Total Active Investment Dollars : $67.2 M
Total Active Investments : 979
Total Assets : $71 M
Total Active Loans : 148
Total Active Loan Dollars : $56.3 M
Loan Apps Received in Qtr 2: 30
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All of us have gone through unprecedented life experiences the last three months with the COVID-19 virus outbreak. Although our offices were closed, we have slowly reopened and have everyone back at the office now, with social distancing measures in place.
The one thing that has not slowed down is the requests for new loans. Since the Loan Fund was started in 2011, we have funded $90,041,080 in loans. In just the last twelve months we have had 100 loan inquiries totaling $51,172,241 in requests. Over 50% more funding requests compared to loans made in the last nine years. Even during COVID-19 we have had thirty new requests. Your continued faith and investments in the UPCI Loan Fund are still meeting the needs of growing churches.
In our last newsletter we reminded you about the extension of the Individual Retirement Account contribution deadline for 2019, which was pushed out to July 15 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This means you have just a few more days to maximize your 2019 IRA. You can go to
upciloanfund.org/forms
to download your application.
Because of the challenges of social distancing, we will not be having our annual Loan Fund Luncheon at General Conference this year. We will have our booth in the exhibit hall and hope you will stop by and visit with us. We will have special giveaways, a photo backdrop, and promotional rate offerings. Again, thank you for your trust and investment in the Loan Fund.
Stephen M. Drury, President
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Church Highlight
LifeSpring Church, Springfield, MO
By: Pastor Tod Johnson
In 2012, God gave us very clear direction that our family should relocate to Springfield, Missouri to plant a church. In June of 2013, our family moved and started holding Bible studies in our new apartment. In partnership with the Missouri District Prayer Ministry, we hosted a
Plow Before the Planter
event in August of 2013. This was a powerful step in turning the soil for our new church plant. In October of 2013, we began holding monthly preview services in the same hotel conference room where we had held the
Plow Before the Planter
event. We quickly moved to holding weekly services in that location by February of 2014.
After one year, it was time to move our church forward by establishing a permanent place of worship. After much prayer and many hours of looking at potential locations, we found that there was nothing available that would fit our budget. We continued to pray and wait on God to open the right door. He did! We soon found a free-standing 3,200 square foot building located next door to a busy Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market. It was a miraculous answer to prayer! We negotiated a very favorable five-year lease agreement and moved in on Pentecost Sunday, May 31st, 2015. During that first service, a backslider prayed back through to the Holy Ghost.
In February of 2017, while I was on a mission trip to West Africa, my wife called to tell me that the current owner of our building had sold it and the new owner had just contacted her. He stated he wanted us to be moved out within the next thirty days because they needed to demolish the building to make way for a new commercial development. After further discussion, he agreed to honor the existing lease agreement. However, it was made very clear that the day following the expiration of the lease agreement the building would be demolished. Often over the next year we would be contacted by the building owner asking if we had found a new place to worship yet. While we were actively looking, there was still nothing available that would fit our budget. So we responded that we intended to stay until the end of the lease in April of 2020. We hoped this would give us enough time to find a new location.
In 2019, we were starting to feel the pressure of the impending end date of the lease. Our search was still yielding no locations for us to move to. In prayer, I was feeling confirmation that the miracle with this building wasn’t over yet. In March of 2019, we received another call from the owner of our building. This time his tone was much different. After completing all the design work for his commercial development the costs were going to be too high. He asked if we would be interested in purchasing the half of the property where our building was located. He would cover all the costs for surveys, installation of a new parking lot, and enhancements to the drainage system. The miracle was bigger than I could have ever expected!! We said, "YES!!"
It was through the generous financial stewardship of our saints, our partnership with several other churches in our district, our monthly financial assistance from North American Missions, a Sheaves For Christ Property Grant we graciously received, and God’s favor that we were able to secure the funds for the down payment. Now we just needed to find a lender!
After receiving several recommendations, we reached out to the UPCI Loan Fund. They worked with us to get a pre-approval for the purchase of the property and then a final approval for the closing. In the end, our loan payment was $200 less than our current monthly lease payment! Because of the UPCI Loan Fund, we were able to purchase and stay in the building we had already invested years of work into and we were able to keep our prime location.
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How about some good news?!?! As of June 2020, there are zero loans on our 10-Day Past Due list! To say that is remarkable would be a vast understatement! Think about it…out of the almost $57 million dollars in loans outstanding, not a single church is behind on their payments. We must give God the glory for this!
Financial experts were predicting churches would experience a 30%-50% decrease in giving during the COVID shut-down. I agreed with this prediction when it came out. While there have been a number of churches negatively impacted by the layoffs of members, the vast majority of churches have not experienced the predicted downturn. In fact, many have experienced INCREASED giving as members whose jobs were not impacted have been giving more to the causes of the church.
As I have communicated with dozens of pastors over the last three months in an effort to offer support and financial advice, I have observed a notable resiliency in them. Their resiliency is matched by that of the body of Christ. The church is strong…and we have their financial reports to prove it!
It is exciting to be a part of God’s kingdom and to watch it flourish during this season of uncertainty. I pause in this writing to give God the praise for His provisions and promises! May God continue to bless the work of His kingdom!
Rick Lovall, Vice President & Senior Loan Officer
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UPCI Property and Casualty
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United Insurance Solutions, Inc., the UPCI-owned insurance company, is excited to announce a new partnership with BXS Insurance and Church Mutual. They are now offering an exclusive group Property and Casualty plan for UPCI churches, campgrounds, and Bible schools.
- 15% group discount applicable to the multi-peril policy (in states where allowed by law).
- A safety dividend applicable to multi-peril/package policy (in states where allowed by law). Individual policy holders/churches can earn up to 10% in dividends each policy term.
- A dedicated safety council comprised of UPCI members to voice issues and concerns directly to Church Mutual.
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In these uncertain times, we want to remind our investors that our investments are not directly tied to the stock market! They are invested in our own UPCI churches, and we are working closely with all our congregations to make sure they stay on as solid financial footing as possible. Thank you for loyalty and investment with us!
NEW LOWER MINIMUM! Now open a Kingdom Impact Account with as little as $25! Simply agree to a $25 monthly ACH until account reaches $250. There's no better time to start putting emergency savings in place, and our Kingdom Impact Account can help!
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Our staff has now made a full transition back from working remotely to our HQ office. We hope you did not find any disruptions to our services during this time. We are grateful for your support and patience.
While we were out, we had new wall art installed detailing our AMAZING growth from our inception until 2020. We have our faithful investors and churches to thank for this journey!
This beautiful piece was designed, printed, and installed by our trusted partner
Faithworks Image Consulting
. We highly recommend them for any of your marketing needs. They are even offering a streaming channel service now called
Faithstream
!
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