When business of the church is interrupted

Just three days after Easter Sunday in 2011, a colossal storm system tore across the country, spawning 359 tornadoes in 21 states. In addition to property destruction, churches faced business interruption on a massive scale – and many were unprepared to recover from it.

Fortunately, there is an insurance product that could help mitigate a church’s financial loss due to an interruption in giving.

“Churches are particularly vulnerable to business interruption because they depend so heavily on giving for income,” says Gaelen Cole, Property and Casualty Program manager for GuideStone Agency Services. “Even if the church’s property is properly insured, lost giving can make a loss’s impact that much more profound. Business interruption insurance is crucial, as it helps churches recoup losses while continuing to serve their communities in times of crisis.”

Two parts of a whole
Comprehensive business interruption insurance includes two main components: (1) standard coverage for lost income and ongoing operational expenses and (2) extra expense coverage. To be able to file a business interruption claim, the church must first have had a covered cause of loss specified in the church’s property policy.

“Churches need to review their policies thoroughly with a knowledgeable agent,” Cole says. “‘Named perils’ coverage only covers loss from a specified event, like fire or storms. ‘Special form’ or ‘all risk’ insures against all causes, but often with many exclusions. It’s important to know what’s covered.”

Standard business interruption insurance includes lost income and ongoing expense coverage. Extra expense coverage is often optional, so churches must ask their agent to add it. Both are crucial to keeping ministry protected during times of interruption.

Lost income and ongoing expense coverage protects just that: the revenue the church is likely to lose while the doors are closed, and the expenses the church incurs keeping even the most basic operations going. These might include rent or mortgage payments, utilities, payroll, health insurance premiums and the like.

Extra expense coverage helps cover the additional expenses churches face while recovering and rebuilding. This includes things like the cost of renting an alternative meeting place or putting in another phone line. It can also mean the difference between a quick recovery and a lengthier one.

Know the specifics
“Because budgets are often tight, churches are always looking for ways to keep premiums as affordable as possible,” Cole says. “Churches can be hurt by limits, deductibles or coinsurance that seemed like a good idea when they were trying to lower premiums. In the event of a claim, these decisions can cost them serious money.”

Deductibles. Business interruption deductibles are measured in time rather than dollar amounts. The deductible is the amount of time that’s allowed to pass before the church’s coverage kicks in, usually 24-72 hours. In general, the longer the deductible, the lower the premium, making longer deductibles attractive to churches looking to control costs. However, deductibles can have huge and potentially unforeseen impacts in the event of a loss.

“If possible, churches should have a 24-hour deductible. This helps them manage costs while providing protection for their most important operational days,” Cole says.

Limits. Business interruption coverage has a limit that’s separate from other policy limits. Typically, the amount covered is based on the previous 12 months’ documented income and expenses. Because churches are rarely out of operation for 12 months, they will not need the full amount covered. “It’s critical to keep good records of income and expenses, and have backups in a secure place,” says Cole.

Many church insurers offer a flat limit of $150,000 in coverage. For smaller churches with annual incomes below $500,000, this limit is generally adequate.

Churches with annual incomes greater than $500,000 will need to consult with their agents to figure the right amount of coverage.

Coinsurance penalties. For larger churches that need higher limits, coinsurance penalties may become an issue. Insurance companies require the church to carry a certain percentage of the potential total value of their loss, based on 12 months’ worth of documented income and expenses. If the church does not carry that percentage, they will incur a coinsurance penalty, and only a portion of their total claims will be paid. “These things are complicated,” says Cole.

Protection is in the details
“Under the umbrella of ‘business interruption coverage,’ there are a few more coverages churches should consider,” says Cole. “The two that are most common are utility interruption and equipment breakdown.”

Utility interruption coverage reimburses a church for ongoing expenses and lost income resulting from a disruption in utilities – even if the church property itself isn’t damaged. Equipment breakdowns such as heating or air conditioning failure must first be covered by the church’s property policy. “If they have that coverage, the church should also specify that they’d like the resulting business interruption covered. Without it, their lost income and ongoing expenses aren’t covered.”

