The Bells Are Sold! April 9, 2008

Praise God!

GracePlace, the evening experimental congregation at Ivy Farms Baptist, needs operating revenue – for a video projector, sound equipment improvements, advertising, etc. I looked around the church and found an unused set of handbells, 4 cases with 37 bells in fairly good shape. The church authorized me to sell them, so I put out the word that I they were for sale. Most people that responded considered only the age (>30 years old), and not the fact that they hadn’t been played in 20 years and were still shiny with good tone, and only wanted to pay $1200-1500 (a new set costs $9000). So I held on to them and prayed some more. This week on Sunday night, I posted them on Craig’s List. I put the bells on the market for $4000, which is a good price given their condition, but still gives us enough cash to do some upgrades.

On Tuesday, a 16-year-old young lady searched Craig’s List for handbells for the first time. She does solo handbell performances with borrowed bells.  She also wants to start teaching special needs kids to play handbells, since it doesn’t involve learning to read music, but only counting carefully and ringing when it’s your turn. She’s on a choir tour this week, but her parents came to see them Wednesday afternoon. They agreed that the bells were in generally good shape, but will need some refurbishment (some of the 30-year-old plastic is cracking and one bell won’t ring). This family paid the full offering price, minus a fair refurbishment cost, which is $3200 – the exact amount their daughter has in her bells savings account!

This transaction provided more cash that I frankly expected to get, provided better bells than she expected to get, and came at the exact right time for both of us. It won’t do everything we need money to do, but it will meet some immediate, critical needs. Praise God with me!

Mike Mitchell

GracePlace Worship Leader