Friends,
Our parishioners have been extremely generous towards our building fund. At this point we have $723,000 in this fund and we thank you very kindly for your donations.
But in order to build the church only we need $2.2MM (the hall will be about another $1MM so we will build that to be sure, but in order to please the bank we are doing this in two discreet pieces: first the church, then the hall). Thus, we need a $1.5MM loan to cover the difference between cash on hand and the cost of the church. We have been working on this loan for some time. It is possible that we will get this loan. It is also quite possible that we will not. We simply do not know. But it does not look good at this point. The bank is concerned that we do not have adequate income to cover the loan cost. So are we. To be honest: collections are up. Again, we are thankful! But some people are not fulfilling their pledges made in support of the building fund. We need those pledges in order to afford the loan payments. Perhaps people’s financial situations have changed. That is understandable – it happens sometimes. But it would be good to get an update from folks if this is the case. It helps us to plan. Please contact our Treasurer, Mikhail Fisenkov, to provide updates.
We are in an odd situation. We need more income to afford the loan. We need the loan to complete the church. But we are unlikely to get the loan if we cannot gather another approximately $3,000 per month. And there are people who tell us: we will support the building project – but only once we see it underway. Everyone wants the building to start. The parish voted on November 2, 2025 to empower the Parish Council to build the new church and hall. One year ago today. We intend to fulfill this charge without further delay.
To this end, we decided at our parish council meeting on Monday, October 26 that we would begin construction at the earliest possible opportunity. That is likely to be in early to mid November.
This is going to be a construction project like EVERY OTHER ONE we have ever undertaken in our parish. We have built the parking lots, retention pond, cemetery, barn, and school in the recent past. In the somewhat deeper past we expanded our kitchen and the nave and altar of the church too. Only one of those projects began with the money in the bank to finish it: the cemetery. So historically we have gotten all permits approved and undertaken construction WITHOUT all the money that the project would cost in hand. And we knew that. And we trusted God that it would all work out. And it did. And we are doing that this time too.
So, as with our other projects, we will have to manage and execute this one ourselves. At least we assume that we will not get any outside contractors interested in a job without the money in the bank to pay for the whole thing. But we will put the project out to bid. At the same time, we are moving forward under the assumption that there will not be any interested parties given our financial position. We are OK with starting a project without all funds on hand – we have done that many times successfully. But this is not the way that contractors work. They generally want to know that we have the money BEFORE they will work with us. But perhaps someone will step up to take the job anyway. If so, of course the Parish Council will consider such a contractor. But we have to chew gum and walk at the same time. So with the assumption that we will not get a trustworthy outside contractor we are moving forward as we always have: building what we can with the money we have on hand.
We see this as the Lord’s hand guiding us. If He wanted us to have all the money in hand before we began the project He would have seen to it that more funds were received, or that the loan was issued, or whatever. If that is the way He wanted it then that is the way it would be. But clearly that is not the case. So we as a Parish Council will make every attempt to align our will with God’s will and to trust Him to make it work – just as He has every other time we have undertaken a construction project at STV. This is not the easiest path, but the Lord makes it clear that the easiest path is not the safest path:
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)
The Lord is blessing us to follow the narrow way with our construction project. EXACTLY as He has always blessed us at STV. And we have always trusted Him. And it has always ended well. We are being asked to trust Him again, and if we hope to successfully complete our project we must do just that: work just as hard as we can and trust God. This is The Way. Let us rejoice that the Lord blesses us so, and let us pray for His continued blessings on our St. Vladimir parish family. Onward to the new church!
In Christ,
Fr. Gregory & Parish Council
