The recommendation contained in the following letter was agreed to by full consensus of the University Baptist Church congregation on November 18, 2007

October 11, 2007

TO: Members of University Baptist Church

FROM: Stewardship Council

RE: SEEKING THE HOUSE GOD HAS FOR US: A RECOMMENDATION

After much discussion and prayerful deliberation by the Work Group Leads and Stewardship Council, the Stewardship Council recommends the following to the congregation:

University Baptist Church will offer our property (building and land) for sale as soon as feasible.

Here is the thinking behind our recommendation:
  1. No proposals were received on October 1 in response to our Request for Proposals (RFP).
  2. A sale is the fastest way to:
    1. Give us the ‘sound financial’ standing we need
    2. Have surety about what will happen with our property
    3. Devote resources – should we choose to do so – to mission work
  1. We know there is some interest from some quarters in buying our property. Given that we have not officially put the property up for sale so as to test the degree of interest, we don’t know how ‘real’ or viable any of these might be. To date, the Working Group leads have received word of interest from:
    1. A church
    2. A development company that specializes in senior housing and skilled nursing facilities
    3. An office developer
  1. We have learned that the ‘joint venture’ some of us envisioned would be very complicated, time consuming, and ultimately uncertain. A joint venture where we maintained some aspect of ownership in the property would most likely take 3 to 4 years to be fully realized, and we would effectively be in ‘limbo’ during that entire time, not knowing for certain the deal will go through.
    1. We felt that 3 or 4 more years of uncertainty would be a disservice to ourselves, to our pastoral leadership, to our tenants and to our mission work.
    2. Joint-venture arrangements would tie us, in some way, to the financial stability of our partner(s).
  2. If we sell our property, we will have more flexibility regarding what we do next both in terms of where we are physically located and how we decide to use any ‘proceeds’ from the sale.
  3. Offering our property for sale does not preclude a potential buyer from presenting an offer that would, in some way, continue our relationship with the property. For instance, a buyer may wish to negotiate with us to lease space in a new building, or be part owners. But offering our property for sale means we will not require or even expect some sort of joint arrangement with the buyer.

Next Steps: Between October 21 and November 18, members of the Congregation are invited to discuss and consider this recommendation. Small group meeting opportunities will be provided, but anyone is invited host such a meeting. Similarly, any member of the church is strongly encouraged to call one or more of the Working Group leads with questions, comments or concerns. Action is expected – but obviously not ‘required’ – on November 18th. We will seek consensus in our decision making on this important question. Your Working Group leads are exploring whether the best way to implement this recommendation, should the Congregation come to a consensus on this recommendation or something similar. For instance, we might want to retain the services of an attorney, or of real estate professionals or some combination of the two. The Working Group leads expect to have a direction on this for our November 18 quarterly meeting.

Thank you most genuinely and sincerely for your thoughtful, passionate, calm, direct and God-filled work over the last years and months on this exceptionally important and yes, difficult task.

Most sincerely yours,

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Martha Bean, UBC Moderator 2007