Month at a Glance
Time To Pray For A Christmas Miracle
by Pastor Mark
I want to say a huge THANK YOU to all of you. Our church has made a big move, and being mobile this season is not as easy as just showing up at our building. I can’t believe what the Lord has been doing and all those who have begun to attend since we moved. I’m so grateful to serve with you all!
As you know, we’ve been in a 90-day discovery process to purchase the land we’ve prayed over for the last four years. While things had been progressing smoothly, an issue arose during discovery last week that caused us to pause.
We learned that 11% of the land must remain undeveloped per Spanish Springs’ open-space policy. Additionally, a 40-foot-wide road easement, required to connect to the residential development behind the property, would render more land unusable. These factors reduce the buildable space by over half an acre, leaving roughly 2.5 acres for the church building and parking lot. While this would still work for our church building, combined with the cost of providing utilities for the adjacent residential development, it wouldn't allow us to recoup our cost with additional business space. It would not be a good stewardship of the church’s finances.
Both our realtor and our funding source have encouraged us to terminate the purchase as it stands. After much prayer and discussion, the Elders unanimously decided to terminate it. We’ve informed the seller and are working to renegotiate, requesting a lower price that excludes unusable land and asking the seller to cover utility expansion costs for the residential project, as it does not benefit us directly.
Here’s where we stand: we’re trusting God and staying transparent with you. This land deal isn’t over yet; even if it doesn’t work out, we know God has a place for us. Our mission in Spanish Springs remains unchanged because we are here to reach our city, not to build a building. This is an opportunity for our church to step out in faith and prayer again. Please pray for the seller to be willing to renegotiate and for God’s favor to go before us.
Our Christmas Eve Carols and Candles Service at the land is still happening at 5 p.m. It will serve as a placeholder for our faith in what God may do with this property—or as we await His provision.
Hidden behind the cross,
Pastor Mark
For any questions or concerns, please email us at sparks@lschurches.com
Meet a Living Stoner! by Gabrielle Torres
Hi Church, meet David Beck!
David is a Non-Staff Pastor at Living Stones Spanish Springs. During the week he’s a software engineer at DoorDash. He’s been attending Living Stones for 16 years, at Sparks since the church was planted 13 years ago, and a pastor for the last 3 years. He and his wife, Kristin, met in the Living Stones Deacon School and now have 3 kids. During that time he’s served all over the church and this year as we moved in to Spanish Springs has begun leading safety team. David says, "I love that we can provide a safe environment for the kids, where parents can be comfortable dropping off their children". Safety Team could use more people to serve!
If you are interested in serving, please fill out this serving form here or by seeing the Connect Desk on Sundays. If you have any questions, please email me at gabrielle@lschurches.com
