The Auditorium where we currently meet was finished in 2007 which has been a tremendous blessing to the growth of our church, as well as for our community. In 2009, the church borrowed $2.1 million and on August 16, 2023, the final payment was made. We are DEBT-FREE!!!!
God has greatly blessed this congregation through the faithful and available people to see this debt eliminated. God brought me to this church in 2015 and the debt was $1.68 million. We really did not start making additional principal payments until October 2016, so in less than seven years the church erased a $1.6 million dollar debt.
Let me be clear to those who may read this blog outside of Rainsville First. The number one goal of the church was never to become debt free, but was the ongoing ministry of being the church through evangelism, missions, and discipleship resulting in a maturing process of following Christ. The payment of the debt was a by-product. We never had any big, organized campaigns - it was an overflow of the faithfulness of God's people to give.
So this Sunday we celebrate and celebrate is the right thing to do. Yet the service will not be designed to honor committees or individuals, but instead to center around praise to the Lord.
The main focus of the service will be the church having Communion as we give praise to God for His Son who gave His life so we could eternally be free from our sins, death, and hell.
The "burning of the note" will be done as we honor the past and look forward to the future as the oldest continuously tenured member of our church and the youngest tenured member of our church burns the note.
We will sing, shout, weep, throw our hands up, and maybe even dance.
Here are the songs we will sing:
After the service, we will have lunch. We have set up to feed 300 people with the church providing BBQ, chicken fingers, and drinks. We are asking the church to bring side dishes and desserts.
What a day we are anticipating. Maybe just a taste of Heaven to come.
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