There has been a lot of behind-the-scenes activity toward beginning construction of the Northstar Ministry Center.  Our Building, Prayer, Communications, Fund-Raising, and Financing Teams have been diligent in their work.  At our Member Meeting on August 20, 2017, we voted to approve the pursuit of financing our project with Ziegler Financial. As we shared in our November update:

“..we were on the verge of getting a financial audit done when we received word [from Ziegler] that our 2017 income to date (at the end of September) is not what they were expecting to see. Since it’s substantially less than prior years (so far), they advised us to wait until the end of the year to see what our receipts look like before proceeding with the audit or applying for financing.”

We are excited to share with you that the money given through end of the year for the Immeasurably More campaign ($​462,074!) put us in a position to proceed forward with an audit – a necessary first step for receiving final approval for financing from Ziegler. That audit will be taking place this week – January 15-16! (Please be praying for Megan Evans as she is the point person on staff and will be working directly with the auditor to provide documents and reports.)

After the completion of the audit, Northstar will be informed as to our borrowing capacity from the lender’s perspective.  That is an important piece of information that will be considered by the Building Team and Leadership Team, and recommended next steps will be communicated to the church membership. Our building was completed with sufficient detail to develop a cost estimate for the project, which helps us understand the amount of money we will need to finance. (We are currently projecting a $6 million project.)

It is our expectation to be approved for financing with Ziegler. Therefore, we are updating the Request for Proposals (RFP) document that will be submitted to carefully selected General Contractors for their bids. Those bids will  be analyzed by the Building Team, and we will interview contractors that offer the greatest value and best alignment with our vision for our Ministry Center and make a selection on the best candidate.

The Immeasurably More Team is being thorough, thoughtful,  properly patient, and sensitive to God’s direction.  We are getting ever closer to “getting started,” which is also often referred to by Jeff Noble as “when dirt starts flying.”

Please continue to be in prayer for our leadership, and  church family, the financial requirements of the project, and all of the contractors and laborers that will be contributing to construction of our ministry center.

Until the next update, be confident in the Bible’s promise:

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)