FALL 2025 RETREAT ANNOUNCEMENT

Let’s Find and Use Underutilized Buildings for Kingdom Purposes in Our Communities

In this series, I’ve been sharing the story of the Tipp Center, one of many models for creating “enclaves” of the Kingdom in the Marketplace.

 I’d like to summarize and fill in some blanks for the period between 2017 to 2020, and share what’s happened in the interim between 2021 and 2025

 In the Beginning 2017: Let There Be Light – The Vision is Born on Our Knees

 In 2021, both I and building owner Sheila Ingram were at a crossroads. My ministry at my church (named, of all things, “CrossRoads)” had come to an end. Ingram’s building had sat empty for over a decade as she sought somehow to serve God with the facility.  He was eagerly seeking the next steps in ministry. She was, too. By God’s special arrangement, a meeting took place between us both, and the fledgling idea of what would later be called the Tipp Center began in prayer as we both kneeled before God in what was then an empty shell of the building.

 The vision had to percolate a while. But ideas and dreams were shared in abundance. It would be a place of “conneXion”---a rather gimmicky manipulation of the word “connection” designed to show something more. All “true” connection happens through the Holy Spirit, facilitated by the cross of Jesus Christ. The “X” in connection looks a lot like a St. Andrews cross, which, by the way, looks a lot like a more traditional cross if you rotate it 45 degrees.

 But the building, a “Temple of Workship” if you have it, would become a for-profit office facility with a twist. It would be fueled by the Spirit of “ConneXion” of Jesus Christ. It would be “faith formed” but not “faith imposing.”  Next, they had to decide what to do next.

 2018 – 2020 Refitting the Build

 Just like God began with “empty space,” so did we. How do you transform a building whose physical flow facilitates connection? Sheila’s years of building design experience were put to work, as she refigured the approach to the facility to give it a warm and inspiring flow that created distinctive areas but unity at the same time.  A fresh paint job brightened the facility up. And some good old-fashioned sweat equity made older carpets look good again and created an inviting warmth to the building. Key point to emphasize: places of connection were emphasized through the whole of the building, from small, intimate gathering areas to large crowd event spaces. We somehow knew it would become a “connection center” of some sort for the entire community.

 2021 – 2025 God Rewarded a Spirit of Giving

 Like any local church (in our case, Marketplace Ministry Church), we didn’t just open the doors and expect people to show up. We began serving with the spirit of giving. Our first pro-bono connection event, hosted by the owner, was a large group event sharing resources about how to help victims of sex trafficking. And just right before the COVID lockdowns, some 250 people saw the baby Connection Center up close and personal.

 As soon as the COVID lockdowns were loosened, other local non-profits, eager for connection centers to bring people together in the community, discovered the building. And over the course of time, large and small-scale businesses made their way to our door---as did both Miami County officials and community service groups. The “spirit of giving” translated into the “spirit of living.” The facility’s offices came alive, and business groups began leasing offices and suites (I’ll try to share more about that in an upcoming blog)

 It hasn’t been easy. But it’s brought God’s connecting presence into a local community and county. And we’d like to see it do more.

 Fall Visioning and Training Retreat  - OCTOBER 2025

 As I mentioned in the July installment, maybe there’s a way to grow more  “T.I.P.P. Centers”---Trinitarian Incarnational Practice and Proclamation Centers---in southwest Ohio, and beyond.

 And maybe you can become a part of it.   In a world where, as Jesus said, we will always have trouble (John 16:33), maybe you can help it have more peace.

 If anyone is interested in learning how to find an underutilized building and transform it into an extension of the Kingdom in your community, a half-day training session sharing:

 ·       The theology that undergirds this center.

·       Building design and flow are executed to facilitate a building that facilitates community connections.

·       Marketplace “shepherding” approaches that have successfully worked.

·       Economic challenges and how to face them.

·       Hands-on experience shared by a local building owner whose turned one empty building into a Marketplace Masterpiece, spreading the Good News of the nearness of the Kingdom of God, and becoming valued by the community as a result.

 If our experience can help turn other empty local buildings into outposts of the Kingdom in the Marketplace in other communities, we’ll be happy to share what worked for us. The name “Tipp Center” doesn’t just speak of a local building in a localized community named Tipp City.

 T.I.P.P. Centers can be founded anywhere. Trinitarian Incarnational Practice and Proclamation Centers, that is. Every community deserves one. Even yours.

 Interested in participating? Contact us at mailto:info@smiling icon.com.