"During the years that Brad was at St. Margaret's, he was offered many other jobs around the country. Many expected him to be a bishop, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. He said his dream, his vision, had always been to be a parish priest and a teacher. He didn't want to leave St. Margaret's until he felt his work here was finished." (Carol Hall)
After a short flight from Palo Alto, I walked down the ramp of the airplane one blazing hot August afternoon and into the Palm Springs Regional Airport. It was 119 degrees outside and immediately I started melting. My first words to Carol were, "What in the world are we doing here?"
Four days later, after meeting with your Vestry and Search Committee at the Magruders', of touring the church and getting the "lay of the land" of this desert valley, I boarded that same airplane and flew back home to paradise.
But it was no longer paradise. Something happened over those four days which changed my life. I was called--called by you to minister, called by God to move once again, called to begin a new ministry at St. Margaret's Church in Palm Desert. Most of the people I talked with said, "What? Where is Palm Desert? Why in the world would you want to go there?" And to tell you the truth, I wasn't so sure. I had a hard time answering their questions. But like new parishioners who have just moved here this week, we left what we thought was paradise and home and accepted our call.
Today, Carol, Susan and I celebrate our fifth anniversary with you at St. Margaret's and I'm clear about three things:
-- Paradise moved--from Palo Alto to the heart of the Coachella Valley.
-- I now know why I was called to minister here.
-- The call took. With Carol's loving support and yours, I plan on staying here with you.
This is an important time for St. Margaret's Parish. We have come a long way together and it seems appropriate at this point to renew our vision, to take a few moments and reflect together on where we've been and where we are going.
Shortly after my arrival five years ago, your Vestry made a fundamental decision to grow, to increase membership and attendance at St. Margaret's. Our Senior Warden at the time, Willett Magruder, had just completed a demographic study of the Coachella Valley which clearly pointed to rapid and continuing population growth. (Indeed, Palm Desert was fourth on a list of the fastest-growing cities in California.)
Well, as most of you know, we bloomed. It didn't take long to fill our church. With only one hundred and ninety-two seats available, we were filling up the 8:00 a.m. service and jamming in three hundred and fifty to four hundred people at the 10:00 a.m. service. Indeed, at some services, we were literally turning people away at the door.
At this point, less than three years ago, your Vestry decided it was time to build a new church. We were beginning to feel like a pot-bound plant, bursting at the seams and we knew that our growth would continue to increase. Events moved quickly. Our Building Committee was formed under the overall leadership of Leonard Firestone, with Al Hastings as chief fund-raiser and Alan Williams as chief contract supervisor.
An architect (Milton Chambers) and design were selected and in March 1988 a Building Contractor (Rancho Mirage Builders) showed up with a bulldozer. We dug a great hole in the ground and then we waited for what seemed to be ages before the first steel girder appeared out of the hole early last summer.
Under the leadership of Senior Warden Al Hastings, we spent the remainder of last year raising funds, building our church, growing and praying for it all to come together.
Throughout this time of building our attendance continued to rise. We were up twenty-five percent last year and so we had to move outdoors into the patio for Palm Sunday and Easter Services. Over twenty-one hundred people attended these two Sundays, and some of us looked across the patio at our nearly-completed sanctuary and wondered if we were building it large enough.
With a whole lot of prayer and financial support from each and every one of you, we opened the doors of our building on June 4th. It was a splendid and prayer-filled time of celebration, and just two weeks ago, Mildred paid the final bill to the contractors. As of today, with an agreed-upon mortgage of $600,000, your church is paid for. Everything you see, including the Altar, Baptismal Font and Cross (soon-to-come) is yours! Over the past year and a half, you have raised and expended over three million dollars.
With your prayer-filled support and with God's grace, you now have one of the most beautiful churches in this country. Take a moment and just look around, enjoy it, give thanks to God, and to each other, for this incredible blessing. And while you're doing that I want to give you my personal thanksgiving (including all of you who are away and reading these words) for this wonderful ministry which you called me to--for your loving support and gracious leadership as we brought this vision to reality.
