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will in our day -- that is, to dwell with us when we meet on His
Sabbaths in HIRED HALLS. But He said David did well in desiring to
build A HOUSE FOR GOD. And apparently there was only THE ONE
"HOUSE FOR GOD" in Solomon's day.
But, Brethren, even though we have been willing to give up
having our own local church buildings FOR THE GOSPEL'S SAKE, God
shows us, now, that we DO WELL in desiring to have ONE "HOUSE FOR
GOD" at the present earthly Headquarters of HIS WORK -- one fine
House we can all look to from around the world, WHERE GOD IS
HONORED!
And, if we are willing, now, to make EXTRA sacrifice -- to
give up some earthly thing that we may contribute EXTRA for HIS
HOUSE -- then it appears now that God will open the way also that
we may begin having local church buildings for our local church
congregations. A great New York bank has offered to finance
such local buildings, about ten at a time. We are not yet in
financial position to go ahead with this, but WE CAN BE by next
year, if we will PUT OUR HEARTS, NOW, IN PROCEEDING FIRST WITH THIS
HOUSE FOR GOD AT HIS PRESENT HEADQUARTERS!
Of course we have not planned anything remotely as costly
as the Temple God had Solomon build in answer to David's desire for
such a House. On the other hand, we have felt it must be BETTER
than ordinary -- a building fine enough to really honor the Great
God.
I do not believe I mentioned in the former letter, but the
city required that we build, in connection with this auditorium, a
parking structure adjoining to accommodate a large number of cars.
The architects felt that the only way they could provide the
required number of spaces for cars was a full-block parking
structure under the athletic running track.
The architects estimated the cost of this car-parking
structure at two-and-a-half million dollars -- a price that seemed
unreasonable to me, and which I never could understand. That had
been figured in as a very sizeable portion of the cost of the HOUSE
FOR GOD.
When we met in conference Friday morning with the
architects I fully expected to have to give up ever constructing
this building. Then the people in charge of our Buildings and
Grounds Department came up with some new plans which the architects
should have thought of long ago. They found four or five smaller
areas around the campus which could be turned into parking space
with-out spoiling the appearance of the campus. Adding them up,
they accommodated more than the required parking space. And no
cost, except just the pavement on the ground, which our own crew
can do.
This eliminated a great big portion of the building cost.
Then the architects, seeing we were going to drop all consideration
of constructing the building, suggested that they thought they
could reduce the cost of the building by perhaps 20% to 30% by
making a few changes in plans that would not actually cheapen the