The men met after the morning service and decided they must have a bigger place to meet for worship and they needed it soon. They agreed they couldn’t build such a building quickly. How big was another question. In less than a year they had outgrown two meeting places, something few churches had done in a hundred years. For this kind of growth they had no rule book so Harry prayed. The next week he presented a plan to the men. He showed an ad listing a factory building along the Lincoln Highway. It had been empty for over ten years. The listed price was $10,000. Harry asked for support and within two weeks they had just over $6,000. Hopefully they could borrow the remaining funds. The following Sunday he brought news of God’s provision to the congregation. Early Monday morning Harry called the Realtor. On Tuesday afternoon he and Harry toured the building. It needed some work but its overall condition was good and it was much more than they could have ever dreamed. During the tour the Realtor volunteered some information. In the ten years the property had been on the market, there had been only one offer, nearly two years ago, for $4,000. The owner rejected it without even a counter offer but in the interim his financial condition had worsened and the empty building was deteriorating. The man needed cash and he needed it now. Harry walked away from the Realtor and said a short prayer. He asked God to direct him on what would be a fair price, to give the sect the building and the owner a fair return for it. Harry offered $5,000 for the building and the seven acres of land. The following day the owner countered with a price of $5,500 and Harry accepted. They now had the building and over $500 to begin renovations where they had expected to have debt. By February 1956 nearly four hundred people were meeting in the new facility. The renovations were Spartan but they were completed without any borrowing and offerings continued to come in. The sect still had money on hand when the improvements were completed. Brother Hanshue proclaimed this to be a mandate — God approved their actions. He beseeched God to continue his blessings.

The Handshue Sect 1

The Handshue Sect 3