Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 19
February 29, 1968
NUMBER 42, PAGE 4-5a

The Church In Washington, D. C.

Editorial

We are glad this week to give space to an article by Brother J. W. Evans concerning the church in Annandale, Virginia, which is a part of the Washington, D. C. area. This is a healthy and growing work, and we anticipate a large and growing congregation here for many years to come. Brother Elza Gary was to have built the house for him; his tragic death will not alter the program. Brother Gary's oldest son, Arther, will keep the Gary Construction Company intact and operating right on schedule.

Annandale Church of Christ — A Brief History The Annandale Church of Christ is a "conservative" congregation located in a 400,000 population county (Fairfax) which is part of the 2 million populated Metropolitan Area of our Nation's Capital. This church had its beginning May 5, 1963 with about fifteen members meeting in a High School in Bethesda, Md. Desiring to locate more centrally to its widely scattered membership, the congregation secured the Belvedere Elementary School near Annandale, Va. in February of 1965. The membership then was twenty-six. Mr. J. W. Evans began full-time work as Evangelist with the church in January of 1965. The Annandale congregation supplied over half of the preacher's support in 1965, with three out-of-state churches contributing to bro. Evans the remainder of a stipulated salary. During 1966 the Annandale church assumed almost the entire support of the preacher, and beginning January 1, 1967 it is supplying all of his financial support. Thus, beginning January 1, 1965 with a membership of 26 and a weekly contribution average of $229 for that year, the congregation enjoyed a growth to 65 members and a weekly contribution average of $315 during the year of 1966. Due to a larger portion of the membership being military and of other government employment, being thereby subject to moving, our net gain in membership has been relatively slow. However, the financial gain of per-capita contributions has, percentage-wise, out-stripped that of membership gain. Our membership now is 71; for the first 9 months of this year the contributions averaged $362.58 per week. The weekly averages for Oct. and Nov., respectively, are $483.58 and $528.71.

By the beginning of 1966 the congregation was fully confident that it had reached a numerical and financial level as of a sufficient and stable basis for considering itself an established group with capacities and potentials for purchasing property and constructing a building. After a long and tedious search for suitable property the church purchased a 2.1 acre plot on Ravensworth Drive in Annandale, Va. at a cost of $26,000 on June 6, 1967. A down payment of $7,540 was made, leaving a balance of $18,460 to be paid in five annual payments at 6% interest, with option to pay out the balance at any prior time. Upon our demand the sellers will subordinate their lien of this Deed of Trust to the lien of any Deed of Trust in the securing of a construction loan or the securing of a bona fide Bond Issue for the construction cost of a church building. This we're exercising by way of the following described Bond Issue.

On October 27, 1967 the Annandale Church of Christ contracted with THE GREATER CONTINENTAL CORPORATION, of Fort Worth, Texas, Kenneth R. Morrison, President, for the latter party to legally draft and process the issuance of, and the printing of the Bonds and sales material, and to supervise the sales of $90,000.00 of Serial Sinking Fund Coupon Series I Bonds, bearing 7% interest per annum. These Bonds will be issued under a Trust Indenture between the Annandale Church of Christ as Issuer, and Kenneth R. Morrison as Bond Trustee, copies of which are filed with both contracting parties. Pertinent facts of the legal processing of the issuance, and detailed information concerning the sales, purchase, security, redemption and interest of the Bonds are set forth in a Prospectus. Anyone interested may receive a copy of this Prospectus by writing for the same, address your request to J. W. Evans, 6115 Brandon Ave., Springfield, Va. 22150, or to any member of the Annandale church. These are FIRST MORTGAGE BONDS and are available in denominations of $50, $100, $250, $500, and $1,000, maturing from 11/2 years to 10 years. All Bonds start bearing 7% interest per annum from Jan. 1, 1968 and the interest is collected twice per year by the Bond bearer surrendering the numbered and dated Interest Coupon. A listing of the numbered Bonds, the amount and the maturing date of each is on page two of the Prospectus.

In short, our "Bond Program" is not the church engaged in the selling of a commodity at a profit (obviously, it costs the church). It is simply the church borrowing money from individuals instead of from a lending institution, and paying the individual "lenders" 7% interest for such. Such is a good investment for the "lenders," and a worth-the-convenience to the church.

Concerning Our Building

The church has contracted with bro. Elza Gary, of Louisville, Ky., for the construction of our building. It will be a simple but commodious building, being in design about the most "popular" or "standard" which is being built by churches of Christ today. We have submitted a "Site Plan" to the County and expect approval thereof shortly. The pre-construction costs of securing "permits," necessary legal fees, and processing conformities to "County regulations" are "indeed burdensome," involving several thousand dollars. So far we have been able to pay these costs by the LIBERAL contributions of the Annandale members (with about $400 received from individual christians from elsewhere) such being a separate entry duly acknowledged but not included in our Tabulated "contributions"). In foreseeing the continuing mounting of such costs, the congregation was informed of a calculated gross of such, to which they are responding with a liberality, almost if not indeed, of "those of Macedonia." This is evidenced by the accelerated increase in our contributions the past two months. We are doing this so that our "Bond Loan" might apply exclusively to actual construction of the building. We HOPE to begin construction very early in 1968.