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Before Saddleback moved to its present location, we bought
a big chunk of land.
While I thought at the time it was a dream come true, it
turned out there were giants in the land.
The county began heaping on ridiculous requirements.
First
they wanted to allow us to build on only nine acres of the property. Then they instructed us to build a berm — an eight foot
ridge of dirt — along the front of the property to hide the building.
Then they decided we’d need to move 150 trees from the back
of the property to the front of the property and plant them on that berm.
Next, they told us we couldn’t build a 7,000-seat worship
center. Instead, we could build a 1,000-seat worship center and have seven
services.
Then they demanded that we put in a charcoal filtration
water system so that the water that ran off the parking lot would be nice and
pure as it went into the gutter.
Then they told us we couldn’t build a parking lot. We’d
have to build a parking garage.
Finally, they decided we couldn’t build a preschool because
“that’s not a legitimate church ministry.” We said, “Since when did the
government start deciding what is and what isn’t legitimate church ministry?”
We battled for four years. Some 25 articles appeared in The
Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register during that time with
headlines like, “Church Project Delayed” and “Church Project Delayed Again.”
I asked our people to write to the county supervisors.
Shortly after, this headline came out: “Pro Canyon Church Project Letters Flood
the County Offices.” Letters were coming in at the rate of 400 a day. Finally
the county supervisors called me and said, “Please stop. You’re clogging up our
mail system.”
The Orange County Register published an editorial
supporting Saddleback Church called “A Church Beset, A Church Under Siege.”
It
said, “The church’s congregation has grown in 9 1⁄2 years from nothing to
7,500, but still meets in a high school gym. What this really amounts to is county
bureaucrats trying to force and control their use of property along a
pre-determined path. What gives people the arrogance to presume they have the
right to do such a thing?”
Finally I took our church directory to our county
supervisor. I laid it in front of that supervisor and said, “There are 18,000
names in this directory. They all vote and they’re all in your district.”
And that’s how we swapped for the piece of property we now
own. We paid $3.5 million for the first piece of land. During the four-year
battle it went up in value to $6.5 million, and we traded it evenly for a piece
worth $9 million. We walked onto our Lake Forest property with $6 million in
equity. That is so God!
The new land had more visibility, more usable space, more
accessibility, a six-lane road on one side, a six-lane road on another side,
and a toll road that goes up and down the entire county, putting one third of
Orange County — or a million people — within a 20-minute drive of this church.
God knew what he was doing.
Were the risks and the battles and delay worth it?
Absolutely.
Because what God starts he finishes.
Some in our congregation have said, “I really regret
missing some of those early exciting tests of faith that Saddleback was in on.
I wasn’t here during that time.” But the most exciting part of any race is not
the start of the race. It’s the end.
Good things are ahead not just for your congregation, but
for all of God’s people. We’re all in a battle, but we already know we’re going
to win it because the Bible tells us. I don’t know a more exciting time to be
alive.
As a pastor, there are many things you don’t have control
over. You didn’t choose when or where you’d be born or what your natural
talents would be. God, in his sovereignty, chose those things for you. But
there is one thing you do have control over and that’s the most important
thing: It’s how much you choose to believe God.
Philippians 1:6 says, “And I am certain that God,
who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally
finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns” (NLT).
You can trust him. Whatever he starts, he finishes — and
finishes well!
Source:
PASTOR RICK WARREN
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church, one of America's largest and most influential churches. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life. His book, The Purpose Driven Church, was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th century. Pastor Rick started The PEACE Plan to show the local church how God works through ordinary people to address the five global giants of spiritual emptiness, self-serving leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy. You can listen to Daily Hope, Pastor Rick’s daily 25-minute audio teaching, or sign up for his free daily devotionals at PastorRick.com. He is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global online community created to encourage pastors.
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