Ever since we determined to rent the Hastings Art Center 7 years ago, both Vicki and I knew it would be a temporary fix until we found a more permanent home.  It has always been my desire to see this ministry be strong, vibrant and have longevity in this community well past my years.  God so blessed our start-up church, that we fostered a wonderful relationship with our Art Center landlords that has allowed us to accumulate adequate resources while we acquire our possible next location.  In the last few years as our gathering continued to grow in numbers, our church board has sought the Lord for the next steps in our church’s path.  We’ve prayed in a future champion in Pastor Brannen and then we began to scour Hastings and the surrounding area for potential facility spaces.

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Thankfully Vicki has been watching potential building availability for years, but because of there scarcity we shifted to land possibilities more recently.  Our church board also had serious conversations with other churches about sharing space, but it always failed based on time management and cost of sharing. 

One day board member John M. asked me if I would ever be willing to sell some personal acreage for our church’s future.  Vicki and I had thought numerous times in the past about such a possibility, so I made arrangements to set a date and have our board visit our homestead in order to envision the possibilities and the enormous obstacles.

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Shortly after our earlier conversation with John, we were with our dearest friends enjoying a day of road travel, food and fellowship after church.  We shared some of our personal considerations and the plan of inviting the church Board to look at our personal acreage.  All of a sudden it dawned on our friends that they had a piece of land they had purchased in February 2024.  They bought the property not knowing exactly what they would do with it, but figured if nothing else, it would be an investment for them.  They had not done much with the property and were planning to list it for sale by owner in the spring of 2025.  They had no idea that The Journey was seeking a new location for its future.

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As the story unfolded about the land and our need, the four of us were moved to excitement and possibilities.  We drove home, got in their truck and went directly to the land to see it for ourselves.  The excitement was palpable.  We saw the land as an orchestrated solution by God for our church’s future, a place to call “home” and yet also realized the enormous hurdles that we might have to climb over.

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Shortly thereafter, the planned date to inspect the Pasch acreage with the church Board came upon us and we met on our 20 acres.  As we concluded our tour I mentioned to the Board another possibility to our day, a visit to the acreage that had just come into view over lunch with our friends.  Pastor Brannen and I took the Board to the second site, and they were intrigued and amazed.  They said we should begin a dialogue with the people that owned the land to see what might be possible and at what cost.  When I mentioned who the owners of the land were, they were significantly moved by the possibility that God was at work among us.

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As we continued looking into the prospect of purchasing this land, the rest of the God story was filled with drama, city legal resistance, miracles and zoning changes.  When I contacted the city of Hastings, they said that no church could build on the specific piece of land due to its unchangeable zoning restrictions.  So Pastor Brannen and I began the process of investigating the limitations and the possibilities navigating through city government.  We watched at each city meeting and each communication with lawyers the demonstration of God’s favor.  Eventually God changed the zoning rules and we got permission to potentially build on this once restricted land.

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This land we looked at is located on the southeast corner of the city near the old Extreme Sandbox facility and the brand new United Heros League facility at 2650 Glendale Rd. (aerial photo) It has 4 buildable acres and 7 non-buildable acres included.  It has excellent access and is a very picturesque setting. 

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I can tell you today that your church has in fact recently acquired this wonderful piece of land from our dear friends of this ministry, Randy and Shelly Gilb, who have blessed the Journey Church with a generous opportunity to purchase this awesome real estate.  With your help, it will serve to allow for an amazing future for Pastor Brannen and this flock with the support and encouragement of myself, Pastor Ben and our entire leadership team to grow long into the future.  We will host a spring outing for all of you to visit it first-hand as soon as weather permits. May God continue to show Himself strong to us and to this community as we look long into our future.  Amen

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Pastor paris

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PS:  here is another little God gesture.  As we left the sight heading south on Hwy 316 toward the Pasch home, after having seen the possibility of God’s hand at work, He gave us the most amazing image of His promises, a double rainbow filled the sky with one end of it at the driveway of the Pasch home and the other across the valley seemingly at the land location.  (rainbow picture) We were awestruck and glorified God.

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