By Nathan Freeman
It’s hard to know which organizations to trust today, but you can tell much about an organization that pours into you when it has nothing to gain. The Solomon Foundation was encouraging me and mentoring me long before I worked for a church associated with their network of churches. My relationship with The Solomon Foundation started with a man by the name of Mac McElroy. Mac was on the original board of TSF, and he mentored me for several years in Phoenix, Arizona. He later introduced me to Doug Crozier, the CEO of TSF. I had no idea how much my connection with Doug would bless my life a few years later.
A Small Beginning
Through a series of events, it was obvious that God was calling my family back home to Florida. I reached out to Ken Idleman, Vice President for Leadership Development with The Solomon Foundation. I told Ken I was committed to and desired to serve a TSF church, but that it had to be in Florida. Well, that’s pretty specific, but I believed somehow God would provide.
During this time, a small church in Clay County Florida was also connecting with The Solomon Foundation. River Christian Church, due to financial considerations, was meeting in a funeral home back then. You read that correctly. They were meeting in a funeral home. They approached TSF because they had two big needs: they needed a pastor, and they needed a building.
The Solomon Foundation agreed to help River Christian Church. In 2017 the congregation began preparations to move out of the funeral home and renovate a dance studio for their next location. Around this time I connected to River Christian Church through The Solomon Foundation and was hired as their new pastor. I spent a few months preaching at the funeral home before we moved to the dance studio. It was a fascinating experience to watch 80 people show up on Sundays to have church at Russell Haven of Rest Funeral Home. Sometimes we had to move the hearse from the front door before people showed up for worship. Oh, and our Kids’ Ministry met in the cemetery! They even had an egg hunt in the graveyard. In those first few months we were able to grow despite our location. We even joked that we may have to go to multiple services . . . in a funeral home!
Room to Grow
We were excited to leave the funeral home behind and move into the dance studio that The Solomon Foundation helped us purchase. No more moving the hearse and teaching kids in the cemetery. We were all now in the same building with more room. The new location made it much easier to invite someone to church without all the funeral home jokes that ensued.
Gratefully settled into our new church home, we thought we would be at the location for many years. We were nervous when we launched at the new location, wondering if people would actually show up. We were hoping to have least 300 people attend our first Easter service in our new church. We only had a few weeks to get ready for it, but our little church got the word out about Resurrection Sunday to everyone who would listen. Four hundred people showed up that first Easter in our renovated dance studio. We were surprised by what the Lord did.
We had spent quite a bit of our financial reserves renovating our new location and I was wondering how we were going to pay our new mortgage, so I called Doug Crozier. I shared my fear that we may not have the funds needed to sustain the work and that we needed more time to build up our giving. Doug’s sense of calm and faith put me in a better frame of mind as I realized that God was with us. Guess what? We made budget that month and never missed a mortgage payment. Doug was right. God was growing his church.
We continued to grow in the dance studio. After adding our third Sunday service within six months of being in our new location, it became obvious that we needed to do something different. We realized that our forever home wasn’t big enough! We were cramming people in like sardines. By the fall of 2018, just six months in our new location, we started looking at different options. When I say we looked at different options, I mean we looked at all possible options. Nothing seemed to work. We felt stuck and knew we needed something to happen or we would lose momentum. The church was asking what the next step was because everyone could tell we needed to do something. To be honest, we didn’t know what the next step was going to be. One of our board members, Susie Wood, always said, “God is not only with us, but he goes ahead of us.” She was right; the Lord was going ahead of us. What landed in our lap next was truly from God.
God Provided
A local pastor and I were meeting for lunch. We met at Wendy’s and the pastor asked, out of nowhere, “Would River Christian Church be interested in buying our church building?” I just about spit out my frosty!
The building contained 40,000 square feet on the best 10 acres in our entire county. More than 80,000 people drive by that location every day! It was like looking for a car and having someone say, “You want to buy my immaculate Porsche?” And the answer, of course, is “In my dreams!” I acted like I didn’t hear the question because there was no way a church comprised of 80 people earlier that year should ever consider buying a property like this. Yes, we had momentum with growth, baptisms, ministries, and giving. There was just no way our little church could afford it. Which is true. But God could.
I immediately called Doug Crozier again and told him about the offer. I thought Doug was going to say, “Yeah, that would be nice Freeman, but this is just too big for you.” I had heard how much of a visionary Doug was and how he could see growth potential where many people wouldn’t even bother. What he said to me that day showed me he really puts his faith in what God can do through his church. “Let’s go for it,” were his words to me. I couldn’t believe it!
The Solomon Foundation was with us every step of the way. Doug and his team helped us purchase the building, finance the acquisition, and then led us through the sale of the dance studio.
When we were able to move into our new building on the best 10 acres in Clay County, Florida, we arrived with just over 450 people. This month we are celebrating our fifth year on our new campus with more than 1,600 people worshiping with us in person every week. Many, many more watch us online. In 2023, we baptized 223 people into Jesus Christ and we’re trending towards having more baptisms than ever in 2024!
Trusting As We Continue to Grow
At present, we need to expand on our campus and we are seeking guidance from The Solomon Foundation once again. TSF has been with us through it all, and they will continue to support us as we take our next steps in expanding the kingdom of God.
God has used many people to help our little church grow into what we are today, but we wouldn’t be where we are without The Solomon Foundation. When I think of Doug Crozier and his team, I’m reminded of what Paul said when he talked about Stephanas’ household. He said about them, They have devoted themselves to the service of the Lord’s people” (1 Corinthians 16:15).
Doug and TSF are devoted to serving the Lord’s people. They have been devoted to me when there was nothing to gain, and they have been devoted to River Christian Church when no one else would have partnered with us. My leadership team and I are forever grateful for the continued training, encouragement, and community that has been provided to us through The Solomon Foundation. Above all, they are devoted to winning more people to Jesus Christ. I can’t wait to take our next big step of faith with The Solomon Foundation and the Lord by our side!
Nathan Freeman is lead pastor with River Christian Church, Fleming Island, Florida.
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