Chapter 10: Building a Home

We bought the land on the freeway in 2007 and immediately began making plans to build. We worked with a company that handled every aspect of the construction process. They gathered input from people throughout the church, and the result was a very ambitious—and very expensive—building. Even so, we moved forward with confidence.

Our building campaign was scheduled to kick off on the Sunday after Labor Day in 2008. The timing could not have been worse. At the end of that summer, the economy collapsed, ushering in the Great Recession of 2008. Many of those who had committed to give toward the project were no longer able to do so. Our plans to build were dead on arrival.

Many people suggested that we simply move back into our old building. That would have been difficult for two reasons. First, we had leased the building to a private school, and we depended on that lease income to make the payments on the freeway property.

The second reason was parking. We had only been able to expand our old building in 1995 because we had a reciprocal parking agreement with Orem High School. In the early 2000s, the Alpine School District tore down the old Orem High and rebuilt it on what had been the school's parking lot. As part of that process, they terminated our parking agreement.

That left us with only ninety parking spaces. Our old building simply no longer worked for us.

There biggest reason not to go back was our commitment to our chapter 2 vision. One of the most important aspects of that vision was to relocate from a place where we were hard to find to a place where we would be impossible to miss. We decided to move forward.

As a result of that decision, from 2006 to 2016 we became a mobile church. During those years we held worship services in four different schools and moved our offices four times. While we were moving around, we were under constant pressure to build because the school district made it clear that meeting in their buildings was only a temporary arrangement.

Eventually we found what appeared to be a quick solution. We learned about Sprung Structures. These were tent-like structures being used on military bases. Building one of these structures seemed to be the fastest and least expensive way to build on our property. We purchased one and submitted plans to the city. The city approved them, but only because they realized they had no legal grounds to stop us.

Pursuing this, as a way to build was a terrible decision, one that I take full responsibility for.  Looking back, we were so eager to build that we failed to recognize the negative impression a building like that would make on the community, especially on such a visible piece of property. The good news is that we never built it. Over time, a significant amount of the building materials was stolen, leaving us without everything we needed to complete the project.

We were trapped. We could not move forward, and we could not go back. We were wandering in the wilderness.

Those were discouraging years.

We bought a moving truck, and every week we unloaded it, set everything up in one of the schools where we met on Sunday mornings, and then packed it all up again afterward. The next week we repeated the process. It felt like digging a hole every week only to fill it back in again. There seemed to be no end in sight. Our people remained remarkably faithful through it all. We learned to wait.

Our staff also led exceptionally well. Our worship pastor, Chris Allen, was largely responsible for coordinating the weekly setup and teardown. Chris is an incredibly gifted worship leader, but during those years he also demonstrated an extraordinary ability to organize and motivate volunteers. Today he serves as our Executive Pastor. We did not realize it then, but God was preparing him—and us—for the future.

As pressure from the school district increased, we put every option on the table. For a time, we even listed our freeway property for sale. The idea was to sell the land, use the proceeds to purchase an existing building, and convert it into a church.

The economy was so weak that we couldn't find a buyer, even for what people today recognize as an incredibly valuable piece of property.

Looking back, it is clear that the Lord protected us from making another very poor decision. Selling that land would have been a huge mistake.

One day Tom Bradley and I visited the property with fresh eyes. Here was this incredible location where hundreds of thousands of cars passed every day, just half a mile south of the busiest intersection in Utah Valley.

Tom looked at me and said, "How can we even think about selling this land? We need to build right here."

Only one obstacle remained—we had to sell our old building across the street from Orem High.

There was plenty of interest, but nothing materialized until the spring of 2014. The school leasing our building, Arches Academy, finally decided they wanted to purchase it. It looked like everything was coming together.

Then, in August 2014, just weeks before closing, we met with the school's leadership, and the deal fell apart.

I walked out of that meeting saying, "The hits just keep on coming."

Some people viewed our vision to relocate as complete folly. There were voices saying that under my leadership I had led the church into the wilderness to die. To be honest, I was beginning to wonder if they were right.

I found myself thinking, I guess this is just the way it will always be in Utah Valley. Why should I expect anything different?

