Red Mountain Community Church: Mesa, AZ

There are God moments that are dramatic enough to silence us.

Over a year ago the Elders felt that the time had come to embrace the challenge of developing the rest of the property God has blessed Red Mountain Community Church with. We felt that the building which would strengthen our ministry the most would be one which facilitated the things which are so critical to our mission of knowing, following, and giving to our God. Those mission critical things are worship, teaching, and fellowship. And so in January of 2007 I presented to you for the first time the proposal that we build a Life Center. At that time we had about $160,000 in our building fund, a paltry sum compared to the 5 million dollars such a building project would cost.

As the year went by, the Elders felt we needed to raise 3 million dollars if we were to realistically take on this project. In the early summer months we began to talk as a church about raising this amount of money over the next three years. Since that time there has been nothing but bad economic news! I must admit to you that I felt peace about pursuing that course of action, but uncertain about what the outcome would be. There are times after all, when God allows failure and shortfall in order for some grander objective to be met.

As the months went by, it became very obvious that God was speaking to many in little ways about sacrificing to make this all come about. There were no large sums of money that caused us to leap forward towards our goal. There was just an obvious stirring in the hearts of nearly every family that calls this their church. Still, though that was thrilling to sense, there was no way to tell how it would all add up. We targeted Sunday, November 18, as the day we would all turn in a card with the amount that God had laid on our hearts to give. As I made my way to Church that morning, I did not know what to expect. None of us did. What If none did? Would this be the time when we would see that there had been no movement of God in this matter, or would we see that there had been a deep and strong undercurrent the whole time?

Each of the services demonstrated that He had indeed been at work in all of us. Seldom in our lifetimes do we get to see such a demonstration by so many feeling the same compulsion. I was not prepared for the emotional impact of the moment, particularly in the first service. It was overwhelming. I had to get up and close each of the services, and I have no idea what I said! I know what I felt. It was a WOW! But it was a holy and hushed one, like standing beside a mighty river, not a bubbly stream. God moments should be routine in our lives. But among the God moments are those that should to some degree silence us. That one did. There were people who came back to subsequent services that day just to see it again!

There is of course the journey that we must now travel together. It will provide many more individual moments as we watch God provide for follow through. But when we are fortunate enough to watch Him move, we need to embrace the fact that He is with us and hang on to it. There will be many times on the journey we will need that memory. The Israelites didn’t do that and so doubted, and angered Him. We must!

Bob Fox