Future Church Prayer Launch

[00:00:00] Alright everyone, let's get started. I don't want to take up too much of your time tonight, so let's open in a word of prayer. Thank you so much for coming tonight and being interested in the future of the church. So let's just pray that the Lord would bless our time. Lord, we thank you for giving us, Lord, an opportunity here in this church. Thank you, Lord, for the future, whatever it holds.

[00:00:24] And we're just so thankful, Lord, that you've given us a responsibility here on earth. And we ask, Lord, that you'd make us good stewards about it and in it. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Sparky, I'm feeling a little echo up here, if you could turn me down just a little bit.

[00:00:41] Okay, I just wanted to start tonight by just sharing a few things with you just about our vision and mission and some key obstacles that we're facing.

[00:00:50] Then I want to give you a little update on our first phase of refreshing our facility, just where some things are at, some changes that we've needed to make from our plan last year.

[00:01:02] Then I want to talk to you about the potential scope of a phase two, what that could look like or some various possibilities and preview that a little bit.

[00:01:14] And then at the end, I basically just want to give a pastoral wish list.

[00:01:20] Like if we could just do anything, this is what we would do or might do and then encourage you towards a month of prayer.

[00:01:29] And like I said this morning, my heart for our little time tonight is just to try to give some rails on which our prayers can run this next month.

[00:01:40] You know, we're taking this month of October to lift up our church and ask him to give our leadership wisdom about specifically our land and our water, which I'll get into tonight.

[00:01:51] And so I'm hoping that by giving you a few details tonight, you'll just have some fodder for your prayers over this next month.

[00:02:00] It's not that I'm saying I'm not open to or we're not open to suggestions or ideas.

[00:02:06] We've already gotten 10 or 20 since I cracked it open last week.

[00:02:13] Some of them very inventive and that's totally fine.

[00:02:16] You never know which one of those things is going to be just the voice of the Lord and like a perfect little thing.

[00:02:22] So that's fine.

[00:02:23] Whatever's like stirring around in your heart or in your mind.

[00:02:26] But I just thought I'd give you some of the things that we've been thinking about and investigating over the last few years.

[00:02:32] As you guys know, our vision as a church is Jesus famous.

[00:02:36] I've been thinking a lot about that.

[00:02:38] There's different images that come into my mind when I think about what that means in a person's life.

[00:02:43] One image or imagery that I've been drawing on lately is the image of an earthquake with aftershocks.

[00:02:52] You know, there's an initial main shock in an earthquake and then aftershocks, subsequent aftershocks thereafter.

[00:02:59] And that's really what we want to see happen in a spiritual sense in a person's life when it comes to the person and the ministry of Jesus.

[00:03:08] We want them to discover him in the word to experience that initial main shock, that appreciation, that like, you know, conversion moment.

[00:03:19] And then we want people to, for the rest of their Christian life and experience, have repeated aftershock moments of appreciation for Christ.

[00:03:28] We want to be growing in our esteem and our love for him.

[00:03:33] And so we're trying to have this Jesus famous community here in this church.

[00:03:40] In fact, I almost called our study through Philippians that we just started this morning instead of an advancing gospel community and advancing Jesus famous community.

[00:03:48] Because to me, it's the same concept, the same idea.

[00:03:51] So for us, our mission as a church, you could say is that we want a Jesus famous church for as many people as possible.

[00:04:00] Okay, there's some number out there, I don't know what it is, that is the limit of possibility in God's mind or esteem for us as a congregation.

[00:04:11] I'll be honest with you that most Sundays, I feel like we've hit that limit.

[00:04:15] I just don't know how to pastor any more people.

[00:04:18] It just feels like, wow, okay, I think I'm at my limit.

[00:04:21] But I think that God, as we have organized in the way we are with our life groups and all of that,

[00:04:28] I think that there are more people in this community that God wants to reach with the message of Christ.

[00:04:34] And so we want as many people as possible to experience this.

[00:04:38] But we have some obstacles right now that we're dealing with to accomplish a Jesus famous church for as many people as possible.

[00:04:47] And I wanted to list some of those obstacles for you.

[00:04:51] One of them we're trying to address right now through the first phase of our refurbishment.

[00:04:56] And it's just an aging building.

[00:04:58] You know, the room that you're sitting in right now was built in the mid-90s.

[00:05:03] The building where the multipurpose room is at was built in, I think, 2003.

[00:05:08] And then the room that the offices is built in was built more recently in 2008.

[00:05:13] These are not old buildings, but they are aging buildings.

[00:05:17] And so as time has gone on, there's been some, as churches are wont to do, some deferred maintenance and things like that.

[00:05:24] So we've just been trying to take care of those things, button them up so that we can be good stewards of the facility that God has entrusted into our care.

[00:05:33] But the building is aging, and so we've got to take care of some things.

[00:05:36] Another obstacle is that we have some capacity issues.

