March 4th – A Really Big Day
I know that March the 4th is almost over. But I need to tell you what this day means to me.
March the 4th is a sacred day to me. Why? March 4th became "March forth" in 2012.
Here is the story. (This was written sometime in 2018, while I was the Senior Pastor of Skyline Church, in the suburbs of San Diego, CA.)
---
Skyline Church is an amazing place. I am prejudiced. I admit it. I always felt it was one of the greatest churches on earth. It has had a splendorous 64-year history (Editorial note: 64 years as of the time of the writing of this in 2018).
But there is one thing in which we have been challenged: building buildings. But through it all, God has been faithful and we persevered.
The only time a building program was “easy” was 1954 when some generous and godly brothers built the first little church structure for the non-existent congregation and gave it to them on their opening Sunday in July of that year. Ever since then, it has been hard. And that is putting it mildly.
---
Burned down: Skyline Church began with 200 people its first Sunday, unheard of in a time when 200 persons was considered a large church.
The reason? The proactive community outreach of the Founding Pastor Orval Butcher. He was brilliantly talented, a joyful and delightful human being. He could sing first tenor as good as anyone you ever heard. And he could play the piano as he sang. But it was so much more than that. He was full of joy. Although he was six inches or more shorter than most men in the room, in personality and spirit, he was a towering giant. His powerful, yet pleasing voice could be heard anywhere without a microphone.
So good was his music that he had, at one time, traveled with a young (and rather unknown at the time) Youth for Christ (a then famous youth movement) evangelist named Billy Graham. And he was the “best man” at the wedding of Cliff Barrows, the man who led the music at Billy Graham Crusades for 60 plus years.
Skyline – as a baby church – grew so rapidly that they soon needed an educational complex – a frame, two story building with lots of classrooms. Back in that day, it was not unusual for church buildings to be built by “volunteer labor,” meaning that the men of the church came together evenings and on Saturdays and would build it themselves, often with the women serving them meals as they worked. Such it was for Skyline’s new Sunday School building.
They were 80% done with the building when it caught fire and burned to the ground. The men arrived to work on the building the next day, stunned to see what had become of their months of labor.
As Pastor Oval Butcher described it, they stood in the charred remains, with soot on their faces and began to sing praises to God. He said that “white trails” marked the places where tears ran down their cheeks, clearly pathways in the midst of the soot on their faces.
That was only an omen of what was coming next. Yet in spite of the future struggles, God was faithful and the people persevered.
The congregation quickly outgrew their original sanctuary and needed a much larger one.
Can’t Build: Construction began on a rather remarkably designed worship center. But they ran out of money. Construction on the new 900 seat auditorium (very large in that day) ground to a halt. Funds were simply inadequate to continue. The huge slab of concrete that formed the base for the main sanctuary was quite conspicuous. Added to that was the fact that the design of the roof shot some 40 feet in the air. As such, huge steel girders pointed heavenward over the massive slab of concrete when the construction ground to a halt.
Construction ended in 1969. It remained in that condition for five long years, until 1974. Founding Pastor Orval Butcher one time confided in me his pain during that long struggle with the words, “the community mocked us.”
But God was faithful and the people persevered.
Finally, the new building was completed. Years passed. The ministry of Skyline Church was stunning. Then in 1981, Pastor Butcher shifted from pastoral ministry to a ministry of caring for missionaries throughout the globe. A new pastor was called.
---
Needing Room Again: After Orval Butcher served the church as pastor for 27 years, he was followed by John Maxwell who served as pastor for 14 years. John Maxwell was as talented a leader as the world has ever seen. So much so that he has become the world’s most respected leadership expert, selling millions of books on the topic and lecturing around the globe to massive audiences.
But building a church proved to be a challenge again. A young John Maxwell arrived and began immediately impacting his community. Rapid growth happened. Multiple services were added. They needed more room. The design of the auditorium allowed them to “push the side walls out some,” but that did not make room for the people who were flocking to the church.
Finally, it became apparent that they could not expand the land locked campus. After months of searching, the congregation settled on the purchase of “the mountain,” actually a very steep hill, but affectionately called “the mountain.” But the purchase of the 130-acre mountain was only the beginning of challenges.
