The end is near!


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“As for you, brothers, do not grow weary in doing good.” -2 Thess. 3:13

2015 Building Campaign

The End

is

Near!

“The end is near!” No, I’m not talking about the “end times”, but the end of our capital campaign (“Journey of Faith” or “JOF”)! At this point, we have paid off 75% of our facilities debt and have dipped below $750,000 of debt remaining! I hope the information in this newsletter is an encouragement to you to join us for the home stretch of this campaign! This newsletter contains important financial information as well as encouraging testimonies from three North Wakers. Mike and Beury Derstine have been members at NW for 1 year. Mike works for Genworth Financial as Chief Risk Officer at U.S. Mortgage Insurance Unit and Beury works at home raising their 3 children. Wanda Adams has been a NWer for 11 years and is best known as Oak “Surprise” Jackson’s grandmother! Last but not least, Greg Bowers is our student pastor and serves many of our families by loving and shepherding our teens. He and his wife Nicolle have been at NW for 9 years. I hope these brief testimonies from other NWers, some who have been involved in JOF from the beginning and others who have joined in more recently, will be an encouragement to you as you prayerfully seek what God would have you give to this important matter. Thankful for you all,

Larry

Crunching the Numbers 2014 Total Building Fund Pledges $177,000.00 As of September 30, 2014 2014 Building Fund Pledges Received $123,790.00 ($9,325.00 Less than Pledged) 2014 Interest Paid $24,300.00 Principal Balance $744,000.00 Potential Mortgage Payoff in 2019

JOF FAQ’s

When I make my pledge, how long is it for? —These pledges are for one year only - from January to December of 2015

What is our remaining debt? —We owe approximately $744,000

We obviously will not pay off the entire debt in one year. What is the goal set for paying off all the debt? —At our current rate of giving, we will pay off our debt by June 2019.

How much do we need to give each year to pay off the debt by 2019? —To pay off the debt by 2019, we need around $177,000.

Why does the church have 2 budgets (JOF and the general operating budget)? —When our congregation decided to build a new facility, we did not want to build it at the expense of our regular ministries. In order to accomplish that, a separate budget was set up that would be funded by special sacrificial giving above and beyond our regular offerings to NW.

How do I designate what portion of my giving goes to JOF and to the general budget? —You can simply write JOF and the amount to go to JOF on the memo line of your check. You do not have to write a separate check, though you can if you prefer. For details about payroll deductions and other kinds of electronic giving, contact Lisa Pereira at [email protected]. If you do not designate this on your check, NONE of the check goes to JOF.

I have not been able to fulfill my previous JOF commitments. Should I make a new pledge or finish those first? —Completing your previous commitments is a great thing if you are able (2 Cor. 8:10-12). If that is what God leads you to do, for our records, it would be most helpful to reflect that plan to fulfill your previous commitments as (part of) your JOF commitment for 2015. That way we will have a better idea of the giving to expect in this coming year’s campaign.

Why are we giving away 10% of our JOF? —We give away 10% of our JOF gifts to ministries like our church plants, orphanages, pregnancy centers and special projects of our missionaries. Jesus taught that “where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also.” In light of that reality, we are giving away the “first fruits” of our JOF offerings to direct our hearts towards the needs of others above our own. We also hope it will help us grow to love the kind of giving that we will be able to do when our debt is gone so that, when that day comes, we would rather give to others than spend on ourselves.

Why I Keep Giving

Not everyone is called to go to the nations. Some serve in mission fields right where they are. Within these walls, within these small groups, the spirit of truth is spoken and lived out daily! Why give to Journey of Faith? Because you have no way of knowing the great love that this church has for each one of us who call North Wake home and the depth and richness of the preaching, teaching, programs, services that form our minds to heavenly pursuits.

We have been studying Acts the past few months and if we look around North Wake do we not see a healthy, vibrant church like mentioned in Acts right after Christ left this earth? Small Groups, Life Change, Hope Counseling, Worship Ministry, International & Local Outreach, Technology, Communication, Children’s Ministry, Student Ministry, Women’s and Men’s Ministry, Feed, Service Station, MOPS, ESL, Sojourner, Forgotten No More, Corporate Prayer, Church Plants, Missionaries of 33 plus around the world…and many more, have North Wake as a home base!!!1 Cor. 12:12 “The body is a unit, though it has many parts, and though its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.” How do we continue to grow into a Christ honoring body? By serving, loving and pointing to riches beyond this world and sending more people out to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth. If we cannot go ourselves, then is it not our obligation to serve where we are by supporting our programs, buildings and each other through Journey of Faith? Prov. 11:24-25 “There is one who scatters, yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, but resulted only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters, will himself be watered.” Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Prov. 3:27-28 “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, Go and come back tomorrow, I will give it. When you have it with you.”

1 Tim. 3:8-10 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming life, so they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Each year as I renew my commitment to JOF, I rejoice at what the Lord has already done and is yet to do! North Wake proves that Christ is at work here! Pray and let’s join together, being of one mind to finish well so that our hearts will be prepared for the next journey that the Lord has for us! Gratefully,

Wanda Adams

Joining the Journey Beury and I moved to Wake Forest in the summer of 2013 and visited many churches looking for a home. At North Wake we experienced leadership dedicated to growing and stretching its members to see the world around them through Christ’s eyes. We found a community of faith stretching its resources to reach the lost not only in Wake Forest but around the world. As new members considering a commitment to the Journey of Faith, we saw it as an opportunity to join in this work, giving thanks for what God has done in the past and to be a part of what He will do in the future at North Wake. The Journey of Faith for us is so much more than just about a building. It is about giving thanks for a place to worship the living and active God. It is about supporting a ministry where each week we’re poured into through expository teaching and in which we pour ourselves out through service to others. It is about an expectation that in this place we will continue to see God raise up leaders to plant new churches and missionaries to carry God’s Word far beyond our community. It is about a safe place for young mothers to find connection and hope; a space for students to be led in discipleship; a storehouse to feed the hungry, and so much more. We felt led to be a part of the Journey of Faith because it is an investment in the multiplying work of North Wake.

Michael Derstine

In Plenty and In Want God has been faithful in so many ways. Our time here at North Wake has been a magnifying glass and a megaphone for His faithfulness in our lives. It has brought it more in focus and magnified it for our all-to-often blind eyes and deaf ears. Only a few short years ago we were struggling financially as a nation and as a church. And we were struggling as a family. I was part-time here at the church and Nicolle’s real estate business was feeling the effects of the economic downturn and the bursting of the “real estate bubble.”Yet during that time God was faithful in supplying ALL of our needs. At a time when many people were losing jobs and not able to find work, we were both able to take on extra jobs. We both worked at the YMCA and I served hot dogs at a local school. I remember one day looking over a bank statement with amazement that we were paying all of our bills and had a little left over each month. Nicolle reminded me that God was providing for us through the jobs we were blessed to have. In the midst of that, Nicolle and I committed to be more faithful than we had ever been in stewarding the resources with which God was blessing us. That meant not only tithing but making and fulfilling our Journey of Faith pledge, giving to friends and family who were on the mission field, sponsoring a Compassion International child, and bidding extravagantly at the EnterMissions auction. I remember those lean years fondly. The word “faithfulness” just keeps coming to mind. God was so faithful in sustaining us as a family and as a church. The past couple of years have seen great blessing in the Bowers family. God is blessing Nicolle’s real estate business. I were able to come on full-time as the youth pastor in January of 2013. But I pray that God will keep us trusting in Him alone. In plenty and in want, God is faithful.

Greg Bowers

1212 S. Main St. Wake Forest, NC 27587