Ben Patterson's opinion column ("What would Jesus do with millions?," Nov. 6) argues the $17 million spent on the new Blackhawk Church building was excessive, and consequently that the church is in direct opposition to true Christian faith. This is a false assertion; Mr. Patterson fallaciously concludes the cost of the church far exceeds its value without even considering evidence for either side. Such a claim needs to be backed up, but even more importantly, the church being analyzed should be experienced before it is judged.

Now, I was born and raised in Madison, and I have also been a Christian all my life. I am currently a member of Blackhawk Church, though I have not always been. I started attending when I moved into the dorms to start college. Blackhawk was a good fit for me because they have a big presence on campus, the shuttle bus would pick me up on campus and bring me back when the service was over, and a lot of my new friends went there. I liked it. The people were friendly, the preaching was good and even though there were a lot of people there, I felt like they made an effort to make everyone feel welcome.

Fast-forward three years to this past Sunday: I walked into Blackhawk's new building expecting something special. Chris Dolson, the senior pastor, is known as a pretty good preacher, and I thought for sure he had cooked up an incredible sermon for his first Sunday in the new building, and that he'd really impress us all. I was wrong. It wasn't that kind of sermon.

What was unique was the content: The sermon didn't take pride in the new $17 million building — just the opposite. He talked about humility: He quoted 1 Peter from the Bible "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." He told us church can't be about how cool the building is, and that that kind of attitude is the antithesis of what the church is really about. He went so far as to say that he was uncomfortable with how much the building cost: the senior pastor of Blackhawk Church, speaking to thousands of people on the first day in their new facility, mind you.

What he did not say was that it was wrong; rather, he expressed hope that the value of the building will be shown to be greater than the cost. In that sense, a large expenditure can be justified.

We make these kinds of judgments frequently. This university is currently planning to build the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, a $150 million research facility on the 1300 block of University Avenue. Patients with cancer shell out a mint for chemotherapy and all of us pay thousands for tuition at this university. We do this because we think an investment in a research facility will be worth the results in technology and health innovations, because our lives are worth more than our bank accounts and because an education is worth at least what it costs us. Worth is more than just cost.

With just a little thought, the $17 million figure is not so hard to get over. Blackhawk desperately needed a new building as their old one was designed to hold 600 people, not the 3,000 who attend Blackhawk on an average Sunday. The best cost estimate to build an identical facility with a capacity of 600 was $8.5 million. They built a facility to hold 10 times that many at only twice the cost.

What Mr. Patterson needed to do, and what he did not do, was talk about the value of Blackhawk Church, as opposed to simply its cost. Blackhawk serves the Madison community in ways you may not have heard of. I myself have served with Blackhawk, as we got up early on a Sunday morning the past three years to clean up after the Mifflin Street Block Party. Some build houses through Habitat for Humanity, and others stock a Salvation Army food pantry once a week. My point is simply that people affiliated with Blackhawk Church do this kind of thing throughout this city and throughout the world. This church is valuable to this community.

My experience has been that Blackhawk Church has played an active and vital role both in affecting my life and the lives of thousands of people in this city. That value needs to be the context in which we evaluate the cost of their new building. If you want to have an opinion about Blackhawk Church, or any church for that matter, make sure you're well informed.

Visit the church on a Sunday. Look into the ways they serve their community. Listen to the sermon. Talk to the preacher afterward, whether you agree with him or not, and then form your opinion. It's OK to be upset with a church, but reserve judgment until you've actually experienced and seen for yourselves whether these people actually try to act on what they believe.

Jonathan Blanchard ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in civil engineering.