Before one can build you have to get a building permit. Funds were raised, plans were made, but no permission to build was granted. In fact, some in the community rose up to stop this project. This was occurring as radical environmentalists were making it difficult to build in California, so it was a bit of a shock to the young pastor and his growing congregation that they could not build on their own land.
The topography of the mountain made a campus almost impossible. The community’s lack of support hampered things further. The environmentalists claimed that there were endangered species on the mountain. Pastor Maxwell and his courageous congregation tried to address all of these. To continue funding the project, another multi-year financial campaign took place. And another one. And another.
Exhausted, the congregation occasionally wondered if they would ever have a new church campus. John Maxwell would later say, “It was some of the best leadership I ever gave. It is easy to lead when everything is going great. It is hard to keep momentum when so much is going wrong. No one will ever know it, but it was some of the best leadership I ever gave.” And he is right. The congregation could have been demoralized and have scattered. They did not. He managed to not merely hold them together, but helped the church continue to thrive, both numerically and spiritually. Such was John’s exceptional leadership.
While the new buildings were not built, people were. On the outside, it might not have looked great. But internally, much good was happening.
And through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
But slowly the years clicked by. No church was built. John had come in 1981. It was now 1995. The church had tripled in size under his leadership. But his calling was becoming increasingly “national.” He was in demand everywhere as the nation’s top leadership teacher.
The demands and pulls of so many other places finally caused John Maxwell to realize that he would need to turn the church over to someone else. He announced that information in February of 1995. He left in July of that year. I began as pastor in mid-October 1995. Little did I know what lay ahead regarding Skyline’s already complicated building program.
The church had faced a seemingly unending litany of difficulties. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
The view: The church was not allowed to build on the east end of the property, so it had drawings done for the mountain top but nearby residents objected to an obstructing of their view. Finally, plans were drawn for a third location on the mountain. In the process, precious time was lost and the costs were rapidly increasing.
The bird: Environmentalists claimed that there were two birds (not two species) – California Black Tailed Gnatcatchers – that were on the property and were endangered. Later it was admitted that they were not endangered, but rather governmental officials had only counted the ones on the US side of the border, not those on the Mexico side, where most of the birds lived. The two birds cost us millions of dollars.
The bush: There were laws that we could not build where the coastal sage bush was growing, or as one person stated it, “might someday grow.” That halted our building extensively.
The road: A state highway was slated to someday run through the property. It took years to get this plan changed.
The rock: A darkened rock, in the minds of some, that some native American’s had started a bonfire 6,000 years ago. This “darkened” rock required us to hire 29 archeological digs – with spoons and toothbrushes – the last of which cost $29,000.
The shard: A pottery shard the size of a thumbnail was found, convincing some bureaucrats that there had evidently been Jamacha Indians living on this land possibly 1,000 years ago. Therefore, we had to put down a “geo-mat” and a “soil cap” over this area (in case there might be more shards down there) and we lost – for perpetuity (that means forever) the right to have a parking lot over those areas.
The land: We owned seven acres across the freeway from our church property. The land around it was owned by our county. The county happen to own three acres that was adjacent to our property on our side of the freeway. So I made a proposal that I knew the county officials would love: we would swap land. They would get our seven acres for their three acres. What a great deal for them, right? But a county official declined my offer. Why not, I asked. It was explained that their three acres was worth $700,000. Our seven acres was worth nothing.
How could this be, I asked. Because the county officials had declared our land to be “open space,” a legal term meaning that we would never be able to sell it. Ever. And we had to maintain it to certain standards. And that has continued to this day.
The light: Our light poles in the parking lot were to be anywhere from fourteen to twenty feet tall. However, it was claimed that we would create “light pollution” for an observatory, located over 50 miles away. The bureaucrats insisted that we make our light poles three feet tall. That might work great if your cars are six inches tall!