[00:05:41] Nothing is at 100%, but in parking and in our kids' ministry and here in this main sanctuary, we are pushing up against some limits.

[00:05:52] It's getting uncomfortable in the kids' space, uncomfortable in the main sanctuary, and uncomfortable in the parking lot.

[00:06:01] Again, there's still room.

[00:06:02] There's still some seats.

[00:06:03] There's still some parking spaces.

[00:06:04] There's still room.

[00:06:05] We're not maxing out every class in our kids' ministry, but all three of those are moving up and to the right right now,

[00:06:12] and we're just kind of coming up against what I would call historical caps.

[00:06:17] Like we could just look at the last 10 years of our church's life, and we're about as high up as we get,

[00:06:24] and then we usually will dip back down after a period of being at that zenith for a little period of time.

[00:06:30] I don't know if that's because it's uncomfortable, and so people kind of realize like, okay, there's no room at the inn for me,

[00:06:38] or if it's just not the place for them or whatever, but for whatever reason, that's just the rhythm that we've seen over the last 10 years or so

[00:06:48] outside of the weird COVID era that we had.

[00:06:52] Okay, another obstacle that we have is just the reality of finances.

[00:06:56] I mentioned this in my sermon a couple of weeks ago.

[00:06:58] I'm not here to ask you guys for anything.

[00:07:00] It's just candor and clarity about where we're at.

[00:07:04] We're basically operating with a 2018 giving level with 2024 expenses.

[00:07:13] Okay, that's just kind of the reality of where we're at, and you could probably relate to that in your own life.

[00:07:19] Probably many of you would say, yeah, that sounds about right.

[00:07:21] That sounds like what life is like at this point,

[00:07:24] and we're just trying to figure out how to do things, make our budgets, make decisions, be disciplined, and all of that.

[00:07:31] I'm just trying to mention obstacles that might be in our way.

[00:07:35] And then another obstacle that we're experiencing, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in the teaching,

[00:07:40] is our water expiration date.

[00:07:43] And I just wanted to mention that to you guys real quick because this is one of the coolest parts of our story.

[00:07:49] I know I've told it before, but in case you aren't aware of the details,

[00:07:53] God miraculously gave us additional water credits for future building in 2006 and in 2007, that period.

[00:08:03] After my father moved away, left the church, another pastor, Roger Scalise, came into the church,

[00:08:09] and he just had this driving mission to acquire more water.

[00:08:13] And we all told him, there's no water around.

[00:08:16] You can't get more water.

[00:08:18] What are you doing?

[00:08:19] Please stop making us spin our wheels and try these things that are just not going to be effective.

[00:08:24] But he was very insistent, and I worked for him, so I had to listen.

[00:08:29] And so we put together a little committee, a little group, and we got experts together.

[00:08:34] We have a well here at the church.

[00:08:36] And what we did is we approached the city of Monterey, and we said,

[00:08:40] if we put in low flow and no flow fixtures all throughout our current building,

[00:08:46] we think that we should be able to double the amount of water that we get.

[00:08:52] And we thought that they would come back to us and say either no,

[00:08:55] or that they might say, oh, nice try, but you get like 25% more water.

[00:09:02] Instead, they came back and wrote us a letter and said, yeah, we agree with you and your assessment,

[00:09:08] and we will double your water allotment, but you have to begin building within a year.

[00:09:14] This was in 2008.

[00:09:15] The housing crisis had just begun, and I was a 29-year-old brand-new lead pastor of the church.

[00:09:20] We had no cash anywhere to do anything.

[00:09:23] So we went back to them and said, if we build what is currently our new office space or was sanctuary too,

[00:09:30] if we build that, can it lock in our water credits?

[00:09:34] And they said yes for a limited period of time, not forever.

[00:09:39] And that limited period of time ends in October of 2027.

[00:09:43] So all that to say it was a miracle that God gave us that water.

[00:09:48] We built that building for $500,000.

[00:09:50] We didn't know where that money was going to come from,

[00:09:52] but by the time we got our permits to be able to operate and use it,

[00:09:57] the building had been completely paid off.

[00:09:59] So God was faithful and helped us with that project and locked that water in for us.

[00:10:05] But that is an obstacle in front of us.

[00:10:08] What are we going to do with that land?

[00:10:10] What are we going to do with those water credits?

[00:10:14] So I just am trying to impress on you how much of a gift that water is.

[00:10:19] We don't live in a community where water is doled out easily or quickly.

[00:10:23] It's not all that accessible.

[00:10:25] We can't sell them.

[00:10:27] We can't transfer them.

[00:10:28] We can't do anything like that.

[00:10:30] The only thing that we could do that's close to that is build something,

[00:10:35] draw a new lot line, and sell that.

[00:10:38] But it has to be used on this property and in that space.

[00:10:43] So that's another obstacle.

[00:10:45] And then the last obstacle I want to mention,

[00:10:47] and of course I'm not putting down on this list,

[00:10:50] like spiritual warfare and the hard-heartedness of humanity and human depravity and all that kind of stuff.

