What’s happening now at Church On The Lake is the culmination of an fifteen year adventure. You may know that before I became Pastor there had been a man who swindled the church and created huge financial liabilities which were rolled into the churches mortgage. The scandal was splattered on headlines across the state and devastated the name of the church in the community. When I came in as pastor there were only about 15 people left of a church that once ran in the hundreds. The treasurer told me that the church had 6 months of solvency left based on the financial trend. But God had another plan. He began to show us a vision of a church rising from the ashes. He showed us that shipwrecks can be turned into lighthouses and that Church On The Lakes best days were many to come.
  Then He led me to take our greatest step of faith yet. He told me we were to completely forgive the swindler who had destroyed the churches name and finances and release him from all his restitution debt being payed through the legal system.
 That was a huge decision but we knew God was telling us that this step of faith would be the door to a new era of financial and spiritual freedom at Church On The Lake.

  The board and the church body obeyed the Lords direction and voted unanimously to forgive the debt. We notified the authorities of our decision and they confirmed it in writing. Then I sent all the relevant information to the man who had committed the crime. Some time later he wrote to me and in  a tearful letter, he repented and asked forgiveness for all that he had done to hurt the church and it's name. He thanked us for our mercy. As I read his letter aloud to the entire congregation, tremendous healing and freedom began to set in and our past was finally being put behind us and a new day was beginning. We trusted God and saw growth and strength return. God healed the churches name in the sight of the community.