Like our winters, Olympia is a spiritually dark place. So, we seek to be a city set on a hill, a light that shines in the darkness, a beacon of God’s grace and truth, a witness of the glory and greatness of our Lord. Like a lighthouse shining through stormy seas, showing the way to harbor, we seek also to shine the illumination of the Gospel for all to see that they might find the way safely to an eternal home.

We are not merely a church to Olympia but for the greater South Sound region and beyond. Olympia is a central and hub city, drawing people from the West, East, North, and South. We are a church that draws from Shelton and Yelm, Centralia and Dupont, Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater, and beyond. We seek to be a church with regional impact, training, equipping, supporting, and sending out Christians to live on mission from the Cascades to the coast and wherever God would take them.

As a capital city, the lives of millions of Washingtonians are shaped by the decisions made here. And though we may be but a small church, we have the potential for far-reaching local, state, national, and global influence as we live in, love, serve, and seek Gospel transformation in the lives of the people and politicians of Olympia. Taking up permanent residence shows our commitment to seeing the Lord bring long-lasting transformation.

We must think about the world we want there to be 3 to 5 generations into the future. We want to leave a lasting legacy of Gospel proclamation and ministry far into the future. This is not simply about us having a home but of passing down a house and a heritage for generations.

The building owners are motivated to sell and we have a stronger seat at the negotiating table.

We have been praying, saving, and preparing of a building purchase for the last 10 years and an opportunity has presented itself to buy.

In 2023, Harbor Church formed a Building Committee to study our needs and the feasibility of purchasing or moving elsewhere. The Building Committee submitted a summary of their findings to the Full Council of Elders in August of 2023.

The elders have been in ongoing discussions with the building owners to negotiate on the price of the building.

Our leadership and advisory teams (Full Council of Elders, Deacons, Board of Advisors, Finance Committee, and Building Committee) have all met to discuss the details and are in support of moving forward with purchasing the building.

Our Covenant Membership and larger congregation have approved the purchase in November 2024.

The purchase price of the building is $3,000,000.

We have secured a loan for the building at a below-market interest rate with very favorable terms. This enables us to purchase the building with only a slight increase in our monthly costs.

We had an appraisal done on the building in 2018, however this is no longer relevant in today's market. A current appraisal and inspection will most likely be a stipulation of securing a loan to purchase.

The Thurston County Assessor's Office values the building and property at $4,036,000 for the 2025 tax year.

We have secured a loan to help purchase the building. The details of lending are below:

• Type: Seller-financed purchase

• Purchase Price: $3,000,000

• Down Payment: $650,000

• Interest Rate: 5.6%

• Amortization: 30 years

• Term: 10 years

• Monthly Payment: $13,500

We rent our parking lot to the Hands On Children’s Museum for mid-week use. We also have the Roots Church using office space in the building and the Bible Fellowship Calvary Church meeting on Sunday afternoons. This generates a small amount of monthly income for Harbor Church. We have been open to renting the building for daycare, Christian schools, homeschool communities, and other similar organizations. However, as a non-profit organization, we must be careful about how much “for profit” business is allowed at the building lest we lose our non-profit benefits.

Purchasing the building will increase our monthly rent/mortgage expenses by approximately 8%.

However, we are in a strong place financially and can absorb the added costs into our annual budget without much problem.

Hiring future staff is still a priority. We have been praying about hiring two full-time staff pastors sometime in 2025.

Given the details of the building purchase hiring staff and continuing to spend our resources on ministry looks like a real possibility.

Harbor has been financially strong for the last few years. Our giving regularly exceeds our expenses, and we have saved, invested, and sought to grow these funds to purchase the building when the time was right. 

We are considering using around $500,000 of our savings for the building down payment while keeping around $100,000 in savings as an emergency fund.

Major repairs may include re-siding and re-sheathing the building where necessary, resurfacing the parking lot, and some minor of HVAC repair. The roof is relatively new and in fair condition. We are managing the water ingress in the Kids area (which occurs occasionally during very heavy rains). And the other major systems have been maintained during our time here.

Owning the building enables us to invest in the space in a way we have never felt accessible. Any renovations or improvements are suddenly an investment in our space, not someone else's. However, depending on the amount of money we raise in a capital campaign, we may spend most of our savings on the purchase and then need to rebuild those funds before taking on any major improvement projects.

We are seeking to raise $150,000 by the end of 2024.

Any funds given above what we need for a down payment will be saved in our building fund for future facilities projects such as re-siding the building, redoing the entry at the front door, and maintaining the parking lot and other key mechanical systems.

Ideally, to our building fund via cash or check. Credit card transactions cost around 2.5%, debit card and ACH transactions around 1%. If we can save on transaction fees, that is more money that can go directly toward the building purchase.

You can use a giving envelope from the church to give on any Sunday. Simply put "Building Fund" in the memo line or on the giving envelope.

To give digitally, donate at HarborGive.com and select the "Building" fund.