[00:10:56] But another obstacle that I have come to believe is very significant,

[00:11:00] and I'll talk about this as we go throughout the night,

[00:11:03] but I believe that housing for a next generation of pastors is a huge obstacle for the future of not just this church,

[00:11:12] but the church in the Monterey Peninsula and Salinas Valley area.

[00:11:16] It's going to be an issue in lots of parts of the country.

[00:11:19] It's definitely going to be an issue in lots of places throughout California.

[00:11:24] This has been my experience over the last couple of years.

[00:11:27] I've had two or three really great young men who are called to the pastoral ministry from other places

[00:11:36] who know me.

[00:11:39] I'm not trying to be boastful, but like look up to me.

[00:11:42] Like if I could serve anywhere, I'd love to go to Monterey and serve with Nate,

[00:11:46] who I would like to invite, and then they get on Zillow.

[00:11:52] And the reality just sinks in.

[00:11:55] You know, there's a cap to how much a church is able to pay a young man like that,

[00:12:02] and so they begin looking elsewhere as is reasonable for a place where they can go

[00:12:07] and provide for their new and blossoming family if they've got a little family or whatever.

[00:12:11] So that is a hurdle for us as a church.

[00:12:15] This is not unique, of course, to the church.

[00:12:19] Hospitals are dealing with this.

[00:12:21] Police departments are dealing with this.

[00:12:23] There's lots of different organizations that are dealing with the housing crisis,

[00:12:28] but we're not immune from that either.

[00:12:30] I don't know many pastors in this community who haven't had some sort of housing miracle

[00:12:37] that enabled them to do ministry in this community.

[00:12:42] It's just been God's provision, which is wonderful,

[00:12:45] but I'm beginning to see that as an obstacle and beginning to pray and ask questions.

[00:12:50] Like, Lord, is there something that you want us to do about that?

[00:12:54] So those are some, at least in my mind, key obstacles to a Jesus-famous church

[00:13:00] for as many as possible here on these grounds.

[00:13:04] So I wanted to give a little bit of a phase one update to you

[00:13:07] because we got together not that long ago

[00:13:09] and told you what we were going to be doing with our current building.

[00:13:14] One of the first things that we did is we had to take the old sanctuary, too,

[00:13:18] and convert it into offices so that we could get everybody

[00:13:21] that was in different office spaces throughout the building all in one location.

[00:13:26] It kind of was just, it wasn't the most important step,

[00:13:29] but it was just the first step that needed to happen.

[00:13:31] You know, like if you're remodeling your house or something like that,

[00:13:34] and it's like we kind of got to deal with the kitchen first or whatever.

[00:13:37] You know, it was just like that's the way it worked out.

[00:13:39] We needed to get everybody down in one place.

[00:13:42] And so we've done that.

[00:13:43] Things are going great.

[00:13:44] It's paying off big time.

[00:13:45] It's just great for us to be together, working together, and so all of that.

[00:13:50] So we're real happy with the way that that has turned out.

[00:13:53] We were able to come in just slightly above budget, and so that was fine.

[00:13:59] Then we got the multipurpose room done,

[00:14:01] and a lot of you are attending service there on Sunday morning.

[00:14:05] That's our video sanctuary on Sundays,

[00:14:07] but that room is being used like crazy throughout the week, okay?

[00:14:11] So there's just lots of meetings and gatherings that take place in the multipurpose room.

[00:14:15] I love the way that that turned out.

[00:14:17] Right now we're working on our community space.

[00:14:21] That's where the old offices were.

[00:14:23] You see all the plywood that's up in the hallway there.

[00:14:26] Everything's boarded up.

[00:14:27] We're going to have a couple of beautiful garage doors

[00:14:29] that open up to the patio so that people can walk in and out of this beautiful coffee shop-like space

[00:14:37] and be able to fellowship on Sundays after church and during services and all of that.

[00:14:44] And so that is under construction right now.

[00:14:47] We just finished the family room, as many of you noticed.

[00:14:51] And if you haven't, you just pop your head in there and you'll get to see the style of that.

[00:14:57] We redid the youth room and Club 56 upstairs and the building next door.

[00:15:02] So we've gotten a lot done, but right now we're entering into this little phase right here.

[00:15:07] The main sanctuary, the lobby, welcome center area, and the community space.

[00:15:12] And what we were thinking was that we would go for building a mezzanine or a balcony

[00:15:18] so that we could increase our seating capacity in this space.

[00:15:22] And we got it designed and we submitted it and are in the process of getting our permits for that.

[00:15:30] But our board of directors, our financial board, and our pastoral team

[00:15:35] made the decision to walk away from that project.

[00:15:38] The reason is that as much as we worked with our designer for that, our architect for that,

[00:15:46] we could just never get good quality seats or enough quality seats in a mezzanine kind of space.

[00:15:55] And it's appearing to be fairly cost prohibitive.

