Scary Faith
God led us to reach thousands more for Christ through a capital campaign for a new building. This is our story of walking with God through whirlwinds of uncertainty.
Articles for tag: Church Construction
Higher, Faster, Stronger, Smarter
Compiled by Renee Little Four church leaders who have worked with or are working with The Solomon Foundation on building projects offered to share their experiences. Here’s what they had to say. HIGHER Chad Goucher, The Refinery in Phoenix, Arizona Many times in my life I’ve felt as if, from a leadership perspective, I was hitting my head on the ceiling. I knew there was something “higher,” something more, something I couldn’t tap into on my own. As a pastor leading a church charged with helping people find and know Jesus, being able to break through that ceiling and finding
March 2, 2015
Building Creativity
By Jennifer Johnson According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, churches spent close to $9 billion on new construction in 2002 and $3.5 billion in 2013. (Thanks, Great Recession.) Organizations analyzing church spending report congregations that own or rent existing buildings spend 20-30 percent or more of their budgets on loan payments, maintenance, and related expenses. For most churches in the U.S., buildings are necessary for building ministry, and the process isn”t cheap. I”m not interested in the tired debate about whether a church should have a nice building that costs a lot of money when so many
December 13, 2010
A Constructive Way to Help Churches
By Jennifer Taylor Kent Hawkins, senior minister with Cornerstone Christian Church, is driving to the site of the congregation”s new building in Vero Beach, Florida. It”s almost dinnertime, and church members are preparing and serving a meal to the volunteers working on the framing of CCC”s new building. In just a little over two weeks, these electricians, contractors, and carpenters””all of them members of Jack Ballard Church Builders“”will donate thousands of hours to build this new facility””and save the church around $100,000. Jack Ballard Church Builders was founded in 1971 after members at Mount Carmel Christian Church (Stone Mountain, Georgia)
October 14, 2010
Partnering with God to Help a New Orleans Church
By Jennifer Taylor Indian Creek Christian Church (Indianapolis, Indiana) is more than halfway through “Project 52″“”a 52-day challenge to complete construction on a new church building in New Orleans with at least 5,200 hours of labor and an additional $52,000 in funding. Five years after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the city, New Orleans residents “are still rebuilding their lives, particularly spiritually,” writes Indian Creek senior minister Gary Johnson. “That”s why a group of people has formed a church called The Gathering and have established it . . . where some of the greatest destruction occurred.” The time, money, and labor
First Things First
A call for “compromise on compromise”: before churches fund new construction or renovation, the author proposes giving the first 51 percent of capital dollars to missions or benevolence—linking spending to belief while seeking unity.
August 28, 2005
Building a New Facility
Summit Christian Church has completed two major building projects in its early years. Steve Bond shares lessons on timelines, leadership energy, move-in planning, volunteer recruitment, budgeting, fundraising, and keeping the mission central.