The damage: When I grew up, buildings on property were called “improvements.” But in California, buildings on property is considered “damage.” Thus, we had to “mitigate” the damage we caused. How? We owned 130 acres. First, we were allowed to build on only 25 of the acres. Secondly, we had to send surveyors out into the unoccupied and impassable mountains far to the east of us, where they would stake out a claim of 25 acres, and we would have to purchase it for $150,000 and then turn the deed to that property over to a quasi-governmental organization. Thus, we did exactly that. (That organization went bankrupt later.) Why would bureaucrats require such a plan? It was apparently thought that any wildlife on our 25 acres would somehow find their way to the 25 acres we had been coerced to purchase many miles somewhere into the mountains east of us.
For obvious reasons, the congregation was becoming exhausted. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
After dealing with all of the above challenges, we finally got a permit to build on August 21, 1997. The church had begun the building process in the early 1980’s! We now needed to raise funds. Lots of them!
On Sunday evening, 3,500 Skyliners descended on the downtown San Diego Convention Center which was converted into a massive banquet hall. Before the night was over, $7,851,638 in pledges came in.
Now – finally – we thought, surely our challenges would be over. We were wrong. They got worse. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
The granite: A seismic refraction – essentially an x-ray – was done of the mountain, costing $38,000. This would tell us how much blasting was needed and how much earthwork could be done without blasting. Tragically, the report contained a tiny – but significant – clerical error. The result? The multi-million dollar blasting contract was seriously underestimated. I was informed that the mountain contained considerably more “blue granite” than thought. This blue granite, I was told, is six times stronger than concrete. They explained that they would have to close the freeway in front of our property in order to blast. In all, ten blasts occurred at a total increase just to the blasting contract alone of $1,000,000.
The dig: Regretfully two large water pipes had to be laid along the freeway the entire length of our property. In digging, we hit blue granite again. Price tag: $192,000.
The expansion: We were required by the State of California to widen highway 94 in front of our property and pay for traffic lights. Widening: $2,000,000. Traffic lights: $25,000.
The design: Earthquake laws changed on January 1 of that year, before we could get construction underway. Additional steel required: $856,000.
The truck: In order for the Fire Department to sign off on our building, we had to make a “voluntary” contribution to the purchase of a new fire truck, amounting to $12,000. This “voluntary” practice was later stopped.
The cable: While widening the freeway, our equipment barely scrapped an undulating (a line which inexplicably elevated upward, near the surface) telephone cable. The phone company demanded we replace the cable for the full length of the property, with a price tag of $750,000. Fortunately, we knew our rights and were able to say “no” to their demands, and merely paid out around $20,000 for a concrete slurry (essentially a covering).
The move: With the building essentially done, we were excited to get permission to move over 40 employees into the building on March 20, 2000. Hundreds and hundreds of boxes were moved into the new offices. The next day, the Fire Department informed us that they all had to be moved out! However, we had left our old offices. Thus all 40+ employees had to work out of their homes for the next five weeks.
The signal: I had asked the general contractor many months prior to opening, “When will the building be totally done so we can move in, because I am going to advertise the opening weekend.” I was told, “April 14-15, that building will be done.” But things did not go as promised. We were down to only 24 hours before our weekend opening service.
The California Department of Transportation declared that all 15 under-pavement sensors would have to be working. On Friday night at 6pm on April 14, 2000, the asphalt for the freeway extension in the five lanes coming onto our property was just being laid.
At 3am on Saturday morning, electricians began installing sensors. At 11am on Saturday morning, computer programmers began to program traffic signals. At noon on Saturday, April 15, 2000, we were given approval for the use of the building for a 6pm service.
The rush: Although the opening weekend date had been promised months before, the building was behind schedule. Two hundred construction workers worked seven days a week, twelve-hourshifts, with some crews going all night.
The “party:” Officials would not allow anything to be moved into the building until Friday, April 14, 2000 at 5pm. That meant we had only 25 hours to get the building ready for our Saturday night 6pm service. Two hundred volunteers worked from Friday 5pm on. Two hundred more showed up on Saturday to continue the work. We finished in the nick of time for the 6pm Saturday night service on April 15, 2000.
---
Finally, the day came! Almost 5,100 Skyliners and community well-wishers worshipped on the mountain on April 15-16, 2000. We wept and rejoiced! We had finally made it to the mountain! Through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
We were finally moved to “the mountain.”