[00:15:58] So the amount of money that you're spending per seat,

[00:16:01] and then you kind of get this albatross thing sticking out back there and all of that.

[00:16:06] It just kind of felt to us like this isn't actually worth that kind of financial investment.

[00:16:13] And so as Pastor Manny often says, not enough juice for the squeeze.

[00:16:18] So we just felt like that's something that the Lord is closing that door.

[00:16:22] So we're walking away from that.

[00:16:24] And we're going to be still, though, redoing the bathrooms.

[00:16:28] Because we're not increasing the capacity,

[00:16:30] we're going to put a prayer room in where the current kitchen that we've let atrophy over the last few years.

[00:16:36] We're going to put a prayer room in there and then just redo the bathrooms here.

[00:16:40] And then we'll move downstairs and get the kids' ministry cleaned up a little bit

[00:16:45] and looking similar to the rest of the facility.

[00:16:50] So those are just some of the phase one updates.

[00:16:54] But for phase two, what to do after all that is finished?

[00:17:00] Again, the question is like, what we want is a Jesus-famous church for as many people as possible.

[00:17:06] So what does that look like?

[00:17:08] What are some of the things that look like?

[00:17:10] Well, a Jesus-famous church to me is Bible-focused or scriptural.

[00:17:14] They're spirit-led.

[00:17:15] They're prayerful.

[00:17:16] They're community-oriented.

[00:17:19] In other words, they're a community together.

[00:17:21] They're gospel partners together.

[00:17:23] So some of the types of spaces that sync up with that, just to rattle off a few,

[00:17:28] would be biblical training spaces where classes or school of ministry or Bible college or seminary could take place.

[00:17:38] Spaces for prayer.

[00:17:40] Youth spaces for making new young disciples.

[00:17:43] Discipleship space.

[00:17:45] Teaching space.

[00:17:46] So I wanted to talk to you about some of the possibilities that could overcome these obstacles that I'm talking about that I think fit with who we are as a church.

[00:17:58] One of them, of course, and this is just like a no-brainer, like lots of churches think this way and plan this way.

[00:18:04] I'm not super excited about this one, but I just want to get it out there because I think it is probably part of the thing.

[00:18:11] And it's just at some point in our church's life and history, a new sanctuary.

[00:18:16] I think what would be good is for us to take this space and turn it into increased Calvary Kids ministry space and perhaps some classrooms and things like that so that we can grow that ministry.

[00:18:30] And then to put in a new sanctuary out inside of the parking lot just outside our front doors.

[00:18:37] And so right now we've got a new sanctuary that's been approved by the city of Monterey.

[00:18:45] It's called a pavilion.

[00:18:46] I think we'll show it to you on the screen here.

[00:18:48] Here's an artistic rendering of the pavilion.

[00:18:51] I know it looks like an outdoor structure.

[00:18:53] That's because the doors are all up on the side right now.

[00:18:56] So in this photo, this is an artistic rendering of a really nice day.

[00:19:00] And so we've got the doors up and all of that.

[00:19:05] There's incandescent heating.

[00:19:07] So that's basically hot water pipes in the floor.

[00:19:11] It's not fancy.

[00:19:13] It's pretty rustic.

[00:19:14] And so therefore affordable to be able to construct and build.

[00:19:19] And this would go where we've gotten approval for this is to put this where the current grass amphitheater is that we met during COVID.

[00:19:30] So here's an aerial view of our property.

[00:19:33] And I think you can see there right in the middle.

[00:19:35] That's where the pavilion would go.

[00:19:37] Like I said, this is something that we've recently gotten permits for.

[00:19:41] There's a couple of just bureaucratic red tape little boxes to check.

[00:19:45] But they're actually not with us.

[00:19:47] This is the city of Monterey.

[00:19:48] And we're just letting them take their sweet time.

[00:19:50] Because the second they give us the final, final, the clock starts ticking.

[00:19:54] So we're just letting them delay the clock a little bit.

[00:19:57] But basically, for all intents and purposes, this has been something that over the last couple of years we've been working on and we've gotten permits for.

[00:20:07] I'll admit to you, I've gotten some reservations about this structure.

[00:20:11] For one, although it is affordable, it's not free.

[00:20:17] There is a price tag attached to it.

[00:20:19] But also, it's not a flat floor enclosed space like this sanctuary is.

[00:20:25] And flat floor enclosed spaces you can use for a lot of different stuff in a church's life.

[00:20:33] This is a sloped floor fixed seating.

[00:20:36] There's only so many things that you can use that space for.

[00:20:41] So it's an option.

[00:20:43] But I just wanted you guys to see it because it is something, after all, that we've gotten approval for.

[00:20:48] So perhaps a new design, which would not be all that hard to do.

[00:20:53] We could build something very basic that's just like something like this and a little bit, but a little bit larger.

[00:21:00] And then perhaps a new location.

