Participating Churches

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2 SUMMARY Three church leadership groups sought outside counsel from RSI to undertake major capital giving campaigns and have pushed well past the $10 million mark on the way to realizing spiritual growth within their congregations and realizing a more mature understanding of financial stewardship. Participating Churches 1. Eagle Brook Church (Multisite, Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN) Normal Sunday Attendance: 18, Scottsdale Bible Church (Scottsdale, AZ) Normal Sunday Attendance: 7, Noroton Presbyterian Church (Darien, CT) Normal Sunday Attendance: 1,250 AN OVERVIEW The Bible repeatedly recounts stories where God assigned men and women daunting tasks: Moses and the Exodus. Noah and the Ark. Nehemiah and the city wall. Underlying each task was the call to rise to a challenge beyond one s resources and lead people to accomplish goals that advanced God s Kingdom. 2

3 Little has changed. When God calls men and women to lead, He expects faith as a primary component of rising to the challenge. But just as it was for our biblical heroes, we know it takes more than faith it also takes resources to accomplish a vision that grows God s Kingdom. This case study focuses on three churches whose leadership partnered with RSI Church Stewardship to raise in excess of $10 million $20 million in the case of two churches in financial capital, enabling each to stretch the faith of their respective congregations to accomplish lofty Kingdom-building goals. THREE CHURCHES BUILDING ONE KINGDOM Eagle Brook Church (EBC) is a 65-year-old congregation affiliated with Converge Worldwide Denomination (formerly Baptist General Conference). The church is a multisite church with five campuses in and around the metropolitan Minneapolis/St. Paul area. The church hit a growth spurt in 1991 shortly after current pastor Bob Merritt arrived, and somewhere along the way the spurt became a trend. EBC has grown by an average of 20 percent per year each of the past 21 years. There is a large contingent of families with young children, and the average age of the congregation is 37. However, there is a strong representation of Over 50s among the 18,500-member congregation across all campuses. Scott Anderson, executive pastor, said even though there is a lot of diversity among the church body scattered across the five locations, there are some things that are standardized. We are a modern worship-style church, he said. We do one kind of music at all of our campuses. 3

4 The explosive growth caused church leadership to look at a different church model several years ago. Instead of trying to build a single facility and require everyone to commute to that one location, leaders decided to explore ways to facilitate members from around the city with satellite locations closer to where they lived. That led to the development of a number of facilities. With growth showing no signs of letting up, Anderson said EBC needed to raise a significant amount of capital to meet the multiplying needs of ministry. We needed to get started on the construction of our fifth campus in Woodbury, he said, and continue to pay our mortgage on our Lino Lakes Campus. We ve got various local and global ministry and missions initiatives going, we need to upgrade our children s facilities at multiple campuses, and we needed about another $400,000 to make improvements to our existing [original] campus. A primary challenge was persuading a disbursed congregation to contribute to a campaign that helps construct a facility most will likely never attend. Estimated cost to accomplish vision: $20 million-plus Scottsdale Bible Church faced a significant decision: Sell the prime piece of real estate upon which it currently rests in the heart of Scottsdale and move to the suburbs, or figure out how to make the existing property work for the next 50 years. Staying put is ultimately what the church and its leadership decided, but it wasn t without question. Some people couldn t understand why we didn t just move to a place where we weren t so locked in as we are here, said Tom Sharda, executive pastor. It was a legitimate question. However, we have a significant number of unchurched people who live around our church. We don t feel our work in the heart of our community is finished. 4

5 Scottsdale is a 50-year-old congregation that still has charter members, however the 7,000-member congregation has a broad demographic and attracts a number of young families. In fact, that presents one of the challenges. The church currently has more than 600 children in fourth grade and younger and need the facility space to minister to increasing number of families with children. Another issue is the campus layout. Even though the church has ample parking on its property through creative use of its space and through multiple services, the buildings themselves have become a barrier to ministry and growth. Right now our building divides our campus into what amounts to two campuses, Sharda said. There is no flow between the two and therefore little interaction between those on the children s side and those on the worship center side. That is one of the things we need to correct. Sharda said the church ultimately has more in mind than simply positioning it for the next 50 years of ministry. The church wants to expand its ministry to it community, develop church leaders in a partnership with Phoenix Seminary, and increase the depth of its involvement in international church planting and discipleship. Estimated cost to accomplish vision: $20 million-plus Noroton Presbyterian Church got the good news and the bad news at the same time. An architect hired to assess the church s facilities didn t mince words when he told church elders they had an over-performing ministry in under-performing buildings. The truth stung somewhat, but it wasn t hard to see. The buildings were tired. The wooden steeple was shedding parts, window casings were rotting, and the 1950s wiring 5

