Defining Moments

Your Questions Answered

Thanks to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to attend our Defining Moments Meet & Greet in March. We unveiled a conceptual building model; and had a chance to meet with the elders, staff, team leaders and architect to answer questions about the Defining Moments journey. As promised, we are posting Questions and Answers (Q&A) from the March Meet & Greet meeting.  Click here to view Meet & Greet Q&A.

Again, we continue to be grateful for your sacrificial giving and support to help us point people to Christ. Defining Moments is related to a building, but it’s not about a building - it’s about having a strategic resource to have the maximum impact in our community for Jesus!

In Him,
Matt Hall
SouthPoint Church

Join Us March 18th

Join us for the Defining Moments Meet & Greet on Sunday, March 18th from 12:30-2pm at the Crystal Room (21030 Point Lookout Rd) in Callaway (just 5.7 miles south of the high school on Route 5). The elders, staff, team leaders and architect will be on hand to answer questions over appetizers. Please RSVP online so we have a head count.

Master Plan Drafted

January 2012: God continues to amaze us! Last year was a record setting year. We had 91 indications of first-time commitments to Christ. We baptized 49 people. We had 70% of our average adult attendance on a Sunday in small groups. We had an average attendance of 703 on Sunday’s that’s almost 150 people more than in 2010. And it gets better; we kicked off the New Year with a new attendance record for a non-holiday service of 914 during our January 8th services.

The Lord is blessing your efforts and sacrifices to help us “Connect the disconnected to Christ, Community, and a Cause”. On behalf of the lives you’re impacting for Jesus – Thank you! The Defining Moments pledge budget for 2011 was $212K and we finished the year at $186K that’s a respectable 88% of pledge funds received.

Great news! We’re coming to the close of the master planning phase for our property. Click here to view a couple of lay-outs (again these are concepts and subject to slight changes) from the master plan that The Beck Group has provided to us. We are excited about a 3ft by 3ft “model” of the concept plan that is being made for us to display on Sundays. We see this as an investment of passing the vision onto everyone and to create momentum for what the future may look like.

We have started heading into the next phase which is getting the “concept plan” approved by the local county and state agencies. This process usually takes about six months. We are also working to determine what that projected cost will be for the phase 1 section of developing the property. Phase one includes all necessary things to have our first building (i.e. roads and infrastructures).
Again, we are so grateful for your sacrificial giving to help us point people to Christ. Defining Moments is related to a building but it’s not about a building, it’s about having a strategic resource to have the maximum impact in our community for Jesus!

God Bless,
Matt Hall
SouthPoint Church

Site Plan Drafted

(Note: This is a late posting from October 2011.) Click here to view the draft site plan! Miraculous is a great word to describe the record-setting year SouthPoint is having! Just over a year ago we launched this journey called “Defining Moments”. The idea behind the name was two-fold. First, we as a church were at moment in time when our response to God’s vision would impact how the future would look for us. And second – our mission at SouthPoint to “Connect the disconnected” is all about creating opportunities for people to have “defining moments” with Jesus.
Your faith-filled response to God’s vision for what we as a church could be has resulted in God doing only what God can. We’ve broken almost every kind of record we keep. Most importantly, we are seeing people responding to Jesus like never before! See the chart below.

Through the first 10 months of the year, 73 people have made first-time decisions for Christ! Our Student Ministry has broken the 100 mark for junior and senior high! Our Children’s area broke the 200 barrier for 3rd grade and under! We had a record response of 180 plus people who signed up from the Quick Connect and our first month of fall we had over 320 adults connected in small Groups! We count people because people count. We see this principle reflected in the scriptures in the book of Acts. About 14 times Acts mentions that a “number” of people were impacted by the Gospel (Acts 2:41, 2:47, 4:4, 5:15, 6:1, 6:7, 9:31, 11:21, 11:24, 11:26, 14:1, 14:21, 16:5, and 17:12).
THANK YOU! Your sacrificial giving has impacted lives. As you can see, the “spiritual” aspect of Defining Moments is very strong right now. Below is an honest picture of where the financial aspect of Defining Moments stands. This is NOT to guilt anyone but rather a clear picture of where we currently stand.
Budgeted Actual
Pledged Giving Monthly $16.3K = $195.6K Current total given in 2011 = $72.2K
Pledged Giving Annually + $16.4K
Total pledged for 2011 = $212.0K

As you can see the reality shows a significant gap between what was pledged and what is actually being donated. However, the good is that we have funds to accomplish some of the original plan for the Defining Moments resources.
What that means practically, at current funding we will be able to have The Beck Group provide a master plan concept that we can submit for County approval. We are able to make on-time monthly payments on the property. The full-time student role is not able to be funded by Defining Moments and is currently being funded by the operating budget as an unbudgeted expense. Paying off the property in year three of the campaign is not financially feasible at the current giving rate –this means we will have to pay-off property at a later date.

