Anniversary Sunday (1999)
Tom Shrader marks the eighth anniversary of East Valley Bible Church by recounting its founding in November 1991 and the biblical principles drawn from Acts 2:42-47 that shaped its mission of come, learn, and serve. He traces the church's numerical and spiritual growth, presenting plans for a new education building and worship center while inviting the congregation to trust God to provide the funds rather than relying on formal fundraising campaigns. Shrader closes by calling members to deepen their involvement in small groups, evangelism training, and Sunday evening services as the church prepares for its next season of growth.
“I would be just as happy with 200 who truly followed Him as 2,000 who are just playing church.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: EVBC Anniversary Sunday - 1999
Recorded: 1999 at East Valley Bible Church
Duration: 1 hr 14 min
Themes: church anniversary, remembrance, church growth, generosity, evangelism, small groups, vision, faith, new church member, long-time member, new believer, feeling disconnected from community, searching for church home, parent, young adult, navigating major life transitions
Scripture: Acts 2:42, Acts 2:47, Ephesians 4:12
Theological Themes: ecclesiology, church planting, acts 2 community, stewardship, biblical community, missional living, body of christ, spiritual growth
Full Transcript
Eight Years of Remembrance
This is a very special day for us. It was essentially eight years ago, on November 3, 1991, that we held our first service. Every year since, we have stopped on that Sunday for a time of celebration and remembrance, reminding one another what God has done.
As you look in your Bible, you will see the word "remember," or "remembrance," or "recall," or "recollection" over 275 times. It is an exercise that is so important to us. Frequently God says, remember your sin, remember from where you have fallen — and yet remember what I have done. Remember My faithfulness. Remember your joy.
That happens to us in our own lives as well. Anytime you say "remember," pictures and photographs have a great way of bringing back a whole series and range of emotions. Sometimes you remember and get angry. Sometimes it is a time of great joy.
We were at a social a while ago where the price of admission — it was all couples — was to bring your wedding pictures. That is a bit of a sore subject at our house. We did not have a lot of money, and I had to pay for the wedding, so I decided to have a friend take the pictures, and they did not turn out. There is a picture of my mother and me, but Susan did not want to take that one. There is one that is a pretty good shot of me and Susan's back, but that is as close as we came to a wedding picture. So there are memories attached even to those pictures. You think of pictures of the kids, and your emotions move from one side to the other.
That First Night on Dobson Road
When I see the date November 3rd, 1991, I think of that Sunday evening on Dobson Road. We have done this in the other two services today, and it is quite something. Those of you who were there that very first night — if you would raise your hands — there are maybe four here, none here, one here, two here, and about ten here. There were not very many. And just to help you out, that is not because they all left. There just were not many of them, that is all.
How many of you attended church over on Dobson Road? That should be a larger number — that is when the body began to grow. But even so, that is not 15% of the people in this room. So when we talk about those days, we are talking about memories that are genuinely new for many of you.
We started as a group determined to see God plant a church. That is what we wanted. We were not sure what He would do, and we were not sure exactly what we were doing in that process. So we did something somewhat revolutionary: we went to the Scripture to see what it says.
A Pattern from Acts 2
In a passage we studied not long ago in the book of Acts, Acts chapter two, verse 42, we found what seemed to be a prescription for what a church gathering should look like. After people were converted, they continued to study God's Word, and they continued to have fellowship — and that means more than just, "How you doing? Fine. How's the kids? Fine. How about those Suns?" and then walking away. There was love for one another and sharing with one another. There was the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper, and there was prayer.
As we looked at the Scripture, we saw that this was the pattern of that very first church in its simplest form. And there was nothing in 1991 much simpler than where we were on November 3rd. In its simplest form, that is what that church was all about, and it became a pattern for us.
It was then time to figure out how to govern. We went back to Scripture, and Scripture says there are to be elders — not necessarily people who have been the most successful in business, or who can bring some sense of notoriety or fame to a board, but people who are primarily men of God, who grow in their knowledge of Him, who love Him, and who are filled with wisdom. And we began to say, well, that is what God says about running the church.
Matters of Preference
What we discovered is that the vast majority of what we do are matters of preference. What kind of music should we have? That first Sunday, Paul and Naomi led worship with a piano, and that was it. When you sat here this morning singing, that is quite a road trip from where we were on November 3rd, 1991. It is very different — but the spirit is the same, and that was the vision from the very beginning in terms of a style of worship.
