Expanding for a Greater Impact: A God Story!

By Jeff Keaton

Last May, our Executive Administrator, Judy Ralph, mentioned that a very nice office building was going up for auction just ten minutes away from our then-current office. It piqued my interest enough to drive by the building. Before the day was over, several of our team members had toured the building and sensed that we should look more deeply into this opportunity. We had recently hired a new employee and had to place her desk in a conference room due to a lack of available office space. We were also interested in a larger office to host larger groups for on-site training events.

As we looked into this possibility, we discovered that the new office building was 9,200 square feet, had been built just 11 years ago, and was in overall excellent condition. The building had been on the market for 1.7 million, but we were told it could be bought for considerably less. We then invited some of our local board members and financial partners to walk through the building with us. One person after another had the sense that we should seriously pursue the purchase of this building. In just ten days, six of our financial partners committed $800,000 toward its purchase. After some discussion, the owners, who were excited to see a Christian organization purchase the building, agreed to sell it to us for 1.1 million.

At the close of a RenewaNation board meeting on Friday, July 18, I told the board that we had raised $909,000 toward the 1.1 million purchase. We were scheduled to close on the building on Monday, July 21, and I told the board I was still trusting God to provide the remaining $191,000 by that date so we could close debt-free. Bruce Smith closed our meeting in prayer and asked the Lord if He would give us the $191,000 by closing on Monday. We said goodbye to our board members nationwide and closed out the Google Meet. Before I could stand up, Curtis Cornell, our COO, came flying through the door with a FedEx envelope in his hands. In the upper corner was the name of one of our most generous partners. Curtis asked me if I would like to open the envelope, which I was thrilled to do. Inside, was a check for $200,000. Wow! We had a hallelujah celebration right there in that little conference room.

By the time you read this article, we will have been in our new office for several months. This God story has very little to do with a building but a whole lot to do with God’s intentions. We believe He gave us this new headquarters building because He has much greater plans for RenewaNation and the accomplishment of our mission to give children a biblical worldview. In His time, He made us aware of this building, spoke to our donors’ hearts about paying for this building, and gave us grand plans to use this new office to reach more children with a biblical worldview. To God be the glory, great things He has done!