[00:21:02] We've been kind of revisiting that location for a new sanctuary and wondering if there's a different space that we should use.

[00:21:11] Namely, the parking lot right out in front of the patio space.

[00:21:17] Partly because we're investing a lot into our current space.

[00:21:21] And basically, I'll just say it like this.

[00:21:23] The thing I worry about if I put the pavilion there is that those of you who don't have any children,

[00:21:28] you're going to park in the parking lot next to it.

[00:21:30] You're going to go to church at the pavilion.

[00:21:32] I'm going to put coffee out in front of the community space.

[00:21:35] And you're going to be like, that's a long walk for me to make it all the way over to that coffee.

[00:21:40] And then turn around and go over to my car.

[00:21:42] I'm going home.

[00:21:43] And so after church, we're going to have people in fellowship.

[00:21:46] And it's just going to be people with children that are all fellowshipping together.

[00:21:50] I'd like to keep the body together and kind of have one mega patio space for us to fellowship like we do now on Sunday.

[00:22:00] So we are considering a different space.

[00:22:02] What does this solve, though, for us?

[00:22:04] The problem that it solves would be the capacity issues we're dealing with are kids' space at the moment.

[00:22:12] So we'd be able to have more kids' space because we'd be repurposing this part of the building that we're sitting in right now.

[00:22:19] And it would give us increased seating capacity.

[00:22:23] Look, the reality is we put too many seats in this sanctuary.

[00:22:27] I don't know if you've ever noticed that when someone's trying to get out of your row on Sunday.

[00:22:31] It's pretty difficult to be able to do.

[00:22:33] We just put as many seats in here as we can.

[00:22:36] There are always empty seats that are available.

[00:22:38] But we can look at like a graph of the last 10 years or so.

[00:22:42] And we get to about as full as we are right now.

[00:22:47] And we don't get past that.

[00:22:49] It just for people coming in new to the church, it just seems like that is the limit.

[00:22:54] They generally say that when a building or a room gets to be about 70% capacity, that's when you need to think about adding seats, adding something else.

[00:23:04] So even though the 30% is still empty, you just are kind of limited at that point.

[00:23:09] And those are numbers that people were throwing out before COVID.

[00:23:12] And I wonder if that has messed with us a little bit.

[00:23:15] And it's more like 60% at this point now in our lives.

[00:23:21] So for whatever reason, you know, that would solve a kid issue and a seating issue.

[00:23:27] Another possibility, and this would go with a new pavilion, would be expanded parking.

[00:23:34] I don't know if I have a graphic for that or not.

[00:23:37] But basically, we would have to build another tier of parking in the future to go with that new sanctuary.

[00:23:46] And what obstacle does that solve?

[00:23:49] Well, that doesn't take rocket science.

[00:23:51] It helps with the parking issue.

[00:23:54] Okay, another possibility, new sanctuary, expanded parking.

[00:23:59] But another possibility is pastoral starter housing.

[00:24:07] This is where I want to invite you into a story that I think is pretty powerful.

[00:24:12] But we have in our fellowship a longtime member, John Bridges, who's a very prominent or has been a very prominent land use attorney in our area.

[00:24:23] And he's always offered his services to the church for free.

[00:24:27] And he is now retired, but he still advises us and will do some work for us as needed.

[00:24:34] And he and I have talked off and on over the years.

[00:24:36] And I'd always asked him, John, do you ever think that we could build residential on any of our property?

[00:24:43] And his answer was always kind of like, you know, anything is possible, but that's not really within the realm of possibility.

[00:24:51] And you have an airport right there.

[00:24:53] They're not going to be very happy about it.

[00:24:55] They're going to vote against you no matter what you try to do, you know.

[00:24:58] And so probably no.

[00:25:02] But about six months ago, I reached out to him and just said, hey, I just we really need an answer on this.

[00:25:11] Like once and for all, we want to ask.

[00:25:14] And so he set up a meeting with the city planner, Kim Cole.

[00:25:20] And we got together.

[00:25:22] It was a great little meeting.

[00:25:23] John came in with his he's retired now.

[00:25:27] So, of course, he rode his bike, his electric bike over there.

[00:25:30] He's got like this bright yellow outfit on.

[00:25:32] I'm like, I was hoping you'd be a little more like, you know, legal.

[00:25:38] But they just had a great rapport.

[00:25:41] And we asked her, we said, would it be possible for us to put residential on our property?

[00:25:51] And she just pulled up on her computer basically what you're looking at right there and could see some lot lines.

[00:26:00] And she could see a line that goes through our property basically parallel to that fence on the north side of the image you're looking at right now that shows where the airport has some say.

[00:26:13] And she basically said, if you build on the south side of that line with the current rules and laws and all of that, you guys could build three residences without the airport being able to say anything and without the city being able to say anything.

[00:26:30] But we would support it anyways because they're under pressure right now from the state to supply more housing.

[00:26:37] So we were like, okay, that's great.

[00:26:39] Three?

