Church Relocation

II.  The Course of Buying the New Church in Plano

Prayer: Everything by Prayer

As the old Chinese saying goes, each endeavor is difficult at the onset. The process of Church relocation was no exception. While the decision had been made to relocate the church, we had no idea where the new church would be. With a multitude of things that we were required to do, we did not know where to start. All committee members prayed constantly for this matter and waited patiently for God’s guidance.

In August 2006, a real estate agent informed me that an American church was for sale in Plano. The location was very convenient and many Chinese lived close by. The size of land was about 5 acres and the building size was 18,000 square feet. The building was fairly new and the other conditions also met our requirement. However, the asking price of $4 million was beyond our reach. At that time, I was thinking perhaps our church committee might consider an offer of $2.4 million. I told the Relocation Committee about this opportunity and invited all the members to visit the site. After the visit, everyone agreed that the church was perfect for us  but we could not afford the asking price. Eventually, we made an offer of $2 million to the seller, hoping to have a chance to negotiate with him. The seller simply ignored our offer and told our agent angrily that he was insulted by such a low offer.

After this event, the agent continued to provide us with sale information on many lands and buildings, including existing churches and commercial buildings, but none of them met our requirements.  So the committee went back to the original plan to search for a piece of land to buy first. During that time, I had also contacted the builders I knew to find out the construction costs, etc. I had also contacted banks to inquire about loan terms, interest rates, and other related matters and I had also started to work on a budgetary plan of the funding requirement for  purchasing land and construction costs. 

In early 2007, the church relocation process had not made any progress for more than six months. Still we prayed together at every Relocation Committee meeting. All the committee members started a fasting prayer at noon of every first Sunday of the month, and later, we also invited church members to join in the fasting prayer.

Miracle:  God Leading the Way

In 2007, from March through May, we found several pieces of land that were suitable to build our church, but we didn’t pursue them any further due to the high price. Then, in June, we became interested in another piece of land with the right location and price. At the time, we could afford to purchase this land with cash, so I was excited that surely this deal would go through. Unfortunately, 2-3 weeks later, we found out thatthe land had a deed restriction prohibiting new owners from building a church on the property. I was very discouraged and very puzzled at the time.  I didn’t understand why God had stopped us at the last moment. But God had His plan. While we thought we had lost our best choice, He had installed an even better one for us- our current church. Imagine this: we would have still been in our old church in Garland, waiting to build a new church, celebrating our 30^th anniversary there, if we had purchased the land instead. Needless to say, The cost

would also have been much higher and we would have had to raise more money from the congregation. The interesting thing was, after signing the contract with the Plano church, the real estate agent for the land came back and asked if we were still interested in buying the land because the seller had changed his mind and he would lift the deed restriction and allow the buyer to build a church on the property.  Praise the Lord! He had been leading us one step at a time toward the best choice. I truly believe that the church we now own is God’s ultimate blessing for us.

In August of 2007, our agent informed me that the Plano church had lowered their price to $3.2 million. However, it was nonnegotiable.  When I heard that, I became very excited and thought maybe God had intended for us to buy that church.  At 9 AM on Saturday, August 18, I called for a Relocation Committee meeting. In the meeting, we did an in-depth analysis of buying an existing church versus buying land and building a church. After praying together on this matter, all members agreed that we would continue to pursue buying the Plano church, even though the price was still out of reach.  After one more detailed calculation of the church’s financial situation, committee members made a decision to give me full authority to negotiate with the seller with the price limits of $2.8 million.  

On Sunday, July 19, 2008, I informed our congregation of this good news and asked everyone to put the buying and selling negotiations on their prayer list.  The following day, I met with our agent to decide on a new offer for the Plano church. He reminded me that the seller was very firm on the new price $3.2 million.  He advised me that he would not submit any offer less than $3.2 million for fear that the seller, who was the owner and also a senior pastor of the church, would be offended. He mentioned that the seller was a very successful businessman with a very strong personality and he was not easy to deal with. 

After listening to the agent’s analysis of the situation, I was worried about how we could afford this new church with a $400,000 price difference from our top price of $2.8 million. I felt lost on how to start the negotiation without jeopardizing the deal.  I knew that I had to trust God wholeheartedly in this matter.  What I did at that time was plead and pray to God.  I implored to Him to grant us this church, asking Him to give us his blessing if the church was what he meant for us to have.  I knew God would allow it to happen if it is his will.  During that time, all I could do was learn to trust, obey and have faith in the Lord.

Besides finding a new church, the Church Relocation Committee had another challenging task – selling the old church at the same time. Between buying and selling, timing was very important and it was hard to coordinate the right timing.  Again, in God’s gracious hand, while we were pursuing the new church, two potential buyers were simultaneously interested in buying our old church. One buyer was a Hispanic church in Garland, and the other one was an Indian church in Irving. 

