What Exactly is "Real"? tagged: , ,

What Exactly is "Real"?

Posted by in Church & Missions

Just the other day I was setting in a small room in a large church with several pastors and staff members. The evangelism director from our state office invited me to participate in a “mentoring” opportunity with a large church pastor.

I appreciated the invite for it provided an opportunity to fellowship with fellow pastors. Our “mentor” did a good job in providing some information about what he was doing, and how he went about his business. He provided a good informational seminar on helping “teams” be more productive (be they paid or volunteer), and even provided the book he wrote to help us remember some of the keys he saw in implementing the process.

The afternoon was a “sit down” with the church staff: the administrator, youth and children’s worker, “creative arts” pastor, and the associate pastor. They were all made available to basically sit down with us and answer questions. Our host asked us what questions we might have of him and them, wrote them down on the board. Then he with the staff preceded to give us how they approached each issue we had asked about.

One small church pastor asked about how they did capital campaigns. In fact, this church had just completed a capital campaign and the staff was doing a post mortem on the results (they were a million dollars short of their goal). In fact, this church has gone through six capital campaigns over the past ten years! The staff described then how they went about getting the funds to build the buildings for their ministry.

First of all, they hire consultants. Consultants are usually the boon of the church building game. You may hire one to tell you where to build. You may hire one to tell you how to build. Most large churches hire them to tell them how to go about raising the money through a capital campaign. This church and it’s system, as planned out by their hired consultants, was a pretty glitzy public relations campaign – full of charts, diagrams, and schedules on how one could pledge to donate money for the cause.

It was also a very business-like approach. This team of ministers had the “capital campaign” down to a science. They listed how many donors they needed at the upper tier level (this particular campaign they were hoping for at least one donor to give a $400,000 dollar pledge) with the various levels of giving all the way down to a few bucks a week.

Of course you have to pay your consultants something. Most consultants in such a fund raising scheme require three to five percent of the pledged amount (or even the pledge goal!) for their services. The budget for this particular church to pay their consultant was over $250,000. Whew! That is a lot of bread.

During the presentation, the youth and children’s minister said something to the effect, “…well there are two approaches to capital campaigns. One we found that most Baptist churches use is the one that we will describe here. The other of course is what most charismatic and non-denominational churches use, which is just wait and see what the people give rather than trying to ask them directly by pledges and things. They also do not borrow any money.”

I thought about how my church started and finished our capital campaign. Our church needed some more fellowship and educational space and believed God was moving us in that direction. We prayed about it, presented it to the people, and they agreed by consensus that this was the way they saw God was directing.

Our philosophy was multi-faceted but simple. 1) Buildings are just tools, they are not the Body of Christ – they are often a means, but never the end to the means – if we don’t have one, the work of Christ will continue and move forward; 2) “If the Lord does not build the house, they labor in vain who build it”; 3) We allow the Spirit to move through His people to produce whatever is necessary to build the building, while at the same time not harming other ministries that are in process; 4) We asked and encouraged giving in a corporate manner for funds, and did not beg well-healed individuals for money – see Item #2; and 5) We did not borrow nor would we be a slave to any banking or lending institution – rather we are servants of the King of Kings – if the King of one thousand hills does not provide the resources, He is not building the house – see Item #2.

The results were remarkable. A capital campaign project that was six times the church’s annual budget was completed in 3.5 years. Looking back, I really do not know where the money came from – it just did. Our largest one time donation was $25,000 someone placed into our bank account anonymously. Most was just ten to twenty dollars a week over and above a tithe offering. God be praised!

Now this happened at a church with about thirty families. God was faithful and provided what we needed for the time. Now I told this story to the assembled team and guests. Of course they were all amazed – yet at the same time did not believe it would work in a larger church. “That’s not reality” I was assured.

What exactly is “real?” Jesus quoted Moses when He told the devil, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word the proceeds from the mouth of God.” That bread that sustains life is not enough – that ultimately what is real is the reality of God and faith in Him. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the presence of things not seen seen.” “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Business principles are one thing – the principles of the Kingdom are another. Our Father desires us to see things with spiritual eyes of faith – the possibilities of course are endless, for then what can be done will be anything God can do.

Don’t worry – I am not advocating with “Word of Faith.” Charles Capps, Kenneth Hagin, and Kenneth and Gloria Copeland are just plain wrong. But what I do believe that in many ways, Baptists and churches are lead by what they can do without seeing the miracles that God can do. “Trust Me, Try Me, Prove Me.”  A spiritless spirituality is a dead one, for “faith without works is dead.” Let us look to God with eyes of faith. He will do more than we can possibly ask or think if we believe He is the almighty God!