How should we dress? Should we wear a tie? That was not a very long discussion. Should we take a collection? We said no — put the box at the door and God will figure that out. In our minds, though I am not sure we even knew enough to say it out loud or were bold enough to say it, we thought: maybe if we do the things described in Acts chapter two, verse 42, God will do in our life what He did in Acts chapter two, verse 47. That is, as the people praise Him, they will find favor with each other, favor with the world, and God will grow them.
We have never been interested in simply seeing how many people God will bring just to make it big. No — converted hearts, people who are saved, that is what matters. I am glad you are here, and based on what I see and the way the numbers go each week, there are about 682 of you in this room right now. But I would be just as happy with 200 who truly follow Him as with 2,000 who are just playing church. That has never been an issue for us.
The Church's Charge
Here is our charge, found in Ephesians 4:12: to equip God's people to do His work, to encourage, to activate the body, to prepare, to see them grow. For some, that means coming to Christ. For others, it means growing deep in Him and who He is. That is why when you look at different purpose statements from churches, they all start to sound the same — to know God, to make Him known, to equip and encourage — because that is the job of the church. The church's job is to prepare for the work of God.
Consequently, the motto that Gary spoke of: come, learn, and serve. If you grab your bulletin and open it up, you will see that very familiar phrase right there. When I talked to Daryl DelJose and other pastors, I said, "Tell me the challenge. How do we do it? How do you share that vision?" And they said, "You have to keep coming back to these basics over and over again." That is why when you open that bulletin, you see it every week. That is why at least two or three times a year we will talk about this — come, learn, and serve.
Come, Learn, and Serve
So now you begin to understand what we want to do here. Our purpose is to help one another learn God's truth and live biblically changed lives. What does that mean? It means, first, come — an invitation to join us. All of you have experienced that invitation, whether it was as simple as the sign out front that says East Valley Bible Church, or the warm invitation of a friend who said, "Come here."
But that is not the end — that is the beginning. It is an invitation to come for the purpose of learning. Learning is something that never ends. It is a lifelong process: knowing God, understanding who He is, studying His Word, continually growing.
How do you learn at East Valley Bible Church? We have adult education every Sunday morning at 8, 9:30, and 11. We have adult electives — I was on campus Friday night leaving a meeting, and I had no idea what was going on. Someone told me it was a how-to-study-the-Bible forum, and there were a couple dozen people working their way through learning how to study God's Word. And then there are small groups. If you are not in a small group, you are missing all that God is doing here at the church.
That small group may be your staff or leadership if you are in student ministries, or it may be part of the praise team. But for most of you, it means one of the small groups that are part of Jim Harper's ministry. By the end of this year, there will be 50 small groups with more than 500 people participating — not just groups coming together with no purpose, but groups with trained leaders and apprentice leaders to help one another learn God's truth. You come with questions, or you come to pray, you begin to minister, and that is how you learn.
Serving as a Natural Outflow
All of these are a variety of ways to learn, but all of it is ultimately for the purpose of serving. We spent a day defining these words, and we had a long discussion — some thought it was an argument — about what it means to serve. And I love the definition we arrived at: the believer's obedient response to participate in God's work in discipleship and evangelism. It is your response to participate in what God is doing, a natural outflow of a converted heart. As I come to Him in repentance and faith and begin to grow in my knowledge of who He is, I begin to want to serve Him, and then things just begin to happen.
We have reached a point — and fortunately I am somewhat naive about these things — where people are talking about East Valley Bible Church and what is happening here. People are coming from other churches to try to figure out what is going on. It is a really interesting process to watch them. What they are looking for, and it took me a while to figure this out, is a recipe — a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a dash of something else, and then poof, God grows the church. When they sit with me and I answer most of their questions with "I don't really know — God just does it," it almost shocks them. Someone will say, "Well, you must do very relevant topical teaching." I say, "Well, I know it is not topical, and I am not sure how relevant it is, but we just try to stay faithful to what God is doing."
What this church has, I am convinced, that sets it apart from so many churches is a congregation that is converted. Last hour we had — and I have not seen the final numbers, but they do not vary much — 310 kids in birth through sixth grade. Recruiting volunteers is always a little bit of a challenge, but not that big of a challenge. How do you motivate people? You do not have to motivate them. They love God with all their heart, so they motivate themselves. I am meeting right now with a man who has been a Christian for about 40 days. I do not have to motivate him to read Scripture — I have to say to him, "Stop. You are reading too much and you are confusing yourself with what you are reading." That is what begins to happen.
