I’m really enjoying…
Summer
Trying to figure out what are the common denominators of struggling churches…
More on that one tomorrow!
The Point
sooner or later we all find out
Yes it is
This post may seem vaguely familiar for those of you who have visited my site from time to time.
I have established a bit of a cycle…
write regularly
stop
write regularly
stop
write sporadically
stop
you get the idea….
So today I’d like to introduce you to the new me….really.
I will be posting on a more regular schedule going forward, talking about all things church and sharing my own successes and struggles along the way. I hope you’ll enjoy the journey with me…
Woah…
I’ve never been a regular sleeper.
In college I’d usually go two or three days on and then crash for a day.
Once I “grew up” and got a real job, the inability to sleep every night for 8 hours became a bit more of a nuisance.
Most nights I’m in bed by midnight and then just roll around and think for a couple hours before my restless sleep is ended by a shriek from the one year old letting me know he’s ready to join me around 7 a.m.
Some of my best ideas have come along somewhere in those hours in between…
Last night, as I was talking to God in one of our 1 a.m. chats, I was hit by the thought that my child who I’ve never met is probably already alive on the other side of the world. It made for a more serious prayer than I’ve been used to praying lately.
It was a thought that brought both fright and comfort at the same time. It was also the first time that I really felt like I was already a parent to another child…
and I can’t wait to meet them!
What’s new
I’ve always wanted to adopt.
My wife…not so much.
In October of last year, we were driving and my wife said she had something important to tell me…
“I think we should adopt”- She said.
I had to suspend my disbelief, was this really my wife? Indeed, it was.
Since then we have begun the process of adopting a little girl from Ethiopia through All God’s Children.
It will likely be sometime early next year before the process is complete, but in the meantime…
My wife had another great idea…
What if she started making jewelry and gave all the prophets to Orphans?
The result… Jewels for Orphans was launched last week!
Just a reminder that anyone can make a difference.
Here we go again
I enjoyed taking a few days off!
My wife and I spent a week in Mexico in celebration of our anniversary and thanks to my parents, we did it without the boys, our first trip without them since they’ve both been around!
It was a great time of good food, great weather, and new friends, but I was also reminded of a few things I thought I’d share-
-Regular rest is not just helpful, but necessary if you want to maintain high performance.
-Ideas and Opportunities can be found anywhere and are easiest to spot when you can eliminate distractions.
-Be intentional about spending one on one time with your spouse, its one of the best investments you can make.
So now that I’m ramping back up, look for a flurry of random thoughts in this space over the next few weeks…
The ultimate Church list….really…
I was inspired to write this after being listed to death. You know how it works, you read a few magazines and blogs, and next thing you know you’ve been bombarded with the lists…
The Largest, Most sites, Most Innovative, Fastest Growing, Most Influential, Most listed…
So I did what anyone who has seen too many lists would do…Made my own list!
These are churches that are doing interesting things and while you may have heard of a few of them, you probably haven’t seen the Sr. Pastor on stage at any recent conferences you’ve paid to attend…
Redeemer Church-Upstate NY www.redeemer.tv –multi campus, multi generational church that just went through a complete re-branding
Lifepoint Church-Cleveland, TN www.lifepointchurch.tv -Plant in small city with hundreds of churches and a couple denominational HQ’s
Crosspointe- Dalton, GA www.cpdalton.com –Long established denominational church that is working hard to push people forward
Without Walls Central, Lakeland, FL www.withoutwallscentral.org -Lots of churches talk about being multi-ethnic, these guys are the real deal
Rock Harbor, Costa Mesa, CA www.rockharbor.org -Big, trendy, great example of team based leadership that isn’t “leader-centric”
12Stone, Duluth, GA www.12stone.com -One of the few churches I’d drive out of my way to tour and visit on a weekend, awesome.
Trinity, Atlanta, GA www.trinityanglicanmission.org -A cool church in midtown Atlanta reaching young people not with flash and video, but with a return to tradition, they recently left the Vineyard to become an Anglican congregation…
I’m sure there are thousands of other churches that deserve to be on someones list…but these are a few unique ones that I’m watching, I’d love to hear about some churches that are finding ways to reach the inner city in places like Detroit, if you know of any that I should stay aware of, let me know.
Types of loans for churches
I recently touched on the types of lenders that are out there lending money to churches, but it’s worth further discussion because of the varied forms that church loans take, especially today.
“Traditional/Conventional”- These terms are most often used to refer to a standard commercial structure which typically has a 3,5, or 7 year term with a 15,20, or 25 year amortization. This is the most common structure used by banks and credit unions to structure a commercial credit and church loans are generally considered commercial. Advantages include fixed payment which helps with budgeting as well as the lowest average closing costs which should be under 2% of the total loan amount, this can vary from state to state and even county to county as things like deed recording tax vary widely.
