In His Time | Niagara Falls Campus
Jonathan Drake | The Chapel Niagara Falls
God makes “everything beautiful in his time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Sometimes I struggle with the second part of that verse: in his time. It’s His time, not ours.
The launch of the Niagara Falls Campus was a reminder of that. As I have told the story before (including in a previous edition of On Mission Review), we looked at 40 properties in the city of Niagara Falls before landing where we did: the former Niagara Catholic High School. In December of 2021, we moved our campus from the portable to the permanent with just a few days to spare before Christmas Eve. We completed phase one of the buildout and are thoroughly grateful to be able to use this permanent facility while we continue to renovate various spaces - not only for our use, but for future ministry partnerships as well.
That journey took some time. It was January 22, 2017 when Pastor Jerry announced our plans to launch a campus in Niagara Falls. It was March 31, 2019 when that launch actually happened. And it was December 19, 2021 when we finally moved into the first phase of this buildout. At many points along the journey, I wished it would move quicker.
In March of 2018 (a full year before our campus launched), I walked through a Niagara Falls elementary school to explore the possibility of renting space on Sunday mornings. We figured, “A school is closed on Sunday - this will be perfect!” The school superintendent was gracious to show us around the Harry F. Abate (pronounced like “Abbott”) Elementary School. We talked through various details. It seemed promising, and I remember thinking, “OK - this is it. This is the place for us to get rolling!” But the more we talked and planned, the more we realized (mutually) that this was probably going to be too difficult to pull off. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I remember thinking, “Lord, why? Why did you line up these connections with the school district like you did?” It was definitely a puzzle to me.
Fast forward to the summer of this year, 2022. Kara Klump (our NF Campus Director) and I were meeting with the school superintendent to discuss some ideas we had for our church’s next Serve Day. We talked with him about our hope to bless a local school, pointing to what our CrossPoint congregation had been able to do last year for Windermere Elementary on Serve Day. And it was in that conversation that this question was asked: “What about Abate Elementary?”
Yes, four years and four months after the initial discussion about Abate, things came around full circle. The superintendent shared that, although there is great need throughout the Niagara Falls School District, Abate is at the epicenter of that need. Three-quarters of the student population (grades 3-6) is eligible for financial assistance. It’s in a neighborhood that faces incredible challenges on a daily basis. He doubled down on his answer: “It needs to be Abate. Whatever you guys do, it needs to be there.”
I was instantly flooded back to my frustration four years prior, and the questions that came with it. God was starting to answer the questions of “Why?” with something I could never have asked or imagined. As He does. And this Scripture seems to be a fitting accompaniment: “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12). Humility is needed because I don’t know better than God. I may have a desire, thought, or expectation that is completely misaligned with what He wants. Walking in humility means I can accept closed doors (literally and figuratively) as demonstrations of His grace. And patience is also needed, because it will always be in His time, not mine. But when we are graced with the opportunity to see Him work, we can stand back and give Him all the credit - because it will always be better than what we could scheme for ourselves! Then we can say with the Psalmist, “This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:23). And it certainly is.
Together for the Mission,
Jonathan Drake