But we had no idea what lay ahead for us. Our “season of sorrow” was not yet over. But through all that was to follow, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
The overrun: Four months later, we were stunned when the construction manager informed us a substantial cost overrun of several million dollars.
The heartbreak: Our property – being so newly developed – lacked adequate ground cover. All trees and shrubs across the twenty-five acres were small and just beginning growth. In Southern California, we get less than ten inches of rain a year and almost all of it comes in the three winter months. We were now facing the prospect of soil erosion from water runoff. We needed to lay a “mat” as a ground protector. We had been informed that any soil runoff into the gutters could result in a $98,000 fine. In our desperation to avoid a huge fine, we did not properly vet the contractor that offered his services. We would later severely regret this error.
The re-application: Although the building was done, the freeway that we had to widen had not been signed off by state authorities. The work permit on the freeway expired and thus we were required to get a new permit to work. In a style so typical of bureaucracy, this process took a massive amount of time and hundreds of hours of paperwork. Permit to begin construction again was finally obtained in June of 2001.
The jolt: Although we had carefully vetted the overall project construction manager, we began to get reports of defective components in some of the construction.
The arbitration: We were forced into arbitration from a construction company that had shortchanged the width of our sidewalks by one foot. We won. Hands down. We were reimbursed $400,000. An appellate judge, simply looking for some way to reverse this, found a technicality where some paperwork had not been properly filed by our attorney, and reversed this, not on the merits of the case, but on the technicality of the misfiled paperwork, reversed the decision, and made the church pay back the total amount, plus court costs.
The shock: On a Friday morning newspaper, the headlines stunned us. Our attorney whom we loved had some serious personal legal challenges. Our case was now rather “seasoned” and “matured”, meaning that changing the attorney now would be extremely challenging. Unfortunately, we had to remove him from the case. Tragically, he and his wife would later go to prison.
The mediation: Mediation regarding our building and freeway construction defects extended from 2003 to 2006. I was exhausted beyond description by this process. So was our congregation.
The tragedy: With all the changes, and with all the litigation issues, we had a project manager who was managing our property. He did great work. But unknown to us, he had deep personal problems in his private life and took his life. We were stunned.
The double tragedy: His assistant now assumed the role as project manager. One December afternoon, this 58-year-old left work, sat in a Lazy Boy recliner in his home, and had a heart attack and died. Again, we were stunned.
---
But then – after all this tragedy and sorrow and calamity – finally came the victory! On May 2006, officials signed off on our entire site, including the freeway. We were depleted. But we were once again rejoicing. We had survived! Through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
---
Five years later, I challenged my congregation to build “the big one,” a much larger complex: 2,000 seat auditorium, 200 seat chapel, café, large multi-purpose atrium, gymnasium, family room, mezzanine, conference rooms, meeting rooms, recording studio and offices.
After all the congregation had been through, how did they respond? “Yes, let’s do it again!” And they did. How could they? Because through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
I joyfully report that we built this building without any major challenges – on time – and within budget! And it is breathtaking. From 2009 to 2012 the congregation gave and gave and gave.
Looking across the entire time, from 1988 to 2018, the congregation has been through ten major fund-raising campaigns. Skyline does not number in the tens of thousands. And we are not a rich church.
But Skyline is comprised of generous people with sacrificial hearts. And they knew that through it all, God would be faithful and the people would persevere.
With all the problems from the beginning to the end, stretching over three decades, the total project cost well over $50,000,000.
It is a miracle that on “March fourth” (2012), the congregation got to “march forth” into our new auditorium complex.
God saw us through, and we did make it! Through it all, the congregation persevered. Our remarkable church board persevered. They never gave up.
Dan Grant, our brilliant Executive Pastor, who oversaw these massive challenges, persevered. He never despaired.
And most of all, God was faithful.
And now you know that March 4th is a sacred day.
On this March 4, 2026, I remember what happened 14 years ago, March 4, 2012, when we had the joy to “March forth!”
Dr. Jim Garlow
Former Senior Pastor of Skyline Church, La Mesa, CA, from 1995 to 2018
CEO, Well Versed –
Info@WellVersedWorld.org
www.WellVersedWorld.org
March the 4th is a sacred day to me. Why? March 4th became "March forth" in 2012.
