Undeposited checks and an excellent trim painter

Pastor John, Pastor Mario and Joel Cordero

Each week, we try to carve out one day to work on the building in West Conshohocken.  Our tasks have been pretty much the same for the past four weeks.  Some of us roll paint.  Some of us paint the trim with brushes.  Some of us organize and purge garbage.  Some of us patch holes in the walls.  And, most importantly, we sweat profusely because the building is ridiculously warm this time of year.  But it's a blast and we enjoy it.

It was a sweaty 94 degrees today in the sanctuary

This week, we experienced two surprises.  The first surprise came in the form of a visit from Pastor Mario Cordero and his son Joel.  Mario is the pastor of a church in Hazleton, PA.  They heard of the work we're trying to do and they offered to volunteer for a day to help us make progress.  I warned Mario ahead of time that we were still doing a lot of painting, but that didn't seem to intimidate him.  Now I know why it didn't intimidate him.  He's an excellent painter.  When my wife Andrea saw how well he painted, she was thrilled.  Mario and Joel worked with us from early morning until mid-afternoon when we needed to leave.

The other surprise came in the form of getting a locked closet opened.  My son, Jay, was curious about a closet that had a lock on it.  We hadn't tried to open it yet because there was too much other work to do and we mistakenly assumed that it probably just contained more junk that we'd have to sort out.  But Jay was curious and he asked permission to see if he could get the door open.  I suggested that he use a drill on the lock.  While he was getting the tools he needed, Pastor Mario looked at it and realized that it could be opened if we removed the door moulding.  So that's what he did and then we sorted through what we found inside.

When we first were given access to the building, Tom Wambach and his daughter Diana from Hatboro Community Church looked inside and found thousands of dollars in money that for some reason the old church never deposited.  We all assumed that that was everything, but behind the locked closet door, we found several thousand more dollars in uncashed checks (unfortunately it's too late to deposit them now).  We also found $345 in cash and another $95 that was earmarked to be donated to the Pocono Mountain Bible Conference.

Organizing and counting the money that was found locked in the closet

I don't know why the checks and cash had never been deposited, but it seems clear that there must have been a complete breakdown of order during the final months of the old church's life.  Sadly, they also left behind thousands in unpaid bills which is odd because the checks that had been given would have been enough to pay for those expenses.  But there they were, locked in a closet, waiting to be discovered once it was too late to deposit them.

So that's our most recent update.  Our next workday is going to involve some more painting and some additional junk removal, but as each week goes by, we're making steady progress.  Thanks for your prayers.

Hannah & Renee are helping to prime the dark stripe areas on the downstairs paneling

The entryway is now in the process of getting painted

Jay moves the ladders for us so Andrea can paint the trim on the sanctuary windows

The backdrop to the stage area is a deep "Norwegian Blue."

Dylon helping to clean and prime the downstairs paneling

Will you support the spread of the gospel in West Conshohocken

Church planting is a joyful way to bring the gospel to a community.  We are in the process of doing that by replanting a church in West Conshohocken, PA.  The original church closed earlier this year and now through a partnership of the leaders and congregations of Core Creek Community Church and Hatboro Community Church, we have started the process of re-planting the church.

There are three phases to this project.  

Phase 1:  Repair, paint, clean and update the building.  (This is the phase we are currently in).

Phase 2:  Make connections with the community and begin holding Bible studies and worship services.  (We are making connections at present while we prepare the building, but this will become our primary focus after the building is ready).

Phase 3:  Prepare for permanent pastoral leadership.  (We are currently mentoring a pastor in training with the hope that he will take over this work once the first two phases are complete).

To accomplish this work, we will need to raise funds.  Thankfully, the Lord is already showing us that His people are willing to support efforts like this, so we are encouraged.  At present, we are requesting others to get involved by becoming monthly supporters or by making a one time gift.

Would you be willing to help?  Would your church consider making this project one of the mission projects they support?

At present, we have received a total of $16,050 in financial support from two ministry boards and three churches.  Ideally, we would love to raise enough to be able to fund this ministry well into Phase 3, but we'll be grateful for any help you could give us.

Please know that we won't waste your money nor will we continue to ask for support if requesting outside support stops being necessary.  Our goal is to plant a healthy, self-supporting church in West Conshohocken, but for that to happen, we need believers from all over to rally behind us and support this work to bring the gospel to this growing community.

Thanks in advance for your help.  Donations can be made via the "Donate" link on the right side of this page (or below if you're reading this on your phone).  If you would prefer to mail a paper check, please mail it to the address below.

Make check payable to:  CMC

Mail to:  HCMC.  730 Preston Lane.  Hatboro, PA 19040

Thank you,
John Stange

Burning calories and making things beautiful

We are almost finished painting this part of the building...

Yesterday afternoon and evening, a group of volunteers from Core Creek Community Church spent some more time painting, patching walls, picking up litter, scraping wallpaper and removing clutter.

My wife decided to do a search to see how many calories we were burning while we painted.  Her research indicated that we are probably burning anywhere between 200 - 400 calories per hour.  I think it was more than that yesterday because we felt like we were literally melting.

It was 93 degrees inside the building...

It was a very warm day.  The inside temperature was 93 degrees in the sanctuary, but we were able to create some air flow which definitely helped a little.  Even though we were drenched in sweat, we had a great time working on the building.  At dinner time, we prayed for the church that will one day meet in this place.  We're looking forward to seeing it filled with people again, someday in the future, and having the privilege of helping people come to faith in Jesus.

On a "sad" or "unfortunate" note, Dylon parked his car out front and while we were working on the building, someone smashed into it then drove off.  We're hoping that the security cameras at the fire station across the street might have caught something.

Dylon's car was damaged by an unknown driver...

We will be getting together again at the end of next week if you want to join us.  In the meantime, thanks for your prayers for us during this stage of replanting the church.

Taking a break at the end of the night to play "hacky-sack" with a sponge

Perseverence will be necessary

Replanting a church takes perseverance.  In the context of how the church in West Conshohocken is going to be planted, it will require the perseverance of Core Creek Community Church and Hatboro Community Church as well as the perseverance of the first people from West Conshohocken who become part of this mission.

The key to perseverance in this context is staying focused on the greater mission Jesus has entrusted to all Christians.  If we become overly focused on "us", we won't persevere.  If we remain focused on Him, we will.

Pastor Bubba Jennings wrote a helpful article on this subject.  Check it out.

How to Replant a Church

A sweaty work day with Core Creek...

If you were to walk in the building in West Conshohocken today, you could tell that a lot of work has been done, but there's still plenty to do.  The building smells like "progress" which is another way to say, the building smells like the oil-based primer we've been using on the paneling before we start painting it.

A team of 10 people from Core Creek Community Church spent the day yesterday working on the building.  We removed storm windows, painted, primed, scraped wallpaper, organized more clutter, climbed tall ladders and melted the entire time.  The temperature inside the building was in the 90's so it was a sweaty, but enjoyable day.

We also had the opportunity to have a few brief conversations with some people who were walking near the church and were curious about what was going on inside.  The pizza delivery man was also curious about what we were up to.  He wished us "all the best", so we gave him a large tip.

Thanks to Dylon Beamer for taking pictures for us so we can look back at the progress and rejoice over the advances that are being made in this phase of the work.