6 was overloaded. The glory of the largest Presbyterian Church in New England, founded in 1863, had faded to say the least. The last major upgrades were in 1951 for a sanctuary that seats 450 and for a children s education space in the 1960s. Needless to say, the 1,250 members strain the facility. Samuel A. Schreiner III, pastor, arrived in 2004 and found a congregation with a love for God, its community, and missions around the world, but he also realized the church s ministry effectiveness would diminish if improvements weren t made. The church has had a significant history as a flagship congregation in the New England area, but the condition of the facilities endangered its future. The capital campaign will enable renovation of existing buildings, construction of new facilities, and raise funds to share with missions partners. Estimated cost to accomplish vision: $15 million FORGING AHEAD IN FAITH Giving campaigns are nothing new for Eagle Brook. The church has followed one campaign with another since 2001 to keep up with growth. It was a ministry opportunity that drove the need for this current campaign. Church leadership saw the opportunity to expand the church s ministry into the Woodbury area of the city. The big question: How do you get people in a multisite church to give to a capital campaign for a facility most will probably never visit? It starts with the vision, Anderson said. We have a ministry- and missions-minded church. That s what led us out into the city to start work in different locations. So we don t ask people to give to a campaign; we ask them to give to a vision of reaching people for Christ. People want to be a part of that. 6

7 Anderson said the church has a history of working with RSI, so it was a pretty easy decision to continue that partnership. However, just because campaigns in the past have been successful doesn t mean they all will be successful. Anderson said church leadership took nothing for granted, paid attention to the details, and allowed key lay leaders in the church to help communicate the vision. Our people get it, Anderson said. They see the real need for seats and they can relate to the stories they hear of changed lives. To date the church has exceeded its pledge goal of $20 million and has already realized several million of that in actual receipts. Evangelism is a heavy component of Scottsdale Bible Church s campaign. In fact, it would be accurate to say evangelism is the reason for moving forward with the goal of raising more than $20 million. Every aspect of the campaign touches every ministry group, Sharda said. When you talk about a project it only touches some ministries and therefore doesn t engage everyone, but when you are talking about evangelism it touches every aspect of our church. Sharda said there was some resistance to moving forward with a major campaign that involved the church staying in its current location instead of moving especially when the project includes tearing down existing space and rebuilding. However, that s where commitment to a long-term vision is nonnegotiable. We recognized early on that the things that are worth accomplishing will not be without barriers, he said. You ve got to have a strong pastoral team and elder board that won t deviate from the vision God has put on their hearts. 7

8 Sharda also said there were a lot of conversations with financial leaders, volunteer leaders, and the larger congregation, explaining what the vision is and why it is important. If you try to answer the questions about the amount of dollars, you can t, he said. You have to point back to vision and where God is calling us. Dollars follow vision. Sharda said there was a positive history of working with RSI in the past, which is one of the reasons for choosing the company for this campaign. He said RSI consultants were ministry partners, helping bring shape to the ministry vision that church leadership had as well as understanding the architectural need to reconfigure the actual campus. The thing we like about RSI is that they understand what we are trying to accomplish and why we are trying to accomplish it, Sharda said. They always talk in terms of spiritual growth and stewardship in the context of discipleship. I believe God has this church body in a great place right now. It is exciting to see what is going to happen in the years to come. Schreiner started out more on his own when pitching the campaign to Noroton Presbyterian Church s leadership. The church has a number of financially successful Wall Street businessmen, so there was initially a strong inclination to keep a stewardship campaign in house rather than outsource it. The final master plan included 20,000 square feet of new space, with a price tag of $15 million once you added all the ministry goals we wanted to include, Schreiner said. I had engaged RSI before in another church and knew they could help us. There was a desire to keep it in house at first, but when I told our board that the cost of having RSI help us would be about the same as a part-time staff member dedicated to managing the campaign, they bought right into it. However, leadership felt that $15 million was a bit ambitious for one campaign. Current 8