Something Truly Significant
I believe that almost every person on the planet wants to be part of something truly significant. And for us as Christians, we understand that the most significant thing on this planet — the only thing that is going to transcend into eternity — is God's work. That is why come, learn, and serve works the way it does. I come, I understand who I am in Christ, I understand what that means, and then things begin to happen and work around me.
How can you tell if a body is maturing? There are two ways. One is somewhat invisible, and that is spiritual growth — and how do you measure that?
From Individual Growth to Corporate Growth
A lady had just prayed to receive Christ, and the woman who brought her to church was there to get a copy of the *Foundation of the Faith* booklet so they could begin the process of discipleship. That didn't come from a program. That came from a transformed heart that understood the privilege of sharing the truth — and now here were the tools, some things she could use to do that.
You begin to mature as an individual. You can see it easily in your kids — we have markings on the wall of one of our rooms at home, the children's heights and dates, and you can watch them grow. Spiritually, you start to mature when you see God begin to use you in the lives of other people. You find yourself in a conversation about Christ — who He is and what He has done in your heart — and you begin to grow.
Here is a principle we have talked about for eight years: what is generally true for the individual is generally true for us corporately. As you grow individually toward maturity, our church begins to head toward maturity as well, and we start to see this spiritual growth take shape.
I was in a staff meeting the other day and asked, "I'm going to talk about Founders Sunday — do you have anything? What should I talk about?" Simultaneously, two guys said essentially the same thing: "I wish people could see and hear every day what we see and hear every day." Some of you do see it, because you are in the trenches and involved in other people's lives.
Our desire from the beginning has been to be a place where people come, God grows them, they learn, and they begin to serve. As they serve — and the word is the same as *minister* — as they begin to minister to one another, part of the evidence of that growth is visible, numerical growth. We don't shy away from that. I cannot think of a time when we made a decision simply to see how big things would get. What we have done is not cause that growth — we have tried to manage it.
The Numbers Tell the Story
Let me give you a sense of this. The week before we moved into this building, we had 650 people, plus or minus, on campus. Over the two years since then, that number has escalated to plus or minus 3,000 people every week. Here is how that breaks down, using last week's numbers — I simply asked for last week's figures and those are what we are using.
There were approximately 1,845 people in worship services. Christian Education — birth through sixth grade — had 692 kids, a number that has remained consistently between 690 and 720 over the last two months. There were 274 junior high and high schoolers in student ministries, and 116 students in college ministry.
Now here is what was interesting. As I was preparing for this discussion, I found a box — a red box — with the words *Building for Ministry* written on it. That was the campaign we used to present the building initiative to the church on Dobson when we were considering moving over to this location. Part of the message at that time was: we are growing, and we need to deal with that — much like a family that starts in an apartment and, as the family grows, moves into a home. We needed a home.
Look at the numbers that were driving that need at the time. We had 297 in worship, 168 in Christian Education, 11 kids in junior high, and 11 kids in senior high. That is the group. When you talk about your forefathers and your heritage, those are the people who made it possible to move from a rented facility on Sunday night to this place where we are today.
Addressing the Facility Issue
For quite a while now we have been working to address the facility issue, and when you came in this morning you received a handout that many of you have already looked at. What we are trying to do is address two specific issues. Let me share a few things you may or may not already know.
We own all 21 acres of land — all the way back to the fence. If you open the handout, you will see two proposed buildings: the top one is a new worship center, and the bottom one is an elementary education building. On the back of the handout is a site plan that allows you to begin placing those buildings on the property and get a feel for the layout.
That is all the information we have at this point. We literally took these to the printer on Friday — that is how recently they were completed. Over the next few weeks and months, we will have drawings available for you to look at, and you will be able to speak with Mike Nothom Senior, Roger Wallen, and others who are involved and can answer your questions. We wanted to get these in front of you this morning so that the reality of our situation could begin to take shape in your mind: for us to continue to grow, buildings are a real and pressing issue.
Anticipating Your Questions
I want to take you through a series of questions, because I know how this begins to unfold in your mind — and I want to tell you upfront that the answers are still quite vague. Here is the first question: these look great, we are excited, when can we start construction? The answer is: not so fast. There are a couple of things to work out before we get there, and as you can imagine, money is part of that issue.
If you are here for the very first time this morning, we are delighted you are with us, and you are going to have a chance to be part of our conversation about where we are headed.
Financing the Building Project
The early education building will cost approximately $2.5 million, and the worship center will cost approximately $7 million. That is a lot of money — because it is a lot of money. The question everyone wants answered is how we plan to pay for it. What we would love to do is pay cash. The only thing stopping us is you.
