Miracle Sunday Report - August 27, 2023
In March 2023, a gift of $6,000 was given by a member of Lakewood UMC with the direction it be used to reduce the principal balance of the debt owed for facilities at the church. Soon thereafter, other church members approached the staff about making an organized effort of some kind to eliminate the debt. The Holy Spirit was inspiring us with great energy to do something that felt impossible. And we felt an even greater urgency when our note renewed at a much higher interest rate. Rev. Todd Vick had previously led a “Miracle Sunday” to replace a broken stained glass window and pay off debt at another church, and proposed the idea for the same at Lakewood. The idea was to receive an offering on one single Sunday that would be the result of sacrificial giving over and above our ordinary tithes and gifts. We began to imagine all we could do to expand the light of Christ with the funds being used to pay principal and interest on this debt, around $12,000 per month! The Finance Committee gave its support to the plan and a small task force met to organize the event. The date was set for Sunday, July 16, 2023.
At that point LUMC’s debt stood at around $682,000. Letters were sent out notifying the church about the upcoming Miracle Sunday. Church leaders reached out to some faithful givers to request “seed” gifts before Miracle Sunday, and before Miracle Sunday we had received gifts and pledges of $217,000.00. During the 24 hour period before Miracle Sunday, we posted hourly videos of people of all ages praying for a miracle: youth, staff, former pastors, groups, even a two year old prayed! We had a joyous day of worship on Miracle Sunday; we shared Holy Communion, and as we came forward to Christ’s table we placed our Miracle Sunday offerings on the altar. At the end of the day our total stood at $317,000.
Miracle Sunday gifts kept coming in with the total climbing to $368,856.02.
Then on July 26, unbeknownst to anyone at Lakewood, a check was made payable to Lakewood United Methodist Church from the estate of Richard Homard, a member of LUMC who passed away on April 4, 2022 – over a year ago. Mr. Homard’s trust document imposed no restrictions on the use of the funds.
The check was made payable to Lakewood United Methodist Church in the amount of $501,570.48. The Executive Team of this church, the Trustees, and the Finance Committee support and have approved using this gift from Mr. Homard’s estate to go toward Miracle Sunday in an amount needed to pay the debt in full The total received to date with potential for use for the Miracle Sunday payoff amounts to: $870,426.50.
On August 24, 2023, the balance of the loan was paid in full in the amount of $694,732.95. This leaves a balance from the Homard bequest in the amount of $175,693.55 to be placed in reserves, in other words - to save for future needs of the church as approved by the leadership teams of this church.
We are grateful for every single person who prayed for and contributed to Miracle Sunday. But more than anything, we are grateful to God and pray that these gifts will bring glory to God both in announcing the miracle to the world, and in the way that we move forward without debt!
But the news we have to share does not end there.
Lakewood United Methodist Church was also named as a beneficiary of the charitable trust of Jill Pride Wiesner, a member of Lakewood United Methodist Church who passed away on May 18, 2022. Along with two other non-profit groups, Lakewood’s Endowment Committee is the beneficiary of ⅓ of the income of this trust in perpetuity. The charitable trust is currently valued at about 4 million dollars but is still being liquidated and is expected to be valued at $10-15 million. This means that each quarter Lakewood will receive ⅓ of the income from the trust which will go into Lakewood’s General Endowment Fund where the income from that income can be used for general purposes to meet our mission in the world. We expect to receive the first distribution from the Wiesner Trust in October. While this amazing gift will not be immediately impactful because we will be waiting for income to generate and principal to build, this gift will ultimately ensure that Lakewood United Methodist Church will expand the light of Christ into the world forever.
The faithful and hard-working leadership teams of this church have established the following priorities with these amazing gifts which are truly blessings and gifts from these faithful disciples and especially from God:
Pay off debt
Establish reserve funds (aka savings)
Develop a plan and process to use the funds no longer being used to pay debt to expand the light of Christ in extraordinary ways.
Honor and recognize Richard Homard and Jill Pride Wiesner.
The Trustees are also working to complete maintenance, repairs and renovations of our facilities using the proceeds from the sale of rental properties on Topf Road over the past year.
The report of God’s miracles is written with the hope that you who read it will tell everyone this story of God’s amazing grace!
Joyfully submitted,
Rev. Roy Beth Kelley
Senior Pastor
Lakewood United Methodist Church