Church cuts debt to aid church planting

Debt can limit a person's generosity -- and a church's.

Travis Smalley arrived at the Cincinnati-area Lakota Hills Baptist Church six years ago with a vision to plant churches locally, nationally and internationally. But just in Ohio, with just one Southern Baptist church for every 17,868 people, Smalley knew Lakota Hills couldn't reach everyone.

Yet Smalley's passion to start churches ran up against a major roadblock -- lack of funds.

The church, founded in 1967, had a debt of more than $1.3 million, rendering its members unable to put as much money into church planting as they would have liked. Over the past five years, however, the church has paid off more than 65 percent of that debt -- even in the midst of the nation's economic downturn.

Now, thanks to a loan from the Church Finance Ministry of the North American Mission Board, Lakota Hills will be able to save an additional $45,000 a year on its debt -- which Smalley said will go into church planting. Keep reading

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