This leads into a philosophical discussion. Will we borrow money? Yes. How much? We don't know. That is essentially what we did last time, and it was very interesting.
I have had a wave of emotion in preparing for this, similar to what we experienced last time. When we were over at the previous building, we had 297 people and probably around 100 who were involved financially, needing to raise a million dollars toward a building that cost $3.3 million. I remember it like it was yesterday.
We had two camps at the time. One group said, "Don't do anything until you have all the cash." The other group said, "Borrow all you can, because you won't be in debt long — the church is going to grow and grow." Both sides made interesting arguments, and both accused the other of lacking faith. One side said, "You don't have enough faith that God will provide all the money." The other side said, "You don't have enough faith that God will meet the needs."
Our answer was that we weren't sure about faith, but what we did have, we believed, was wisdom. We decided to approach it the way most people approach buying a house. Some people are in a position to pay cash for a house, but most people say, "I need a home, I need a place to live," and they take on some level of debt. You hear people say all the time, "I'm debt free except for my house" — as if that doesn't count. For us, these buildings are our family home, and with that understanding, we are willing to take on some level of debt if we need to. How much? I can't answer that yet.
Budget and Growth
We are currently in the process of building next year's budget. That budget will probably increase by about 25% with no debt service, and most of that increase simply reflects beginning to manage the infrastructure to support what we are already doing.
What We Are Not Going to Do
The minute we begin talking about raising money, everyone wants to know how. If you were here for the last campaign — and there weren't many of you, maybe 15 from the Dobson side — you will remember it was not a painful experience. I know churches split over issues like this. I know it can be very divisive. We did not lose one family in the move. We lost one family who legitimately wanted to be part of a very small church. That was it. We lost nobody because of the building campaign. Here is why.
We are not going to hire outside professionals to come in and raise the money. We are not going to bring someone in here and pay them $150,000 or $200,000 to host a banquet, get you to sign pledge cards, and work through a formal campaign. We are not going to bring in a consultant.
We are also not going to ask you to buy a brick — no personalized bricks with your name on them so you can bring the family around and take a picture. That may be effective and it may be meaningful for some churches. I am not making a judgment on it. It is simply not our style.
We will not have a Stewardship Sunday, because typically that turns into a stewardship week, which turns into a stewardship month, which becomes a stewardship year, and it just goes on and on. We will not have a thermometer — that step-by-step tracking of progress in an agonizing public fashion. I will admit I wrestled a little more with some of these ideas than others. I kind of liked a few of them, but we voted against them.
The last idea I considered was involving corporate sponsors. I will be honest — it seemed to have some appeal to me, and I thought it might work in a way that was not flamboyant but rather subtle. In the end, however, we are not going to do that either.
What We Are Going to Do
Here is what we are going to do, and it may sound very odd to some of you. It is what we have done with virtually everything we have approached. We are going to trust God to move on the hearts of His people.
There is no stewardship campaign, no stewardship drive, no Stewardship Sunday, and no one organizing gatherings to pressure a decision. I understand that some of you, especially those who have been very successful in business, are more comfortable with a structured approach, and I am not making a judgment on that. It is simply that we have never done things that way, and we are not going to start now.
This is one of the most natural and honest ways to see whether God is truly in something — we let Him move on the hearts of His people. An anniversary is a natural moment to bring this before you, and that is exactly why we are addressing it now.
Managing Growth and Space
Even these drawings don't begin to deal with the issues we have with office space. By the middle of the second quarter, we'll have ten people officed out in that trailer, and that doesn't work. We have people meeting in rooms all over the place, and that's terrific, but we need some way of dealing with that.
It was October of 1994 that we first presented the building program to the church on Dobson, and it was two years before we stuck a shovel in the ground. Don't for a second think we are going to run out and build this tomorrow. We are moving with planning as though we were, but even if all the money were here on January 1st, that worship center is two to two and a half, maybe three years away — just to get through the city permitting, the working drawings, the plans, and everything that goes with it.
Setting the Right Priority
For a long time we held the view that we needed to do these projects together, but we have changed that view. The priority is the education building. That is the thing that is going to drive this for us. We are crowded in here, and we have always wanted people to understand that we want to minister to the family. Your children being comfortable matters more to us than your comfort, and that is the driving force behind that building.
So here is what we are going to do. Between now and the end of the year, everything that comes into the church financially above the budget — including the operation reserves and everything else — goes into the fund for construction or debt reduction, though probably construction. I am not sure it makes sense to reduce the debt we currently carry, since it is at a lower interest rate. At that point we will stop and see where we are. We will not build a worship center until we first build an education building. That is the priority. We would love to be able to do both.
