Hello LifePoint family,
As everyone is aware, this is Memorial Day weekend. Many of our folks will undoubtedly be out of town over this holiday. However, for those of us not traveling, we will enjoy a great Sunday morning at LifePoint.
Here’s how this Sunday will look:
May 31st workday to be rescheduled.
Carol Lee has asked that we reschedule the workday that was originally planned for May 31st. New date to be determined. Thank you to all who volunteer for these workdays, as you can only imagine the blessing it is to those involved.
A potentially wonderful opportunity for our church!
I and the other members of the Executive Team have some exciting news – LifePoint may be staring at a great opportunity. We may be nearing the point where we are ready as a congregation to begin the initial steps of getting our own facility.
With some 122 responses to our relocation questionnaire, here are the results:
With that information in hand, the Executive Team met this past Sunday and prayerfully, thoughtfully, and thoroughly discussed our present situation.
Although we are grateful to the Lord for the UCO facilities for our meeting place and are comfortable meeting there for the foreseeable future, there are certain “realities” we must consider.
First, even though we have secured a new contract with UCO for another year - beginning in Apr 2025, we have no assurance we will be able to renew that contract beyond 2025. Given the difficulty we encountered initially in securing a facility that meets our needs, we believe the chance of finding a facility like UCO is relatively remote. To be fair, UCO leadership has given no indication that 2025 is our final year to continue meeting in their facility. However, they did make it clear when we signed the first rental agreement in Apr 2024 that they did not intend for the arrangement to be long-term. At that time, we told them our plan was to secure our own property as soon as possible. The Executive Team believes that, given the possibility that UCO is unable or unwilling to extend our contract beyond this year, it is only prudent to begin the process of finding and purchasing our own property. In the meantime, we intend to meet with UCO leadership to determine if they can extend our rental agreement beyond 2025. This is critical since we are likely looking at a minimum of 1-2 years (possibly 4 years) to build and then occupy a new facility – even if we decide to purchase land immediately.
Second, finding a suitable location on which to build a new church facility is a difficult task. With the demand of the area for “great” locations, if a suitable location is found, normally time is of the essence. If we intend to purchase a “prime” piece of property, we must be able/willing to move on that purchase quickly or the land will soon be purchased by another interested party.
Third, it is the belief of the Executive Team that the money spent renting the UCO facility (approx. $4000 per month) would be better spent by applying that toward the cost of our own facility. Obviously, we will need to continue renting at UCO until we have our own facility, but the quicker we can stop paying rent to UCO, the better.
Fourth, the E.T. believes that, while we are experiencing a small amount of growth at UCO, LifePoint can never really experience significant growth without owning our own facility. Establishing a visible footprint at UCO is basically impossible, so we are virtually “invisible” to the public – except on Sundays. Additionally, even though the UCO facilities are wonderful, they are still not designed the way we would design our own facility. Owning our own facility would provide the opportunity to host other gatherings on weekdays other than Sunday. And last, the constant set up and tear down every weekend takes a great deal of effort that would go away if we owned our own building.
These four reasons, and others, lead the members of the E.T. to believe now is the time to begin taking major steps to secure a suitable piece of property. In the meantime, we can begin discussing the building design that best meets our ministry needs and get that design drawn up into plans so when the time comes, we’ll be ready to begin construction immediately.
Presently, we have two pieces of property before us:
As everyone is aware, this is Memorial Day weekend. Many of our folks will undoubtedly be out of town over this holiday. However, for those of us not traveling, we will enjoy a great Sunday morning at LifePoint.
Here’s how this Sunday will look:
- Pastor’s/BRR Class, 10:00 am – we will continue our Biblical Types series by studying the deeper lessons of the Tabernacle in the wilderness. Last week, we got off to a great start in this final leg of our Types series. This week, we will finish last week’s lesson and then discover the deeper significance of the fence that surrounded the perimeter of the Tabernacle and its courtyard.
- Worship/Preaching service, 11:00 am – we will celebrate the sacrifice of those who died to either establish or protect our liberty. I will have some unique stories to tell and a few incredible relics from our War of Independence for you to see and handle. It’ll be a great time and, if you’re in town, you won’t want to miss it!
May 31st workday to be rescheduled.
Carol Lee has asked that we reschedule the workday that was originally planned for May 31st. New date to be determined. Thank you to all who volunteer for these workdays, as you can only imagine the blessing it is to those involved.
A potentially wonderful opportunity for our church!
