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History of the Agur Foundation
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In 1998, Grace Chapel of
Englewood, Colorado embarked on a church planting process. Rick
White
was part of Grace’s church planting committee, and while Mr. White
followed the process through,
he recognized the impossible mission that most “sandwich board”
churches face when it comes to building a new facility.
A sandwich board church is a start up or church plant that worships
in rented space. The space
usually is located in a school building auditorium / gymnasium, but
may also be in a car dealership show room, large retail show rooms,
movie theater or other areas where temporary sanctuaries can
be erected on Sunday mornings, then quickly torn down for the
intended use the rest of the week. The church then places numerous
“sandwich boards” around the temporary facility to attract passersby
to the church; thus the name sandwich board churches.
While the temporary facility allows the church to get a nucleus of
families to attend, many falter and die due to lack of contiguous
classrooms, office space, recreational facilities, etc. that all
contribute
to a well rounded, synchronized church home. Set up and tear down
each Sunday also becomes a cumbersome task. Weekday choir practice,
AWANA, Bible study, prayer groups and other functions have no real
place to meet and grow since the facility is usually only available
on Sunday mornings.
In order to help these new churches, Rick White and his wife Jane,
along with their two sons, Daniel
and Jason, decided that they would contribute part of their real
estate holdings to start a support foundation.
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Grace Chapel Castle Rock,
CO |
The Inspiration!
Located midway between Colorado Springs and Denver, Castle Rock’s
population has exponentially grown from
3,900 in 1980 to an estimated 35,000 in 2005.
Attracting 2,500 new residents annually, the Christian community
resorted to meeting in schools, office buildings, anywhere a meeting
place was available for a small congregation to meet on Sunday
morning.
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Grace Chapel's vision to plant a church in Castle Rock began with a
small core of members. Tom Wilkens was called to be their pastor.
After meeting at Grace Chapel Englewood for a year, the congregation
of Grace Chapel – Castle Rock (http://www.gc-cr.org) moved to South
Elementary School in July 2000
Though property for the new church was donated, the small, yet
growing congregation still faced financial hurdles prior to breaking
ground in February 2002. The congregation is now very pleased to
be meeting in their own sanctuary.
Rick and Jane White have experienced the many challenges facing a
new congregation. God has
placed on their hearts the desire and ability to form the Agur
Foundation, with the sole purpose of assisting growing congregations
so they may realize their dreams of owning their own facility to
further God's kingdom here on earth.
In 2002, Agur Foundation was formed. In 2004, Agur Foundation
received its 501c(3) tax exempt status from the Federal Government
and the State of Colorado.
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