[00:26:39] Like I would take three.

[00:26:41] You know, what I could do with three places, three spaces to put a young pastor in there with his family for seven years or so and, you know, help them get started in ministry and then launch them out to wherever they need to go.

[00:26:57] Like that'd be amazing.

[00:27:00] But then she turned to me and she said, how many though would you like to build?

[00:27:05] And I was like, well, I don't really understand where this question is going.

[00:27:10] And she looks at the lot and she's like, you know, honestly, if you went like dense enough in workforce housing enough, I think you could fit maybe 60 dwelling places on your property.

[00:27:23] And we would really be interested in helping you get that approved because we just, we have a need right now.

[00:27:31] Now, it's not like Kim Cole was saying, and I have money for you to be able to do this.

[00:27:37] They're hopeful about water coming online in the future, but I've lived here since 1978 and I've heard about water coming online in the future a lot in my lifetime.

[00:27:49] So there's no guarantees there, but at least there's support.

[00:27:53] There has been legislation passed for the state of California that has allowed churches to be able to repurpose their land and their parking lots to build residential.

[00:28:03] So there's a lot of movement from the governing authorities to try to get stuff like this done.

[00:28:09] And then the thing that the meeting kept going, she then turns to her computer.

[00:28:13] She had this massive monitor and she pulls up a map of the city of Monterey and there's all these properties that are highlighted in purple throughout the whole city of Monterey.

[00:28:23] I could see our property right on there along with a bunch of other properties.

[00:28:27] And she turns to me and she says, these are churches that we've identified can build housing on their land.

[00:28:35] And I can't get a hold of these guys.

[00:28:38] Can you help me get a hold of them?

[00:28:41] And I was like, well, I have a price, you know, but no, it's like, yeah, for sure.

[00:28:48] So we'll see where that goes.

[00:28:49] But that's what we are currently investigating right now, or at least part of what we're investigating right now is some kind of residential answer.

[00:28:59] Now, of course, I understand, like, it's expensive for everybody to live here.

[00:29:05] You know, there might be a question like, well, why don't you build me an apartment?

[00:29:09] You know, it's hard for me to live around here, you know, and that kind of thing.

[00:29:12] Here's what I want to say.

[00:29:13] Like, somebody is going to be able to afford to live here.

[00:29:18] And whoever can afford to live here is going to need ministry.

[00:29:21] They're going to need churches.

[00:29:23] They're going to need pastors.

[00:29:25] All right.

[00:29:26] We're going to need police officers.

[00:29:28] We're going to need doctors, but we're going to need pastors.

[00:29:31] We're going to need a next generation to rise up.

[00:29:33] I'm not going to be able to do this forever.

[00:29:35] It's not like I'm about to retire or anything, but I'm thinking that way.

[00:29:39] You know, let's have that 100-year birthday party as a church.

[00:29:42] We're going to need a next generation and a generation after that to rise up.

[00:29:46] So this is just us thinking about it from that angle.

[00:29:50] So that's a possibility.

[00:29:51] And then connected to that, another possibility would just be some kind of dormitory situation or small apartment situation where we could potentially have a Bible college or a school of ministry or a seminary at some point.

[00:30:08] Nothing would make me happier than to be your pastor until I'm like 65.

[00:30:13] And when I'm 60, name a successor and co-pastor with him for five years and then retire and leave for a year.

[00:30:19] And when I'm 66, come back and go sit in a classroom for another 15 years just teaching my brains out in some kind of seminary or Bible college or something like that.

[00:30:30] So you aren't here to make my dreams come true, but that's just the kind of person that I am.

[00:30:36] So that's why I wanted to just wrap this up by giving you a pastoral wish list.

[00:30:42] Like what could we do if we, what would we do if we could do anything?

[00:30:47] All right, so here it is.

[00:30:48] I'll just run through it.

[00:30:49] We do a modest expanded sanctuary.

[00:30:53] This current sanctuary handles about 350 people.

[00:30:57] I would love to be able to have a sanctuary that can handle about 600.

[00:31:01] So just something modest so that we can continue to expand and grow as the years go by.

[00:31:06] I'd love to have three to five pastoral starter residences.

[00:31:12] I don't know how that would work.

[00:31:13] I don't know the mechanics of all of that.

[00:31:16] But in my dream scenario, we would have the ability to say to a young pastor who God has called,

[00:31:24] Hey, you come live here.

[00:31:27] Here's your rent.

[00:31:28] Here's how much it costs.

[00:31:29] So let's say $1,500 a month or something like that.

[00:31:31] Just a radical, crazy steal.

[00:31:34] But because the housing has been paid for already, we just take that $1,500 a month and we just put it into an investment fund.

[00:31:43] And after seven years of faithful ministry and service, if they do a good job, we say thank you.

[00:31:49] You can't live here anymore, but here's all your money back.

[00:31:52] And if you want to live in this area, go buy a house.

[00:31:55] Here's a down payment.

