based on the sermon series by Dr. John Morgan
Sagemont Church is an unusual church with an unusual history. God’s divine hand has been upon the church from the beginning, and the stories, people, miracles, challenges and celebrations over the years have collectively become known as The Sagemont Story.
Parts Three and Four of The Sagemont Story continue as a reminder of how God leads a people who are committed to follow Him. There are times when He calls on His people to move forward, but there are also times when He tells them to stop and wait on Him. While stopping and waiting can be hard, as Sagemont Church has discovered firsthand, those are often the times when God is working behind the scenes on something even better.
The people of Sagemont Church were still on a spiritual high after reaching the one million dollar goal to begin building the Hughes Road Auditorium. The stories and miracles that occurred during the weeks in which 300 families gave their total income for forty days renewed their faith and reminded them that God’s hand was upon them, both personally and collectively.
Construction of the auditorium began, and things progressed smoothly and without incident until it came time to put the roof on the new building. In the specifications, the architect had instructed that the roof should go up six inches, however when he inspected the completed roof, he found that it only went up three and a half inches.
The contractor insisted that his measurements were best; the architect disagreed. The contractor knew that to start over from the beginning with the original specifications would ruin his company financially. The architect refused to allow the roof to pass inspection unless it was changed. Both men were deacons in their respective churches, and each didn’t want to hurt the other. Nevertheless, they were at a standoff, and the church was in the middle.
The building committee met on a Tuesday night to discuss the issue. Instead of making a motion or coming to an arbitrary decision, they decided to petition the Lord. For a long time that night, they prayed for a fair solution to the problem. They prayed for the architect and the contractor both, not wanting either to be negatively affected by the outcome. They prayed for wisdom regarding the safety and longevity of the roof, acknowledging that it belonged to the Lord as part of the church that He was building. Above all, they prayed that God’s will would prevail.
The following Saturday morning, Brother John received a phone call from the Executive Pastor, Bill Moore, early in the morning. Bill said, “If you want to get a good look at the roof, you’d better come down to the church and see it.”
Brother John said he had no desire to see the roof. The roof was all he’d seen in his mind for days now, and he was getting quite tired of the whole thing.
Bill said, “No, you won’t need a ladder to see it now. The whole thing is crumpled up like a piece of paper and scattered across the church parking lot.”
Just before daybreak, a tornado had formed near Highway 3. It came across Interstate 45, dipped down behind the corner convenience store where it picked up seven cedar boards and threw them in the air, then blew over to the church where it picked up the roof, twisted it like an ice cream cone, and threw it into the field.
Thanks to the Lord working through the weather and State Farm Insurance, the contractor was able to put on a brand new, $380,000 roof according to the original 6-inch specifications, and neither he, nor the architect, nor the church, nor the building’s integrity were compromised in the process.
Joining Hands for Victory
In the middle of the building program, it became quite clear that more space would once again be needed for the children. Rather than put the need off until the new auditorium was complete, the church voted unanimously to put the children first and begin a second building program right away. When bids came in for a cost of $130-$150,000, around 75 men stepped in and volunteered to build it themselves to save money. Their efforts saved the church thousands of dollars and created ample space for the children for only $66,000.
Meanwhile, the new auditorium neared completion. However, at around $2 million, the money started coming in slower than the building was being built. An additional $600,000 was needed to complete the project.
The church held a special service called “Joining Hands for Victory” inside the shell of the new building. They brought in folding chairs, hung lights from extension cords and invited everyone to come, including the children who were a part of the bus ministry. The children placed $700 dollars in a simple washtub at the front of the auditorium, and by the end of the night, the church received a total of $807,000. It was more than enough money to complete the building!
While they thought they only needed $600,000 more, God knew the rest of the story. As soon as the building was complete and the city inspectors came, it was covered in red flags. Numerous changes had to be made before they would issue the proper permits, and by the time the church completed all of the city’s demands, it had cost an additional $207,000. God knew ahead of time that the church would need more money than they thought, and He proved Himself faithful once again by providing what was needed.
The Christian Enrichment Center
At last, the church was able to move into its new home, the Hughes Road Auditorium. Everything was going quite well and the church was growing in depth and in numbers. But as the children who had once ridden the bus began to grow up, there was now no room for the teenagers. Building a new building was not practical since they were running out of land, so they looked at an alternative solution to the problem.
Across the street at the corner of Hughes and what is now Beltway 8 stood an old, dilapidated shopping center that had once housed a Safeway grocery store and an Eckerd’s drug store. Brother John called the building’s owners in New York City to see what the property would cost to buy. They wanted $1.2 million dollars, and agreed to lease the space to the church for 18 months at a cost of $88,000 while the church started raising the money to purchase the building.