9 annual contributions average $2.5 million annually. RSI representatives encouraged the church leadership to keep $15 million as a goal, committed to prayer, and offered a plan to organize the program into phases based on where the giving total may land. However, the initial campaign put pledges at nearly $12 million. Most of the leaders felt we would see no more than $9 million, Schreiner said. What a great victory of faith this felt like. POSITIONED WELL FOR THE FUTURE Eagle Brook is more than 10 months into its campaign and is tracking on its two-year schedule to meet the $20 million goal. Anderson said new givers are constantly being incorporated, but he sees something deeper taking place as a result of the multiple giving campaigns, and especially this most recent one that features building a new facility in a different part of town. I really believe we have a strongly focused congregation that is mission-minded, he said. Their hearts are softened to the need of people to find Christ. We ve seen a softening in the hearts of our major donors and we see new givers from the new community wanting to contribute to the work that benefits them. Those who are engaged, I believe, are seeing people as needing spiritual mentoring and generosity as a doorway to the heart. Scottsdale Bible Church has seen a unity develop around the vision of undertaking such a large project even when early on some wondered about the timing of the giving campaign, not to mention the amount of money to be raised. There were also questions about investing that amount of money in its current location when moving somewhere else appeared to make more sense. This all started with our board of elders being on our knees in prayer, Sharda said. We 9

10 did dreaming with respect to campus and facility. We asked how we could reach more people for the cause of Christ. Suggestions made by architects were big time paradigm shifts for us. The sticker shock was overwhelming. We allowed everyone to speak into it but in the end everyone locked hands and agreed this was the direction God wanted us to go. The RSI guys got in there and rolled up their sleeves with us and went to work. It hasn t been easy nothing worth doing ever is but it has been worth it, both in the life of our church and the lives of individuals. Scottsdale has already exceeded more than $17.5 million in pledges and received more than $4 million without seeing any drop off in budgeted giving. The church will begin demolition on a current building and break ground on a new student building less than a year after beginning the campaign. Schreiner sees the capital campaign as a catalyst that s revitalized Noroton Presbyterian Church. The church looked tired and in many respects had been so for a few years. There was a desire to be an influential body of believers both locally and globally, but the reality was the church just didn t have the punch it needed to accomplish what was in the hearts of its pastor and people. However, this bold stewardship campaign changed everything. Stewardship conversations are still happening, Schreiner said. Mission partners are receiving grants and buying transportation vehicles or fixing halfway houses and orphanages all around the world. We are celebrating our 150th anniversary as a church, but we now see a future as great as our past. Even though Noroton Presbyterian church is the smallest of the three, the congregation decided to set a goal of $12 million dollars and could possibly receive as much as $14 million in pledges, putting the stretch goal of $15 million in sight. It has already seen $7 million in receipts. 10

11 However, beyond the enthusiastic giving is an enthusiastic ministry focus. Vacation Bible School packed the sanctuary to learn about Christ for the first time, and the week took on new energy with improved video and audio technology. Noroton s Sunday evening service is averaging over 100 using these new media tools. Finally, RSI partnered with the church to upgrade its website, making it a better tool for effective ministry in the 21st century. What a great victory of faith it s all been, Schreiner concluded. CONCLUSION Throughout biblical history and the life of the church, God has assigned men and women daunting tasks. Underlying each task was and is the call to rise to a challenge beyond one s resources and to lead people. The objective: accomplish a big vision for a big God. Even though the three churches featured in this case study range broadly in size and geographic diversity, they share a common goal of allowing vision to drive stewardship needs. Each church s leadership recognizes the challenges associated with leading people to give such large quantities of money, but each leadership team also realizes that a big investment in a Kingdom-oriented vision potentially reaps a large return in Kingdomtransformed lives, both in the lives of church members and in the lives of the lost world each is trying to reach with the Good News of Jesus Christ. RSI STEWARDSHIP specializes in helping churches and Kingdom-minded organizations take the next step in accomplishing their mission and vision through strategic coaching, capital and annual fund campaigns, and effective communication and technology-based solutions. Get regular updates by subscribing to their blog and monthly e-newsletter. You can also follow RSI on Twitter and Facebook. 11

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