We have received many questions and inquiries people that are curious of the outcome of the vote for the Concord Baptist Church Association building, affectionately known as Soma. We first and foremost want to thank you so much for your prayers over the last few years. As you well know we have asked for ownership of this building for the better half of a decade. Unfortunately our efforts to gain ownership have been rebuffed multiple times.

Recently the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), unbeknownst to us, approached our association with the idea of a swap. MBC Offered a wing of their building in downtown Jefferson City for ownership of the associational offices. A very similar swap was made 20 years ago when MBC gave this property to our association to do ministry at Lincoln University. Through financial analysis our association has estimated that it will save the association approximately $200,000 in the swap and it was presented to the large association to be voted on at the meeting on Sunday.

This last Sunday our Elder Kevin and Mrs. Terry attended the bi-annual associational meeting which was held at Freshwater church. The vote on the building was one of many things that needed to be dealt with this last Sunday, as the vote came up there was a light discussion and then the near unanimous vote to deed the building back to MBC! To be honest I received this text a few minutes before I had to step into a pulpit and preach for the third time on Sunday. And I can barely contain myself and excitement and was over come to tears. This is a momentous occasion for Soma and also for our association. In the next few weeks you will receive updates giving you specifics on what we’re going to be doing to move forward.

I can already hear many of you asking the question “what’s our next steps?“ Over the next few weeks we will be assessing the building to specifically know what needs to be done in the upcoming months. We will be communicating with you any and all moves that the association will be making and that we will be making and when construction will begin on the building. Please make sure that you follow these newsletters and our blog to keep up to date. Thank you so much for your prayers over the last few years. This is a step in the right direction but it’s not the end goal and please know we have so much work to do. I’m excited for what’s next for our convention, our association and our church.