Why We Are Doing Well Financially
I meet people all the time who say to me, "I really don't give that much to the church" — which is an interesting thing to say to me — and then they add, "But I look at the bulletin and you guys don't need the money. You're ahead." I want you to understand that we are doing well for two reasons. One is a human reason: we are genuinely diligent about the budget. Two, God simply blesses His people.
Have you ever read the box in the bulletin that gives you the financial overview? Here is what it says: *"Giving at East Valley Bible Church is seen as part of the believer's obedient response to participate in God's work. Although there is not a formal offering time of passing the plate, giving envelopes are available in the back of each pew."* We trust God to provide in this way.
What Happens If the Money Isn't There
At the first of the year we will stop and let you know where we are financially. I know the risk, and I would love to be able to come to you with every question answered. But that is not the process — we cannot get there with every question already answered. I believe this is a good, sound, logical sequence for us. We are going to wait for God to move on the hearts of His people.
Here is the question I know people will ask, because you know how people think: what if the money is not there? If the money is not there, we are not going to do anything. If we cannot make a sound financial decision regarding new construction, then we will not build. This has grown so far beyond what we originally thought it would be that it is no longer about pride or ego. It is about being good stewards — and even more importantly than stewarding the money, being good stewards of the people and the souls God has entrusted to us.
What You Can Do Right Now
Let me answer the question of what you can do. First, you can be praying. That is very important to us. Stay informed and keep listening. If you have questions, go ahead and ask them, and be prepared to sometimes hear "I don't know," because that will be a common answer for a while.
Be involved — not just with this building process, but at the church. Get involved in a small group. Understand that we have people waiting to get into small groups, and the only thing stopping it is trained leaders. You may be sitting here capable of leading a small group and have not yet stepped forward. Do it. Be involved, grow in Christ, get into His Word, start to teach, and get involved in adult education at some level. Start to witness. We will be launching a training program in January called Change Lives. It is your opportunity to learn how to begin sharing your faith — not to win souls, because that is God's job, but to proclaim the gospel.
Adding a Sunday Evening Service
We are not simply sitting and waiting. As I said, we know that additional worship space is at least two and a half to three years away. Beginning January 1st, we will add a Sunday evening service. That service will be structured just like the morning services, and we would love to see about 250 of you join us Sunday night at six o'clock. My hope and my prayer is that it quickly grows into two services on Sunday evening, so that on Sunday morning we have three services and on Sunday night we have two. What that allows you to do is come on Sunday night, serve in a ministry, and worship in one trip.
When I talk about counting the cost, I do not mean only the financial cost, although that is certainly part of it. Some of you are going to have to come and worship in the morning and then return Sunday night to serve in the children's department, in ushering, or in any number of other ministries around the church. This process we are embarking on is very expensive — and I mean that in terms of human energy and time, not just money. All of the people you saw up front this morning are about to commit to serving both Sunday morning and Sunday night services until we can establish two fully separate teams carrying the same load.
Looking Ahead: Building, Faith, and Faithfulness
We want you to begin to be able to share what God is doing in your life with the people around you, and one of the most natural ways to do that is to invite people to church. We also know that when you can't get into the parking lot and you can't find a seat, that is going to be a low likelihood on your priority list. So we are simply going to trust God to work this out.
Some of you have said you like a big project — that when there is a big project, you will get involved. Well, here it is. Step up to the challenge, and we will find out what you are all about. That is what we are going to do, and God is going to do it. And if He doesn't do it, we will wait. As I said, we waited two years last time, and if we have to wait ten years, we will wait ten years.
My point is for you to understand that we are trying to address these issues and that you can be helpful to us in this process. Finances are going to be a big part of it.
Next Week and a Personal Prayer Request
Next week we look at genuine faith. Remember a week ago we looked at counterfeit faith? Next week is the counterbalance to that. I would ask you to pray for me this week as I travel to Houston for PAO — Athletes Outreach — where athletes gather together at the end of the year. These are times where I often question the value of going and sharing, and yet almost always, particularly at the end of the season, God has a lot of hurt and pain among these people — primarily baseball-affiliated — that He is working through. So please pray for me as we go.
A Call to Faithfulness
We have asked Janet today to close us out and remind us of this idea of faithfulness. There are 297 people somewhere, and right now you are sitting on what they did to make this possible. Maybe you can be part of that group that, twenty years from now, will look back and say, "Were you in that chapel when they talked about building this building?" We don't know. Janet.