Read this blog today by Jeff Garner... thought I'd share about His goodness:
www.beloveddiscipleship.com
So you know that building that you have read about in my blog? Well this picture is taken from the 3rd-floor-window of that building.
So here is the "rest of the story" you are curious about and I have been waiting to come. If you prayed for us I pray God smiles on you richly in 2009. Thank you.
Our bank had a meeting with upper management a several weeks back where we were the subject of discussion. Since that time I have not had a chance to meet with our Bank's Representatives mostly due to holiday activities. We set a meeting for after Christmas (12/29/08) for them to brief me on the meeting outcomes. Here is what was said yesterday evening.
“Pastor Garner, after meeting with upper management it was determined that the relationship we have with you is very important to us and worth our efforts to keep. We want to invest in this relationship with you and Lighthouse. You should know that of all the businesses and non-profits in similar scenarios (in our portfolio) with covenant defaults, our bank has terminated and is in the process of terminating those relationships. You are the only one we feel strongly about keeping."
Before I could ask, “Why?” they told me, “You have been in constant communication with us from the start. You have come up with creative solutions to your challenges. You didn’t make excuses for the fact that we are in a recession, you just got out there and did everything you could to make it work. Your attitude and willingness to work with us and do whatever we asked caused us to realize that we really want to build a long relationship with this church. Upper management has had a complete change of heart.”
“Thank you.” I replied. “I guess at some point I realized that we were going to have to face this scenario in in the near future anyway, with our balloon payment and all, and we want a good reputation.”
“About that, “ the lead Rep interrupted, “we think because of the history and way you have worked with us that when we get to that point that meeting will be a good meeting. If things continue to improve and you continue to build a relationship with us that balloon payment date will be favorable to you. Although we can make no promises now, simply based on your history with us, the bank will want to keep you. Like I said we want to build relationships with people like you. During the economic crisis that we are in, we decided as a bank to find a niche in the banking market by building lasting relationships with people of character. True numbers tend to be the bottom line of every bank, we want to make people and relationships as much a part of the bottom line as we can. We are saying that we want a relationship with you.”
I responded, “Well the church really rallied and came together through this adversity. They demonstrated a desire to make it work and they are motivated. The people of this church get it. They are thankful for a place to worship and a hub to rally ourselves for community outreaches. They have a strong sense of purpose and mission. And frankly many of us have determined we arent going anywhere. We here for the long haul.”
“This is all good news,” they replied. “We want you to feel comfortable calling us and talking with us about anything. We have relationships with a lot of people in different industries and expertise and we can help in many areas. If it looks like you are running late on a payment just call us. We want to work with you. Again, you have really demonstrated to us what we as a bank needed and wanted to see. During this mortgage crisis so many people have just walked away, using the mass mortgage exodus as a means of hiding from responsibility. You didn’t do that. In fact, you need to know that we often give donations for events and projects. We want to have the kind of relationship with you that we do that for you from time to time. I would like to recommend a Golf Tournament or something of that nature. We give and support things like this in the community. We can't really support religious activities but a golfing event that raises money or something similar would be great. Let me know and we will get right on it!”
As the left the building. I sat their stunned by the complete reversal, change of heart. Of course, they reminded me that we have to make our payments in order for this to work but the covenant clauses they are granting us grace on as we improve our position. Thank God, thank God, thank God. I just bless him and praise him for this.
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