Funds came in, but at $750,000, the giving just stopped. No more money came in and church leadership couldn’t understand why. They knew it would cost approximately $400,000 just to fix up the building once they had it, and they remained committed to operate debt-free, so that meant they only had $350,000 of the $1.2 million that they needed.
When Brother John called the owners in New York again, he told them that the property had appraised for $350,000 because that’s all that the Lord had given them to spend. Since the owners were not interested in that offer, they would not be able to purchase the property.
Two days later, Brother John read an ad in the Houston Chronicle about a different shopping center that would be going to auction. It was a brand new, $4.5 million dollar facility on the corner of Scarsdale and Beamer, and the opening bid would be $600,000.
He sought the advice of his friend, Randy Best who was also a great business man. Randy recognized the bargain and said if the church didn’t want the property, he’d buy it himself. He suggested that Brother John go to the bank and offer them the entire $600,000 before it went to auction.
Brother John happened to share his plan with Jack Niday of Niday Funeral Home in passing one day and was informed that the buildings had been built 17 feet onto Jack’s property. Whoever bought the shopping center would be forced to negotiate a price for those 17 feet, but Jack agreed that if the church bought it, he would work with them.
With this new information, Randy advised Brother John to allow the shopping center to go to auction after all. In a public auction, if anyone had any news about something that is being auctioned, they are obligated to announce it ahead of time. After Brother John shared what he knew about the building bleeding onto Jack Niday’s property by 17 feet, he was able to acquire the shopping center for a winning bid of only $500,000.
Around this time, Brother John received a call from the executives of the Safeway Corporation. They had heard that the church was interested in purchasing the old Safeway shopping center. They explained that Safeway did not own that shopping center, but had been leasing it from the owners in New York City. They had a fifty-year lease and had only used 17 years. Whoever bought that property would also have to buy the remaining 33 years of Safeway’s lease.
Out of curiosity, Brother John asked how much they wanted for the lease, and they said $350,000 – the exact amount that God had provided in the first place.
Immediately, Brother John called his friend Randy Best and asked if he was still interested in the shopping center on the corner of Scarsdale and Beamer. He said absolutely, and offered to pay the church the full $600,000, even though the church had acquired it for only $500,000.
God had again met the church’s needs over and above what they even thought they needed. The old Safeway center became Sagemont’s Christian Enrichment Center (CEC) and was renovated to include an auditorium, snack bar and offices. The teenagers had a fabulous location to gather for worship with a lease that doesn’t expire until 2017.
Part 4
Mr. Harry Holmes
At last, it seemed, there were enough buildings to facilitate the church’s growth. When the church first began in 1966, it was said that they would only be able to manage a maximum membership of 750 people on its 5.46 acre campus. Membership was now at 3,000 and climbing. The Lord had provided miraculous, debt-free facilities time and time again, and now the only challenge was finding a place to park cars.
With the Presbyterian church on one side, an elementary school on another, and city property on another, the only hope of expanding lied in the open field behind the church, towards the Beltway (which had not yet been built.)
The land was owned by an eccentric lawyer named Harry Holmes who lived in one of the largest mansions in River Oaks and was known throughout Houston for his political clout and influence. Mr. Holmes owned real estate all throughout the city, and Brother John prayed that he would someday be able to meet him in order to discuss the possibility of purchasing the land behind the church.
A lunch meeting was arranged, and after introductions and small talk, Brother John began by assuring Mr. Holmes that he would not be asking him to give or donate anything to the church at all. He explained that the church had a desire to inquire about purchasing his land, but wanted to negotiate a transaction that would be a blessing to both parties.
Mr. Holmes was listening. Because of his previous encounters with preachers, he had fully expected that Brother John would approach him begging for a handout or claiming that God had revealed in a dream that Mr. Holmes was supposed to give his land to the church, no questions asked. Brother John’s assurance to treat him as a businessman and not as a benefactor created a mutual foundation of respect and intrigued Mr. Holmes.
However, when Brother John asked if Mr. Holmes would be interested in selling his property, Mr. Holmes immediately said no. “Reverend, I don’t sell property. I buy property,” he said, but he still wanted to know why the church wanted to buy it.
Brother John explained the history and growth of the church, expressing the imminent need for more parking. Mr. Holmes listened then asked, “But why do you want to buy the property? Is the church in the real estate business?”
“Well, no,” Brother John said.
