News from Metropolitan Community Church of Austin

Last Saturday night, after several weeks of gathering in different people's homes to learn about and pray about our capital campaign and our need for a new building, 60 of our MCC Austin church leaders gathered at Austin's Goodwill Community Center. The purpose of our gathering was to turn in our Being Church ~ Building Community commitment cards (pledges).

I knew that the leadership of a church often pledges anywhere from thirty to forty percent of the total campaign goal. Based on our pledge goal of $1 million, that meant $300,000 to $400,000 from our leaders. I also knew that the people of MCC Austin have exceptionally generous hearts. Because of that, I had high hopes that we'd hit the high side of the thirty to forty percent mark.

As our program began, I had to keep calming the butterflies in my stomach. It was hard to believe that out of this simple room with its industrial carpet, black plastic chairs, and karaoke microphone we could make a miracle.
But then our people started to speak. From Chuck's first words we heard the language of gratitude and appreciation. Bud brought us to tears when he choked up explaining what joining MCC Austin meant to him. Kathryn sang one of my favorite songs, "Come Just As You Are." Velma made us believe that we truly are God's people called for God's purpose and told us not to worry about giving till it hurts: God invites us to give till it feels good. Lynn undressed, I mean addressed, the latest updates on our building plan. Adama laid out a challenge for the leaders, and she stirred up more "attitude" than you can find at a Longhorn pep rally.

After a time of prayer and a brief moment of confusion when we realized we didn't have any pens for filling out the pledge cards, we wrote down our pledges.

Debbie, our treasurer, took her adding machine to a private room and totaled pledge cards with a perfect poker face. The butterflies returned to my stomach. Debbie pulled her tape out of the machine, laid it aside, and ran her numbers again. This time when she pulled the tape, she handed it to me: $601,200.00.

What do you do when confronted by a miracle? We all cried, hugged, high-fived, smiled, danced, and hollered.

On Sunday morning we shared the totals, and we watched a repeat of all the aforementioned means of celebration.

Good People, are you feeling it? Believing it? God is most certainly calling us to do great things and is providing us with the faith, resources, and strength to make it happen. I believe Saturday night shows us clearly that we've set our goals too low. We've been talking about raising $1 million and borrowing $500,000. I think we should reach for $1.5 instead and borrow less and build more.

We're already getting lots of help. I just talked to a woman who has enlisted her sister and her parents, who have never worshiped with us, to give to our capital campaign. She told them how God has blessed her through the ministry of MCC Austin, and they told her they want to help us build a church without walls. Another woman, who is not a member, decided to pledge after watching our Being Church ~ Building Community video. Another after reading about our plans in E-Link. Awesome!

For those of you who pledged last week, God bless you! To those who have yet to make your pledges, keep your hearts open and let the Spirit work on you to the very last moment. Then get out your pen (You probably shouldn't trust us to have one for you!) and write down a number that makes you smile, knowing that you have freely received and freely given.

Always in Hope,

Rev. Karen Thompson