Here is the story. (This was written sometime in 2018, while I was the Senior Pastor of Skyline Church, in the suburbs of San Diego, CA.)
---
Skyline Church is an amazing place. I am prejudiced. I admit it. I always felt it was one of the greatest churches on earth. It has had a splendorous 64-year history (Editorial note: 64 years as of the time of the writing of this in 2018).
But there is one thing in which we have been challenged: building buildings. But through it all, God has been faithful and we persevered.
The only time a building program was “easy” was 1954 when some generous and godly brothers built the first little church structure for the non-existent congregation and gave it to them on their opening Sunday in July of that year. Ever since then, it has been hard. And that is putting it mildly.
---
Burned down: Skyline Church began with 200 people its first Sunday, unheard of in a time when 200 persons was considered a large church.
The reason? The proactive community outreach of the Founding Pastor Orval Butcher. He was brilliantly talented, a joyful and delightful human being. He could sing first tenor as good as anyone you ever heard. And he could play the piano as he sang. But it was so much more than that. He was full of joy. Although he was six inches or more shorter than most men in the room, in personality and spirit, he was a towering giant. His powerful, yet pleasing voice could be heard anywhere without a microphone.
So good was his music that he had, at one time, traveled with a young (and rather unknown at the time) Youth for Christ (a then famous youth movement) evangelist named Billy Graham. And he was the “best man” at the wedding of Cliff Barrows, the man who led the music at Billy Graham Crusades for 60 plus years.
Skyline – as a baby church – grew so rapidly that they soon needed an educational complex – a frame, two story building with lots of classrooms. Back in that day, it was not unusual for church buildings to be built by “volunteer labor,” meaning that the men of the church came together evenings and on Saturdays and would build it themselves, often with the women serving them meals as they worked. Such it was for Skyline’s new Sunday School building.
They were 80% done with the building when it caught fire and burned to the ground. The men arrived to work on the building the next day, stunned to see what had become of their months of labor.
As Pastor Oval Butcher described it, they stood in the charred remains, with soot on their faces and began to sing praises to God. He said that “white trails” marked the places where tears ran down their cheeks, clearly pathways in the midst of the soot on their faces.
That was only an omen of what was coming next. Yet in spite of the future struggles, God was faithful and the people persevered.
The congregation quickly outgrew their original sanctuary and needed a much larger one.
Can’t Build: Construction began on a rather remarkably designed worship center. But they ran out of money. Construction on the new 900 seat auditorium (very large in that day) ground to a halt. Funds were simply inadequate to continue. The huge slab of concrete that formed the base for the main sanctuary was quite conspicuous. Added to that was the fact that the design of the roof shot some 40 feet in the air. As such, huge steel girders pointed heavenward over the massive slab of concrete when the construction ground to a halt.
Construction ended in 1969. It remained in that condition for five long years, until 1974. Founding Pastor Orval Butcher one time confided in me his pain during that long struggle with the words, “the community mocked us.”
But God was faithful and the people persevered.
Finally, the new building was completed. Years passed. The ministry of Skyline Church was stunning. Then in 1981, Pastor Butcher shifted from pastoral ministry to a ministry of caring for missionaries throughout the globe. A new pastor was called.
---
Needing Room Again: After Orval Butcher served the church as pastor for 27 years, he was followed by John Maxwell who served as pastor for 14 years. John Maxwell was as talented a leader as the world has ever seen. So much so that he has become the world’s most respected leadership expert, selling millions of books on the topic and lecturing around the globe to massive audiences.
But building a church proved to be a challenge again. A young John Maxwell arrived and began immediately impacting his community. Rapid growth happened. Multiple services were added. They needed more room. The design of the auditorium allowed them to “push the side walls out some,” but that did not make room for the people who were flocking to the church.
Finally, it became apparent that they could not expand the land locked campus. After months of searching, the congregation settled on the purchase of “the mountain,” actually a very steep hill, but affectionately called “the mountain.” But the purchase of the 130-acre mountain was only the beginning of challenges.