“Then why do you want to buy the property? Do you want to buy land or do you want to park cars?”
“I guess we just need a place to park cars.”
“Then go park your cars,” Mr. Holmes said. “If that’s all you need, use my land to park your cars. You don’t need to buy it.”
Brother John offered to lease it from him instead, but he said that wasn’t necessary. “Go ahead and use it like it’s yours,” he said, “but I’m not selling it.”
This agreement was the foundation for a twenty-year relationship Brother John developed with Mr. Holmes. The church began using his property as needed, and any time Brother John asked Mr. Holmes for permission to do something permanent on the property, Mr. Holmes reminded him again of their agreement. “If it was your land, would you do it?” he’d ask. “Then do it. You don’t have to ask me first. Just use it like it’s yours.” Once a year or so, they would meet for lunch and Mr. Holmes would again say that he wasn’t interested in selling his property.
Finally, after almost twenty years of major development around the church, including the construction of Beltway 8, Mr. Holmes told Brother John to have the land appraised and he would be open to discussion. The land appraised for $448,000, but Mr. Holmes scoffed at the figure, insisting the whole 40-acre tract was worth $2 million instead. He proposed to sell the church half of the property for $1 million.
The finance team, visionary team, deacons and staff were unanimous. The church didn’t want to purchase the land for an investment; they wanted to buy it in order to expand and support long term growth. They were willing to meet Mr. Holmes offer, knowing that the only way for it to happen would be for God to bless the church family by providing the money. If God did not provide one million dollars, they would consider the discussion over.
Twenty-one weeks after they presented the opportunity to the church, they had $1,047,000.
During that time, Mr. Holmes was diagnosed with very serious cancer. When Brother John came to offer him a $1,000,000 cashier’s check in exchange for the property, he was lying in a hospital bed in his palatial River Oaks home.
Mr. Holmes had always been somewhat distant when spiritual matters became personal, preferring to keep things general instead. While he acknowledged God and respected religion, it seemed to remain on the surface. Nevertheless, he said he was appreciative of Brother John’s prayers for his health.
Even from his hospital bed, Mr. Holmes was still in business mode. When Brother John offered the $1,000,000 cashier’s check, he looked at it and said, “Where’s my interest?” He said that his offer of $1,000,000 was good back when he presented it, but now twenty-one weeks had passed and he could have been earning 6% interest on that money. He wanted that, plus money for the taxes that hadn’t been paid in several years, plus other demands as well. When the church cleared its 20 acres, he wanted his half cleared as well. When the church built a retention pond, he wanted the water from his land to drain into it as well. And then he wanted the church to plant St. Augustine grass on his 20 acres too.
Brother John left feeling defeated. After praying and discussing it with the church leaders, they agreed that they would offer Mr. Holmes the money for the interest and the taxes, but that was it. Those figures were close to $47,000 which is exactly the amount that had been given over the $1,000,000 goal for the land.
Brother John went to Mr. Holmes’ home one last time. When he presented his counter offer, Mr. Holmes just smiled. “I didn’t expect you to do all that stuff,” he said. “That’s just a negotiating skill. All I ever wanted was the interest and taxes anyway.” He reached into his nightstand drawer and pulled out the deed to the land, which had already been signed.
With that, he became sentimental, thanking Brother John for the honest relationship they had fostered over the years. Brother John agreed and asked, “Would you let me tell you, just one more time, what it means to know the Lord?”
Mr. Holmes agreed, and for the next few minutes, Brother John explained the plan of salvation to him as if he were a little child hearing it for the first time. Then he led Mr. Holmes in the sinner’s prayer, and Mr. Holmes, at last, came to know the Lord personally.
When Mr. Holmes finally prayed on his own, he thanked the Lord for his salvation, for his friendship with Brother John, and for the fact that the church hadn’t tried to beat him out of his interest money. Eight days later, Mr. Holmes died.
In one last twist, Brother John received a phone call from Mr. Holmes’ son, Ned, about three months later who asked if he could come to his office for a meeting. After they exchanged stories and laughs remembering Mr. Holmes’ unforgettable personality, Ned explained the purpose of the meeting. “My mother wants to give the remaining twenty acres of land to the church.”
In miracle after miracle, the Lord provided for Sagemont Church. With real estate that includes freeway access and surrounding property that starts at around nine dollars per square foot, the cost of Sagemont’s land averages only 77 cents per square foot.
But the true value of this part of the Sagemont Story is not in seeing that the church received one million dollars worth of land for free. It’s in rejoicing that Mr. Holmes received eternal life through Christ.
Who got the better deal?