It’s always more difficult—yet much more rewarding—to build up rather than maintain. It’s true that maintenance requires some effort. But when it comes to building, or expanding, that takes hard work!
God does much more than maintain what He creates—He constantly builds (John 5:17). He creates all things through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:9). In Mystery of the Ages, Herbert W. Armstrong described the quality of God’s handiwork: “This first verse of the Bible actually speaks of the original physical creation in its entirety—the universe—including the Earth, perhaps millions of years ago—as a perfect creation, beautiful and perfect as far as its creation was a finished, completed work. God is a perfectionist!”
More impressive than that is God’s perfect spiritual creation. For we are God’s workmanship, Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:10, “created in Christ Jesus unto good works , which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”
As our Father, God is creating us to become like Him—perfect (Matthew 5:48).
We find this principle explained in Luke 19. In the parable of the pounds, Jesus shows how the saints will be rewarded according to their works—how much they “gain.” Concerning the servant who merely maintained what God had given him, Jesus said, “Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds” (verse 24). In other words, God doesn’t want us to just maintain—He wants us to build spiritually.
Here is how Mr. Armstrong described that spiritual creation going on in the minds of true Christians: “God is not going to settle for a cheap, sloppy, careless, inferior bit of workmanship. He commands that we shall be ‘perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.’ A careless workman once complained to me, ‘The trouble with you, Mr. Armstrong, is that you are a perfectionist!’ I guess he was right. He should tell God, ‘The trouble with you, God, is that you are a perfectionist!’ God is a perfectionist. And so am I. How about you?” (Plain Truth , April 1965).
This spiritual principle is why Mr. Armstrong put so much effort and money into producing quality on the physical level: fine literature, technically sound television programs, and impressive buildings on the Church’s grounds that were beautifully landscaped.
The Building Program
Mr. Armstrong sent a letter to co-workers on Aug. 28, 1967, where he reprinted the article, “What You Have Not Seen Before on Ambassador College Campus.” In it, he answered some criticism he had received from a handful of co-workers who thought he was spending too much money on property and constructing buildings. He wrote, “Our campuses are beautiful—yes indeed! But they are not yet complete. As the gospel work of God grows, our campuses must expand! … I think it’s about time our co-workers in God’s work come to realize how much we do need additional buildings—additional space in which to work, in carrying on the great worldwide work of God. And just why that work can’t keep on growing, or fulfilling the mission to which the living Christ has called and commissioned us, unless we do immediately build additional buildings!”
Bear in mind that this letter was sent in 1967 when some in the Church thought Jesus Christ might return by the mid-1970s. Due to the possible imminency of that return, some co-workers had insisted that Mr. Armstrong spend all the tithes and offerings on “preaching the gospel”—not building facilities. But what critics did not understand, Mr. Armstrong explained, was that preaching the gospel went far beyond producing radio programs and literature. Even those productions required state-of-the-art facilities.
Fulfilling Our Commission
Consider the average respondent today. He stumbles onto our program, The Key of David, one Sunday morning and likes what he sees. He watches it for the next several weeks before finally making that phone call to request literature. He immediately connects to one of the Church’s operators. (The call center is temporarily situated in what used to be our headquarters meeting hall. To expand the call center later, we will need more space—right now there is only room for 15 operators.)
The literature the respondent requests from the call center is also produced (though not actually printed) at headquarters. Our pre-press production manager has just relocated to headquarters. To this point, he has worked out of his home. The publishing department, like the call center, is in need of more office and storage space, some new equipment and more employees.
After the literature request is processed, the road to “preaching the gospel” then travels through the mail department. Actually, headquarters pays an outside service to handle most mass mailings because we have neither the personnel, equipment nor space to handle them ourselves. We do, however, process thousands of miscellaneous and personal correspondence requests each week in our own mail department—inconveniently cramped into four small business offices. There is no loading dock and very little counter space. Most of the literature is stored at off-site facilities the Church rents.
After communicating with headquarters via mail processing and personal correspondence, the next step, assuming the respondent gets this far, is ministerial counseling. Each year, our ministers handle thousands of visit requests from people scattered all over the world. In the United States alone, where we have our heaviest concentration of members, we have 23 full-time ministers to shoulder this burden. Actually, it is much less than that, because 11 of those full-timers work at headquarters! Only 12 U.S. ministers work full time in the field!
Obviously, these ministers receive much support from dozens of elders who volunteer their time on the side—in addition to working other jobs during the day. But rest assured, there is—and has always been—a shortage of manpower in the ministry! And as the Trumpet circulation increases, as The Key of David reaches thousands more viewers, this manpower shortage will only get worse, unless something is done soon.
