Amplify the vision. Don't amputate it.

Back in April, when we opened our Building Our Home series, we named a tension every church faces once it starts to build. A building can amplify a vision, or it can amputate it. With the right priorities, a home makes more room for who God is forming us to be. Without them, the building slowly becomes the vision, and people become a means to an end.

Scripture shows us what that looks like. In Genesis 11, humanity gathers on a plain in Shinar and says, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let's make a name for ourselves." Babel had a building project. It had bricks, a plan, and a crew that worked together. What it didn't have was God at the center. It was a tower built to reach heaven on human terms, for human glory. And it amputated the vision God had given humanity from the very beginning: to fill the earth with His image and His presence.

That's why our five priorities matter so much: Jesus-First, Practice-Based, Honor-Filled, Home-Grown, and Mission-Focused. If we keep them at the forefront, building our home will amplify our vision. If we lose them, it will amputate it.

Our goal was never to build a name for ourselves, to grow our attendance, or to compete with other churches in our area. Babel climbed up to make a name for itself. Jesus came down, humbled Himself, and was given the name above every name (Philippians 2:9). So, as we build, we keep asking two questions: what are we building, and whose name are we building it for?

Becoming is the goal. The building is the tool. We are building a home for teaching, community, practice, the Holy Spirit, and moments and marathons, so that we can keep becoming disciples formed by Jesus, together, for others.

Take a moment to pause and pray:

Jesus,
Keep us from building for our own name.
Make this home a place that amplifies Yours,
And form us, peace by piece, into people who look like You.
Amen.

Generosity is an act of worship.

It can be easy for any building initiative or fundraising campaign to begin feeling tedious, transactional, or even impossible. As we get closer to our goal of raising $2.5 million for our future building, practicing generosity together can seem like a chore or financial burden, and we can begin to doubt the reality of our goal. But our goal is bigger than a building. Our end goal is to become better disciples of Jesus, together, for the sake of others. Our future building is simply a means to that end. But that means, alongside raising money and pooling our finances together, we must also pause occasionally to orient ourselves back towards Jesus, and to see this initiative as a means of discipleship, just like any other practice.

In Matthew 6:21 Jesus tells his disciples that where they put their financial wealth reveals where their hearts are truly at. In context, he's reminding them that in order to live in the Kingdom, they must choose to reorient their hearts away from their wealth and towards Jesus Himself. In other words, what they do with their money reveals what they actually worship.

Today, just like the disciples, practicing generosity is ultimately an act of worship. We give our resources to God in faith, even before we see results, and in return, Jesus shapes our hearts so that we desire less earthly stuff and more of Him. As good as a future church building will be, even better is the community that we're trusting Jesus will form within it. So, we practice generosity not simply because our church needs money, but because generosity helps form us into people who trust God more than we trust our possessions.

Your piece in this initiative matters, but not just because we need everyone's financial support. Your piece matters because we're aiming to be an actual community of disciples who orient their lives around Jesus together. Your generosity is an act of worship alongside the generosity of your church family. Every time we give, we are practicing what it looks like to trust God together, to hold what we have with open hands, and to believe that our resources are ultimately his.

Take a moment to pause and pray:

Jesus,
Form us into people who look, think, and act like You.
Loosen our grip on our wealth, and make us generous,
So that our hearts desire more of You.
Amen.

Our goal was always bigger than a building.

When we launched Building Our Home Peace by Piece, our 2-year building initiative, our goal was always bigger than just starting a giving campaign to fund a building. As a church, we've always strived to become attenders disciples formed by Jesus, together, for others. Launching this initiative was, to us, another way to take a step of faith in our discipleship together. To us, a permanent home is a tool that will deepen our ability to be formed by Jesus for generations to come, starting with our generosity today.

Every prayer offered, every act of generosity, and every step of faith reminds us that God has always built His Church through ordinary people who trust Him together. Thank you for continuing to be part of what He's building at Passion Creek. Your piece truly matters.

Watch our home fill in, in real time.

We added something to buildpeacebypiece.com that we have wanted for a while. It is a live tracker, and it keeps itself current as commitments and gifts come in.

The building fills as we move toward the goal. Underneath it you will find the percentage committed, the total committed so far, how much has actually been given, and how many days are left in the two year initiative.

We wanted something that shows this for what it is. Not a fundraising thermometer, but a picture of a church filling in a home together, peace by piece.

On one Sunday in May, our church said yes together.

On May 17, we finished six weeks in Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, and Nehemiah, and then we did something we had never done before. We filled out commitment cards and brought them forward as one church.

We said all through that series that this initiative was never mainly about a building. It was about becoming disciples formed by Jesus, together, for others, and taking a step of faith in that direction at the same time. Commitment Day was that step. Two weeks later, on Celebration Sunday, we got to look at what God had done through all of us at once.

We want to put those numbers in front of you again, because behind every one of them is a person who prayed and decided.

Six weeks in Haggai, Ezra, and Nehemiah.

Nine days after we gathered on the property for Good Friday, we began a six week teaching series on what it means to build a home together. It ran from April 12 to May 17.

We spent those weeks with people who had done this before. Haggai preaching to a discouraged remnant. Ezra rebuilding an altar before he rebuilt a temple. Nehemiah with a wall, a plan, and opposition on every side. The reason we stayed there so long is simple. A building can amplify a vision, or it can amputate it.

The opening message set the table. The five that followed named the priorities we keep coming back to. We are Jesus-first rather than growth-first. Practice-based rather than performance-based. Honor-filled builders in a world of breakers. A home-grown church where everybody builds. And mission-focused, when coming down off the wall would be easier.

The final message, Mission-Focused, was Commitment Day itself.

The first time we ever gathered on the land.

On Good Friday, April 3, we set up chairs in the dirt and held the first service ever held on our property. We stood roughly where the building will one day sit, facing the wrong direction. The wind kept taking the pages. We ran out of chairs.

It had been 3,736 days since our first Sunday. On January 10, 2016, everything our church owned fit inside a small red trailer. We had five thousand dollars in the account, we met at Harkins Theatres, and our very first service was cut short when the previews began for the 11:45 showing.

Ten years later we were standing on ground that belongs to this church, singing into the wind at golden hour.