January 1977
"I Signed And Sealed The Deed"
(Jeremiah 32:10)
"How much money do you need?"
Ralph sucked in his breath and replied, "Ten thousand dollars." At that point ten thousand seemed enormous! We were still struggling to pay Prudence's salary, the rent, the lights and the phone bill.
Mr. Ottomoeller took out his checkbook, and we watched in amazement at God's grace and timing as he wrote out the check. Morris Watkins, a member of our governing board and director of All Nations Literacy Movement, one of our member organizations, had brought Mr. Ottomoeller to Ralph's office that Saturday morning on the off-chance that Ralph would be there. Now, suddenly, we had enough money to bid for an option on the campus!
Just after the turn of the century, the property that would become the Pasadena (Nazarene) College was purchased by a group of godly ministers and laymen. They wanted to establish a school to train young men and women for the Lord's service, especially as ministers and missionaries. In 1946, the largest building on campus, the auditorium, was
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built. It became the scene of yearly "camp meetings" or spiritual retreats and celebrations. All across the front of this building stretched an old fashioned "mourner's bench" at which people would kneel and, in tears, confess their sins and ask God's forgiveness and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. That building, so sacred to many, was still the scene for spiritual exercises — but now in the name of Buddha, the "ascended masters," the "great white brotherhood," Lanello, Krishna, etc. Where strains of "Amazing Grace" once floated, now came chants of "I AM..."
Composed to a large extent of Christians formerly associated with the college, the neighborhood surrounding the campus was distressed and incensed. "How could the college rent to them, a non-Christian cult?" they asked, a note of betrayal in their voices. Their protests were loud and long, and were sent to all levels of the denomination. When they learned of our offer to buy, they all breathed a great sigh of relief.
Others, less friendly to us, also learned of our move. Just a few days after we first spoke to the college authorities, the cult submitted legal papers requesting a two-year lease with an option to buy the campus.
It was a great temptation for the Point Loma trustees. They badly needed to sell the campus. Their new campus near San Diego had cost millions more than they could hope to get from the Pasadena property, and the interest on their mortgage was high. Moreover, they felt that as the college trustees, they had to be responsible stewards of their assets. The Pasadena property had been on the market for three years. More than 100 offers had been made, yet one negotiation after another had broken down. They doubted that we, so very few, and with no great, well-known organization behind us, could raise the money. Yet they knew that the wrath of the Christians in the area would fall on their heads if they sold to the cult. It was an agonizing time for them as well as for us. Nevertheless, after extensive deliberations the
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board finally compromised by signing the lease presented by the cult, but crossing off the statement, "with an option to buy."
We found out what was happening from a member of their board, a godly, elderly realtor deeply troubled at the presence of the cult. He warned Ralph, "You must get an option immediately."
"An option?" Ralph asked. "What is that?" Obviously our education in real estate had just begun. "How much will it cost?"
"Usually, on a piece of property this size, at least $150,000. But I think that if you offer even $15,000, it will be accepted. Our board is in a shambles right now over the presence of the cult. But move fast! I'll give you the first $5,000," he added.
And then on Saturday, Mr. Ottomoeller walked in. We learned later that his gift to us that day was the largest he had ever given, even to his close friend, Morris Watkins, on whose board he served. We immediately sent a check by special delivery, calling ahead to tell the college officials that it was on its way.
But then the see-saw began.
Several on the board were shocked that we would presume that $15,000 could possibly be enough to hold the property for us. Still, when the Executive Council of their board met, it voted to give us the option on the basis of the $15,000. The cult found this out, and then offered $75,000, we were told. And the college board went into special session to decide what to do.
Almost by happenstance, we learned about this meeting and immediately went to prayer. We really didn't know what to do. By then several young people, alumni of the Institute of International Studies program, had joined our staff. As a group we covenanted to pray earnestly that God's will would be done. And Ralph wrote a carefully worded letter to the board which he hand delivered to their meeting the following
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Friday.
In the letter, he admitted that the cult had more money than we did. "But," he reminded the board members, "our potential constituency is the whole evangelical world of some 40 million people in North America. According to the newspapers, Summit claims at best only about 30,000 followers."
It was a rash claim to make since we still had no mailing list nor any money coming in. We hadn't even begun to ask for any because we felt we first had to get the backing of well-known evangelical leaders who would vouch for us. Later we were told that if Ralph had not written as he did to the Point Loma board, we would have lost the option. But his letter caused them to reconsider, and they finally decided to confirm the decision the Executive Council had already made — namely, that the option should go to us.
A few days later we received their letter confirming these facts and asking us to prepare a legal document with the option agreement.
It seemed that all was in order when several days later the college lawyer met with ours and went over our document line by line. All we lacked were the signatures of the college officials
But then, once again, nothing happened. One week went by, then two, and the signed agreement still hadn't come. Understandably, we were very puzzled.
"Whatever is happening?" we asked our friend on their board.
"Well, someone seems to be keeping the cult leaders well advised," he answered, "because they have now offered $1.5 million as an immediate down payment!"
We were stunned! We didn't have money like that! Even if we should receive an immediate response, it would take us some time to inform those 40 million evangelicals about our cause. Most of them had never even heard of us. We had no mailing lists. Professional fund raisers had told us it was impossible to raise that much money in six months. Now it was
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possible we would need it in days!
In spite of our dilemma, we had a certain peace. We truly believed that the Lord had led us here. He knew our situation. He knew how impossible it was for us to solve our problems in our own strength. The problem was His!
A number of the staff and several concerned college students fasted all that weekend. We didn't know what would result. We knew the college really needed the money. And their board knew we had none. Only God could find the answer.
On Monday, our financial adviser, one of the retired volunteers, came to our noon prayer time beaming.
"Listen to what the Lord said to me over the weekend," he said. "I was praying earnestly on Saturday, much burdened about our situation and not knowing what we should do. All of a sudden a scripture reference came to my mind. I hadn't the least idea what it would say; it was not a verse I had ever memorized. I just knew that the Lord said to me, 'Look up Jeremiah 32:10' and I did. Just listen to it."
And he read,
" 'I signed and sealed the deed of purchase before witnesses and weighed out the silver and paid him.'
"And further down, in verses 16 and 17, it adds:
'Then after I had given the papers to Baruch I prayed: 'O Lord God! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power; nothing is too hard for you!'
"I have been walking on air since Saturday," he continued. "God is going to give us this campus. I just know it. Let's just trust Him and wait."
