Too Full for the Gospel?

Revolution Church’s building project was about more than getting a better facility.

Jeff Piepho is the founding pastor of Revolution Church in Salina, Kans. Here he shares some of their unconventional journey and how the BIC Foundation has been a committed ministry partner over their 20-year history, offering more than just financing to support their growth.

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I’m Jeff Piepho, lead pastor at Revolution Church in Salina, Kansas. 

We founded Revolution over 20 years ago. In the beginning, the church didn’t grow really fast, and I got really frustrated.

Around that time, I read a book called Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Kent and Barbara Hughes. They talk about how God didn’t call you to be successful; he called you to be faithful. That helped us shift into this new mode of: how do we be faithful to what God has given us right now?

And then I had these strange people showing up who had addiction problems, who smelled different. I mean, there were a lot of funny things about some of these people who were showing up at the church. As I was praying about it, I felt like God said to me, “Those people aren’t messing your church up. That is your church.” And He didn’t mean your church like Jeff Piepho’s church, but the church that he assigned me to.

And so we turned and said, “Okay, God, you want us to minister to these people.”

Building in Fertile Spiritual Soil

We got into our first building, and we did that with the help of the Brethren in Christ Foundation. They gave us a loan for that first building that we bought. It was a lot smaller than the one we’re in now, but God did amazing things as soon as we got in there.

We started growing and expanding faster than I ever imagined. We were only there for four or five years and then we were like, “Well, I guess we’ve gotta move.”

We started the process of a new building project. And now here we are in our new building, which is almost 25,000 square feet. It’s way bigger, way nicer, and the Brethren in Christ Foundation helped us get in here as well.

More Than a Lender

The Brethren in Christ Foundation has always been available for us. When we needed a new facility, they were there to answer any questions we had. I would call them up and say, “Hey, I have a question. This realtor’s talking about this, and I don’t know what that means.” And they would be able to answer questions. They weren’t just a lender; they were like partners with us in pursuing the property and pursuing a building project.

The Foundation actually knows you. They know me. When I call them up and ask them questions, they’re talking to Jeff, and I’m talking to someone I know. They care about our ministry here. The Foundation cares about Revolution Church. Our local bank wouldn’t necessarily care about Revolution Church. And so I feel like they are partners in ministry and not just a lending institution.

New Space for Growth

I feel joy every time I see new people walk in this place, and I’m able to remember that we couldn’t fit these people in our old building. In that old building, I saw people walk in, look around for a seat, see that it was completely full, and turn around and walk out. And I thought to myself, “What if those people didn’t know Jesus?” Were we literally too full to give them the gospel?

It’s important to be faithful, not successful, in ministry. Being faithful is always top of mind, number one. But it’s also important to be able to reach people for Jesus. And if we don’t have enough seating for people, there’s going to be someone who walks in and walks out, and that person might not have known Jesus Christ that day. What if they don’t ever come back to church again? That’s what goes through my mind.

So when we’re able to build a bigger building, when we’re able to have more seating available, when a non-believer can come in, sit down, and hear the sermon and hear the gospel, then I go, “Yeah, it matters that we have enough room for people.”

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