We keep a large, framed picture of an old, boarded up church in our office. That may seem odd. After all, our passion is developing facilities for ministry.

There’s nothing unique or particularly appealing about the building. It’s small and a fairly traditional design for the time. In fact, it’s since been torn down. We keep the picture as a reminder that, if the Lord tarries, all the facilities we design and build will eventually go away – only the result of the ministry will remain forever.

This particular building is where my grandfather accepted Christ during a midweek Methodist revival over 80 years ago. He was in his mid-20’s, and the transformation was dramatic. He left his job as a successful salesman to become a pastor at about 10% of the income he and his family had become accustomed to. He supplemented his income as a coal miner in southwest Pennsylvania, and hunted some days to put meat on the table. The impact of his decision to follow Jesus has cascaded throughout the decades, and through many families throughout the Midwest, including our family.

While each one of us must make our own faith decisions, our family has benefited greatly growing up downstream of our grandfather’s decision. The building is gone, but the results of the ministry that took place there continue to shape our family’s history in a powerfully positive way.

 

Space is temporal but the sacred that happens in it is eternal.

 

The role and style of churches has changed over the years. It’s interesting to look back over the past two millennia to see the evolution of these buildings. They will continue to change even more rapidly in the future, but one thing that all church facilities have in common is that they will not last forever. Find the sacred spaces all around you as you partner with God in His work.

“When the Word was made flesh, there was no compromise on God's part!
God, in the Incarnation, became flesh…by the taking of mankind into God.
That is the wonder of redemption!” (A. W. Tozer)

We were bought with a great price. The sacrifice of Jesus paid a debt for us that we could not have paid on our own. His death and resurrection provides the opportunity of redemption and fellowship with God.

The transformation of a building is, in a sense, a metaphor for redemption. We have been repurposing a number of former Walmarts, Ashley Furniture warehouses and strip centers. They were sitting empty and decaying when we partnered with churches to transform them into places of ministry and worship – to, essentially, redeem them. Bringing new life to these facilities can be a powerful image for a community. It’s a contextual solution with minimal environmental impact. The redemption of a facility that in turn serves the community.

But the real redemption of the facility can only be done through its use. The space is redeemed by the activities that take place in the space it. When we connect with the spiritual through prayer or song or scripture or service, we redeem the space, wherever we are. Space becomes sacred not through physical geography, but through spiritual proximity. This has happened in a big way in Athens, GA. Athens Church, a North Point strategic partner, is committed to be a church that people unfamiliar or uncomfortable with “church” can attend. Athens Church is bringing the gospel of redemption to the people of Athens because…

Athens Church loves Athens!

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” (I Peter 1:18 & 19)

 

Multisite continues to be one of the fastest growing approaches for church expansion. This strategy is used by many denominations and independent groups, even internationally. According to my friend, Jim Tomberlin (the foremost authority on all things multisite), “There will be over 5,000 multi-site churches by the end of 2010.” Multisite efforts are typically thought of as a new campus from an existing church. But, sometimes it can be a way to effect a merger that energizes a new works capitalizing on resources already part of the church.

When we started consulting with Bethany Church in Greenland, New Hampshire (about an hour north of Boston) there was no thought of multisite. During the process of planning new facilities on their only campus, they were approached by a church that was badly dying - only 12 people, a facility and a very small mortgage. It was clear this was an opportunity to consider. The Cogun Team brought Jim in to consult with us and he uncovered the important issues including location strategy, volunteer development, staff development, teaching options, do’s & don’ts of multisite and DNA transfer requirements. Knowing the questions to ask as well as understanding the implications of the answers, led to the right multisite solution.

Multisite is a sending strategy that deepens disciples. It can often accelerate the impact of the Gospel on a community. But not every church is ready to go multisite and not every potential merger is poised for success. If you want to explore whether or not multisite is a solution for you, I invite you to contact Jim at http://multi-sitesolutions.com/. In the meantime, here the shorthand version of Jim’s 5 P’s for multisite:

Prayer to Proceed – The one thing that really matters is God’s call
Provision to Start – It takes seed money
Pastor to Lead – The most important component in going multisite
People to Follow - The strength of a multi-site launch is the core of followers who come out of the sending congregation.
Place to Meet - The ideal place for a multi-site campus is within the 15-30 minute perimeter of the sending campus.

That’s never been truer than for the way churches finance capital expenditures today. Gone are the days when you could talk to your local banker and they would bend over backwards to make the loan work. Money is cheap but lending is tight. Capital remains constricted and there is reluctance on the part of many lending institutions to step out when they already have so many under-collateralized commercial loans. Cash is still king but cash flow is the emperor. Banks no longer rely on the pledge of funds and are requiring churches to have a 6 to 12 month history demonstrating the receipts of those pledges. And banks no longer assume the appreciation of real estate values so the Loan-to-Value Ratio (LTV) is more critical and will not likely be able to exceed 75%.

So what changes do churches need to secure the capital they need for expansion? Here are some key strategies financing under the new rules of the game:

1) Be clear: There has never been a more important time than now for churches to have clarity about their vision. The vision and mission must drive the decision as to whether or not new facilities are necessary.

