DM Expands To New HQ Building (Aug 07)
Early Friday morning, June 29th, staff and students packed the moving truck as the president completed the closing! We moved in, plugged in, and were ready to begin work at the new office by the end of the day!
What the Lord did to provide this was beyond everyone's wildest dreams. In the spring of 2007, we began an intense search for a new office. We hoped to rent twice the space and move in by the end of the summer. Little did we know that back in the early 80's, when the president was founding the mission, IBM built a beautiful, quality constructed office building that the Lord would reserve for us! As we contemplated this option, we could not afford the rent. Without a capital campaign, God provided so that we could purchase this building with four times the space and at one-half of its estimated worth. And to our great delight, it has windows all around! This was an amazing provision considering where the DiscipleMakers Headquarters had been.
From the founding of the mission in the early 1980's, the central office was located in the basement of the president's home. The ministry grew, and about ten years later, the Lord provided a downtown office just one block from the Penn State campus and at one-fourth of the going rental rate! However, this office was plagued with leaks of sewage, iced tea, and dirty water from the restaurant above. It was a dark, basement with only one window.
Despite numerous expansions and improvements over the years, by 2003, the mission had simply outgrown the space. It was so cramped that many staff had to work from home and the alley outside served as a place for private conversation. This office could no longer support the growth of the ministry. While the staff prayed and searched for other options, the situation seemed financially impossible. As DiscipleMakers was waiting, the Lord was putting everything into place.
How often we expect the leftovers when our Father wants to lavish us with a banquet feast! God's great goodness is indeed stored up for those who fear Him. At the dedication service on July 4, Bill reminded those gathered to worship, that this building was simply a tool for making disciples. DiscipleMakers is not about bricks and mortar but about bringing the gospel of Christ to all nations. God willing, we will more effectively continue "Reaching the campus...Reaching the world."