Bonds- Bonds differ in structure in that they generally have a fixed rate for a longer period, as long as 30 years, great for the church that expects to have a one and done master building plan. The rates are often competitive with bank financing but fees are typically significantly higher, in the 6-8% range, depending on a variety of factors including if the church is willing/able to sell a portion of the bonds to congregants.
Alternative/Hard money- This group includes direct loans from congregants as well as high interest lenders, which can obviously be very different from one to the next. The main advantage is that you can sometimes get these loans even when no other options are available, but you will usually pay for the privilege in the form of higher rate, fees, and often are used for very short term needs while the church works to find a more permanent financing solution.
That’s a basic overview of the general basic types of financing for church buildings. If you have specific questions or want additional detail, you can send me an email by clicking on the button on the top right hand side of the header.
Keep the Faith!
What I’m thinking….
My wife asks me the question all the time…What were you thinking?
So today, I thought I’d share a few random thoughts from my random mind…
Why do we do it this way?
What if there is a better way to do this that nobody has even considered yet?
Who is doing things differently and getting results?
Would what’s working there work here?
What can I do better than anyone else?
Why am I not doing more of that?
I try to ask questions a lot, when it works I get better, when I stop asking questions I often stop getting results and almost always stop getting the results I want…
GO.
THINK.
ASK.
From the front door to the seats
Last week we talked about some things that help ensure a visitor makes it to the front door, today let’s talk about some things to do once you get them there.
Friendly greeter/greeting- Seems like a given, but I’ve been to some that made me feel like I was intruding on their private gathering. They don’t need to be over the top, but a smile and a handshake go a long way to making someone feel welcome. This is in addition to the parking area greeters that offer a smile, wave, and point me to the visitor parking area.
Literature/information- I’m NOT a fan of the bulletin hand out at the door, but that’s just a personal preference, I don’t yet have any proof that it’s helpful or hindering so I’ll leave that to you. What I KNOW works is a central point of distribution for information for visitors as well as breakout material for more info on small groups, special events, etc. The best I’ve seen have a sort of welcome desk hub that is manned by friendly and knowledgeable volunteers that can do more than hand out the right brochure but can actually talk to the information requested.
Kids drop-off- This one is HUGE! There are few things worse than coming into a church with my two young kids and staring around blankly looking for some direction, someone showing us where to go, a sign, anything! The check in process itself can take many forms, I prefer an electronic check in, to me it seems more secure, and when I’m dropping my kids off with people I’ve never met, security is IMPORTANT. On the positive side, Kids ministry done well makes everything else secondary, I GUARANTEE if the kids want to come back you’ll see the family again!
Cafe/Other- I love a well located and quality cafe at church. Of course I’m also an early thirties on and off church attendee, so if your target is the lifelong church-goer, this is probably not an area of much interest. But if you are attracting the same people you’ve always attracted, maybe it’s time to change things up. This catch all is mainly centered on the look, feel, overall experience of your environments outside of the worship spaces. It should be relevant to the crowd you are trying to attract…
Going to a new church is uncomfortable enough without having to go through additional awkwardness because of the smell, poor signage, or other hurdles we unintentionally put between people and God.
Next time we visit this subject of visitors we’ll look at what happens in the seats and then things you can do to encourage return visits and involvement.
Lenders
By some estimates, over $8,000,000,000 is funded in church loans…every year.
So who are the institutions that loan money to churches?
Banks- Some big players among banks include, Bank of the West, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, BB&T, Regions, and hundreds of regional and community banks all over the country. They tend to have the most standardized approach and are both reasonable in price and service. Most churches look here first.
Credit Unions- Unique because of their membership requirements and restrictions, some of the church lending focused credit unions include ECCU, ACCU, and CCCU. They generally specialize and offer a level of service and expertise that few banks can match, but they also have a smaller deposit pool to fund from which can limit their potential to do loans in certain size, denomination, or geography.
Bond Companies- Church bonds are one of the oldest bonds of any kind and these companies have gone in and out of vogue for a long time. There a lot of companies in this category with few real leaders, but a few I run across with some regularity include Ziegler and Share. The benefits of bonds for some churches, long term, fixed rate, are also the disadvantage to others that may have more than one phase planned which could complicate and increase the cost of such funding.
Other Sources- Congregants, private money(Hard money) lenders, and pension funds are among some of the other creative sources of financing for churches. These often come with additional stipulations and challenges that make them a second or third choice…
In each of these categories there are a lot of options and the right fit for an individual ministry can be unique from one to the next. I’ll be doing a few posts in the future talking about things to consider with each type of institution and also steps ministries should take to ensure that when the time comes to borrow funds, they’ll be well positioned to have the request approved.
I’d love to hear from church leaders who have had a memorable experience in the church loan process, good or bad!
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