he was closing due to selling his business and starting his retirement. So Kim got back on craigslist and looked through his ads.
She noticed that he was selling a very nice (immaculate) 1999 Chevy Blazer. She asked what the best deal he could do was and whether we could work out a way of paying him over a few weeks or a month. (We desperately needed a second car because Kim, Brandon and I are sharing the Durango right now and running it into the ground.)
His reply was shocking. He called back and said: “Actually, I have a Chevy Astro Van that is in good shape that I would love to donate to you!”
Kim immediately broke down in tears and texted me that she had this amazing donation. Unbelievable! I fully expected that it would be a dinged up, dented and used van. I was shocked again as I went to meet him along with Kim. Keep in mind that he had not yet even met us for the first time. Again I was shocked. Shocked that this van was in perfect condition for a 2000. It had brand new tires on it. We were all shocked when he let us know that he had loaded it up with these cool benches, perfect for a Children’s ministry! He even told us that he had 4 snow tires to give us as well.
He then said, “would you also like to look at the Blazer that I had listed on Craigslist?” We agreed and went over to take a look at it. It is immaculate with 90k miles and new tires. He had listed it for $4000 on craigslist. I asked how we might be able to work out some payments. His response was: “My wife and I talked it over and would like to give you the Blazer as well!”
Guess what. We were shocked!
This kind man and his sweet wife, without meeting us, had a feeling that we were good people to give thousands of dollars worth of cars to.
Not only this, but he took us into a room and basically told us that we could have all of the desks, shelves and file cabinets in it as well.
We later found out that they have a great relationship with a local church that is supporting us as well. They were as excited to give as we were to receive.
I’m not sure what to say about all this as I am just processing what happened. But what I do know is this:
I am shocked. Jeff and Cindy were right.