God's Crazy Gift
The Midwest City Spanish Seventh-day Adventist Church has only 80 church members, but they’ve recently begun holding services in Oklahoma Conference’s largest church building. Why does a church of this size need a 767-seat sanctuary and approximately two dozen rooms? No one knows for sure, but based on the miracles the church has experienced over the last year, members feel confident that God has a big plan for their little church. The new building is certainly big enough for plenty of baptisms.
The journey that led to the unexpected purchase of such a large building didn’t begin with a strategic plan or a committee vote—it began with a crowded parking lot.
– Parking Lot Confrontation –
“Hermana,” the deacon approached Yoyma Pedroso with a tone more severe than loving. “You’re not supposed to park there.”
Though coming from a man Pedroso had known since she was 9-years-old, the words stung. Rather than take his sharp tone personally, Pedroso started worrying what might happen if this scenario had happened to a first-time visitor rather than a confident young woman who had grown up in the church. What would have happened if that visitor, like her, had arrived at 11:07 a.m. and had faced the same dilemma as Pedroso?
With the church’s parking lot full, Pedroso had only three choices: illegal street parking, parking in a handicapped space or skipping church altogether. Pedroso had driven an hour to meet the new pastor being introduced that morning.
“Well, Papi, go ahead and park there,” she said, directing her husband toward one of the church’s two handicapped parking spaces. This was the mistake that the deacon, now that the church service was over, had chided Pedroso for.
“I got so angry at Satan,” Pedroso says. “I didn’t get mad at my brother.” Instead Pedroso gave the deacon a hug. “I understand you,” she said, “I totally understand.”
Now that she had repaired the relationship with her brother in Christ, it was time to act—before another visitor might be turned away. Pulling out her phone, she opened a listing she had already saved: a church property for sale.
With a plan in her mind, she headed back toward the foyer, passing framed prints echoing the promise of Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you. … Plans to give you hope and a future.” She crossed the sanctuary—past wooden pews with worn orange cushions in the back half of the church and rows of slate-blue upholstered chairs in the front half—then slipped through a door to the right of the church’s level platform. It led her through a multi-use classroom, a crowded kitchen and into a narrow fellowship hall where four folding tables stood end to end.
Near the end of the first table, Pedroso found Guerrero eating and chatting with then acting conference president James Shires. “Pastor,” she said, stepping between the two leaders, not waiting for an introduction. “What we need is a bigger church.”
– A Bold Introduction –
Guerrero had never met the woman who had just interrupted his conversation with Shires. He watched as Shires attempted to politely finish the conversation. “Okay, sister, pray about it,” the soon-to-be retired president said.
But the woman only moved in closer. “I already prayed about this, pastor,” she said. “Look at it.”
Pedroso put her hand on the president’s shoulder. “Listen to me,” she said, shoving her phone in front of his face. “This is what God wants us to buy. Let’s do it. Take a look at it.”
Guerrero isn’t one to ignore church members, so out of curiosity that Sunday, he had realtor church member Reyna Campos show him the property. The building was ramshackle—left empty for four years with lots of evidence of repairs needed—still as Guerrero walked down the wide hallways leading to the megachurch-sized sanctuary, Guerrero’s first thoughts were, There’s no way this church can afford to buy such a huge building. Then, weaving through the maze of classrooms, his thinking started to change. The church reminded him of a similar building he had seen while working as a pastor in another conference; that building had been worth more than $10 million. Even a lowball offer, he figured, would be about $2 million.
But the price tag for this building was only $750,000—far too low to ignore. We have to buy this thing, he decided.
– Impossible Math –
Guerrero set up a meeting with church treasurer Walter Campos. Late into the night the men crunched numbers, but no matter how they looked at it, it didn’t appear they’d be able to afford $750,000.
Still, the men met with conference treasurer Charles Reel. When he looked at the numbers the men had prepared, Reel was blunt. “You can’t afford that building,” he said, telling them that the church’s loan cap would be $710,000.
But $40,000 seemed too small of a gap for the men to walk away. Even after Reel helped them think of creative ideas to resolve the gap, Guerrero realized it would cost $200,000 to $300,000 to renovate the church. Instead of being discouraged, he decided to lower the offer. With the church board supporting him, he made an offer of $585,000. Within two hours the seller counteroffered at $600,000. Based on the amount the church board had approved to spend, $750,000, this would be enough for them to do $150,000 worth of repairs. It would be tight, but many members of the congregation work in the field of construction. Certainly they’d be able to make it happen.
With the official paperwork signed, the church members started getting excited about their new home. Then came the big blow. Before the due diligence period was over, as the building was being inspected and code requirements checked, the church learned that the building would need a new fire sprinkler system. Quotes for such a job came back at $550,000–$600,000—about the same as the cost of the building itself.
“I was completely disappointed,” Guerrero says, believing the sale would fall through. What he didn’t realize was that this disappointment was setting the church up for their biggest blessing yet.
Because of the sprinkler situation, the seller agreed to lower the price to $430,000. Then two and a half months later, the fire marshall waived the requirement for a new sprinkler system. God had worked things out so the church could acquire a 34,000-square-foot church (more than five times the size of their current church building) for the typical local cost of a 3,000-square-foot home. As if there had been any doubt that God’s hand was involved, several months later a gym next door—much smaller than the church and sold by the same seller—sold for $1.5 million. Now it was time for the church members to step in to make the building usable.
– Willing Hands at Work –
After the congregation was able to purchase the building, the next challenge was to make the building usable. Every day for about three months Walter brought his construction crew—many of them church members—to do volunteer work on the church, sometimes as late as midnight.
“When I talked to my crew, they said, ‘Let’s do it!’” says Walter. “They were ready. I didn’t have to convince them.”
“Para mí es importante ayudar a la iglesia,” explains Amadeo of why he was so quick to help.
“Es para Dios, para la iglesia,” adds Bernabé.
“A lot of people helped. “If I started giving you the names, the list would be endless,” says Guerrero. On one Sunday there were more people helping at the new church building than had been present for worship services the day before.
Donations also allowed the renovations to move forward at lower-than-expected costs. Walter’s boss donated a special fabric system ceiling that will help regulate temperature in the new fellowship hall. Another contractor, whom church members met while working on another job, brought in his crew to do the flooring of the church’s spacious hallways for a tiny portion of the real cost. Thanks to the donated materials and labor, the church spent only about $6,000 on flooring—far less than the more than $15,000 such work would typically cost.
– A New Chapter Begins –
As the Midwest City Spanish church moves from a space that barely fit its congregation into one that can hold nearly 10 times as many people, Guerrero recognizes how empty the sanctuary will look when his 80 church members enter the 767-seat space.
But that, members believe, is exactly the point. Through what Guerrero calls a “crazy gift from God,” the church is poised for unimaginable growth.
“I don’t know what God is up to,” Guerrero says, scanning the rows of empty seats in the church's new sanctuary, “but He’s up to something.” a
There’s more to the story. Scan this QR code to read how God’s leading brought the Guerreros to Oklahoma just in time to save a life.
By Lori Futcher, Record Editor