[00:31:56] Or you can move to Nashville like everybody else and go start a church there.

[00:32:03] So again, not saying that that's what we can do, but just that's kind of a wish list thing.

[00:32:07] I would love to then acquire the neighboring property, which is this way as I'm standing here, but to our east, the Pastures of Heaven Pet Memorial Park.

[00:32:21] The owners have indicated that they'd be willing to sell to us.

[00:32:25] They have a great well with some water.

[00:32:27] And it could be a space that we basically just pivot some parking over there so that we can free up some space for the things that we'd really like to use land for.

[00:32:41] So that would be an expanded parking.

[00:32:43] I would love to have dorms for 12 to 30 students.

[00:32:47] I'd love to have 20 to 40 apartments, perhaps to help fund the entire project.

[00:32:53] That might be where the financing comes for something like this, where we build apartments and then we're able to sell them so that we can fund church sanctuaries and staff housing and things like that.

[00:33:06] But I would love to have that.

[00:33:08] To be honest, in a dream, dream scenario, it would be that all the youth pastors on the Monterey Peninsula from every church in the area are living here.

[00:33:20] Because it's like just a huge issue.

[00:33:22] Every pastoral friend I have in this area, it's we don't know how to solve the problem of the next generation of pastors in this community.

[00:33:29] We just have a hard time getting them into this area because of the high cost of living.

[00:33:37] So a bunch of apartments.

[00:33:39] I'd love to have an outfield worship space, an outdoor field worship space, kind of like we have now.

[00:33:44] A youth room.

[00:33:45] And I have no idea how much all that would cost.

[00:33:48] But I'm guessing $12 million we could get it all done.

[00:33:51] So tonight we're going to pass the bag.

[00:33:53] And no.

[00:33:55] All right.

[00:33:56] So that's just some things that we can be, those are some things we can be praying about.

[00:34:00] And I just wanted to, as I wrap up tonight, draw your attention to your mind's eye to the book of Nehemiah.

[00:34:08] We studied Nehemiah together as a church not that long ago.

[00:34:13] Nehemiah is living far from Jerusalem.

[00:34:17] He loves God's city.

[00:34:20] He gets a visitor, his brother Hanani, and he hears something terrible.

[00:34:26] The walls in Jerusalem are broken down.

[00:34:28] The gates are burned with fire.

[00:34:30] It grieves his heart.

[00:34:31] Before doing anything, he prays.

[00:34:34] He confesses sin.

[00:34:36] He prays one of those really representative prayers where he's confessing the sin of the people on behalf of the people.

[00:34:47] He just starts seeking to God.

[00:34:49] And then he concludes his prayer by saying, give me favor in the eyes of this man because it says I was the king's cupbearer.

[00:34:57] He served King Artaxerxes, the most powerful man in the world at that time.

[00:35:01] And he just sensed there's going to be a moment where I bring a big ask to Artaxerxes.

[00:35:07] Give me favor in his eyes, Lord.

[00:35:10] And then months go by and Nehemiah too unfolds.

[00:35:14] Artaxerxes sees the sorrow that Nehemiah has as he's serving him.

[00:35:18] He'd not been sad in the king's presence before.

[00:35:21] Artaxerxes says, what's wrong?

[00:35:22] He says, how can I be joyful when the city of my forefathers is lying in ruins?

[00:35:29] And Artaxerxes basically, it says the queen was sitting next to him.

[00:35:33] Nehemiah picked his moment really well.

[00:35:36] The queen's like, oh, honey, help him.

[00:35:40] And so he says, what can I do?

[00:35:43] And he says, well, basically what I'd like is permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild it.

[00:35:48] He said, I'd like you to give me a military escort, protect us as we're traveling.

[00:35:55] And I would like you to pay for it.

[00:35:56] I'd like you to provide for all of this.

[00:35:59] And Artaxerxes said you can have all of those things.

[00:36:02] Come back when you need to come back.

[00:36:05] Here's your military escort and protection.

[00:36:08] And I will finance the whole thing.

[00:36:09] I'll write letters to all of the people in that region to give you all the timber medals that you require for this project.

[00:36:19] And Nehemiah went back and he planned, plotted, saw everything, declared the plan, and rallied the people.

[00:36:29] So that's kind of the model that I want to follow ourselves.

[00:36:32] I'd like for us to have time in prayer this next month of October.

[00:36:38] October, I'd like us to be asking God for permission and provision and protection.

[00:36:45] In some senses, it's like we're starting to get that permission, aren't we?

[00:36:50] You know, for the city to talk to us the way they've talked to us, there's a little bit of permission that's starting to come.

[00:36:57] Permits, there's permission.

[00:36:59] But we need provision from God.

[00:37:02] We need protection from the Lord.

[00:37:04] Lord, because I'll tell you what, I mean, I'm even nervous giving this presentation right now, in part, because we are going to put this online.

[00:37:11] And to talk about housing on the Monterey Highway corridor, it's a sensitive thing.

