WARSAW – “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.” The familiar Scripture verse, Psalm 127:1, is affirming for one pastor and his congregation as they recently held a note burning celebration signifying their church building status as paid-in-full.
“In April of 2007, the Lord spoke to me and said, ‘Build my church,’” said Pastor Van Mellen of Poplar Baptist Church of Warsaw.
Pastor Mellen had just accepted an interim pastoral position with Poplar, after retiring from the United States Air Force. As one might understand, Pastor Mellen questioned his hearing and ignored the command for about a year.
“I struggled with God for a year and finally gave in,” Pastor Mellen said. “I began telling members of the church what God had told me to do. To my surprise the congregation jumped on board, and we started a building program.”
The small country church just north of Warsaw had need of a larger and more modern facility. The dilemma, however, was financial as after a year a mere $1,000 had been raised for the building program.
But God provided. Through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, a church family offered $250,000 to kick-off construction. The generous terms of the loan were too gracious to refuse, and ground-breaking began in 2010.
“As additional money was needed to finish the new church building, a bank loan was secured,” Pastor Mellen said. “The church congregation was diligent in their giving and after 11 years, monies were available to pay-off the bank loan. The remaining balance on the loan from the church family was forgiven at this time as well.”
To commemorate the achievement, Poplar Baptist Church enjoyed a note burning ceremony following a recent Sunday morning service. Only a few of the originating members remain, who stepped out in faith with Pastor Van Mellen and his wife Kem.
Pastor Mellen said, “God continues to richly bless the church with new and equally faithful members, in the beautiful complex currently valued at more than $1.4 million. Jesus paid it all!”