Thankfully, there were good things happening in our lives beyond our real estate frustrations.

My oldest daughter, Ginny, and her husband, Aaron, had moved to Utah. They met at Trinity College in Chicago, where they later married. Aaron was teaching and coaching football in Chicago while Ginny taught junior high school.

When the head football coaching position at American Fork High School opened, Aaron applied and, remarkably, got the job. He was allowed to bring another coach with him, so he invited Jon Lehman, a former teammate, to serve as his defensive coordinator. Jon moved to Utah, and before long he and my youngest daughter, Christy, fell in love and were married. It was such a blessing that through these hard times we were surrounded by our family.

American Fork football became a family affair. Ironically, the meeting where our building deal collapsed took place on a Friday—the same day as the Cavemen's season opener. As disappointed as I was about losing the sale, I was excited for football season. This was going to be our year.

Instead, the game was played in a torrential rainstorm interrupted by multiple lightning delays. To make matters worse, we didn't just lose—we gave the game away in the final minute.

I was miserable.

I remember thinking, This is just like our church. Every time you get your hopes up, they get dashed.

The next day I asked my sons in law, the American Fork football coaches Aaron and Jon, “What are you going to do differently?"

They both answered the same way.

"Nothing. We're doing the right things. We just need to keep doing them, and we'll be fine."

The Lord used their response to speak directly to my heart.

I walked away praying, "Lord, I don't know how You're going to provide a home for our church, but we're doing the right things. We're going to keep showing up, keep doing what You've called us to do, and leave the rest to You."

After that loss, the Cavemen did what no one expected. They went undefeated in region play and advanced all the way to the state championship game.

Something equally unexpected happened at CenterPoint Church.

Within a week, the building deal that had fallen apart came back together.

We closed on the property at the end of September 2014, and finally we could move forward.

This time we decided to work with local people. We hired a local contractor and secured financing through a local credit union. Those decisions proved invaluable because they strengthened our relationships within the community and with city leaders.

Over the next seven months we finalized the plans and received every required approval.

Construction on our 27,000-square-foot building began in May 2015.

The building took just nine months to complete and cost only $83 per square foot—an almost unimaginable figure today. It was remarkable even then.

Humanly speaking, the timing helped. Labor and materials were inexpensive, skilled tradespeople were looking for work, and interest rates were low.

But the most important factor was our people.

They came together and worked.

Much of the interior work was completed by volunteers from our church. Our leadership united around the project, and it was inspiring to watch God bring together exactly the right people at exactly the right time.

Dr. Brent Slife served as chairman of our board during those years. Brent was a psychology professor at BYU and, in 2017, was named the university's Karl G. Maeser Professor of the Year.

His presence gave us tremendous credibility within the community throughout the building process.

Brent not only led our board well, but he and I also met every week for lunch. Those conversations often included a little therapy for me. More importantly, Brent became a true friend.

Today, when I think back on everyone who participated in that project, I realize what a tremendous privilege it was.

We all want to be part of something that people initially look at and say, "No way. That will never happen."

Then, by God's grace, it does.

We had the privilege of being part of something like that.

There is only one explanation for that building: God.

We saw His hand in the timing.

Before construction began, the Alpine School District informed us that January 31, 2016, would be the final Sunday we could meet in one of their schools.

We received the necessary occupancy permits the very next week.

On February 7, 2016, we gathered for worship in our new church home.

It was a wonderful day.

That building has meant so much to our church.

It stands as a tangible reminder of God's faithfulness and as a visible statement to our community. Today it truly is impossible to miss.

In Utah Valley, church buildings communicate permanence. They also communicate something about the kind of church you are.

Our building doesn't look like a traditional church. It is a tilt-up concrete structure, more like the industrial buildings common throughout the area. Yet it is warm, welcoming, and well designed.

Of course, churches do not need buildings to be churches any more than families need houses to be families.

Still, my family has benefited from having a home.

So has our church.

Many people have visited CenterPoint because someone invited them. Our people are eager to invite friends and family because the building is welcoming.

But the reason so many stay is not the building itself.

They stay because, when they arrive, they discover something deeper.

They find a home.