New Around the Mission

July 19, 2010

Turning Lemons into Lemonade

Summer Breeze lead singer Chris Sieggen arranged a festival tribute to “yacht rock”, the smooth sound made popular by artists like Kenny Loggins, Hall & Oats and the Doobie Brothers in the 70s and 80s. Chris also serves as worship leader at Cambridge.

For fifteen years, a band of Cambridge Church faithful hurried through the halls of their borrowed space, arranging chairs into neat rows, laying wires, adjusting microphones and hauling tubs of Sunday School materials into classrooms. With the purchase of 16 acres two years ago, everyone’s hopes ran sky high for building a permanent space to call their church home.

Then the US recession hit; effectively plowing under their field of dreams.

The Cambridge congregation had raised 1.7 million dollars toward construction on permanent space on the acreage adjacent to Blue Valley Middle School. When the economic downturn hit, however, the bank changed their mind about loaning the remainder of the required funds.

“We were crushed and disappointed,” admits the Rev. Jay Fowler. “Our initial thinking was: ‘All we have is property with no building. It doesn’t seem like enough to do anything with.’”
Instead of waiting around, Cambridge leaders decided to transform the acreage into a park to serve the community. The new venture launched in June with a festival called Summer Breeze, featuring a band by the same name.

Alex Bonham-Carter/Sun Photo: Cambridge Church members Mike Kroeger, left, and Lee Saugstad prepare concrete to install disc golf baskets on church property at 163rd Terrace and Roe Avenue.

The new park includes a nine-hole disc golf course, soccer and football practice fields, a playground area, and a prayer garden. Determined to use the land God gave them to bless the community, Pastor Jay hammered some of the disc golf goals into the dry land himself.

Nearly 400 people enjoyed inflatables, concessions, face painting, juggling and free Frisbees at the festival.

“Our church is more about people than a building,” said Mark Kroeger, Cambridge Church member, “it is about the community that you build.”

Read this story in Sun Publications.

Posted By: Cynthia P. Brust
Categories: Recent News