C@C HISTORY

By Pastor Doug Self

Rebecca and I moved to Carbondale from New Mexico in April of 1976, when Rebecca was 8 months pregnant. I came to Mid Valley Baptist Church as Associate Pastor. It's the Southern Baptist Church between Carbondale and El Jebel. I had been on staff at First Baptist Church in Hobbs, New Mexico before coming to Carbondale.

After our first son Daniel, was born, Rebecca was busy being a mom and I led discipleship groups, helped the pastor and preached occasionally. Before long, in the fall of 1977, four families who lived up the Crystal River and had been attending Mid Valley Baptist, invited us to be founding Pastor for a nondenominational church in Redstone. They felt God's leadership to plant a church in Redstone to reach the growing population of the upper Crystal Valley.

We started Church at Redstone in December of 1977 with a handful of people, meeting in the old building which is now the Art Center. The congregation grew, we had two more children, Bethany born in 1979 and David born in 1981.

We built the Church at Redstone building in 1986 and it was soon full with around 200 attending each week. By 1989 we were completely out of room. That's when God led us to start Church at Carbondale. Along with about 50 people who were attending Church at Redstone, but who lived in the Carbondale area, Rebecca and I started Church at Carbondale in May of 1990.

We first met in CMC Square, a classroom on the corner of 4th and Main. For the first year I pastored both churches, preaching first on Sunday mornings at Redstone and then driving down valley to preach at Carbondale.

By fall there were around 100 attending C@C and we moved to Roaring Fork High School. At first we only used a few class rooms but we have grown and now occupy most of the school on Sunday mornings for worship and Christian education.

At first the school district had a policy that limited the leasing of school property to eight consecutive months. Then the renting organization had to vacate for four months before applying to rent again. Just when we were nearing eight months and preparing to make a special appeal for another four month's lease, the district began to experience severe financial set backs. They changed their rental policy which allowed non-profits continued rental of school district properties. And they added a provision that stipulated that the rental monies remain in the school being rented, rather than being sent to the district office. That means the Roaring Fork High School is able to use the income from our rental for special projects of their choosing. Monthly rental is usually around $2,000 for the facilities and janitorial services.

In 1993 we sensed God's leadership to look for some land to purchase for a church home. A search team was formed and after an inventory of all suitable property in the area, they recommended that we purchase approximately 9 acres located behind and north of the high school football field from Pitkin County Iron. After a lot of prayer and discussion we entered into a purchase agreement for 8.8 acres for $18,000 an acre. The contract began in the summer of 1993 and called for incremental payments culminating in paying off the land with a $25,000 payment in June of 1994.

We were able to make the $5,000 and $10,000 payments over the winter but we faced a crisis in making the final payment. One month from the deadline we had only $25,000. However, we stood firm, convinced that God had led us to purchase the property and that He would provide the money necessary without having to go into debt. Miraculously, the money came in on time, the closing was even postponed by the seller and the price was lowered to compensate for a water run-off pond required by the city on the property.

We completed phase I of the building project and moved in on May 2nd 2004, just 10 years after purchasing the land. To God be all the honor and glory.  The original building, the Ministry Center, gave us a home of our own, a multipurpose auditorium, classrooms, nursery and kitchen. 

Within the next year an anonymous donor approached Pastor Doug saying that God had prompted him to fund C@C’s next phase of building.   Our Staff, Elders and Purpose leaders prayed and discussed what that addition should be.  Soon it was obvious that our next phase should undergird our primary mission, relational discipleship.   An architect was selected who best expressed those values in the plans.  That became our Gathering Center, that you now see on the south side of our Ministry Center.   The donor saw the plans and was immediately willing to increase the donation to provide this incredible ministry tool.  In addition, funds were made available to architecturally ‘tie the buildings’ together with a remodeling of the front entryway and a beam structure, called a ‘ramada’ that connects the Main entry with the Gathering Center entry. 

The Gathering Center is an incredible gift for us to share with the community.  In addition to our ministry events, various community groups are utilizing the buildings for weddings, receptions, business meetings, fund raisers, etc.  But our primary dream is that each C@C person would utilize the Gathering Center for a personal ministry.  For example, some women are already hosting a monthly knitting night.  Others may plan an evening out for moms, or couples.  Whatever your hobbies or interests you could plan a one time or monthly meeting for food, fellowship and program.  For example, a C@C bow hunter could host a monthly gathering of bow hunters with food, an instructional archery DVD and perhaps share with his buddies his faith in Christ.  

So, we build on an incredible history of God’s provision people’s faithfulness to our mission and vision.  We’re excited as the future unfolds and God draws us into fulfilling the mission He’s given us in the valley.