I and the other members of the Executive Team have some exciting news – LifePoint may be staring at a great opportunity. We may be nearing the point where we are ready as a congregation to begin the initial steps of getting our own facility.
With some 122 responses to our relocation questionnaire, here are the results:
- 83% say they believe it’s time for LifePoint to begin the process of finding/purchasing a permanent location
- 84% say they are comfortable with LifePoint being an “Edmond” church
- 86% say they are comfortable with LifePoint taking on short-term debt
- 63% say they are able/willing to give significantly above what they are giving now
With that information in hand, the Executive Team met this past Sunday and prayerfully, thoughtfully, and thoroughly discussed our present situation.
Although we are grateful to the Lord for the UCO facilities for our meeting place and are comfortable meeting there for the foreseeable future, there are certain “realities” we must consider.
First, even though we have secured a new contract with UCO for another year - beginning in Apr 2025, we have no assurance we will be able to renew that contract beyond 2025. Given the difficulty we encountered initially in securing a facility that meets our needs, we believe the chance of finding a facility like UCO is relatively remote. To be fair, UCO leadership has given no indication that 2025 is our final year to continue meeting in their facility. However, they did make it clear when we signed the first rental agreement in Apr 2024 that they did not intend for the arrangement to be long-term. At that time, we told them our plan was to secure our own property as soon as possible. The Executive Team believes that, given the possibility that UCO is unable or unwilling to extend our contract beyond this year, it is only prudent to begin the process of finding and purchasing our own property. In the meantime, we intend to meet with UCO leadership to determine if they can extend our rental agreement beyond 2025. This is critical since we are likely looking at a minimum of 1-2 years (possibly 4 years) to build and then occupy a new facility – even if we decide to purchase land immediately.
Second, finding a suitable location on which to build a new church facility is a difficult task. With the demand of the area for “great” locations, if a suitable location is found, normally time is of the essence. If we intend to purchase a “prime” piece of property, we must be able/willing to move on that purchase quickly or the land will soon be purchased by another interested party.
Third, it is the belief of the Executive Team that the money spent renting the UCO facility (approx. $4000 per month) would be better spent by applying that toward the cost of our own facility. Obviously, we will need to continue renting at UCO until we have our own facility, but the quicker we can stop paying rent to UCO, the better.
Fourth, the E.T. believes that, while we are experiencing a small amount of growth at UCO, LifePoint can never really experience significant growth without owning our own facility. Establishing a visible footprint at UCO is basically impossible, so we are virtually “invisible” to the public – except on Sundays. Additionally, even though the UCO facilities are wonderful, they are still not designed the way we would design our own facility. Owning our own facility would provide the opportunity to host other gatherings on weekdays other than Sunday. And last, the constant set up and tear down every weekend takes a great deal of effort that would go away if we owned our own building.
These four reasons, and others, lead the members of the E.T. to believe now is the time to begin taking major steps to secure a suitable piece of property. In the meantime, we can begin discussing the building design that best meets our ministry needs and get that design drawn up into plans so when the time comes, we’ll be ready to begin construction immediately.
Presently, we have two pieces of property before us:
- Eight acres located on the northeast corner of the intersection of Morgan Rd. and 164th street. The map and satellite images below show not only the relative location to major roadways, but also the surrounding terrain and neighborhoods. The amazing news: this property has been offered to our church as a donation! However, there are a few challenges with this acreage, including –
- The land is approx.15-16 miles west of Edmond, making us question the wisdom/feasibility of building that far west of Edmond.
- Getting water to the property is a challenge, but appears to be doable – given some time and expense.
- There is no sewer service available, so we would likely have to install a lagoon that will use up about an acre.
- Oil well tanks are near the northwest property boundary, and by law, we cannot build within 500 feet of them in the event of a catastrophic explosion. There could be ways around that challenge, like placing the lagoon or a parking lot between the tanks and the facility, but we would have to work around this limitation.
- This acreage may present other challenges, but since it is being offered as a donation to LifePoint, we wanted the congregation to know about it to make an informed decision.
2. Six acres located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Kelly Avenue and Coffee Creek Road. The map and satellite images below show not only the relative location to major roadways, but also the surrounding terrain and neighborhoods.
- This acreage is priced at $1.5 million but likely appraises for around $2.5 million.
- We would need to pay a $1000 deposit/earnest that would be fully refundable for 60 days.
- At closing, we would suggest a down payment of at least $300,000 (or more if monies are available).
- We would then begin a major campaign to pay off the outstanding balance as quickly as possible. Once the land is paid for, or very near that, we would then begin raising money to start construction on a new facility.
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