[00:37:17] There's going to be people that would not want that to happen, even if it's a blessing to people in need.

[00:37:24] And so I want to be cautious about that.

[00:37:27] So we need protection.

[00:37:29] And we just need the plan that God wants to give to us for the years to come.

[00:37:34] So I told you guys a couple weeks ago, I'm not like a big CEO kind of guy.

[00:37:38] That's not the kind of pastor that I am.

[00:37:40] I just would be happy teaching the Bible until I get to go home to be with Jesus.

[00:37:46] And so that's like my dream and desire when I was 18 years old.

[00:37:50] God spoke to my heart.

[00:37:51] I've not called you to those other things.

[00:37:52] I've called you to teach my word.

[00:37:53] And that's just like my marching orders.

[00:37:55] That's what I want my whole life to be about.

[00:37:56] It's what I want to throw myself into.

[00:37:58] But I just have a sense we've got to be good stewards with what God has given to us.

[00:38:02] So this is just kind of a moment where I've just been sensing, I think God is asking us to pray and to seek his face and see what he might do.

[00:38:11] I'm looking around at this room.

[00:38:12] There's a lot of different generations represented here.

[00:38:15] Some of you guys grew up in a time where like the mega churches of the 90s and all that kind of stuff.

[00:38:19] And it's like, oh, yeah, heck, yeah, that's what you do.

[00:38:22] You just be like if you build it, they will come.

[00:38:24] Let's go.

[00:38:25] You know, like you're in that kind of mode.

[00:38:27] And I like I'm not there.

[00:38:29] Some of you are in the mode that's like, no, like what we really need are churches like that meet in houses and are like 75 people strong and all that kind of stuff.

[00:38:37] I'm not really there.

[00:38:38] That's not what God has done for us here.

[00:38:40] I just want to be a blessing to as many people as possible in this community.

[00:38:44] I think this community is only going to need more of Jesus in the decades to come.

[00:38:49] And as I said a couple of Sundays ago, I don't think new churches are going to very easily roll into this area, buy land, acquire water, build buildings and get churches established in that way.

[00:39:02] So I look at this as like a responsibility, not just for our church, but for the big C church in this region.

[00:39:10] We we have some land.

[00:39:12] We have some water.

[00:39:14] And I would hate to stand there not just before the Lord someday, but before my brothers and sisters in Christ and other congregations who would love to do more, but are unable to because they have a limitation land and water wise.

[00:39:27] And for us to say, yeah, we just kind of sat on it and we didn't do anything.

[00:39:32] I'm really asking the Lord to give us his heart, his plan for the season and the time that we're in.

[00:39:39] So it could be something totally off book from what I shared with you guys tonight.

[00:39:44] But I just am getting the sense it's something.

[00:39:48] OK, so that hopefully gives you a little bit of information to be able to be praying about.

[00:39:54] And if you'd like to talk afterwards, I'll be around and I would love to answer any further questions.

[00:39:59] But all I'm going to do tonight is just close in prayer and get you out of here.

[00:40:03] We're going to keep the air conditioner running if you'd like to hang out in this room and and ask God to bless this next month as we're seeking his face.

[00:40:12] And we'll just go from there.

[00:40:13] We'll see what God does.

[00:40:14] So, Lord, I just thank you.

[00:40:17] For your faithfulness to this church for so many years.

[00:40:21] You've been good, Lord.

[00:40:24] And I have come to the conclusion, Lord, in looking into your book on one hand and through my personal experience on the other.

[00:40:37] That you are looking for churches that will hold the word high, hold the cross high and be faithful to you.

[00:40:47] You're looking for churches like that.

[00:40:50] That you can pour out your spirit and bless.

[00:40:55] So, Lord, we thank you.

[00:40:57] We have limitations.

[00:40:58] You know that, God.

[00:41:00] But you are the God without limitations.

[00:41:04] And so we just come to you.

[00:41:06] We're asking you to open the doors to provide the wisdom.

[00:41:12] And for whatever you're asking us to do to provide the means.

[00:41:17] And so, Lord, we lay it before you.

[00:41:19] We pray, Lord, for this month.

[00:41:22] Not even that it would be a month of ideas.

[00:41:25] But that it would be a month where we become unified in crying out to you.

[00:41:30] And so, Lord, we commit our church's future into your hands.

[00:41:34] And we ask, Lord, and pray that the best, most fruitful days of our church's life would be yet future.

[00:41:43] And, Lord, if all we could give to the next generation are strong, godly, spiritual leaders.

[00:41:53] Lord, we would love that.

[00:41:54] And so, Lord, we commit it into your hands.

[00:41:57] And we pray that you'd provide for us.

[00:42:00] In Jesus' name, we pray together.

[00:42:02] Amen.

[00:42:03] All right.

[00:42:04] That's it.

[00:42:04] You guys are dismissed.

[00:42:05] Thank you.

[00:42:06] Thank you.