If you build it . . .

One of the first movies I can remember seeing in the theatre was Field of Dreams. A classic movie by any definition with unforgettable lines- none more memorable than "if you build it, people will come". I don't want to necessarily tackle the notion on whether churches ought to build new buildings or not, but how churches can utilize their facility as a blessing to the community and specifically their multi-purpose buildings and/or gymnasiums.

At Hillcrest, we've been all over the map with this issue. 3 years ago, we were renting out our Family Life Center often to sports teams, non profits, and other groups. We were cheap and available but unfortunately had no purpose or system to our efforts. The result was often a building that was double booked and created confusion and anxiety for the people and the groups using our facility. 2 years ago we overcorrected this easy policy with a much stricter policy that significantly raised the fees and added an elaborate system complete with request forms and lease agreements. We lowered the double booking and the axiety, but still had no purpose. Our facility thus sat empty most nights and while we were embarking on an effort to love our neighbors and community, our message when it came to our facility was don't bother us. On Tuesday night our Leadership Council adopted a policy that resembles the one from three years ago (with much lower fees) but now has a purpose behind it in that we want to bless our neighbors with our building. We want families across the street to use it for a graduation open house, for the dad in the neighborhood to use it for his son's basketball practice, and for the local boy scouts pack to use it for their meetings. We're paying the costs associated with running the building so why not use it?