I’m so EXCITED about all God is doing and can’t wait to see how HE will use SouthPoint moving forward. I truly believe the “best is yet to come” for SouthPoint.

In Him,
Matt Hall
SouthPoint Church
Phone 240.925.8787
www.SouthPoint4u.com

Defining Moments Concept

Wow…can you believe it’s been a year since we started the “Defining Moments” journey? It has been amazing to see God at work in SouthPoint and our community. There have been several areas where God has stepped in:

• * The owners graciously agreeing to sell us the property at MD-4 South and Fairgrounds Road.
• * The price was almost one million dollars LESS than our original offer.
• * The owners graciously agreed to sell us the acreage we requested.
• * Your sacrificial giving led to SouthPoint being able to:
• - – Make the down payment and pay the closing cost to close on the property.
• - – Hire Kyle Squire as our full-time Student Impact director. (Students recently had a camp out on the property!)
• * Identifying, selecting and hiring an architectural firm (The Beck Group) to master plan our future home. Please see the “initial” DRAFT concept plan . NOTE, it’s an initial draft only : )
• * A trip to Texas to see some of the “work” our architects have done. (See pictures of other churches and ideas.)
• * The new SouthPoint sign and student impact has led to changed lives and growth!
• – – 57 people have made 1st time decisions for Jesus in the first 5 months of the year.
• – – 51 people have made recommitments.
• – – We had record attendance in our 2011 Easter service.
• – – We have had record attendance in Sunday services.

And we continue to move forward as next week SouthPoint will have a meeting with the architects to go through the Charrette – pronounced (shur-et) process on Saturday 6/18. To top things off we will be having a Defining Moments service on Sunday 6/26 followed by a picnic on the property!
I would like to say “thank you” for all your sacrifice and efforts to help us love people on behalf of Jesus!

In Him,
Matt Hall
SouthPoint Church
www.facebook.com/southpoint4u

2011 Budget for Master Planning

Have you seen the new property sign celebrating successful closure on the property!
Praise God!, and thanks to all who have joined the journey!

The Defining Moments Budget for 2011 has also been completed. As you will see, this is going to be an extremely busy year as we seek county approval for a long term master plan for our future church home. Thank you! Your continued support is critical to successful completion of the master planning process.

Approved Subdivision / Plat

Miraculous…is the only way to describe SouthPoint’s journey for a permanent home. GOD is so good and gracious! Here’s some great news…
1. SouthPoint has received an approved subdivision/plat from the government agencies necessary to purchase the property! In short this allows us to purchase the property for the use intended.
2. The lender (Maryland Bank & Trust) has been given the approved subdivision map and has ordered an appraisal. Additional surveys (environmental, topographical, boundary) may be required as we work our way toward closing but we have budgeted for them.
3. Due to regulatory changes in the banking industry, the lender has increased our down payment requirement from 20% to 30%. Because of your generosity and faithful giving, we are still on track to complete the purchase of the property on January 5, 2011 despite the increased down payment (PRAISE GOD!). We will remain on track only if December and January’s Defining Moments pledges are donated as anticipated. We did have to slide the master planning process out three months to begin in May 2011 timeframe to accommodate the additional down payment.
Again, “Thank-You” for your sacrifice. And lastly, we’re doing all this to make Jesus famous and help Connect the Disconnected to Christ.

Contract Extension

In order to allow for the completion of a subdivision map with the county, and a loan application process with Maryland Bank & Trust, SouthPoint Church recently exercised a provision in our land purchase contract for a 3 month extension. The contract extension was submitted September 25, 2011. SouthPoint still expects to close on the property no later than January 5, 2011.

