My church recently voted “no” to selling our high school property, which we are in arrears for a year and a half. The offering price: $5 million.
It seems like some people thought the price was too much to pass up, even a blessing given by God. By contrast, I thought the price was the devil’s temptation. This property contains a small two-story building used for the high school, a small church and a parsonage. Getting rid of it would mean one less church in Santa Monica, a reversal for revival in a needy city.
Three weeks ago I blogged about my despair, and many of you joined me in prayer. Today, things are on the upswing. We are getting new students every week for next year. These are kids who are going to hear the Word of God daily. They’re coming out of public school chaos and into an environment of loving teachers and fellow students. We have a girl who was cutting herself; now she’s rocketing for Jesus. We have former gang-bangers, kids who got bullied, the list goes on.
Maybe $5 million seems like a lot of money. But I feel that each of these kids individually is worth WAY MORE THAN $5 million. To describe them as worth $5 million is to sell them short.
Hey, Christ gave his life for each one of them. Why would not value them more?
I’m praising Jesus that, at least for now, we are keeping the school on track with expansion. We should sell it when we outgrow it, and we should sell it to whoever will conserve the church, not to some developer who will turn it into condos or something.
YOU are worth WAY MORE THAN $5 million