Colorado free church takes gospel to the bank

“Things lined up. The Lord gave us a home. The Lord gave us a place to worship and the Lord gave us this foundation where it was set.”
Josh duncan, Pastor, abundant life church, longmont, colorado

The gospel is making further inroads 31 miles north of Denver, where a longtime church plant of about 80 people persisted, ran a successful capital campaign and purchased a former bank building in Longmont, partnering with Christian Investors Financial (CIF) for a church loan.

“We are on the front range of Colorado and it’s one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country, especially for commercial (property),” said Pastor Josh Duncan of Abundant Life Church. “Everything is in millions and millions of dollars.”

Longmont is about 300 feet shy of “mile high” Denver, with a population of about 100,000, agricultural roots and newer high-tech companies. While Colorado Springs is known for its many Christian organizations, Pastor Josh said the rest of Colorado is largely unchurched.

He shares teaching and other leadership duties with Pastor Jim Coleman, (caption photo left and right). Coleman established the Evangelical Free congregation in 2003. Pastor Josh also serves in the National Guard and has gradually increased his church duties.

Pastors Josh Duncan, left, and Jim Coleman

Move must happen soon

In 2024, with an annual budget of less than $200,000, they were meeting in the storefront of a warehouse industrial park, and the lease was coming to an end. Several options were first considered, but nothing matched the need.

“Suddenly, this small church isn’t going to have a building, and we don’t have anything lined up where we can move in quickly,” Pastor Josh explained.

They tried to buy one building, but that fell through. Then their attention turned to a former bank structure owned by Mountain View Fire Rescue. The initial price tag was $3.5 million, but over time it dropped to $2.8 million.

The former bank turned fire administration building had a large central room that could work well for church services.

Money aside, it was move-in ready
The building was well maintained and in a desirable area, with a large lobby room topped by a shiny gold-colored ceiling and seating space for up to 170 people. “Yeah, that’s the underneath of the heavenly streets right there,” said Pastor Josh.

The second floor offers views of Longs Peak, a 14,000-foot mountain. There are beautiful doors and woodwork, multiple rooms for children’s ministry and offices, a drive-up teller area with thick protective glass, parking and a bank vault.

Still the cost was prohibitive. The church raised a significant amount of funds through a capital campaign, Pastor Josh said, and decided they could only afford $1.2 million, still less than half of the asking price. “That was still way out of our price range, and there’s no way they (the seller) was going to entertain something we have to offer right now.”

The church was also considering a vacant lot they could buy with cash and then build on. “We were looking at that as really the most viable option,” said Pastor Josh. A building design and layout of the lot were created and there were conversations between Abundant Life and the city about the possible project.

But church leaders still took a tour of the more than 11,000-square-foot two-story bank structure and could envision a church service there on day one. They also learned that an investment company was expected to make a bid, so Abundant Life made a backup offer of $1.2 million.

Things take a turn

The seller was not interested, but the deal from the other buyer then fell through. What’s next? Even with a $600,000 loan bumping the offer to $1.8 million, the church would still be way under the asking price. They submitted a new offer anyway and received a counter offer the next day.

“That means we’re in the ballpark,” he said. “Their (fire) chief said he wanted to work out a deal.” After some back and forth, the two parties settled on $2.05 million.

Church leaders talked to CIF. “We’re like, ‘This is going to be tough,’” said Pastor Josh. But compared to home loans, he said, the numbers looked pretty good. “CIF said it doesn’t look as good as you think it looks.”

Crossing the finish line

The borrowing process prompted long discussions between Abundant Life leaders and there were many emotions, said Pastor Josh. “But I think the conversations went smoothly.”

CIF needed church finances to be at a certain level. There were opportunities to channel the normal emotions brought on by a real estate purchase into something positive, he explained.

A donor then offered to match additional pledges up to $250,000. To reach the number CIF required, at least $25,000 in donations were needed. An open house was held for the church at the former bank building so people could see it in person.

Soon, a church deacon announced that they reached their goal. “It was like, whoa, okay, we’re moving, let’s go!” New donations over the next three months totaled $90,000.

“Then it was just a matter of all the paperwork and moving through things.” The church would cover nearly 68% of the cost and have an affordable mortgage payment.

Trials came, building helped bind people together

Two weeks after moving into the space, a tragic head-on motorcycle accident occurred. The church lost a founding member, Pastor Jim’s son Jeremy, who was a police sergeant and the worship director’s husband. His son-in-law, Nathan McCormick, also died in the crash. Days after their funeral another church member passed away.

“These were huge blows right away to the whole church,” said a tearful Pastor Josh. “We were sort of in this haze, but we were stable, we had this building in place … we had a church.” He started teaching on the Israelites building the tabernacle in the wilderness as a place of worship, much like their church’s new building was doing the same.

If Abundant Life were building a church during that time, Pastor Josh is convinced that things would have fallen through the cracks with major delays. People were shattered over these losses.

“Things lined up. The Lord gave us a home. The Lord gave us a place to worship, and the Lord gave us this foundation where it was set.”
Some loved ones of those who died were introduced to the church at the funeral and have kept coming. New kids are attending children’s ministry. Average attendance grew to about 90.

“The Lord put on our heart that this is going to be a place where people can come and feel God’s mercy and healing, and every single one of us was in desperate need of it,” said Pastor Josh.

Signage, distinct features, adapting

The church brought over a platform and tech tower from their rental space and refitted them. Multiple new signs outside welcome the community and an on-site generator is on hand for backup power.

Hanging from the gold ceiling is a chandelier of animal horns. “That was the topic of our first church split,” said Pastor Josh, with a chuckle. People either loved or hated it, but it came with the building.

Bullet resistant glass in the drive through remains, as does the bank vault. Removing its heavy door alone could cost up to $20,000, so the church walled off the vault for safety.

“We use it for storage. There’s a lot of space that we’re using for a lot of different things.” With some offices still unused, there are multiple opportunities for ministry expansion.

Pastor Josh said the new building is more warm, inviting and conducive to relationships. People come; they pray longer and hang out together. “This offered an environment that allowed people to just be with each other in a more comfortable way. People really enjoyed being together.”

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