1. Did you ever close on the first lot to be sold off of the original 10 ½ acres?

-YES!  That’s why in the update I now refer to it as our 9 ½ acres given we have now sold off an acre.  The last Thursday in June the front corner lot sold after nearly a year of the closing date being pushed back.  We thank God that the buyer remained patient and at our contract price as we navigated various challenges presented by: the foreclosure of the company that was to build the new road for the city, new building/development codes that had just been passed by the City of Plano that created new challenges and even at one point threatened the viability of the entire plan, weather (rain) delays in the Fall which pushed the development of the property to be sold back till after the Spring thaw.

2. What happened to the proceeds from the closing of this first lot?

-UNFORTUNATELY, in order to get the first lot ready to sell, all 10 ½ acres needed to be properly prepared and graded so the water retention engineering worked for the entire site.

In addition, the delays mentioned in the answer question #1 forced two work stoppages that forced the project to hibernate through the long winter months.  Just when then property preparation was finally able to resume in May of this year an environmental issue arose when a series of heavy rains created a run-off “silt” issue in the neighboring new college campus’ retention ponds forcing additional engineering and review.  In the end, bureaucratic state codes had to be complied with forcing us to spend an additional $35K for periodic engineering inspections as well as top-soil and seed to create mandated temporary vegetation to control future silt run-off until the rest of the property is developed.

Taken all together the expenses for prepping all 10 ½ acres for sale is projected to EXCEED the gross proceeds of the sale to the tune of nearly $85K (some receipts are still being paid out of escrow).  Thankfully, the bank was more than willing to add this amount to our existing $300K loan.  However, this resulted in our monthly mortgage payment increasing proportionately creating even more tension in our monthly/annual budget.

3. Why do you want to lease a strip mall location?

-THANKFULLY, we have OUT-GROWN Emily G Johns School where we now meet.  We have been topping out at 90-100% capacity for several months.  If we don’t find a location that will  provide us more room statistics prove we will begin to loose as many as we gain and future net growth will be suppressed if not stalled out completely.

Lakewood Commons retail strip mall is located just a block north of Emily G. Johns and just a block south of the U.S. Highway 34.  Our property is located less than ¼ mile west on US 34 from the Lakewood Commons.  The strip mall is also right in the middle of the Lakewood subdivision (Plano’s newest and largest) which straddles U.S. 34.  The center has an impressive facade featuring striking architectural features, including a two story center cap, which makes it more suitable for an executive corporate office, or…church building than your average boxed strip mall.

Obviously, if we can have a facility for 7 days a week vs. 7 hrs a week our location can be used to facilitate a dramatic increase in ministry possibilities that require a building.  Much of the energy now place in set-up & take-down crews would hopefully be transitioned into new ministries.  If you have seen the amazing transformation of space that takes place each Sunday in our adult and children’s areas you can imagine how much more these teams could do if they had their own space to prepare 7 days a week.

Amazingly, the owners of this space, contacted us about considering their location.  They agreed to an unheard of $1,500 a month rent (we take care of seasonal landscaping and snow removal) for all 8,400 sq ft!  With utilities included our expenses would be around $3,000 a month.  A nearby church just rented a retail strip mall location that is closer to an industrial park than the nearest subdivision and paid nearly 4x’s that amount per square foot. We are currently paying over $2,000 month for a mere 7 hours a week at the school.  It doesn’t take a lot of math skills to see the incredible opportunity this presents us.

4. Why would it cost so much to prepare the strip mall location as a suitable ministry facility?  How does this make sense financially?

TYPICALLY, any church that rents or leases a space like this they are responsible for the interior of the space.  The strip mall owners have already agreed to put those bathrooms in that would be required by code anyway.  All other code required electric and water is also covered by them.  However, we are responsible for all interior walls, our stage, our ceiling, floor and window treatments etc.  Even though we plan to build as basic and bare-bones as possible, in order for the finished product to pass building and occupancy inspections significant capitol will be required to secure all the materials needed.  Because we feel God will provide most of the laborers on a grace basis (like the BMA Masters Builders and professional tradesmen who attend Jacob’s Well!) we are able to keep the investment amount as low as $100K.

When you take that $100K for materials and divide it by the 8,400 sq. ft you end up with a number of around $12 a square foot.  However, this is a one-time expense.  And so, if we stay in the strip mall only 3 years you divide that number by three and end up $4 a sq foot.  If we use the location for 5 years it goes down to slightly more than $2 a sq ft.  Now, add either $4 or $2 a sq. ft. to our current lease price and you can see that even with the build-out this location is still an amazing below lease-market value.

Not only does the $ spent on the build-out materials make financial sense, having a space like that has another important benefit.  How would we possibly know how big to build the first phase of our ministry campus on our land in 3-5 years if we are stuck at the school?  We can easily spend $100’s of thousands extra for space we don’t need or get in and find that our building is already too small.  Not only does a seven-hour a week location limit our capacity for how many we can minister to on a given Sunday…it carries a stigma for the un-churched and churched alike.  It’s easy to forget the skepticism others who know nothing about us would have about a church that meets in a school gym and cafeteria.  Bottom line, we have no clue how many are repelled, consciously or subconsciously, by our current location.  Add to that our location is already too small and you can see why there is the need for us to find a “better way”.

5. What’s next on this front?

PRAYER, reflection, investigation and waiting to hear His heart and see His hand.  We know that where God guides, He provides when we remain totally submitted to Him.  God may choose to clear the way by the supernatural quick sell of a second lot?  God may choose to clear the way by a supernatural provision of resources?  God may choose to provide us a short-term (3-5 year) low-interest &/or deferred payment loan to cover our current loan and build-out?  Or, God may want us to do something completely different?  Even though it seems apparent that His hand has led us to this strip mall location (they contacted us/amazing price/timing of our need for additional space/location in relation to current and future location etc. etc.) maybe He still yet has something better in mind?  Whatever it is that He wants…that’s all we want.  So please join us in praying for supernatural, Spirit-filled direction and provision will be unveiled to us as we simply submit, surrender and sync to Him.