2) Plan ahead: Begin now to develop margin between your income and expenses so you can demonstrate actual ability to carry debt. Even expenses you’re carrying now that you won’t need later can help. For instance, if you’re paying rent on facilities you won’t need when your new facilities are completed, that money can be used to amortize your new loan. NOTHING beats building for cash when you think far enough ahead.

3) Start early: Banks used to be impressed by what was pledged. Now they want to have six to twelve months evidence of the commitments so capital campaigns need to start earlier in the process.

4) Be prudent: It’s important to work with professionals that have adequate experience in serving churches. Missteps can be fatal to a building program. We continue to see projects abandoned because a church trusted a price from a builder or architect that turned out to be too low. At best it put them back to square one; at worst it killed the project and left lingering costs.

5) Consider alternatives: We are seeing an increase in churches funding their needs through bond programs. Bonds often carry higher initial fees but are less expensive for the life of the loan. Consider these and other alternatives for the one that best fit your comprehensive financial plan.

Money is not likely to ever be this cheap so it can be a great time to finance a building program. Use these strategies to move ahead successfully.

That's the question I was asking myself last Friday night as the Allman Brothers took the stage. They have played New York for 40 years and for the last 20 years the Beacon Theater had been their home for nearly 2 weeks of concerts held annually. Even though every show is a sellout, this year they were bumped by the Beacon in favor of Cirque du Soleil. Their search for a new venue took them north of Harlem to the Washington Heights area where they found Christ United Church. The church facility was built in the late 20's originally as a vaudeville theater and was later converted into a movie theater. It fell into disrepair in the 50's and 60's until 1969 when it was purchased by the church. I don't know much about the church but imagine the opportunities to connect with the community by hosting over 3,000 people a night for 12 nights.

Maybe you can't host the Allmans but what could you do with your current and planned facilities? I'm not sure we've even scratched the surface thinking about how to design, build and utilize our facilities to partner with our communities. I know of several churches that loan their facilities overnight to an organization that houses and cares for the homeless. Another built a community fine arts center used by both the church and community. Others operate retail outlets, commercial cafes or restaurants. But that’s just the beginning. What unique ways have you seen churches plan and use their facilities to connect their community to Jesus?

This is no time to bemoan a post-Christendom culture because our opportunities are everywhere. People crave the grace and peace and joy of a life in Jesus. They just need people to find new ways to express the kingdom of God and show them his love. It is time to think differently.

"People can you feel it? Love is everywhere." – from Revival

What an incredible time in Charlotte last week! The Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN) Conference; CKN Knowledge Partner Meeting; WFX; speaking; exhibiting; connecting with friends and partners AND winning the Solomon Award for “Best Building Contractor”. We were excited to receive this award for the second year in a row. The award was tied largely to our work with Elevation Church. Elevation is one of the top 5 fastest growing churches now with approximately 6,500 in weekly attendance. The lead pastor, Steven Furtick, at 28 years old combines innovative drama and video with bold music and powerful old time preaching. You can read more about the Elevation project in the Worship Facilities Magazine article. We were grateful to have the opportunity to serve Elevation along with some of our friends and partners at Visioneering, Design 2020, and Living Stones Architecture.

We were also deeply humbled to receive this award. We recognize the tremendous responsibility we have as we serve ministries across the country. There are two spiritual aspects to the work we do. The first is tied to Colossians 3:17 and applies to all people regardless of your occupation: “do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Secondly, we realize that our work is directly impacting the kingdom of God. We were reminded of that during the WFX sponsored tour of Elevation last Wednesday night. Many were in tears as they watched a video that told the unlikely story of how the church secured the property and, most importantly, showed the faces of people being baptized. Changed lives, a transformed world. Church buildings and facilities are ultimately pointless if they are not used to connect our world to Jesus.

My daughter had the privilege of attending an event that featured Colin Powell, Desmond Tutu, Dorothy Kearns Goodwin, Al Gore and Lisa Ling. But the speaker that impressed her most was Erik Weihenmayer http://www.touchthetop.com/about.htm. You’re probably not familiar with the name but Erik is the only blind man to ever summit Mount Everest. In fact, in August last year he conquered the last of the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each of the seven continents), a feat shared by fewer than 100 climbers. Some truly incredible achievements.

Achievements are a big part of our lives. They dominate the way we identify each other (think about how we make introductions and talk about our kids). In the extreme we assign value to people based on what they can do or have done. But after years of being motivated by the achievement, I have come to believe that it’s more about the being than the doing. Now, I’m not saying achievements are not important – they are. What I am suggesting is that our focus should be on the being – who we are becoming – then let the doing flow from the being.

Ironically, a focus on outward achievements and acknowledgements can tend to make us self-centered, bouncing us between self-confidence and arrogance in success and self-doubt and discouragement in failure. While a genuine focus on our inward character will eventually drive us an awareness that it’s not about us. I still enjoy the summits but I’m learning to enjoy the climbs.