Banker Paul Fisher uses the word “miracle” when he talks about raising funds for the new Rowan County Chamber of Commerce building that will be dedicated this week on East Innes Street.

Divine providence may have had a hand in that last, goal-matching pledge Fisher received in the 11th hour of the campaign.

But the greatest miracle of the Gateway Building, as it’s called, is that the project got on the drawing board in the first place. The feat of getting area business leaders to embrace change and agree on a new direction proved that Rowan County might finally be ready to shake off the dust of the 1960s and 1970s and try something new.

Chamber leaders have done a good job of giving credit where credit is due:to President Bob Wright for having the audacity to suggest a new building at his first board meeting, to Fisher for laying on the charm and twisting the arms necessary to raise $2.3 million, and to the many businesses and individuals who pulled out their checkbooks to help Rowan move into the 21st century.

Food Lion led the way with $250,000 — generosity that no one takes for granted in these Belgian-trending days. The volunteers and donors who made it happen are far too many to list here. But nearly all of them have felt the economy shifting beneath their feet — not just with a passing slowdown, but with lasting changes in the way our world does business.

Even as we speak, the challenge that lies before the Chamber grows. The path to the future is strewn right now with laid-off workers and global changes, and the way does not look clear.

Chamber leaders promised that the Focused Future campaign would not just raise money for a building. Funds will also go toward new programs. The Workforce Development Committee that Carl Repsher heads, for instance, is setting up a speakers bureau aimed at school guidance counselors to spread the word about what skills and attributes businesses need in their future workers.

Efforts like that create important links.

To passersby, the Gateway will be only an attractive new building. But to the people who made it happen, it represents a victory and the potential for much more. The things that got the Gateway off the ground — bold thinking, consensus building and hard work — might be just warming up.