The Way God Works
Mr. Armstrong continued in that same co-worker letter, “As I have said many times, when God Himself does something, solely by His own great power, He does it in a stupendous, mighty and perfect way. Like, for instance, the creation of the sun, the Earth, the vast universe. But when He does something through humans, if it truly is God’s doing, the humans must start the very smallest—like the grain of mustard seed—but it continues to grow, and grow, until it becomes the greatest.”
What a comfort these words are! The work after Mr. Armstrong died began in the smallest of ways in 1989. But it has since grown. And if—like the mustard seed—we are to become the greatest, we must grow much, much more. That’s why purchasing property to expand headquarters and start a college ought to stir our imaginations!
Look at what God is doing. Consider the work of His hands. He is a first-rate workman—a perfectionist. That’s what He expects from us if this work is ever to have the worldwide impact He expects.
“It is emphatically not a matter of wanting unneeded finer things,” Mr. Armstrong wrote, “or a matter of unwise planning or extravagance. I know of no other work or activity on Earth as efficiently conducted or where every dollar accomplishes so much! … Of course we have acquired additional property and some houses or old buildings since then—but not nearly enough, because the work expands faster than our property and building expansion program does.”
That’s the way it has been with the Philadelphia Church of God from the beginning. We have always been a few buildings short. We have always needed more equipment and more manpower—no matter how much we have expanded over the past 10 years.
A Familiar Story
In 2 Kings 6:1-2, we read of a similar scenario in Elisha’s day. They had outgrown their headquarters facilities, and so all the sons of the prophets pitched in on the expansion program.
And look at how united the Jews were in Ezra’s day when God had commissioned them to rebuild the temple. “And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem” (Ezra 3:1). They gathered together as one—united behind the building program.
In verse 7, we see that they donated much money and materials to the project. Building materials were shipped from Lebanon to the port at Joppa. From there they had to be transported 40 or 50 miles to Jerusalem. It was undoubtedly a costly, time-consuming process.
On the surface, I suppose it may have been easy to criticize that program, much like it would have been to criticize what Mr. Armstrong did. Yet critics almost never have all the facts. Much of the property Mr. Armstrong purchased was at fire-sale prices. Many of the first buildings he acquired were old, dilapidated, inexpensive structures.
But that soon changed because of how fast the work grew and because of God’s principle of always growing and improving. In addition to tremendous support financially, over the years members and co-workers also donated thousands of hours of labor to beautify and improve the grounds and buildings God had given the work.
Also, once the colleges were up and running, hundreds of students were available to fill part-time positions at headquarters. This arrangement not only enabled students to pay for tuition as they went to school, it helped the work spring forward! And in the long run, as the work was able to do more on its own, instead of paying for services to spread the gospel, it saved millions of dollars!
Humanly, it’s easy to criticize God’s building program because we don’t always see things the way He does. God is a master builder who is always expanding. On top of that, He is a perfectionist. That should give us insight into how God builds and why.
Continuing in Ezra 3, we see in verse 8 that the Jews were not only confronted with material needs as we are today, they also had a shortage of manpower. That’s why they started bringing young men into the work at the age of 20, instead of 25 (Numbers 8:29).
In Ezra 3:10-11, all the congregation rejoiced after the foundation had been laid. They sang together and praised God for all that He had done.
Expect Roadblocks
As with any work for God, we must expect God’s adversary to throw obstacles our way. In Ezra 5, there were several critics who did not like what the Jews were doing. After Zerubbabel ignored them, they sent a letter to Darius the king, saying, “Be it known unto the king, that we went into the province of Judea, to the house of the great God, which is builded with great stones, and timber is laid in the walls, and this work goeth fast on , and prospereth in their hands” (verse 8). One of their complaints was about how fast these Jews were building!
That’s how Mr. Armstrong worked. Most are well aware of Mr. Armstrong’s attention to detail and quality, but he also set an incredibly fast pace when it came to expansion. He bought his first piece of property in Pasadena on Oct. 8, 1947; and just over 10 months later, he opened the door to Ambassador College. I say door—singular—because there was only one! The work did start small, like that mustard seed. But it grew fast.
Our building program is moving forward with that same swiftness. We purchased the 40 acres on June 29, 2000, and within weeks, member Jim Watts had moved to Edmond to assist building project manager Tim Thompson with managing construction. In July and August, we completed a tentative master plan for the property, set up a mobile home/construction headquarters on the southeast corner and cleared away much of the brush and hay on the land. On September 8, we had our official groundbreaking ceremony. The following week, earth-moving equipment began preparing the land for construction by cutting roads and leveling pads for building sites. At the end of that week, God blessed the Church with an additional 120 acres—prompting us to rearrange the master plan. In late November and early December, the foundation was poured for the field house. In coming weeks, we expect delivery on the steel for the field house and construction will begin. We hope to have the steel building erected and enclosed (though unfinished on the inside) by Jan. 16, 2001.
As with any construction project, there have been a few unexpected delays; but, all things considered, things have moved forward much more quickly than first projected!
