Why do we need so much land? In other words, what are the plans for the land?

We don’t NEED this much land to do church. But, the 2Rivers vision has always been to create a ‘Campus’ where we can do life 24/7/365 and reach the people of St. Charles County and the world. When we first started looking at land 5-6 years ago, we were looking at 60+ plus acres. The day we were signing the contract for that 60+ acres on Hwy DD, Tom Hughes called and said he would like to donate 40 acres to 2Rivers. As time went by, the land gift from Tom Hughes dwindled to 17 acres (11 usable acres). So when the opportunity arose to exchange the 17 acres for the 102 acres plus $2 million dollars we felt this was a great opportunity.
The elders of 2Rivers see many possible opportunities for this land. Building a 2Rivers campus complete with;
Youth ministry areas
Place to have Fall Festival with Matthias Lot
House of Hope type activities
Church Planting ideas
Warehouse for storing items for our Mission trips
Daycare facilities
Sports facilities
Team with other Christian organizations for local outreach
Community use
And many other ideas.

We are currently working on a Master Plan and should have something in place by summer or fall 2008.

Why are we making interest only payments on the land?

This is the choice of mortgage we decided upon. It kept our payments down with the thought of making annual payments towards the principal. We made a $50K principal payment at the end of last year to pay down the mortgage. Our plan is to continue to do that.
We are currently paying about $150K annually in rent for all of the facilities we are using (Timberland HS, LSL office building and storage facilities). If we can build a building that will give us a weekly meeting place, house our offices and store our resources, we can eliminate this $150k yearly expense and put that money toward the building fund.
We are working with a company to determine our building project capabilities. This will allow us to determine how much debt we can afford to take on to build a building.

Is it good stewardship to be making interest only payments?

We believe it is good stewardship to be making interest only payments with the ability to make principal payments on a regular basis. This is fairly common during the pre-construction and construction phases. Plus, we wanted the flexibility of making principal payments at our discretion rather than having them bank-mandated on a monthly basis. We paid $50,000 off principal in January, which puts us years ahead in pay down if we were just making monthly payments. We may also use whatever we don’t spend in ‘08 of the $150k budgeted amount for interest, to be paid as an additional principal payment at the end of ‘08. That could be $20,000-$25,000 with interest rates declining and our refi earlier this month.
Interest-only is only a good thing if we maintain the discipline of making a constant and deliberate effort to reduce debt. If it becomes a way of just passing time, then it’s not a good thing.

Could we potentially sell 40 acres and pay off the loan on the land?

Yes, the potential is there to sell some acreage as God wills.

What is the long term plan for getting the church out of debt?

The long term plan is to begin a Building Campaign in the fall of 2008 to pay for the land and construction of Phase I of 2Rivers Church at the Duello Rd site.

Why did we purchase the additional 2 acres on Duello Rd?

Those 2 acres gave us twice as much frontage on Duello Rd (South entrance). The cost of the 2 acres was below market value at $105k. Which we felt was a good buy. This piece of land will possibly give us an area to put a building on for our offices before we get our Phase I building built. Lastly, purchasing this land keeps an undesirable establishment from buying it and setting up shop at the entrance of our property.

When will we break ground for a new church building?

We will begin a capital campaign in fall 08 to raise money for Phase I of our vision. Hopefully as God provides we will be able to break ground shortly thereafter.

Is there agreement among the elders on this plan?

The elders are in agreement. Is there difference of opinion amongst a group of fallible men on how this should be approached? Yes. But, we are of one heart and mind. We are waiting on numbers to come back from the stewardship campaign company who will help determine affordability for our next steps.