Psalm 145:4 says, “One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.”
Can a church reach people for Jesus and raise money at the same time? The answer is unquestionably, “YES!!!”
If you are not familiar with Grace Point Church and Senior Pastor Rich Brown, located in Abilene, TX, you should be. As part of Every Nations Ministry, this church was planted in 1990. Abilene, TX is a military town, home to Dyess Air Force Base. It is also home of three colleges and several other academic institutions such as medical and nursing schools. As a result, this city is very young and transient. Grace Point Church is reflective of this reality.
Grace Point is truly multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, and multi-generational. It has a strong older population but is also made up of many people 35-years-old and younger. The medical schools attract many students from Asia and the Philippines which is also reflected in the church. The church also has three campus directors in charge of impacting the three major universities in their city. They feel if you change a college campus, you change the world. In fact, their college staff grew up in their college ministry and after graduation, decided to remain in Abilene to serve on the church’s staff.
Recently, Pastor Rich and the people who call Grace Point Church home embarked on a capital campaign called “Generations”, based upon the verse above. Their buildings were now outdated and hampering their ministry. The church needed upgraded youth and children’s space, a larger lobby for adult gathering space, other renovations, and additional staff to serve the growing ministry.
Grace Point hired INJOY Stewardship Solutions as their ministry partner to help raise the needed resources. The church’s mission statement is Reaching People, Building Community. Their campaign experience would need to flow from their overall ministry (evangelism and community) and not be a stand-alone fundraiser.
The spiritual component of their campaign was priority. As part of the campaign, the church adopted the zip code of 79602 and with bold faith, believed God He could reach this community for Christ. They also launched the Gospel Project in their children’s area. What were the results?
- The entire spiritual level of the church was raised. Pastor Rich said, “A capital campaign raises faith.”
- A record 45 baptisms in 2018.
- 7 children accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior during the campaign.
- The financial goals of the campaign were met.
- The church’s faith and weekly finances increased.
- 3 new staff were added.
- The campaign unified the staff and people around the vision. College students and older adults started working together.
- Many college students started giving to the church for the first time.
- The pastor was energized during the campaign.
As for Pastor Rich, he told me, “Hiring INJOY Stewardship is the best move he’s made. It changed his life.” I asked him what he felt was the campaign’s defining moment. He told the following story which I’m paraphrasing:
The time had come to repair the sanctuary. After the Sunday service, Pastor Rich made an announcement asking if anyone could stay to clean out the sanctuary, it would be appreciated. He left the platform and went to his office to change into work clothes. When he came back to the sanctuary, it had already been completely cleaned out. The work was done! And it was all done all by college students. They did all the entire job!
Pastor Rich knew in that moment, “They got it.” Those students owned the vision of the campaign and the overall mission and vision of the church. He said, “They were on fire!” The students then began investing in the church financially. Because they were college students, it was not much money in the world’s eyes. But in a modern-day Widow’s Mite story, the students were giving gifts of great love and sacrifice. These college students also run the church’s Facebook page which is one of the finest you will see. Click HERE to check it out.
The Generations campaign at Grace Point Church changed a church. It achieved its goal of impacting multiple generations. It is changing a city. It changed 45 people for all of eternity. And it changed a pastor.
If your church has an upcoming need to raise significant capital and would like this type of generosity/campaign experience at your church, click HERE and left me know. I would be honored to hear the story of what God is doing at your church and see how we could best serve you.
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