Before one can build you have to get a building permit. Funds were raised, plans were made, but no permission to build was granted. In fact, some in the community rose up to stop this project. This was occurring as radical environmentalists were making it difficult to build in California, so it was a bit of a shock to the young pastor and his growing congregation that they could not build on their own land.
The topography of the mountain made a campus almost impossible. The community’s lack of support hampered things further. The environmentalists claimed that there were endangered species on the mountain. Pastor Maxwell and his courageous congregation tried to address all of these. To continue funding the project, another multi-year financial campaign took place. And another one. And another.
Exhausted, the congregation occasionally wondered if they would ever have a new church campus. John Maxwell would later say, “It was some of the best leadership I ever gave. It is easy to lead when everything is going great. It is hard to keep momentum when so much is going wrong. No one will ever know it, but it was some of the best leadership I ever gave.” And he is right. The congregation could have been demoralized and have scattered. They did not. He managed to not merely hold them together, but helped the church continue to thrive, both numerically and spiritually. Such was John’s exceptional leadership.
While the new buildings were not built, people were. On the outside, it might not have looked great. But internally, much good was happening.
And through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
But slowly the years clicked by. No church was built. John had come in 1981. It was now 1995. The church had tripled in size under his leadership. But his calling was becoming increasingly “national.” He was in demand everywhere as the nation’s top leadership teacher.
The demands and pulls of so many other places finally caused John Maxwell to realize that he would need to turn the church over to someone else. He announced that information in February of 1995. He left in July of that year. I began as pastor in mid-October 1995. Little did I know what lay ahead regarding Skyline’s already complicated building program.
The church had faced a seemingly unending litany of difficulties. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
The view: The church was not allowed to build on the east end of the property, so it had drawings done for the mountain top but nearby residents objected to an obstructing of their view. Finally, plans were drawn for a third location on the mountain. In the process, precious time was lost and the costs were rapidly increasing.
The bird: Environmentalists claimed that there were two birds (not two species) – California Black Tailed Gnatcatchers – that were on the property and were endangered. Later it was admitted that they were not endangered, but rather governmental officials had only counted the ones on the US side of the border, not those on the Mexico side, where most of the birds lived. The two birds cost us millions of dollars.
The bush: There were laws that we could not build where the coastal sage bush was growing, or as one person stated it, “might someday grow.” That halted our building extensively.
The road: A state highway was slated to someday run through the property. It took years to get this plan changed.
The rock: A darkened rock, in the minds of some, that some native American’s had started a bonfire 6,000 years ago. This “darkened” rock required us to hire 29 archeological digs – with spoons and toothbrushes – the last of which cost $29,000.
The shard: A pottery shard the size of a thumbnail was found, convincing some bureaucrats that there had evidently been Jamacha Indians living on this land possibly 1,000 years ago. Therefore, we had to put down a “geo-mat” and a “soil cap” over this area (in case there might be more shards down there) and we lost – for perpetuity (that means forever) the right to have a parking lot over those areas.
The land: We owned seven acres across the freeway from our church property. The land around it was owned by our county. The county happen to own three acres that was adjacent to our property on our side of the freeway. So I made a proposal that I knew the county officials would love: we would swap land. They would get our seven acres for their three acres. What a great deal for them, right? But a county official declined my offer. Why not, I asked. It was explained that their three acres was worth $700,000. Our seven acres was worth nothing.
How could this be, I asked. Because the county officials had declared our land to be “open space,” a legal term meaning that we would never be able to sell it. Ever. And we had to maintain it to certain standards. And that has continued to this day.
The light: Our light poles in the parking lot were to be anywhere from fourteen to twenty feet tall. However, it was claimed that we would create “light pollution” for an observatory, located over 50 miles away. The bureaucrats insisted that we make our light poles three feet tall. That might work great if your cars are six inches tall!
The damage: When I grew up, buildings on property were called “improvements.” But in California, buildings on property is considered “damage.” Thus, we had to “mitigate” the damage we caused. How? We owned 130 acres. First, we were allowed to build on only 25 of the acres. Secondly, we had to send surveyors out into the unoccupied and impassable mountains far to the east of us, where they would stake out a claim of 25 acres, and we would have to purchase it for $150,000 and then turn the deed to that property over to a quasi-governmental organization. Thus, we did exactly that. (That organization went bankrupt later.) Why would bureaucrats require such a plan? It was apparently thought that any wildlife on our 25 acres would somehow find their way to the 25 acres we had been coerced to purchase many miles somewhere into the mountains east of us.
