Title: Church Extension loan requests exceed $2.8 million
Date: March 16, 1998
Disciples News Service Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Contact: news@cm.disciples.org
98b-17
INDIANAPOLIS (DNS) -- More than $2.8 million in loan requests have been approved in the past three months by staff and directors of Board of Church Extension.
Loan requests were among the reports received and actions taken by Church Extension directors during the group's first quarterly meeting of the year, March 10-11.
Loan requests to help finance building expansion and improvements for Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) congregations and related institutions came from 13 states plus Puerto Rico. The loans support 21 projects that include site purchases, remodeling, new construction and debt refinancing. Costs of all projects totaled more than $5 million.
Directors also approved three interest-free loan requests totaling $250,000 for projects in Tennessee, Florida and Texas. Nine congregations now have outstanding commitments totaling $541,750 in interest-free loans.
As of Feb. 28, reports showed loan balances of $92.3 million while the board's assets stood at nearly $106 million. Investments placed with BCE, a primary source of loans, stood at $83.5 million.
Other reports showed 654 field visits were made by staff and special consultants to provide services to 382 congregations during 1997. Included were 57 building and combined fund campaigns that produced nearly $11 million in pledges. The pledges helped to fund capital expansion projects and, in some instances, to underwrite combined capital and operational budgets.
In other action, directors approved holding their June 1999 out-of-town board meeting in the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina. This location will allow directors and staff to visit with African-American Assemblies congregations that are served by Church Extension.
The Rev. Deborah R. Thompson, outgoing director of New Congregation Establishment, a churchwide ministry lodged in BCE, was recognized by directors for her eight years of leadership with the program. Thompson, who will be on a sabbatical until late April, becomes director of Vision Builders development program of NCE on June 1.
-- end --