God is so wonderfully faithful!
We are marveling at God’s faithfulness as we make a turn in the road for the center! God has taken us off of the road we had been walking to move a house to some property to serve as the site for Hope First Family Resource Center and placed us on a different path, but not without allowing us to see His hand and be extremely grateful for His provisions.
Randy Hunter, who has been the construction superintendent for the project (and also wore so many more hats!) began to see that the cost of the project was becoming significantly more than we had projected as well as wisely discerning many roadblocks to a successful completion of the project. Timing delays, unforeseen city requirements, shortages of labor and building supplies along with a myriad of other
detailed encumbrances led to this conclusion. The Board unanimously agreed that God was shutting the door on this endeavor- which was an answer to our continuous prayer for Him to guide us to the next step or to clearly stop the project.
Randy and Pastor Joey Rhoads of Community Baptist Church, offered some other possible building options to be explored, however we would still be facing the huge increase in costs, building delays, city requirements, and many of the other issues we were facing with the house move. Simply put, building any structure would mean a delay in opening the center for a couple of years.
After considering all of the options, we made the decision to focus on the reason that God brought us into existence: opening a center to serve those facing an unplanned pregnancy, struggling with relationships and looking for support for their families in order to introduce them to Jesus. When we brought that goal back into focus we realized that we would not be honoring God to focus on building a building and
delaying the opening of the center for a couple of years.
We are especially grateful for the very diligent and magnificent work that Randy Hunter donated to this project- with the very capable support of his wife, Pat. He spent countless hours talking to numerous people, measuring the house, the route to move it, the property…..we are awed by his tenacity, perseverance and skill! And also very thankful for his wise discernment in each bend of the road- and ultimately
this turn.
We also need to thank Brian and Eve Wall who very generously were willing to donate their custom home to serve as the center. They walked this road with us so very patiently and supportively through many various dips and curves, always pointing to God’s faithfulness and His provision as a guide.
We are so very grateful for Pastor Joey Rhoads and everyone at Community Baptist Church for also being willing to walk this road alongside of us, being willing to explore numerous options with us, opening their hearts and their doors to our presence on their property, and serving as our fiscal sponsor until we receive our tax-exempt status from the IRS. They are an amazing congregation of Spirit-filled people who
firmly believe that nothing is impossible for God to accomplish!
We also met some amazing people through this journey and we’d like to thank them for donating their beautiful talents and skills to the project:
Architect Jim Powers of PowerSquare Design and Architecture LTD- Jim drew the plans for the changes needed in the house to serve as the center. His Spirit-filled eyes saw the detailed nuances that were necessary for our clients to feel safe and comfortable within each room. Anyone needing an architect can contact Jim: powersquare@comcast.net or jim.p2@icloud.com.
Randall Phelps – Randall served as the Civil Engineer for the project bringing much-needed expertise to the construction project. Anyone looking for a civil engineer can find Randall here: randall.phelps@kimley-horn.com.
Jack White- Jack used his numerous years of experience doing drawings for construction plans to do the initial set of drawings for the house to be placed on the land.
AND a huge thanks to everyone who has supported Hope First with mighty prayers, financial gifts and material donations. The birth of this beautiful resource would not happen without you!
