moving night

Tonight, Straban Township held a meeting for public comment on their proposed zoning amendment.

I wept through it, but not for the reasons you might think!

We opened and I expressed my concern about how we are now a "non-conforming use" due to their last zoning change. This new proposed zoning ordinance suggests that they not allow non conforming uses to expand past 20%! Our proposed building addition had us adding 50% to our facility, which the current zoning allows.

So I asked them to reconsider. They told me that they missed this detail and it was a mistake. They did not mean for it to read 20%.

So the meeting could have been over. But the problem is, more than 100 people had gathered from all over the county to express themselves. And they were going to have their say.

So we heard them. Stories about how God used Freedom Valley to get them off drugs, help them discover purpose, helped them get work, saved their marriage, and cared for their handicapped children. Even people who had never attended our church spoke and defended us like we were their own children. It was unbelievable.

I was so moved by their stories, I sat there and wiped tears for 90 minutes. I felt like God showed me again why church matters, what difference it makes, and how God has allowed us to help Him in His work!

I think the township might be inclined to help us after all that they heard tonight. But no matter what they do, they cannot stop the power of God from working among us, and lives changing for His glory. It simply cannot be stopped.

It could, however, be helped if they chose to allow us to build and move forward.