1. Plan For Facilities From Day 1 – If you just planted, in 5-7 years you’ll need a building or a new job!
2. Build A Long Runway – “Church Building - How long does it take…really?
3. Track Everything – Good financials and attendance numbers put the bank’s bean counters at ease.
4. Define “Healthy” Early - If you aim at nothing you’ll hit it every time. Understand what the metrics of healthy are for your church.
5. Measure “Healthy”- What gets measured gets done.
In the last few weeks I’ve met with a couple of pastors who’ve managed to dig their church out of, what seemed like, certain financial ruin. These men made me realize how closely tied vision and money are in building the church as well as church building. Think about it. How many organizations have you seen kill it who stunk at managing their cash-flow and balance sheet?
Bottom line: If your church is going to change the world, YOU have to be a next level money manager. At church and at home.
The most popular blog I’ve written to date was “7 Ways Smart Churches Are Using Social Media”. The title says it all, but I wanted to follow-up with some ways to use Social Media as you navigate the construction process with your church. So here are some musings on that subject.
Social Media & Church Construction
Part of the problem with building churches is keeping people in the loop on what’s going on. When you first begin, everybody is talking about the new facility. You may be neck-deep in a capital campaign, there are architects and builders being introduced to the congregation and then BAM!!!! Radio silence for 6 months to a year while you take on the arduous task of Master Planning, Schematic Design and final Construction Documents and permitting. Most churches don’t think about this “dark side of the moon” period because they are on the dark side of the moon with the facility design team. Continue Reading…
How do you know when its time for your church to build? Here are four things to think about when you’re thinking about building.
1. Finances – obviously money matters when you’re building a new facility. Here is blog I wrote specifically on Church Construction and Money.
2. Max Facility Use - Do you have a document that outlines how your facility is currently being used for ministry? The least expensive ministry space you’ll ever have is what you have right now. Before you think about building or renovating a thing, you want to make sure you’ve thought through every square foot of the current facility. How many services are you in right now? Could you add another one? Could you do a video venue? My church uses the same space on Sunday Mornings for middle school and Sunday afternoon for high school. Do you really need all that Sunday school space or could it be repurposed for a more effective use? (Touchy subject I know)
3. R U Ready? – This is the one thing most pastors I work with fail to realize. This process will take more of your energy than you think. It will take more of your time than you think. It takes longer than you think and it will require you to spend more of your influence than you think.
Being ready means you’ve got your hands wrapped tightly around the vision God has given you, hold on to it. You’ll constantly need that vision to recenter you when the difficulty arises. It means you don’t have secrets. (I trust you know what I’m talking about). Secrets often find a way not to be so secretive when you are trying to make a big impact for the kingdom. Being ready means you’ve weighed the cost and you are personally ready to pay it.
IF THE LEADER ISN’T READY….THE CHURCH ISN’T READY!
4. The “Great Deal” - Stumbling on great deal for land, or a building does not mean it’s time for you church to build. I met with a church a couple years back that bought 11 acres for their church because the price had dropped so much. Now they are trying to sell 11 acres in a down market because they realized, because of location, they would benefit more by renovating a building than from building a new one. ’There is a difference between a “great deal” and a “great deal for your church”.
Facilities must move you in the direction of the vision.
So, are you ready?
One of the first things we accomplish when we take on a new client is to nail down just how much the church can afford. Understanding Affordability is the Critical Success Factor in any church construction project. One of the biggest communication miss-steps is when the church says they have $3,000,000 to spend and then they begin to design a $3,000,000 building.
DOWNLOAD THIS FIRST New Construction Sample Budget
Today I’m going to walk you through 3 budgets you need to be concerned with during construction
CLARITY = GREAT RELATIONSHIP
Can you see why it’s important to make sure you let the budget drive the project?
I like to manage these three budgets as independent parts of the whole. When a church decides to add $50,000 to their audio budget I want them to have to make a decision about where it comes from in another part of the budget. Does it come out of the furniture budget or are we giving up square footage for it? This is exactly how we manage our personal budgets right? We don’t spend money and then go and ask to have our budget increased. We try to get as much as we can for what we have.
If you have any questions about putting your budget together shoot me an email at rwchancy@cogun.com. I’d love to help!
What is your church doing to leverage Social Media? Here are just a few things to think about as you move into the age of technological evangelism. 
How is your church using social media to reach people? Even if you never comment on blogs, don’t be stingy with your ideas. Share the love Man!!! If you’d rather send an email and have me post it, you can get me at rwchancy@cogun.com
10 reasons building a church isn’t like buying a car or anything else for that matter.
