You Have a $120K to Spend: Go
Dreaming Leads to Generosity
The nice guy wanted to meet for lunch at his favorite restaurant overlooking the marina in St. Clair Shores. We would share a long meal with lots of stories about life in the advertising business in Detroit. After the meal, he would ask for the list of dream projects in the church.
We would walk through the different projects. He would take the list home to talk it over with his wife. They would fund 3-4 projects a lunch. In 4 lunches in 2 years, they would fund over $120,000 in projects. All their giving was completely anonymous. He said, “We honor God with our giving, it’s no one else’s business.
Photo by Pixabay. Used by Permission.
As we consider this generosity, would we be ready for the generous couple who want to give the church $120,000, to be allocated by New Year’s Eve?
A Dream Project List
Property Committee
The first 1/3 of the air conditioning project for the sanctuary. Northern churches often don’t have air conditioning. So do part of the project. Maybe this generosity will get the rest done.
Fix the parking lot. The holes, crumbling asphalt, and low spots that flood every rainfall can be made safe and new. Paint the new spaces wide enough for our SUV-driving church friends.
Renovate and update the main office where the church administrator answers phones and greets visitors. Have the administrator choose the new office furniture, especially the chair they use every day all day.
Put in a truly handicapped bathroom.
Bring in an interior designer and renovate the youth rooms so they have lots of modern colors, durable AND comfortable furniture (no bean bags!), and a faux-wood laminate floor that can handle pizza and Cheer Wine (delicious red pop).
Worship
Fund a three-year plan to bring all the choirs, staff, and worship leaders to the best respective conferences so they can energize worship. Give the Montreat Worship & Music conferences a try.
Photo by Antoni Schkraba, Used by permission.
Call a drummer, guitarist, and modern worship leader to lead and teach the volunteer worship band how to truly lead the congregation in awesome worship. Pay these professionals as we would a church organist or youth leader (nope, pay them better).
Bring in a church interior designer and draw up plans to renovate the sanctuary for the next 50 years of worship. Seek to have everything movable in the chancel. Plan for invisible screens, new wiring, and better speakers.
Mission
Fund a three-year plan to involve half or more of the worshipping congregation in mission work outside of the church walls. This might include bus rentals to bring more people to the inner city project. Or to fund half of the cost for six mission trips over a variety of times to give more people an opportunity to attend.
Call a lay leader of mission for a two-year job at your church.
Partner with your local social services and put the money to work paying for building supplies as your church members renovate a foster group home, or do projects for low-income senior citizens.
Photo by Karyme Franca. Used by permission.
Dreaming Leads to Generosity
Money and generosity will follow your church’s dreams as you seek to do what God is calling your church to do. If you don’t have a dream list yet, make one for your January or February board meeting. Discuss the list. Pray the list. Dream the list. Who knows the Holy Spirit may move one of your generous people to fund a project or four.