A rendering for the new facility at First Baptist Church in Glen Rose, Texas,
and the church's capital campaign logo: "Forward for those yet to come"
to any game plan’s success? The right partners — from subcontractors to
(key and critical) capital fundraising expertise.
Minding momentum, building strategy
To this end, Chuck Klein, the president and principle owner at Impact
Stewardship Resources, Inc., [ www.impactstewardship.com ] is a crucial
link in the chain — not only for MacIlvaine and Lineberger, in this
instance, but for a variety of other pastors as well.
“In terms of a sports analogy, you’re thinking about going on offense
or defense — being proactive or reactive,” Klein explained. “Churches
can get real reactionary when it comes to capital fundraising. If they
slow the process or put the project on hold for a few years based on their
fundraising capacity or performance, that slows momentum.”
This momentum curve is something Klein and James pay very close
attention to, collaboratively. As James explains, the curve usually starts
well before he and the pastor have their first conversation, with the
identification of the need to expand, remodel or build new. But that
momentum curve inevitably starts to swing.
“We want to catch it right at the top, before it crests, to keep it on the
upward slope,” he said. “When Chuck and I are working together in this
process, we don't allow that to happen because it’s pretty steep on the
other side. Going back uphill again is extremely difficult for pastors.”
To illustrate, James revisits the quarterback analogy.
“If the pastor is a running back, Chuck and I call the play. We’re putting
the ball in the pastor's hands at the right time, at the right place, for him to
get through the hole. We organize the people around him to block in the
right way so he can score, because we want him to have a win.”
Lineberger, for one, considers his church’s building project a
decided victory. He credits the coordinated approach — combining the
building and capital fundraising processes — with ensuring he was
never “caught flat-footed” or “blindsided” along the way.
He also said it shortened the process, which generated bottom-line
cost savings.
For MacIlvaine, the turnkey element of this collaborative approach
was most attractive. “It's great to work with people who already have a
relationship with each other,” he said.
Though many of the logistics of this approach might be turnkey,
every other element is decidedly customized. That’s because James and
Klein share a critical mindset: when it comes to church building and
fundraising, one size does not fit all.
This became especially evident for MacIlvaine when determining
fundraising capacity. At the helm of his first capital campaign in nearly
two decades, he was intent on raising 100% of the building costs, at
first. James and Klein advised him this was a rarity in the current
climate and that most churches required two campaigns. MacIlvaine
pushed back. He called a dozen pastors around the country and asked
about their experiences.
“I look at [James and Klein] as servant
leaders. Despite their vast experience,
neither came across like they knew it all
and we needed to just follow; they
were more than willing to customize
the plan to fit our church.”
— Pastor Rick Lineberger
“Every pastor except one told
me, ‘Yes, we realized that we would
maybe raise two-thirds in the first
campaign — in some cases, only
half — which would necessitate a
second stewardship campaign,"
he recalled.
With a clear path forward,
James and Klein were able to offer
MacIlvaine very specific ideas on
how to seamlessly transition from
the first stewardship campaign to
the second one. As James and Klein
explain, a big part of getting that
transition right is understanding “who” the
church is first.
For example, is the church committeedriven?
Team-driven? If so, the solutions
can, in effect, be crowdsourced from all team
members to build the most comprehensive and
relevant strategy possible.
On the other hand, if an entire game plan is
being built on the pastor’s vision alone, James
cautions that there are likely a lot of pain points
not being exposed. “If we can uncover those, we
can marry our processes and have a successful
building project,” he said.
“We have to protect [pastors’]
bandwidth”
For James and Klein, a pastor’s need to
focus on spiritual leadership and ministry,
not project management, is a driving force behind
their integrated approach.
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