SHEPHERD'S COVE GETS REPRIEVE WITH DONATION

GORDONVILLE -- Shepherd's Cove Children's Home, a group foster home sponsored by Abundant Life Church, got a last minute reprieve and a year to raise the $160,000 needed to pay off the facility.

Monday, a press conference is scheduled to announce a fund-raising drive and a new Shepherd's Cove Foundation.

The Vernon Rhodes Family Trust has paid the $200,000 bank note, temporarily underwriting the Shepherd's Cove project. If the debt is repaid on time, the family trust will donate $10,000 toward the project.

The church and the Shepherd's Cove Children's Home faced foreclosure earlier this month. Legal notices ran in the newspaper advertising the upcoming sale.

Just days before bank foreclosure proceedings would have required Shepherd's Cove to be sold on the auction block, and the church along with it, the new arrangement came through.

"I knew all along that something would happen so we wouldn't lose the home and the church," said David Butler. "But I didn't have a clue what that something might be."

Butler is pastor of the church and is president of Christian Ministry International, the group that oversees the children's home project.

Shepherd's Cove, a licensed foster care home, was built last summer by the church. Though the home isn't operated by the church but by a separate organization, it sits on the eastern part of the church's 10-acre tract along Route K near state Highway 25.

"The Vernon Rhodes family is to be given credit for a very gracious act," Butler said. "They saw the need and came to hunt me down and make the offer."

When the foreclosure was first announced, a number of individuals made pledges toward payment of the building. Those pledges total $30,000. With the trust's pledge of $10,000, Butler figures he has another $160,000 to go.

"Today we will officially kick off our debt retirement campaign," Butler said.

Christian Ministries International has organized a Board of Directors to spearhead the fund drive. Members are Bob Basler, Steve Green, Scott Rhodes, Herbert Wedemeier, Pat Zellmer and butler. Other community representatives will be added.

Already, members of the Abundant Life church have pledged $1,000 a month toward the debt retirement.

When Butler attended a church conference in Georgia recently, he convinced 41 other church congregations to make a monthly pledge to Shepherd's Cove. Those gifts will total $1,205 per month. "They have taken it on like a missions project," he explained.

Wal-Mart has identified Shepherd's Cove as a recipient of fund-raising activities at the store.

"We are looking forward to making other contacts in the community," Butler said. "We know God, in his way, will help us."

The project was started with a lot of faith and very little money. A loan was obtained for construction, but the bank was clear that the loan had to moved to another bank by January or paid in full. The church property was put up as collateral for the project.

"The need has always been here," Butler said. "There is so much work to be done. We always had faith."

The foster home can accommodate up to 12 children, under the care of the Division of Family Services. Foster parents Danielle and Howard Bellew have been living in the home and caring for children since December.

To contact Butler or help with fund raising, call (573) 334-8380 or the church office at (573) 243-7827.