I sent the following message to our church this evening. I know some of you outside our congregation might be interested as well. Church,
In early January, Echo was approached by Walnut Hills Christian Church leadership to inform us that they were looking to shut down their congregation by the end of 2010. In order to maintain our current meeting space, our leadership put together a proposal to take ownership of the church building. We met with their church in late January and laid out our options, offering our desire to work with them whatever the outcome.
Earlier this evening I had another meeting with the leadership of WHCC. Their response is to continue to meet as a congregation and maintain possession of the building. They are exploring the possibilities of renting out the space during weekdays and applying for some possible grants to keep funding their ministry.
The question that you're probably asking is, "what does this mean for Echo?"
First, it means that we'll continue to meet at 1438 East McMillan, at least throughout the rest of this year; our leadership has decided that, as long as we can maintain our location, we should do so. The building suits our needs very well and our relationship with WHCC remains positive. Tonight they affirmed this relationship and, as long as we can keep this going, we plan on continuing to meet there.
Second, it means that we will again negotiate with WHCC for a Sunday morning meeting time. We are setting up meetings with their church to have the logistics settled by Memorial Day. This will give us a morning worship launch date of this fall. There is still much to hammer out here, so I urge continued continued patience and prayer.
Finally, understand that this is a very good thing. We are blessed with a low cost meeting space that is beautiful and convenient. Our effectiveness in Walnut Hills and the city continues to grow. We are finding more and more people that buy into our vision of resonating the voice of God throughout the city and to the ends of the earth. And we're able to give more than 15% of our offerings to missionaries throughout the world. Do not be mistaken: God is most definitely good.
So we continue on, serving the Lord and embracing our future. I'm thankful for your commitment to the ministry and I'm looking forward to worshipping with you on Sunday night.
Believe me, Christians: the best is yet to come.
Blessings and love, Steve