EXCELSIOR SPRINGS – The 130-member Excelsior Springs Baptist Church congregation, with help from a Richmond couple, celebrated the end of a major debt, with Pastor John Dearing ceremonially burning the church mortgage in the sanctuary. Dearing said the church had a 30-year loan. A member, Ray County Presiding Commissioner Bob King, credited Community Bank of Missouri’s D.R. and Stephanie Landwehr, Richmond, with providing a manageable mortgage to the church. “They made that loan, really, just from our signatures,” King said. “We took a step of faith and they did, too.” The congregation paid off the loan long before the deadline, Dearing said. “This is our 15th year almost to the day that we were burning that note,” he said. “Christmas Day of 2005 was our first day in the building, and Dec. 27 of 2020 is when we burned the note. So, it was a 30-year note that we were able to get paid off in 15 years.” Dearing attributed the note’s early retirement to two factors: “God’s good…