In 1957, the Capital Campaign Team at First Methodist prepared a brochure to help members understand the need for and importance of a new construction project. The Midland economy was booming; the community was growing; times were changing. The leaders of the church, Pastor Timothy Guthrie, Music Director George DeHart, Steering Committee Chairman Ben Black and church members such as J. Holt Jowell and George Glass believed the church plant need to grow and change as well.
Pastor Guthrie wrote, “It will take big thinking, big vision and big giving. Anything less is sure to lose the victory we ought to have.”
The primary focus was on creating more space for worship and for the youth of the church and the community. The leaders reminded each reader of the brochure that the true goal was not the additional square footage and new facilities. The half-million dollar investment would be repaid many times “because of the Christian young men and women it will produce.”
On the pages where they described the pledges, they reminded readers that “A sacrificial pledge is one that has a spiritual impact upon the one making the pledge.”