That’s the way it went in Ezra’s day, despite attacks from critics. In the end, their deceitful workings and lying attacks backfired. The king actually cleared the way for Zerubbabel and the Jews to work even faster (Ezra 7:20-21).
Nehemiah’s Temple Wall
There is a similar story in the book of Nehemiah. There we find the Jews busily working to construct a wall around Jerusalem for protection. In Nehemiah 4:6, it says all the people “had a mind to work.” Like Zerubbabel, Nehemiah was able to accomplish a great deal in a short amount of time because of how committed and united the Jews were behind him.
“But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it” (verses 7-8). They too faced their share of obstacles.
“Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them” (verse 9). They just ignored the critics and kept right on working.
Some of the Jews, however, did begin to falter because of the constant attacks and the difficulty of the work (verse 10). But Nehemiah, like any true leader, inspired those who were lagging behind with a stirring speech (verse 14).
So the work continued on. “They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me” (verses 17-18). What a wonderful parallel that is for us today. With one hand, they helped with the construction; with the other, they held their weapon, prepared for battle! In other words, we are both builders and soldiers. (Read the rest of chapter 4.)
Skipping ahead to chapter 6, we find that the Jews were able to finish the wall in just 52 days! (verse 15). Look at how much can be accomplished—and how fast—when everyone is united behind the same project, pitching in wherever help is needed.
What a lesson these Old Testament events teach us. God expects us to be of one mind in supporting His Work as it expands. He also expects us to work quickly, although not be rushed, because quality is important too.
Re-read our booklet on Ezra and Nehemiah. (If you do not have a copy, request one; it’s free.) We only have space in this article to hit a few of the high spots about those ancient building programs.
Time Too Short NOT to Build!
Inevitably, there will still be a few who criticize God’s expansion program in these latter days—perhaps saying there is no time to build. After all, didn’t Jesus say He could only work the works of God during the day, for when the night comes, no one can work? (John 9:4).
Indeed, time is running short. But instead of that being a hindrance to our building and expansion projects, it ought to serve as a prod!
Notice what Mr. Armstrong wrote about the urgency of the days in which we live: “Another point some need to be straightened out on is why we need new buildings, with time so short. Some who do not understand are saying, ‘Well, if we have only about 4½ more years to go, why build any more new buildings?’
“Well listen! It’s time for us to understand the truth! First, we cannot be sure of only 4½ more years. We cannot set dates and be sure! We think that probably that is all the time we have left.
“But, first, we must accomplish more in that 4½ years—if that is all we have—than in the past 33½ years since the work started! And that is now possible because there are more of us—[we have a] bigger organization—now” (ibid; emphasis added).
That was a man of vision directing the building programs during the 1960s. The fruits of that incredible vision were there for all to see when Mr. Armstrong died in 1986. We need that same vision today.
Mr. Armstrong continued, “We cannot expand the work as it must expand to fulfill our great commission unless we can construct more buildings quickly!
“This great Work of God must grow to twice the size it now is, in the next 2¾ years. By the end of 4½ years it must become almost four times its present size!
“That is impossible if we are to lay down on the job now. This work cannot grow any bigger without more buildings. We have gone as far as we can go with what we have!”
Mr. Flurry echoed this urgent sentiment in his Aug. 1, 2000 co-worker letter: “God’s Work has reached a critical crisis. We have risen to a plateau. Our growth will slow down drastically or stop unless we make some important changes! How does Christ want us to change the status quo? He wants us to establish a college similar to Ambassador College.”
Mr. Armstrong’s 1967 letter could just as easily have been written for us today! We too must quadruple in size over the next few years—especially if time is that short! This should be our focus.
Those Found Doing
Those who criticized Mr. Armstrong in the 1960s, and those who would criticize Mr. Flurry today, completely miss the point of God’s purpose for man. While their focus is on physical construction, Mr. Armstrong, and Mr. Flurry today, are primarily focused on what God is building spiritually.
God has called us to do more than just maintain what we have; He wants us to build up and expand. It has always been that way spiritually. It is no different on the physical plane.
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come,” Jesus warns in Matthew 24:42. We don’t know exactly when time will end. We can certainly discern the signs of the times—but until Christ returns, the work in this age will continue.
Notice the attitude God wants to see in you. “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing” (verses 45-46). Right up to the return of Jesus Christ, we must be so doing! That means we will just keep right on working until time is cut short by Christ’s return.
“If we knew Christ should come tomorrow,” Mr. Armstrong wrote, “and we needed a new building for His Work, and today was the day to start building it, I would break ground and start that new building on its way today! And I would be busy building it tomorrow as I would be caught up to meet Him!”
What a visionary! There is simply no way you can think like that unless you understand the spiritual principle behind the building program. Mr. Armstrong wanted to be found doing when Christ returned.
So should we.
From the Archives: Royal Vision, November-December 2000