For obvious reasons, the congregation was becoming exhausted. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
After dealing with all of the above challenges, we finally got a permit to build on August 21, 1997. The church had begun the building process in the early 1980’s! We now needed to raise funds. Lots of them!
On Sunday evening, 3,500 Skyliners descended on the downtown San Diego Convention Center which was converted into a massive banquet hall. Before the night was over, $7,851,638 in pledges came in.
Now – finally – we thought, surely our challenges would be over. We were wrong. They got worse. But through it all, God was faithful and the people persevered.
---
The granite: A seismic refraction – essentially an x-ray – was done of the mountain, costing $38,000. This would tell us how much blasting was needed and how much earthwork could be done without blasting. Tragically, the report contained a tiny – but significant – clerical error. The result? The multi-million dollar blasting contract was seriously underestimated. I was informed that the mountain contained considerably more “blue granite” than thought. This blue granite, I was told, is six times stronger than concrete. They explained that they would have to close the freeway in front of our property in order to blast. In all, ten blasts occurred at a total increase just to the blasting contract alone of $1,000,000.
The dig: Regretfully two large water pipes had to be laid along the freeway the entire length of our property. In digging, we hit blue granite again. Price tag: $192,000.
The expansion: We were required by the State of California to widen highway 94 in front of our property and pay for traffic lights. Widening: $2,000,000. Traffic lights: $25,000.
The design: Earthquake laws changed on January 1 of that year, before we could get construction underway. Additional steel required: $856,000.
The truck: In order for the Fire Department to sign off on our building, we had to make a “voluntary” contribution to the purchase of a new fire truck, amounting to $12,000. This “voluntary” practice was later stopped.
The cable: While widening the freeway, our equipment barely scrapped an undulating (a line which inexplicably elevated upward, near the surface) telephone cable. The phone company demanded we replace the cable for the full length of the property, with a price tag of $750,000. Fortunately, we knew our rights and were able to say “no” to their demands, and merely paid out around $20,000 for a concrete slurry (essentially a covering).
The move: With the building essentially done, we were excited to get permission to move over 40 employees into the building on March 20, 2000. Hundreds and hundreds of boxes were moved into the new offices. The next day, the Fire Department informed us that they all had to be moved out! However, we had left our old offices. Thus all 40+ employees had to work out of their homes for the next five weeks.
The signal: I had asked the general contractor many months prior to opening, “When will the building be totally done so we can move in, because I am going to advertise the opening weekend.” I was told, “April 14-15, that building will be done.” But things did not go as promised. We were down to only 24 hours before our weekend opening service.
The California Department of Transportation declared that all 15 under-pavement sensors would have to be working. On Friday night at 6pm on April 14, 2000, the asphalt for the freeway extension in the five lanes coming onto our property was just being laid.
At 3am on Saturday morning, electricians began installing sensors. At 11am on Saturday morning, computer programmers began to program traffic signals. At noon on Saturday, April 15, 2000, we were given approval for the use of the building for a 6pm service.
The rush: Although the opening weekend date had been promised months before, the building was behind schedule. Two hundred construction workers worked seven days a week, twelve-hourshifts, with some crews going all night.
The “party:” Officials would not allow anything to be moved into the building until Friday, April 14, 2000 at 5pm. That meant we had only 25 hours to get the building ready for our Saturday night 6pm service. Two hundred volunteers worked from Friday 5pm on. Two hundred more showed up on Saturday to continue the work. We finished in the nick of time for the 6pm Saturday night service on April 15, 2000.
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Finally, the day came! Almost 5,100 Skyliners and community well-wishers worshipped on the mountain on April 15-16, 2000. We wept and rejoiced! We had finally made it to the mountain! Through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
We were finally moved to “the mountain.”
