Years ago our church was located in the Head Start building at the corner of Washington and Maple streets in Waterloo. We worked hard to fill that building and minister to kids and teenagers. We added a second service on Sundays, but ran out of classroom space for adult groups (an important part of discipleship).

So, we rented the upstairs apartment across the street where we added three classrooms. Then we purchased the house next door and demolished it for parking. Next, we purchased a modular classroom from a church in Mexico, Indiana, and moved it in next door to the church, which made a great youth ministry hall. All those moves bought us some time as we continued to grow and dream of building a new facility.

During those trying times God spoke to my heart and told me not to look at the obstacles, but to do whatever it takes to keep reaching people. So, we kept taking risks and expanding. That’s the strategy of the Kingdom of God: Keep taking spiritual risks and expanding.