Here is where the analogy breaks down.
If you decide to by a corvette, and you go to four different dealers and get prices and the lowest price for the same awesomeness is $65,000, do you buy it?
It depends right? It depends on what you can afford.
Too many people are getting awesome deals on cars they can’t afford. Affordability IS the dealmaker. (I’m thinking about getting a forehead tattoo with that on it). “Understand what you can afford and then go out and make the deal with someone you can trust.” (Sidebar – did you know when you trade a car in; the sales guy gets paid a percentage of the difference between the real value of what you car is worth and what he can get you to take for it? If you trade them in, have the KBB value printed and in you hand)
Back to affordability
There’s a lot of work that determines what you can “really” afford to spend on a car. If you’re building a church, that process is magnified. You have to know how much cash you can raise, what the bank will loan, what the payments on the debt will be to make sure you construction budget doesn’t have an affair with your operating budget and run away with her.
How will inflation affect you affordability? Are there major, one time, expenses coming your way that will impact operating income and limit your borrowing?
Are you scared yet? Good….fear is good for making you think before you act. Heading into a car dealership, or a church expansion project without a grasp of affordability is like rolling the dice at the craps table, you may win from time to time, but when you lose it’s really gonna bite. (not a great analogy for a pastor but it’s better than the one I was working on about planning for the spirit to move instead of preparing a sermon)
If you church is growing fast, sooner or later you have to build or renovate. Have a plan, get the right people around you from the start before you spend a dime.
If I can help I’d love to be part of the journey with you. I’m passionate about serving churches and would love an opportunity to talk with you about joining you staff to walk you through the process of clarifying exactly what you need and balancing it with what you can afford so you can CRUSH IT FOR JESUS in your city.
Email me and lets set up a time to get to know each other over the phone.
706.830.3782
If you haven’t been reading my blog, you need to know I injured my back 4 weeks ago doing deadlifts at the gym. I’ve also been training for the Publix Ga Half Marathon. How do deadlifts fit into a half marathon training schedule you ask? NOT VERY WELL! So yesterday I showed up to run a race not having run in 4 weeks and the longest run I’d done was a 7 miler.
1. WASTING YOUR POTENTIALThe first half marathon I ran I finished in 1:57. This one I came in at 2:16. I have very real evidence that my potential is greater than my performance, you may not have the advantage of quatifying your potential like I did. all the more reason to make sure you prepare.
When I think about the churches I’m in, I see the construction of new facilities to be a great opportunity to get some of the people in the church to sit down and, maybe for the first time, organize thier finances so they can contribute financially to the project and be a part of what God is doing through the church. As leaders in the church we’re responsible for the church reaching its potential during seasons like this. You have to prepare by having a written plan of how you will engage the staffe, the influnecers, the volunteers, and the general congregation if you want to reach your potential.
I saw a guy holding a posterboard that said “Pain is temporary”. Right behind him there was a lady with a sign that read “But internet results last forever”. The whole time I was running I found myself rehersing what I’m going to tell people when they ask what my finish time was. Several of my close guy friends had planned to run the race and didn’t, and I was stressing over what I’m going to tell them. They will ask ……but they don’t really care how fast or slow I am. In fact, nobody cares!
That little voice in my head seems to be louder the less time I spend in prepartation. Just like that little voice seems to wisper different things in my ear when I’m not connecting with God on a daily basis.
Preperation for Church Construction takes on many different roles. One of the most important is to have a clear understanding of exactly what God has called you to do in your community. Every time that little voice pops up in a panic you can remind yourself, and your team that you are on a “mission from God” (Blues Brothers circa 1988). Having a plan of how you will focus on Him when the tension rises is the best way to shut the little voice up.
About 2 hours after the race I could really begin to feel my39 year old body speaking to me (more of a speaking in tounges than that a wispering voice). By last night I was rethinking my meeting schedule for today due to lack of ability to move. You don’t always pay for lack of preparation in the moment. Sometimes it’s later, when it comes to building churches it can be several years down the road before you realize you weren’t properly prepaired.
Not preparing for a race will cost me until the middle of the week maybe. Not preparing your church for a season of church construction will cause you long term pain and suffering. I spoke to a church last year that had to sell their facility and release the pastor because they built a building they couldn’t afford. These are big, painful problems easily solved with a strategic preperation.
So that’s your three things, I learned alot more (funny how that happens when I don’t distract myself with an ipod) and I’ll share some of it down the road. Before I let you go I want to add a bonus fourth thing I learned as well.