We knew we had to sell our old church in order to purchase the Plano church, but the two interested buyers for our old church also needed to sell their churches. Needless to say, with so many complicated variables involved, if one party didn’t sell its church, all deals would fail. At those difficult moments, my worries increased and I had many sleepless nights. But God’s words and assurance eventually calmed me down.

On August 24, 2007, I made an appointment with our agent in the morning at the Planochurch to meet apotential tenant for a day care center.  I didn’t expect to meet the owner, Mr. Norrell,at the church. But for some unknown reason, he was in his office instead of in Louisiana where he was supposed to be that morning. I was very excitedbecause our agent had failed several times to arrange a meeting, and I grabbed this great opportunity and knocked at his door. Praise the Lord! This face-to-face meeting was a good beginning and also a big step in our negotiation.    

I introduced myself to Rev. Norrell and he immediately rememebered that I was from FCCD, the church that made a low offer for his church about a year and half earlier. “Hi,I said, I am from FCCD and I am not here to steal your church.”, thinking it was a nice way to start our conversation. Rev. Norrell explained that his church was going to relocate further north to McKinney, and said he had reduced theprice of the church from $4 million to $3.2 million, so the new price would be a very good price for us. I replied that while the new price maybe very good for investment purpose, it was still beyond our budget because our congregation was still very small. I also emphasized that we were investing for the kingdom of God, not for business on earth.I was hoping I could persuade him to focus on God and agree to  reduce the price further so the FCCD could afford it. I also tried to convince him that there was a large Asian communityin this neighborhood, and the new church would be able to reach out to more Taiwanese people in order to spread good news from God.  After talking to him for more than an hour, to my surprise, Rev. Norrell agreed to drop his price to $2.7 million, and he repeatedly insisted that this would be the final price.  Although this new price was within our reach, it would still pose a big burden on FCCD. After I pressed on to negotiate a better deal, Rev. Norrellthen agreed to include all the furniture and equipment in the churchin the new $2.7 million deal. 

Our meeting continued and Rev. Norrelstood by his new price for another two hours.During this time, he told me that he didn’t like doing business with 3”C”s.  The first C stands for “Churches”,  becausechurches tend to make low offers and often bargain back and forth in negotiation.  The second C stands for “Committees”, because committees tend to make decisions based on a lot of meetings, and they are time consuming. The third C stands for “Chinese”.  He had had some bad experiences dealing with Chinese before.  He stereotyped Chinese who like to bargain, even at the last minute before closing.  Therefore, his principle was never to do business with the 3“C”s.  He said, “You, above all, are all 3“C”s!  How am I supposed to do business with you?”

I knew he was trying to discourage me from asking for more price reductions, so I respondedimmediately “FCCD is a small church with limited funding, but we relied on our master who created heaven and earth. You are doing God’s work, so you must understand the truth. Although I am just one of the Relocation Committee members, all of our members are united and they have delegated me with full authority to make a deal. Thirdly, I’m Taiwanese and I have been in the DFW real estate business for over 30 years. I have never tried to bargain at the last minute in aclosing.  I’ll be glad to provide you with all the references. ”Rev. Norrellseemed to be satisfied with my response but he reiterated again that his asking price was fair.  I knew I had to somehow convince him that we were not doing this for selfish gain, that we would all stand and work for the same God. Making a profit in this deal was not our goal. We were focusing on God’s kingdom and making sure our folks were taken care of and their souls were saved.  I persisted in asking him again to further reduce the price.  I knew if he would reduce the price to $2.4 million, we would save $300,000 for the church, and this would greatly reduce the burden for our small church.At the meeting I was also worried that my persistence would aggravate Rev. Norrell, so I prayed silently to God and asked Him to take this case in His hand.

The Work of Holly Spirit

I truly believe that the Holy Spirit was present with us during the meeting Rev.Norrell’s heart must have been touched by God.  When Itold him our bottom price was$2.4 million, I was expecting him to get so offended that he would escort me out of his office, but instead, and to my utmost surprise, he accepted the offer without any resistance.  What a miracle! I just thank God for his gracious blessing for our small church.  He had listened to our prayers, and Hehad guided Rev. Norrell and me through the long negotiation.  His intercessions enabled us to save$800,000in three and a half hours. Even the agentwas stunned thatRev. Norrell would accept such a low offerat the firstmeeting. No one but God could do that. Isn’t this truly God’s miracle? God is powerful, and He listens to our prayers!

