In 2011, 7 people gathered in a living room to begin a conversation about a calling from God to launch a new, life-giving church in the city of Pearl, MS. Over the next year, God began to grow a team that began serving the city of Pearl and planning the launch of this new church family.

In August 2012, the vision became a reality as The Exchange held its first Sunday gathering with 123 people in attendance.

In 2013, after 7 months of renovations, God provided The Exchange a permanent home in Bright Shopping Center completely debt-free. This building has been the hub for serving our city, welcoming all kinds of people, and best of all, seeing hundreds of people exchange their old life for new life only found in Jesus!

Because of the growth, by 2017, The Exchange was hosting 3 Sunday gatherings just to make room for the people God was joining with our family and we needed more space to continue to welcome people.

After 4 years of searching and praying, God provided a bigger space and another opportunity to turn an old eye-sore of a building into something new and beautiful to continue to love and serve our city and the surrounding area.  

The Exchange was able to purchase the space in the old Rankin Square shopping center debt-free, and now we get to watch God provide through our church family and ministry partners as we build out the inside through Project Old Made New.

Through this relocation and restoration of 30,000+ square feet of shopping center space, The Exchange and kingdom-minded ministry partners will meet the physical and spiritual needs of the community we’ve been called to love and serve.

Believe with us that God will continue to change lives and ask God what He would have you do as a project partner.

Give obediently as God invites you to trust Him in faith with your finances.
It will be the generosity of partners like you that allow this vision to become a reality.

Serve faithfully as an Exchange doorholder to help love and serve the people God is connecting us with right now.

In the spring of 2017, The Exchange made the decision to move to 3 Sunday gatherings in our current space just to make room for the people God was joining with our family and we knew we needed more space to continue to welcome and reach more people. Fast-forward 5 years and through a global pandemic, and we are on the cusp of needing to make the decision of 3 Sunday gatherings again to accommodate the numerical growth we are seeing. The acquisition of this new space allows us to more than triple the space we currently have, save funds we currently spend on rent, provide higher-quality environments for children and students, meet needs in our community our current space doesn’t allow, and gives us more room to continue the mission of the house to see people exchange their old life for new life in Christ and live out their purpose.

Our goal is to occupy a functional space that meets the needs we have on a weekly basis at the time we make the move from Bierdeman Rd to HWY 80. We want to do it in a timeframe that is wise and maintains the physical and spiritual health of our spiritual family in the process.

With supply chain issues impacting the construction world and demand outweighing current supply, timelines are difficult to determine. We plan to be in as soon as possible while operating as wisely as possible financially.

The conventional, conservative answer is to price the buildout of the space at approximately $100/sq ft (33,000sq ft) for a total renovation cost of approximately $3.3 million dollars.

However, we have chosen to be frugal and resourceful in our approach and aim to execute the project with a high level of excellence while salvaging, repurposing, and reallocating supplies as much as possible to cut costs. Many services and supplies have already been donated toward the progress you see or promised for future stages of the project and have saved tens of thousands of dollars already.

It will be the intentional generosity of partners like you that will allow this future home of The Exchange to become a reality. In response to God’s direction and trusting in Him, we have made an ask of those who desire to be a project partner to make a 24-month giving commitment over and above their current giving.

We are currently utilizing the excess of our monthly giving by moving money each month from our operating fund into the building fund.

The possibility of a loan is being considered in order to generate an immediate influx of funds so that the renovations can begin to move at a more consistent and visible pace. The pursuit of a loan would be approved by our advisory board if/when deemed necessary and would be contingent on the commitment total projected from those who choose to be project partners. 

The financial approach taken will heavily determine the renovation schedule. If we choose to rely on the giving of project partners over 2 years plus the money we move monthly into the building fund, then the project will likely have many starts and stops along the way as we accumulate funds, spend those funds to execute a task of the project, and then wait to accumulate more funds for the next task to be completed.

If we choose to take out a loan and generate a cash flow for multiple tasks to be completed and paid for at the same time, then we will see expedited progress on the structure and likely a much sooner occupancy date.

Because of insurance and liabilities, and because the site is considered an active construction zone, we are unable to do what you might consider a conventional-style work day.

However, we are working with our general contractor to provide creative ways for our church family to be an active, tangible part of the process. We hope to be able to provide opportunities along the way for people to provide their gifts and services in making our future space a reality.

Pray: Believe with us that God will continue to change lives, and ask God what He would have you do as a project partner.

Give: Give obediently as God invites you to trust Him in faith with your finances. It will be the generosity of partners like you, in gifts big and small, that allow this vision to become a reality.

Serve: Serve faithfully NOW as an Exchange doorholder to help love and serve the people God is ALREADY connecting us with right now.