Location, location, location.

 

Real estate agents tout it, but for Memorial Baptist Church in Spring and University Baptist Church in San Antonio, their locations presented distinct problems. Memorial was surrounded by a changing neighborhood it wasn’t able to reach and University owned acres of land it could neither use nor sell, and the taxman was coming.

 

What’s a church to do? Stay and try to reach a changing neighborhood, move and risk destroying the church, pay taxes it can’t afford, or sell it all and relocate?

 

As both churches faced these issues, the Lord stepped in, they say, led them in completely different directions, and advanced the ministries of both churches.

 

Memorial Baptist Church had been in the same location in suburban Houston since constituting in 1931. The church had been a successful, growing church with an outreach to its community.

 

But when Pastor Cliff Mayton began his ministry at Memorial in 1999, the church was witnessing the transition of the neighborhood around it. 

 

“The area was 85 percent Hispanic,” Mayton said. 

 

Most were first-generation Hispanics and the language barrier was nearly impossible to overcome. The church tried to minister to the neighborhood, but with little long-term success.

 

After about 14 months at Memorial, Mayton sensed the Lord leading him to relocate the church. He shared this belief with his wife, Georgianna, and then continued to pray for several months.  

 

Over time, the Lord brought confirmation, he said, through other staff members that they, too, believed it might be time to relocate the church. 

 

“We began to pray first, then plan,” Mayton recalled. He felt led to have one-on-one talks with 127 church members over six months to get their reactions and begin to build consensus. Of the 127 conversations, 124 also believed relocation was God’s will.

 

Next Mayton took the relocation idea to the church’s steering committee and then to the deacons. Both groups got on board with the idea and in a business meeting 94 percent of the church voted to relocate.

 

The steering committee formed subcommittees to handle the details of the relocation.  Committees were created to find land, sell existing facilities, coordinate transition, supervise construction, facilitate communication, and oversee decoration.

 

Then in 2001, the church put its property up for sale. 

 

“We had a lot of disappointment,” Mayton said. The first two deals fell through, the second deal despite two years work on it.

 

“Of course, I had a lot of people telling me I was making a mistake. ‘You’re gonna be known as the pastor who left a spiritual vacuum in this community,’” Mayton said. “All of the other churches in that area had closed their doors. I said, ‘I don’t think so.  I think God has better plans than that for us and for those who buy this property.’”

Mayton also received criticism for “selling the church.” He saw things differently. 

 

“We aren’t selling the church,” Mayton explained to naysayers. “We’re selling the property. We are the church.”

 

As the property continued to sit on the market, Mayton believed the church could get $3 million for it, but was told by prominent members that the church would be fortunate to get $1.5 to $2 million. Despite the dire forecasts, the church continued on, but did lose members along the way. 

 

“We had a lot of people jump ship,” Mayton recalled.

 

Meanwhile, the search for land went forward.

 

“We looked at property everywhere,” Mayton said.

 

The church found a 75-acre piece of land priced at $1.8 million and made an offer of $1.6 million, which was turned down. Then, Mayton said, they got word that someone else was interested in the land, made an offer of $1.8 million and it was accepted.

 

“We bought the land before we sold the property over there,” Mayton said. “Some people thought we had lost our minds. If you’d told me I’d do something like this, I’m not a high-risk guy. I’m very conservative. I looked at it as an investment—a step of faith.”

 

In 2004, three years after putting the property on the market, a buyer stepped forward and purchased Memorial’s existing facilities. St. Matthew’s Anglican Church bought the property for a little over $3 million cash. Memorial saw the Lord’s hand in this deal, they said, since they always believed the property should remain a church with the potential to reach the Hispanic community. Today, the church is ministering to the community and averages 2,600 in four services each weekend.

 

With new property secured and old property sold, the church then needed somewhere to meet during the transition. Multiple locations were scouted, but nothing seemed to be available. One day Mayton was driving past Spring Tabernacle and felt led to speak with the staff about the possibility of renting the church’s Family Life Center. Arrangements were made and Memorial met for 11 months in the facility. 

 

“We gained 100 people in the 11 months at Spring Tabernacle,” Mayton said. 

 

In March 2005, the church celebrated occupying its new facilities in its new location. Through offerings, gifts, and the sale of the old property, Memorial is debt free.

 

“I don’t like debt,” Mayton said. “But, if we hadn’t gone into debt, we wouldn’t be here.”

 

Today, Memorial is a growing church that practices the fundamentals of church growth.  “I’ve stuck with the basics,” Mayton said.

 

The church is Bible-based and evangelistic, focusing on Sunday school and community outreach activities.

 

Attendance has risen since the move. “Slightly less than 200 came with us,” Mayton noted. Recently, the church saw 437 in Sunday school at the new location. “Every class is practically maxed out. We need more room and more teachers. We are having additions.  It is rare to have a Sunday where we don’t have 3, 4, 5 additions.” 

 

This church year the church is expecting to baptize at least 50.

 

“I’m just blessed to be at this church,” he added.

 

University Baptist

University Baptist Church in San Antonio also had location issues, but their problem was too much land, according to Pastor Randy Bales. Their story began 25 years ago when the church purchased its first piece of land.

 

“When the church moved to this location, there was a provision in the deed that the church had to provide a road to access the property behind us,” Bales explained.

When the time frame listed in the deed was up, the church decided that it would be cheaper to purchase the land behind them rather than meet all the city requirements to build a road.

 

So University purchased the land for $115,000, giving the church approximately 30 acres of property.

 

The church believed the Lord had given them the property to use for him, so over the years they tried to find ways to utilize it to no avail. They also tried to sell parcels of it, but nothing happened. In addition, because the property was comprised of multiple parcels, the city continually tried to make the church pay taxes on it. 

 

Ten acres of the property were given to Southwestern Seminary in the hopes that a seminary extension would be built there. However, after 10 years, the seminary returned the land to the church. The church tried to give it to another school, but that fell through. So the church sat on the land for 20 years, mowing it and using it for baseball games, but not for any other long-term purpose.

 

“It’s interesting how the Lord works,” Bales said. In 2003, the property was assessed taxes by the city and the church given six years to build or pay taxes. The church was faced with a decision. 

 

“It was a $17,000 tax bill on just one of the parcels,” Bales said. “My first thought was, ‘We need to relocate.’”  

 

In the meantime, another two-acre parcel adjacent to University’s property came up for sale. This parcel had frontage that the church thought might be important to own. Bales said people thought they were crazy for buying two more acres of land when they already had 30 they weren’t fully using, but the purchase was made.

“At the time we couldn’t see the whole picture,” Bales said. “We felt it was reasonable and rational, but we couldn’t tell you why.”

 

Now University was faced with an important decision. They had to sell all or part of their property and possibly relocate before the taxes came due. In 2007, they decided to put the extra land up for sale. 

 

“We had a buyer within a year,” Bales recalled.

 

A major selling point was the extra two-acre parcel. The church sold 25 acres for a little over $2.8 million, leaving it debt free on 7.5 acres.

 

“The Lord moved,” Bales said. “You have to live through those 20 years with the city, fighting the taxes. The city aggressively tried to tax us. God gave us grace and victory.  All of the things that worked together were remarkable.”

 

Today, University has a clear vision of its mission in San Antonio.

 

“It clarified for us that we needed to stay where we are,” Bales said. The church is planning to fully use its remaining property and is currently in a capital fundraising campaign to build a larger sanctuary. “We are trying to develop a strong enough footprint in our area to make an impact. The church has a strong sense of looking forward.”