By Grace Thornton
The Alabama Baptist
When Pastor Mac Brunson said hello to Valleydale Baptist Church, Birmingham, a year ago, there was something he wanted to help them say goodbye to fast — the $6.2 million they were still carrying in debt.
A year later, they’ve paid off nearly half of that debt, thanks to several factors — one of which was a $1.5 million gift from an anonymous donor announced on Brunson’s one-year anniversary July 21.
“It was a great day,” Brunson said. “We had 16 people join the church that day. The Lord is really pouring His blessing out on Valleydale.”
The focused paydown of the debt started several years ago, before Brunson’s arrival. The church restructured the more-than-10-year-old debt when it was having trouble making the massive payments, and that bought them some breathing room, Brunson said.
They had also started a One Fund campaign, something that Executive Pastor Jeff McGukin said has really made a difference. In a traditional capital campaign, church members are asked to give over and above their regular tithes and budget giving to pay down the loan. In Valleydale’s One Fund setup, all the church’s money goes into one pot and then is divided into four areas — ministries, missions, capital improvement and debt retirement.
“It was a major shift for us,” McGukin said.
When Brunson arrived, he continued the push to attack the debt and asked the church to focus on getting it paid off.
“I think over the next three years we’ll be able to pay it off. I’m hoping we can pay it off sooner than that,” he said. “Getting it paid down has been a big encouragement to the church staff and to the church as well.”
Large debt can really weigh a church down, Brunson said.
“Long-term, deep debt, it can be a killer for churches,” he said. “The people get discouraged with it and the pastor and the staff bear the weight of it and they get discouraged with it as well.”
That’s why he said he would encourage any church with debt to focus on paying it off as quickly as possible.
“We want to free ourselves up to have funds to spend on things God might lead our church to do,” Brunson said.
McGukin said he can feel the excitement building in the church.
“We just feel God’s moving this church in the right direction, so we’re pretty excited about the future,” he said.
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