Church pays off debt after receiving $132K in a day

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, March 11, 2024

Temple Baptist Church, a congregation in Springfield, Kentucky, which had been struggling with debt on their building for years, is now praising God for His provision after they raised more than enough money in an offering collected two Sundays ago to pay off a $106,000 debt.

“This will be a day we will always remember in the history at Temple Baptist Church,” the congregation noted in a statement on Facebook on March 3.

Days earlier, in multiple announcements, the church said they would be hosting a Debt Retirement Pledge Drive on March 3.

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“God has done so much for the Temple Baptist Church in the last couple of years. We have been working hard to get God’s house paid for and we are beginning to see the light!” the congregation said in one announcement on Facebook.

The church noted that on Jan. 1, 2022, they owed $256,435 on the sanctuary and approximately two years later, they had cut that amount by more than half to $107, 325.

“We would love to get enough donations to be debt free,” said the church in their announcement on Facebook on Feb. 25.

Pastor John McDaniel told Kentucky Today that what the congregation that welcomes about 90 to 100 people every Sunday has done is “a faith story.”

“It’s unreal what has happened,” McDaniel told the publication.

“Our goal was $106,000. We raised $132,000. We are now debt free on our sanctuary!!! The exceed (sic) amount will go toward building maintenance of our sanctuary,” the church said in its March 3 announcement. “All honor, praise, and glory to almighty God. With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26.”

McDaniel told Kentucky Today that he began talking to the church about retiring the debt on their building about six months ago and they responded with generosity.

“I didn’t tell people what to give, but I preached on having a willing heart,” he said.

The Southern Baptist pastor who has been leading the church for two years said he was told the debt had made it difficult for the congregation to give to the Southern Baptist Convention’s Cooperative Program as well as to the local Central Baptist Association.

“I told them I believe in tithing, and I think the church ought to start giving 5 percent to the Cooperative Program,” he said.

McDaniel said he offered to sacrifice a part of his salary if the 5% for the Cooperative Program wasn’t available in the church’s budget.

“God began to bless the church. About every month we’d go over our month’s budget. People were shocked, but we still couldn’t do things because of the debt,” the pastor explained. “Some people didn’t think we’d ever pay the debt off. God can take a church that is broke, and if the people come together with love for God, it can be done,” McDaniel added.

“We had a young boy who was a youth worker who was killed in a car accident about 15 years ago. His parents were at church every time the doors were open, but his tragic death adversely affected their attendance. On March 3, his mother had tears in her eyes as she shared that her son had a box in their home, but she couldn’t bear looking into it. But prior to the giving day, she opened the box, found a few hundred-dollar bills, and said that the Lord told her to give it,” he recalled.

“It was a breakthrough for her and her husband,” he said. “She said God spoke to her and said she needed to give that, and she gave it.”