Since I didn’t expect to meetRev.Norrell that morning, I had not prepared any contracts or paperwork to sign. What I did thenwas to stand up and shake his hands and ask him to honor our oral agreementin God’s name.We agreed to have the contract signed on August 29 at 2:00PM. At that moment, Mrs.Norrell called. When  Rev.Norrell told her that hehad accepted $2.4 million offering from FCCA. I overheardaloud and clear “No, No” from the other end of the phone. “I don’t agree. We are not short of money. Why do you have to sell in such a hurry…”Rev.Norrell told her that he had already made the agreement. He told her that they would discuss it later and  he hung up the phone. Just before I was leaving, Rev.Norrell’s phone rang again. Whenhe recognized that it was Mrs. Norrell from the caller ID, he handedthe phone to his assistant pastor and asked him to tell Mrs. Norrell thathewas busy. A few minutes later, his assistant came back to tell him that his wife urgedhimto cancel the deal. At that moment, I saw Rev.Norrell shake his head and say, “I am in big trouble now. I will face a tough time when I get home.”

In retrospect, if Mrs. Norrell had called during the negotiation, we would not have reached the agreement of the $2.4 million price.  Our meeting lasted about 4 hours from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.  In a normal day, my wife Sarah would have already called to ask if I planned to come home for lunch. I can not help but believe that God was directing the meeting with his magic power, so we were able to conduct the negotiation without any interruptions.

Faith: Patiently Waiting with Submission

I called Rev.Chiang and my wife Sarah immediately after I left the church.  They were both so elated to hear the good news.  We praised the Lord and gave all the glory to Him.

On Sunday August 26, I wake up early in the morning, and while lying in bed, I thought about  how I should prepare the contract to sign for the following week. I wanted to wait until the contract was completed before I announced the good news to the congregation. I didn’t want to disappoint the members in case Rev. Norrell backed out of our agreement.  Thenan inner voice whispered tome: “Be faithful, God has promised to complete this purchase according to the agreed price. He has listened to the congregation’s unitedprayers, so do not hesitate and do not doubt. Be bold and tell the congregation the good news.”  Our God is a promising God, a trustworthy God!  That morning, I announced confidently to the congregation the good news. I asked the congregation to continue to pray for Rev.Norrell, his wife, andfora successful transaction of the purchase.

On August 29, 2007, our agent and I met the listing agent and Rev. Norrell at the church to sign the contract.To my surprise, the listing agent asked me,”Do you want to buy this church?” “Yes, we have agreed on the sale price and I am ready to sign the contract today” I replied. “Have you sold your churchyet?” He asked. “Not yet, but there are two churches that are interested in buying our church.” I replied. He said immediately “Do you need to sell your church so that you can afford buying this church?” I said, “Yes”. He said “ We can’t sign the contract today. We will be wasting our time if you can’t sell your church within 90 days. Besides, we have other buyers who are interested in buying this church. We will lose our opportunity to sell to them if we sign the contract with you today without being sure.”

Rev. Norrell did not say a word. I turned to him and said “Haven’t we already agreed on this? What happened?” He replied, “What my listing agent said is reasonable.” I was very disappointed and upset, but I didn’t lose my temper. I told him I was very certain that we would get a contract to sell our church within a week. If this didn’t happen, we would get a short-term loan from the bank. Rev.Norrell looked at me and said, “Are you 100 percent sure?” I replied, “Yes” (I was very confident because I had already talked to Cathay Bank about a loan commitment). Rev.Norrellthen agreed to postpone signing the contract for another week to September 6^th when I would have to show him either a letter of loan commitment or a signed contract from our buyer. He thought those conditions would discourage me from signing the contract. But, God was in control. I had total confidence in God’s assurance. I felt His presence and His guidance when I announced to our congregation this good news. He would fulfill the promise. I believed He was a trustworthy God who would lead me all the way to the end.

God’s Help Came Just in Time

I left the church deeply disappointed  I calledRev. Chiang about the news and also asked the committee members to start praying urgently and diligently. I then visited Mr. Liu at Cathay Bank the next morning. After discussing the loan details, Mr. Liu kindly provided me a letter of loan commitment, confirming that FCCD was qualified for the loan from Cathay Bank. I was so thankful for his help. Thebig burden in my heart was suddenly lifted. On the same day, I visited the Indian Church and the Hispanic Church and disclosed to them the selling price and conditions of our old Garland church. I told them that I would sign the contract if either one of them could bring me a contract with the agreeable selling price and terms.

By September 6^th, neither of these 2 churches had brought us a sale contract. Therefore, we still had no buyer for our old Garland church. On September 6, as scheduled, I met Rev. Norell and showed him the loan commitment letter from Cathay Bank. He gladly agreed and signed our sale contract without any hesitation.The closing escrow date was set for December 19^th. Praise the Lord!  God’s promise was again been fulfilled. He is so trustworthy and faithful!

I then reported the good news to all the church members. I told them we had successfully accomplished the first half of our relocation venture. Our next step was to sell our old church in Garland as soon as we could, or the church had to carry two loans, which would be an unbearable financial burden on our church.