Lead Pastors Guy and Lenora Hannum, Youth Pastor Kasey Selvanayagam, and Children’s Pastor Jill Harris meet every Monday morning to discuss upcoming events and plan the week’s activities for New Covenant Church in Dadeville, Alabama.
Pastors Guy and Lenora Hannah
Suj, Shiloh, and Youth Pastor Kasey Selvanayagam
Children’s Pastor Jill and husband, Scott Harris
Pastor Guy describes the team as extremely creative, with big dreams for their church and community. Their biggest obstacle to living out these dreams is the church’s $68,000 remaining mortgage debt.
New Covenant Church, Dadeville, Alabama
Recently, Pastor Lenora was in her personal devotion time when she began thinking about how nothing’s too big for God. She found herself thinking specifically of the church’s mortgage debt when He impressed upon her, “You have not because you’ve prayed not.” So, she began praying fervently, “I got to praying over the debt; not just the debt, but that our outreach would be expanded.” She echoed Pastor Guy that there is so much creativity in their group, and when the debts are gone, there will be freedom to do so much more, for their church and the community.
One evening at the end of April, Youth Pastor Kasey Selvanayagam headed to her bedroom for some quiet time. While resting, she had a vision pop into her head. She saw a calendar, similar to those children use to fundraise for their schools or extracurricular activities. In these calendars, the customer/sponsor would choose a day from 1-30, for instance, the 15th, and then he or she would pay $15 to the cause. But the calendar she was envisioning was a little bit different. It lasted for a whole year: 365 days. She got to thinking, if people pledged the amount of the day, for 365 days, how much money would that amount to? Pastor Kasey hopped onto Chat GPT and asked the question. The total amount would be $66,795! Almost the exact amount of what was left on the mortgage!
Pastor Kasey was inspired and grabbed her phone to send Pastor Guy a message, where she laid out this calendar plan of 365 days and how to get rid of their mortgage debt. Pastor Guy said he had heard other ideas and ways to knock out their debt, but he had never been “sold.” This idea, though, was different and special. He shared with Pastor Lenora what Pastor Kasey had come up with, and they both felt this was it. This was possible! These three excitedly shared their idea with Pastor Jill, and she also felt that this was the way to go.
The Jubilee Campaign
Everything came together quickly from there, and the “Jubilee Campaign” was born. The elders and pastors gathered to make an informational video on Friday, completing it on Tuesday. (You can watch that video here: https://youtu.be/WIjUQRYpXnc ) Pastors Guy, Lenora, and Kasey worked to complete the “giving tree” and set it up in the church’s foyer. Here, 365 leaves are hanging beside a wooden tree. As a church member brings in their money, he or she takes the amount from the wall and hangs it on the tree.
The Jubilee Campaign
These pioneers presented the idea to the church on Mother’s Day. There was an immediate excitement among the church, and even the youth and children became involved. Already, in less than a month’s time, the church has reduced their debt by $12,000!
Pastor Kasey shared a story about a student who questioned whether her few dollars would really make a difference toward this large debt. She explained that this is the beauty of the campaign; no one person is responsible for the whole thing. As each person brings what they can, taking little bites out of the whole, the debt is being taken care of, little by little. That student saw her part in the bigger campaign and happily shared her dollars, moving a leaf to the tree.
This “Jubilee Campaign” is right on time, as New Covenant Church in Dadeville, Alabama, celebrates its jubilee year in 2025. According to biblical tradition, the Jubilee year occurs every 50 years and is a period of restoration and freedom, during which debts are forgiven, slaves are freed, and land is returned to its original owners. With this in mind, the pastors and elders have been praying for freedom from their mortgage debt, and they believe the Lord has provided a supernatural answer.
To learn more about the Jubilee Campaign, visit: https://jubileecampaign.my.canva.site/
