letter to NRC minister dated 04-22-2023 regarding NRC project
Dear Rev. xxxxxx:
I want to thank you for distributing my email of earlier this week to the entire Beckwith consistory, and I would appreciate an opportunity to discuss at a time convenient with you the topic, especially the last advantage mentioned in the list of advantages below (as also described in the email attachments).
Could it be that the reason our nation and state is experiencing such divine judgments and descent into wickedness is primarily because those of us who name the name of Christ have totally failed in standing up for the Crown rights of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we have supported and participated in the breaking of our original Christian national covenant? And what should we be doing in our various stations by God’s grace to repent of our sin in this? Should not those of us gifted with the Biblical reformed confessions be at the forefront of publicly calling for and seeking by legal means a fundamental change in our state and national constitutions to bring us back to where we should have remained all along?
Sincerely,
J. Parnell McCarter
Proposed possible avenue for pursuing the School and Senior Living Project: a real estate development corporation whose shareholders are NRC formed to purchase the land and develop the school and senior living facility, but also purchase land and develop housing in the surrounding area so that children of NRC families can walk or bike to school and minimize busing with all of its challenges. The school and senior living buildings could be the anchor drawing the NRC members to want housing in the surrounding area. The real estate development corporation could develop and sell at cost the school and senior housing (and perhaps even church) buildings to the church. The corporation however can generate profit (i.e., a reasonable return on capital) in selling residential housing in the surrounding area to NRC members. The corporation would provide the money for purchasing land, development, and construction, and even sell the school and senior living (and perhaps even church) buildings on land contract to the church, if the church lacks funds to purchase them outright.
There would be many advantages of use of a real estate development corporation whose shareholders are NRC:
1. The church could obtain its school, senior center and even new church building likely at a lower cost.
2. There would be more opportunities for NRC members to obtain housing near the school/senior center/church campus, for purposes of convenience and perhaps with the ability to eliminate busing altogether.
3. The NRC churches can avoid borrowing from banks with all the negative risks that poses.
4. NRC people can more readily get to the campus and volunteer if in the campus neighborhood.
5. More money could be raised than just through the donation avenue alone.
6. The NRC shareholders (those who would want to invest in such) could earn a good return on investment, from development of the housing that would be built surrounding the school/senior center/church campus.
7. There are more tax saving opportunities than the donation avenue alone.
8. It would be a way for those in the NRC to invest with less moral problems than investing in publicly traded corporations following wicked worldly standards.
9. It is better for keeping good ethics and relations. Some people are going to have “inside information” before others of which property is likely going to be chosen for this campus. The property around the campus will automatically be more valuable because there is likely going to be a fair amount of added demand by NRC people to move around it. A real estate development corporation where NRC people can be shareholders allows all NRC people the opportunity to participate in the benefit of that information and to be able to live in the neighborhood of the campus if they want.
10. Collectively a real estate development corporation where NRC people can be shareholders allows NRC people to purchase the surrounding area property at a cheaper price which can be developed over time; this would be harder if it is “every man for himself”. In the past joint stock companies were used for such good purposes by the Dutch and English, including for Christian settlement of North America.
11. Long term there would be opportunity for it to serve as an example at the community level of what Belgic Confession Article 36 envisions. In some sense, this is the most important point, because the chief objective of this project should be the glory of Jesus Christ. Currently our society is in high-handed rebellion against God. We should be seeking a different direction not only at the community level, but also at the state level, as advocated in the enclosures. We need by God’s grace to turn away from being a modern Babel. We need to strive by God’s grace for a community and state that honors the Lord Jesus Christ, and where we repent of our national sins like breaking our original Christian national covenant.