A Church Finance Story, And God’s Miracle

The testimony below is a story we received from Pastor Michael Acker. We hope you find it encouraging.

Many church leaders and christians hear either the bad stories of what happens at churches, or they hear the HUGE stories of what God is doing in the BIG churches.  But, I wanted to share about what God is doing in this smaller church in a city of 33,000.  First, a little backstory though.

Citipoint Church was started in 1948 in Mount Vernon, Washington.  When my wife and I came to Citipoint in 2011, the church was in a financial crisis. Previous plans for campus expansion had fallen through, resulting in 4 million dollars of debt. As a result, the building was neglected, and outdated. But, GOD was working!

We met with the banks.  We prayed.  In the fall of 2012, we enrolled in your Giving Rocket coaching program. It was an answer to prayer. I preached on giving.  All the while, preaching on Jesus.  We invited people to come. And, we invited people to give.  We prayed, we prayed, and we prayed some more.

People were saved.  The church began to grow.  150.  175.  200.  And, the church began to give.  It was TIGHT though!  One month, we only had $3,000 in our accounts.  But, we were making it!  And, we weren’t falling deeper in the hole. During that whole first year and even to date, I am the only full time paid staff member.   I am convinced if I had not followed the Giving Rocket coaching perfectly, we would have had a shutdown!  (We did it ALL.)

We prayed more.  We saw more people saved.  We preached on money until people either gave or left!  We didn’t have a choice.  We talked about money until my top givers said, “okay, you’ve talked about it now.”  We also did Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University.

The church grew to over 300.  The finances grew.  After a year and a half, we took 5 full months to just worked on debt and hold prayer/business meetings about debt and money.  We did a Jericho walk.  60 people walked around the building.  We prayed.  And, we kept up with the systems coaching and financial coaching.

Then, we brokered a deal to have one bank buy out another bank.  In response the bank offered us a deed-in-lieu.  We had a unanimous vote to accept.  We voted again to move.  Once again, unanimous vote to look for a new home.   And we found one!  Then we did a special Thrive/Christmas offering in December. The Church gave a double tithe! $33,000.

Now, we are moving into a new location, DEBT FREE! The Church is still growing, and six people were saved just recently. We still have work to do, and it is still hard sometimes, but God is at work.  And His church is praying.

I wanted you and others to hear this story and to hear the great things God is doing in a smaller church.  We appreciate all prayers and support as we go on and reach this city and county for Jesus!

Pastor Michael Acker, Citipoint Church, Mount Vernon, WA

To learn a little more about their story, you can check out their video here.