4. Sometimes the juice is with the squeeze
Sometimes you just have to go for it. I’m no longer talking about building churches. However, sometimes opportunities present themselves and you just have to say yes. I bailed on this race 2 years ago becasue of a knee injury and I questioned it for a long time. I knew that I wasn’t prepaired and the race would be a painful experince. My beautiful, and wise, bride Kristy kept asking me if this was “smart”. I always said “nope, but I”m doing it anyway”. Sometimes, even if you haven’t prepared properly, you have to keep promises you make to yourself because……. the juice is worth the squeeze. 
Tomorrow – Georgia Marathon Lesson 2
Tomorrow I’m going to talk about getting 18,000 people moving in the same direction while suffering for it. Subscribe on the top left corner of my blog and have it come right to your inbox.
3 weeks ago I injured my back doing deadlifts. That’s right! Deadlifts…my last set of deadlifts ever I might add! I’m turning 40 soon and I’m checking out some of those cool walkers with the tennis balls on the legs. So after 3 weeks of grumbling I decided to head to the chiropractor this week. He asked some great questions before he began, and I thought they might be good questions for you as well.
WHERE DOES IT HURT
This is an obvious question as it relates to ministry. We tend to focus on the point of pain, but it’s also important to know that treating the symptom doesn’t always solve the problem. You’ve got to track the pain back to the source. A church with financial issues often times thinks the “big donor” is the solution. But debt is just a pain caused by a larger issue. That underlying issue has to be resolved or the pain will re-appear down the road.
WHEN DOES IT HURT
Me “Doc it hurts when I do this….” 
Doc “Then don’t do that!!”
Me “Great freakin answer Doc”
Before I begin consulting with a church on facilities, I always spend a couple of days with people who lead each area of ministry for the church. Each of these people can easily answer the question of “When does it hurt” for their area of ministry. They are living it every day. As the organizational leader, it can be easy to misunderstand or diminish the magnitude of “when it hurts”. Take some time to intentionally involve yourself in the emotion of the challenges from their point of view. Your key leaders are critical to solving the challenges your church faces, and they are critical to its continued growth.
HOW IT HURTS
How does the problem really hurt. With my back, I’m having a hard time getting to the gym (harder than normal). I can’t throw my daughter around like normal. My wife would snatch my spine out if she thought i would help with the whining.
How do your problems really hurt the church? If someone spends weeks, months, or years investing in their neighbor and finally gets them to come into your church, how does your “hurt” impact their desire to return? What is the conversation they are having in the car driving away sound like? That is the real cost of your pain. (BTW – I got the “driving away” question from Kerry Bural at Resonate or Die. Great question, thanks Kerry!)
WHY DOES IT HURT
Once you find the underlying source of the pain you can better understand the decisions or mindsets that contributed to the pain. My most obvious answer to “why” my back hurts was deadlifts. The real “why” however has more to do with years of sitting the wrong way looking at a computer screen, not taking other sports injuries seriously, and a general disregard for my back.
Understanding the real “why” is critical to solving the deepest challenges we have as church leaders and human beings in general. Many churches spend years treating the symptoms while never truly striking at the heart of the problem. Track your challenges back to decisions you’ve made. Then take a look at those decisions and ask yourself “what was the underlying thought we used to make that decision?”. Was it faith in an all powerful God, or was the decision based on some sort of fear. Was there a fear of negative ramifications or a fear of missing out on something?
The Doc asked me all of these questions before he laid a hand on me. He also did and x-ray which is sort of what you’re doing here.
There are always multiple solutions to any problem if we take the time to really look. The trick is to find the one that offers the best fit for what you can afford. What you can afford financially, from a time investment, and what you can afford to spend in influence with the people who follow you.
How does your church deal with pain?
This week I had someone ask me a great question. ”How has the change in the economy changed the way a church prepares for construction?”
Obviously the preparation you need to do to borrow money has been stepped up and there are far more church construction “experts” now than any other time in history, so you have to do your homework on potential partners. Instead of me sharing all my ideas though, I want to hear what you have to say about how you might prepare you church if you were about to build.
So what do you think? Here are some topics to get you started but feel free to go outside the boundaries:
I’m looking forward to seeing your comments.
Hi, My name is Richard and I’ve spent the better part of the last decade serving the church through leadership and consulting roles with the Catalyst Conference and Injoy under Dr. John C. Maxwell‘s guidance. Learn more about me »
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