Now it is time to look ahead. Where are we going? What are we to do next?
Well, first of all, I think it is clear that our church growth will continue. We currently have six hundred and fifty family units and eleven hundred and two baptized members and each week we add more. Sunday attendance continues to grow and I suggest we set a goal to fill this church--this year!
Second, we need to develop ministry programs in more depth and with more variety. With thanks to a few committed mothers, we have maintained a basic Sunday School and Wednesday School for our children. Our adult Sunday Bible class is booming. We have a fine Mommy and Me group for toddlers, Jean Smith has support groups for widow/widowers and for those in therapy for cancer. Our Journey groups continue to oversubscribe. Under Courtney's leadership our choir grows and thrives.
Now it is time to create and provide more educational and support programs. With Brian's help we will deepen and expand our youth education programs (we have over one hundred children on our rolls) and new support/social groups for married couples and singles. We will also provide more opportunities for Bible study and spiritual growth during the week. You can help us in this effort by letting us know what you want and also by actively participating in these ministry groups as they are formed.
A third area of growth for the future must be social outreach. We currently support a variety of social needs which range from the local Coachella Valley Rescue Mission to support of education of priests in Ghana, West Africa. My hope and challenge to you all is that we broaden this outreach and begin to share some of our blessings with those who are needful in our midst and in third world nations. In the long run, if we don't share it, we'll lose it.
Fourth on our list: We need to expand our worship services. On Saturday, October 7th, we will begin our 5:30 p.m. Saturday evening service for those of us who work or travel and, yes, those of us who have early tee-off times on Sundays. We will also provide a midweek evening service for those who work during the day and we will provide special services for the primary Holy Days through the year.
One of the givens of church growth is growth in pastoral services like baptisms, funerals and weddings. As most of you know, we have an open and liberal policy about these services. This is a complex community with many transient people, so please know that we are here as a parish to serve you and your needs.
For example, this fall we have scheduled ten weddings over the next four months and I suspect there are more to come. You might also be interested to know that we have baptized seventy-eight children over the past two and a half years.
Now let's talk for just a moment about the next five years' building program. What we have now, this church building, is Phase One in a Three-Phase program and I think it is important to remember once again: It is done. Phase One is completed. Now, what's ahead?
Phase Two, which begins this year, will complete the undercroft. We have nearly thirteen-thousand-square-feet below us which will include our office spaces, the Parish Library, and a forty-seat chapel architecturally designed to recreate St. Margaret's personal chapel in Edinburgh, Scotland. It will also include a multipurpose and choir room and space for a Cellar Door and gift shop and an apartment for visiting ministers or a sexton.
In Part Two of Phase Two we will replace the old organ in our church with a new organ designed specifically for this space.
Part Three of Phase Two will convert the old church building into a Parish Hall. (The memorials will go into the new chapel.) We will also divide the current Parish Building (Connell Hall) into permanent Christian Education classrooms.
Phase Three builds a school for our community. The headline in Thursday's Desert Sun reads:
Valley Student Boom Forecast: "The student population of valley schools will grow by thirty-nine percent in the next five years. State school construction funds are broke, officials are concerned about what the future holds."
Well, we are a part of that future, and with a great deal of foresight and wisdom, your Vestry purchased the nearly two acres of land up the hill and adjacent to our old rectory offices. Our vision is to build St. Margaret's Episcopal School of the Desert to provide loving Christian education for our parish and community children.
And now, with all of this in heart and mind, I ask you to join with me and invest in your future. Pray, pay and participate.
Pray for your church. It is the single most important thing any of us can do. I have included a very specific and lovely prayer in your bulletins for your daily use.
Secondly, we will also need to pay for what's ahead. I think we have demonstrated that what we have done represents sound use of your hard-earned assets. We are a good five-star investment.
Thirdly, participate. Be an active member of your church; worship and ministry programs are for you, and I ask you to make your personal commitment to invest yourself as well as your assets and join me in becoming a part of the exciting future of St. Margaret's Church.
It's been a great five years. I love you all. Amen.
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