Quest for a Master Planner

With our Defining Moments journey well under way and setting our sights on a January 2011 closing date, a team of SouthPoint Church attenders have been preparing to select a Master Planner in anticipation of upcoming planning activities in February 2011. Our Master Planner will be key in helping SouthPoint develop a plan for our new property. They will evaluate our land physically and practically from the end view, and help us work back to ensure both: a) best strategic use of property in view of the mission, and b) to wisely steward the financial resources with a long-term view. They will help guide our planning “process” in which the appropriate people, mission, cost, and practical needs are factors considered and aligned when designing the eventual property usage.

• In May 2010, a team of 5 SouthPoint attenders interviewed four master planner / architectural firms over the course of two days.
• In June 2010, a Request for Proposal was issued to two of the firms interviewed the previous month.
• On 30 June 2010, SouthPoint received proposals from two firms in response to our RFP.
• During the months of July and August, the interview team evaluated the proposals, interviewed references, and prepared a recommendation for the SouthPoint Elder Team.
• On 8 September 2010, the Elders approved the recommendation of the evaluation team, and The Beck Group was chosen to perform Master Planning / Architectural Services for SouthPoint!
• As of today, we in the beginning stages of contractual negotiations with The Beck Group. Our hope is that once we complete the purchase of the property in January 2011, we will be ready to start master planning in February 2011!

First Defining Moments Progress Report

As you may recall, our Defining Moments Journey includes 3 key pieces:
• Purchase a strategic piece of property (includes permits and approvals).
• Master plan and design future building, facilities and ball fields with long-term growth and impact in mind.
• Strengthen internal support by expanding our Student Ministry staff position from part-time to full-time.
 
We are excited to announce that the one of these key pieces has been fulfilled! SouthPoint Church hired Kyle Squire on September 1st as our new full-time Student Ministry Leader! Please join us in welcoming Kyle and his family!
 
We also have progress to report on purchasing a strategic piece of property:
• 30 March 2010: SouthPoint Church, Inc entered into a contractual agreement with Southstar Limited Partnership for the purchase of 45 acres.
• SouthPoint contracted with Little Silences Rest to assist SouthPoint in obtaining an approved subdivision map.
• June 2010: Southstar agreed to increase the size of the parcel from 45 to 49.65 acres at no additional cost. LSR filed a proposed subdivision map with the county for consideration.
• July 2010: Comments from the various county and state agencies were received by LSR in response to the proposed subdivision map previously filed. LSR in turn responded to the comments as necessary. Of the comments received, the most concerning were from the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA). SHA requested the dedication by deed of a strip of land 95′ from the centerline of MD 4 along the property frontage. LSR’s responded on behalf of SouthPoint in August 2010 stating our desire to grant honor this request at some point in the future vice at settlement.
• 27 August 2010: SHA responded restating their desire for the dedication to occur at the time of subdivision approval. “.
• 10 September 2010: SouthPoint Church, Inc responded directly to SHA. The response was coordinated with LSR and SouthPoint legal counsel. Also relevant to this response are the documents entitled DBK 155 @ 449 and PLAT 7 @ 61.
 
What is next?
1) Complete the process to obtain an approved subdivision map.
2) File a loan application with the lender.
3) Obtain loan approval and close no later than 5 January 2011. This will complete the 2nd of our 3 key journey components for purchasing a strategic piece of property!
4) Once we close on the property, the excitement of planning begins. In February 2011, we will start working with a master planner to plan the phased development of the property, culminating in a county and state approved site master plan.

 
What can you do?
1) Continue to support SouthPoint Church with your prayers. Let your response be a spiritual issue.
2) Continue to support the journey with financial gifts to the Defining Moments Campaign. To successfully complete the purchase of the property and have an approved master plan at the end of the Defining moments campaign, we need to average $20,883 per month in Defining Moments gifts. If you are currently giving to Defining Moments, we thank you for your generosity. If you would like to join us on this wondrous journey, please stop by the welcome table and grab a Defining Moments commitment card, or visit the Get Involved page to make a commitment online. When giving, please indicate “Defining Moments” on the memo line of your check and drop it in the offering basket, or use the Online Giving option from our www.southpoint4u.com home page.
3) Get involved. There will be several opportunities to be part of the action as we define what will be SouthPoint Church, and “Connecting the Disconnected”. Stay tuned for more!