During 2001 Colorado Baptists reactivated the Rocky Mountain Foundation. The Foundation Board immediately made the decision to become a lending option for our churches. The RMF has a partnership with Baptist Foundation of Oklahoma to assist with loans that are larger than RMF can support. This partnership will help BFC to better serve our churches with their borrowing needs.

Because [RMF] is a faith-based organization, the relationship is based on mutual trust which is not always the case with secular financial institutions.

 We were not sure that we could afford a loan, but the Foundation asked us to share our story on why we wanted a building.” The [RMF] then came alongside them and provided the financing for this church.

 

Stephen Hinson was frustrated with his bank.  Foothills Community Church, where he serves as operations pastor, had received an offer from the city to purchase a piece of the church’s land to build a new police substation.  The sale would protect the community and provide Foothills with funds to refinance the mortgage on its building.  Everyone saw it as a win-win — except Foothills’ bank.

We were running into roadblock after roadblock with our lender…They just did not understand how church finances work…From my first interaction with WatersEdge [a partner of the Rocky Mountain Foundation] until the time we closed was half the time it took just to navigate the conversation with our bank about getting a lien release! 

Overall, Stephen says the refinance has helped Foothills position itself for new growth, much of which is coming as a result of the church’s emphasis on community outreach ministries.  These ministries include a food pantry that serves more than 60 families each month as well as “Packs of Hope,” a ministry that provides new clothes, toiletries and other essentials to more than 2,000 children entering Colorado’s foster care system each year.  Click here to read the full story.