If you're looking for the ONE Campaign online commitment card, it can be found at SouthlandChristian.org/commit/.

If you don't call Southland "home", this might not make any sense.

During the weekend services we've been talking a lot about the Richmond Road property. There's a lot to be said about the opportunities this property holds. The prevailing opportunity encompassing all the ministry that will take place out of this location is seeing communities unified, built-up, healed, restored, redeemed and transformed by the message of Jesus through his bride, the church. The opportunity for impacting the surrounding communities in Lexington is great, and it's only a foreshadow of the opportunity of impacting the kingdom of God through this campus on Richmond Road.

This kind of opportunity doesn't come without it's costs.

First, it will require literally thousands of us to leave Harrodsburg Road and start calling Richmond Road our campus. Whether that is a change in commute or a relocation of residence is a matter of prayer and discernment for you and God to process. However those who go get over there, we know the ministry that God is leading us to on this side of town is going to require more volunteers on more days of the week then we've ever experienced at Harrodsburg Road.

Second, this opportunity will require dollars and cents.

If you've been to the weekend services, you know we're trying to raise $30 million over the next three years to renovate and open the Richmond Road campus. That number sounds big and scary to a lot of you, but it shouldn't.

Here's a hypothetical. Do you think God could still provide for your needs if you gave away a quarter in the next two hours?

Here's a second hypothetical. Do you think God could still provide for our needs if we gave away $30 million in the next three years?

If you answered yes to the first, the answer to the second should be the same.

Don't believe me? Let's do some non-hypothetical math.

If, trusting God to provide, you gave away a quarter every two hours, in a day you'd give away $3. In a week you'd give away $21. In a year (52 weeks) you'd give away $1092. In three years you'd give away $3276.

Now, what if 9,999 of your church family members did the same thing? Collectively you'd give away $32,760,000 in three years.

Back to the hypotheticals, trusting God to provide for $.25 in the span of two hours sounds easier than trusting Him for $30 million dollars in the next three years. But, going by the numbers and the assumption that bigger numbers are more difficult to attain, it's actually harder.

All that is said to say this - if we could all find a way to sacrifice $3 a day, this giant need of $30 million in three years is easily attainable. And $3 a day is easy for many of us to find. Here's just a few ideas. Get the less expensive of the two entrees you're interested in on the menu when you're out to eat. Drink water instead of soda. Drink a tall black coffee instead of a venti latte. Or forego the overpriced coffee altogether and meet your friend at one of your homes. Buy a reusable bottle instead of buying case after case of bottled water. Get just a sandwich instead of a value meal at the drive-thru, I promise you won't starve to death. Rent a movie for $1 at RedBox instead of spending $9 at the theater.

These are small lifestyle changes, and are just the beginning of simple ideas that you could put in place as a sacrifice for the next three years. And here's the big question: three years from now, will you really care whether you got the steak or the hamburger for dinner in October 2010? Will you really miss foregoing soda for three years? Will you really regret that you waited to see a movie by rental instead of seeing it opening weekend? Answering honestly, you'll probably say no to all these things.

On the other side, three years from now, will you regret making some small sacrifices to build a church so more people could meet Jesus and party with us in His Kingdom? Probably not.

$3 per day per a person makes realizing this goal seem easily attainable through small sacrifices. However, there are diverse economic realities in our church. The parking lot suggests that $3 a day is doable for many of you, but we know it isn't doable for everyone. Some of your budgets are stretched so thin that coming up with anything to give away seems impossible. Others of you can give away $30 a day and it won't impact your lifestyle one bit. That's why we're believing that God will meet this need through equal sacrifice rather than equal gifts.

Before you decide how you'll be physically or financially committed to the Richmond Road campus, take some time to make a spiritual commitment to pray for God's leading in what His will is for you and yours as it relates to His will for Southland. What you'll decide to do with your time and money is a matter of prayer for you and God. Each individual and family needs to discuss and pray through such a big decision, and not make such large commitments flippantly. As a church family, we've been doing this by walking through the Retro Faith Study that has been handed out on the weekend services. If you didn't get it during the weekend, the entire thing is available online.

The ONE campaign is about God’s vision for the next era of Southland, and we are asking each person that calls Southland their church to be a part of this process. We want everyone to be used by God to accomplish this goal, including a three-year financial commitment to this vision.

At the weekend services or in the mail you should have received a commitment card. Filling out and turning in this card is not a legally binding contract. It is a declaration of your intentions to give over the next three years. Inevitably some situations will change. This commitment can be adjusted up or down if your financial situation does change. The commitment cards are important because they serve as a planning tool for the church, enabling us to project cash flows over the upcoming three years and be good stewards of the money that will be committed to the Richmond Road campus.

Take these steps of prayer, commitment and faith as we answer God’s calling on our church. Remember, we want 100% of Southland committed to this cause. As you hear from God about your commitment, please fill out your card and mail it back to us in the provided envelope, or fill it out online here.