On a Wing and a Prayer

“There were a variety of these kinds of problems,” he adds. “And on top of that, we now had a $2 million bill to pay. Construction was slated to start in two months, and the bill had to be paid off in 12 months.”

Welcome to your new job, Craig Carpenter.

‘A God thing’
Working in what could easily be described as crisis mode, the development staff hunkered down and accomplished what many of the folks involved still say could best be described as an act of God. They increased individual giving by $500,000 and, with the addition of board-designated funds from the sale of some peripheral properties, paid off the construction bill in May 2003 — before it even came due. As an extra little treat, the retrofit job came in under budget and was completed in April 2003 — two months before it was expected to be done.