CDF Goes Back to the Future

Imagine living in the U.S. on a family income of $6,000 per year. Now put yourself in Dr. Emmett Brown’s DeLorean DMC-12, set the dial for 1962, and race up to 88 miles per hour—activating the flux capacitor—and this will take you back in time 57 years. That $6,000 is now the average annual family income for 1962, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

CDF Capital was not quite 10 years old in 1962, but that was the first year we started receiving investments. Up to that time, the ministry lived solely on gift income.

On July 24 of that year, something momentous happened: Letty Briggs, a young woman living in Los Angeles, took a $500 leap of faith by becoming the first investor at CDF. Letty was not rich, and she probably lived somewhere around that average annual income of $6,000, so investing nearly 10% of her family’s income in a ministry to help churches grow was a significant gesture.

Letty_Headshot
  Letty Briggs

A Desert and a Dream

If you jump back into Doc Brown’s DeLorean, head to southwest Las Vegas, and set the dial for the year 2000, you’ll find yourself in a desert wasteland. You’ll see Pastor Shane Philip pointing out to the CDF Capital reps on hand how the roads would travel, where the new high school was recently built, and even where the mall surrounding the fancy casino would eventually land. That year, with the help of some sister churches, Shane started The Crossing: A Christian Church.

In one more year, with the help of CDF, The Crossing would purchase 20 acres of that barren desert and dream of what it could be: a ministry serving people in a growing community.

As you have been time traveling, Mrs. Letty Briggs’ CDF account has continued to grow, and the funds she has entrusted have been helping churches grow along the way. When 2005 arrives, her investment helps The Crossing move into their first phase building on that former desert wasteland and hold services at the corner of freshly paved Buffalo and Windmill Streets.

Natalia_headshot
Natalia Hamm

Light in the Darkness

Climb back into that DeLorean, transport yourself back to today, and you’ll find that Mrs. Briggs is still an investor at CDF! Almost six decades of faithfulness is an amazing accomplishment, so consider how that faithfulness has played out in the lives of people who need to find the life-transforming love of Jesus.

That leads us to another story:

Just a few short years ago, a young woman named Natalia Hamm saw her life spiraling downward dreadfully. She returned from a family vacation to find that her boyfriend had cleaned out her bank account, sold her car, and had disposed of all her possessions. Two weeks later she discovered she was pregnant. Of that time in her life, Natalia said, “I pushed away the good and surrounded myself with people who were nothing short of toxic and dangerous. Once and for all the darkness had just consumed me.”

One day she happened by the corner of Buffalo and Windmill streets in southwest Las Vegas and saw The Crossing, a beacon of light in her darkness. Natalia said that when she stepped through the church doors, the change in her life didn’t happen quickly—in fact it actually took quite some time—but she finally stopped running from the Lord.

“Once I let Him into my heart, that darkness that I’ve battled for so long started to fade. Loving the Lord and letting Him love me has shown me that I’m better than the choices I was making and that it’s OK to accept love.”

“Loving the Lord and letting Him love me has shown me that I’m better than the choices I was making and that it’s OK to accept love.” —Natalia

The Family of God

Letty Briggs had no idea that her financial step of faith in 1962 would make a difference to a young woman in Las Vegas in 2019.

Consider this: if The Crossing hadn’t received a loan from CDF, financed by investors like Letty Briggs, to build on the corner of Buffalo and Windmill streets, Natalia never would have seen the opportunity to walk inside those church doors.

The amazing thing is, if you place a photo of Mrs. Briggs next to Natalia, you might think they’re grandmother and granddaughter. The fact is, there is a family resemblance—it’s the family of God. The church. Letty is Natalia’s spiritual grandmother, even though the two have never met.

Squeeze yourself back into Doc Brown’s DeLorean one more time and see what your investment with CDF could do for someone 57 years from now, in the year 2076. Hard to imagine, wouldn’t you say?

The bride of Christ sees her children grow from generation to generation. Who will it be in 2076? We have no idea. Who will it be today? That’s up to you and me. No time machine needed.

Changing Times—Same Need

The world has changed in many ways over the decades, but here is one thing that remains the same: churches still need financial resources in order to grow. At CDF Capital, we are committed to helping Christians steward their resources well so that, together, we can help churches grow. When you entrust your resources to CDF Capital, your investment grows—and so do churches across the country.