Peace in Love's Park never grew while Larry Olson was there. But they are now moving to a new location.
But - they do not have enough money to complete the project.
Another WELS congregation posted in its newsletter that Love's Park is selling bonds to cover the difference.
Ahem. Bonds?
Are they registered with the governmental authorities?
A bond is a pledge on assets, so the government has a pile of rules on offering a risky investment to the public.
Peace is offering around 7% for many years to come. Of course, there is no guarantee that any corporation offering bonds will actually redeem them at face value when they mature.
General Motors is a case in point.
Many municipalities default on their debt. There is a saying about counting the cost first.
Another citadel of WELS Church Growth, St. Mark Depere, was unable to raise enough money to fund its project, and that was in good times. Parlow's anonymous flack denies it, but that was the intended goal of their capital funds campaign - to combine two campuses into one. Maybe they should hire a perish consultant. Paul Kelm--with talent on loan from Calvin--comes to mind.
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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Larry Olson's Old Congregation Selling Bonds To Co...":
Our church almost used bonds to finance a new school addition a few years ago. The city squashed it though because its attorney was a stickler on separation of church and state. A WELS area Lutheran high school recently purchased adjoining property using bonds through its municipality. You may think this is strange, but its (sic) happening all over. It's viewed as an alternative form of financing. If the government allows it, and there are no strings attached, why not?
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GJ - Big if - if the government allows it. Ever since the last Depression, the government has placed restrictions on what can be offered as an investment. When I was licensed for variable products (investments on a minor scale) I had to hand over a prospectus if I even mentioned something like this. We called these booklets "Get Out of Jail Free" cards.
I can see where a local government might float an issue, as they have for commercial companies. But if a congregation wants money and calls those pieces of paper bonds, they better toe the line. Otherwise, the district, all the officials, the synod, and the SP will be on the hook for losses and violations of the law. Gone are the days when a church could plead stupidity for calling a promissory note a bond.
If these are real bonds, I will wait until they reach a par value of 10 cents on the dollar. Then I will swap them for church furniture, multi-media equipment, and piles of Church Growth textbooks.