But we had no idea what lay ahead for us. Our “season of sorrow” was not yet over. But through all that was to follow, God was faithful and the people persevered.
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The overrun: Four months later, we were stunned when the construction manager informed us a substantial cost overrun of several million dollars.
The heartbreak: Our property – being so newly developed – lacked adequate ground cover. All trees and shrubs across the twenty-five acres were small and just beginning growth. In Southern California, we get less than ten inches of rain a year and almost all of it comes in the three winter months. We were now facing the prospect of soil erosion from water runoff. We needed to lay a “mat” as a ground protector. We had been informed that any soil runoff into the gutters could result in a $98,000 fine. In our desperation to avoid a huge fine, we did not properly vet the contractor that offered his services. We would later severely regret this error.
The re-application: Although the building was done, the freeway that we had to widen had not been signed off by state authorities. The work permit on the freeway expired and thus we were required to get a new permit to work. In a style so typical of bureaucracy, this process took a massive amount of time and hundreds of hours of paperwork. Permit to begin construction again was finally obtained in June of 2001.
The jolt: Although we had carefully vetted the overall project construction manager, we began to get reports of defective components in some of the construction.
The arbitration: We were forced into arbitration from a construction company that had shortchanged the width of our sidewalks by one foot. We won. Hands down. We were reimbursed $400,000. An appellate judge, simply looking for some way to reverse this, found a technicality where some paperwork had not been properly filed by our attorney, and reversed this, not on the merits of the case, but on the technicality of the misfiled paperwork, reversed the decision, and made the church pay back the total amount, plus court costs.
The shock: On a Friday morning newspaper, the headlines stunned us. Our attorney whom we loved had some serious personal legal challenges. Our case was now rather “seasoned” and “matured”, meaning that changing the attorney now would be extremely challenging. Unfortunately, we had to remove him from the case. Tragically, he and his wife would later go to prison.
The mediation: Mediation regarding our building and freeway construction defects extended from 2003 to 2006. I was exhausted beyond description by this process. So was our congregation.
The tragedy: With all the changes, and with all the litigation issues, we had a project manager who was managing our property. He did great work. But unknown to us, he had deep personal problems in his private life and took his life. We were stunned.
The double tragedy: His assistant now assumed the role as project manager. One December afternoon, this 58-year-old left work, sat in a Lazy Boy recliner in his home, and had a heart attack and died. Again, we were stunned.
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But then – after all this tragedy and sorrow and calamity – finally came the victory! On May 2006, officials signed off on our entire site, including the freeway. We were depleted. But we were once again rejoicing. We had survived! Through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
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Five years later, I challenged my congregation to build “the big one,” a much larger complex: 2,000 seat auditorium, 200 seat chapel, café, large multi-purpose atrium, gymnasium, family room, mezzanine, conference rooms, meeting rooms, recording studio and offices.
After all the congregation had been through, how did they respond? “Yes, let’s do it again!” And they did. How could they? Because through it all, God had been faithful and the people had persevered.
I joyfully report that we built this building without any major challenges – on time – and within budget! And it is breathtaking. From 2009 to 2012 the congregation gave and gave and gave.
Looking across the entire time, from 1988 to 2018, the congregation has been through ten major fund-raising campaigns. Skyline does not number in the tens of thousands. And we are not a rich church.
But Skyline is comprised of generous people with sacrificial hearts. And they knew that through it all, God would be faithful and the people would persevere.
With all the problems from the beginning to the end, stretching over three decades, the total project cost well over $50,000,000.
It is a miracle that on “March fourth” (2012), the congregation got to “march forth” into our new auditorium complex.
God saw us through, and we did make it! Through it all, the congregation persevered. Our remarkable church board persevered. They never gave up.
Dan Grant, our brilliant Executive Pastor, who oversaw these massive challenges, persevered. He never despaired.
And most of all, God was faithful.
And now you know that March 4th is a sacred day.
On this March 4, 2026, I remember what happened 14 years ago, March 4, 2012, when we had the joy to “March forth!”
Dr. Jim Garlow
Former Senior Pastor of Skyline Church, La Mesa, CA, from 1995 to 2018
CEO, Well Versed –
Info@WellVersedWorld.org
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