“Aside from insufficient or the wrong kinds of cover-age, disorganization and poor record-keeping are two things that really hurt churches when it comes to getting claims paid,” Cole says. “Churches should focus on three main areas: (1) have a good relationship with their agent, (2) keep thorough and secure records, and (3) make sure everyone knows their role: who to contact for accounting, for property info, for disaster response, etc. Without all three, they are likely to run into trouble.”

Jennifer Carter is a senior marketing communications editor for Dallas-based GuideStone Financial Resources. www.GuideStone.org

The church saw its utility bills cut in half, with the solar panels projected to pay for themselves by 2018.

Many churches across the country have begun to “go green” by installing solar energy systems to help clean up the environment and curb energy bills. Solar energy reduces the amount of fossil fuel used — the leading cause of climate change. This reduces air pollution and, as the use of solar energy increases, can have a positive impact on climate change.

Solar panel systems are designed to reduce energy costs, depending upon space, sunlight exposure and energy usage. A number of churches that have installed solar panels have seen lower electricity bills, sometimes cut in half, with the system paying for itself in a matter of years.

Five years ago First Presbyterian Church in Elko, NV, installed solar panels when the state of Nevada offered rebates to encourage solar energy. The initial cost of the installation was about $120,000; minus the $49,000 state rebate, the church only paid $71,000. After the installation, the church saw its utility bills cut in half, with the solar panels projected to pay for themselves by 2018.

Assessing solar needs
Key questions to consider before installing a solar energy system include:

Does your church receive enough exposure to the sun? This is a critical requirement for generating energy. Keep in mind that for solar panels to work, the entire panel must be exposed to sunlight.

How much power does your church need? To determine this, simply add up the kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity used on all electric bills for the past year. Electricity usage typically peaks in the summer months when the air conditioners run full blast. Electric bills in July and August are usually indicative of peak usage.

Is solar the right choice for your church? Unlike so many issues these days, solar is not a politically sensitive choice. It’s about saving the congregation money and improving the environment and the world we live in. The reality is that the installation of solar almost always saves the installer money in the long term, reduces the use of fossil fuels and often helps make utility budgeting more predictable.

Different approaches
Three main options to choose from when installing solar energy systems:

Outright Purchase – this approach requires a high upfront cost. At the moment, solar still costs between $3 and $4 per watt. An average home would cost $20,000 to $30,000 to power. A megachurch could cost millions for a big installation. That said, this approach is an excellent option during a building campaign if the funding is available. The average return on investment used to be approximately 17 years, but this has been decreasing as panel prices fall precipitously.

Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) – this is another good option. A PPA means the church only pays for the generated electricity that it uses, leaving the maintenance and operations to the seller.

Lease — this is similar to signing a PPA in that another entity owns the solar system. The church makes a flat monthly payment regardless of the electricity produced or consumed. The advantage is that the electric bill is the same every month.

All three options enable the church to provide environmental stewardship, have more predictable electric bills and frequently lower electric bills, as well.

Another critical motivator for installing solar for many church leaders is that of financial stewardship. A good example of this is Central Baptist Church in Wayne, PA. The congregation installed 48 solar panel arrays on the church roof to produce 9.6 kW of electricity and will supply approximately 30 percent of the 40,000 kWh of electricity that the church uses per year.

In addition, the church invested in wind energy by purchasing about 2,500 kWh per month in wind blocks of renewable energy credits, ensuring that clean energy sources contributed to the local power grid. If they achieve their goal of reducing their total energy consumption by 7 percent, 100 percent of the electricity they consume will come from or support renewable energy.

The congregation estimates that if their solar panels generate 11,600 kWh of electricity per year, they will save about $1,740 annually at current electric rates. In addition, the church will receive one credit for every 1,000 kWh generated, about 12 credits per year. They expect to sell each credit for $200, which is $2,400 per year for all 12 credits generated.

At this rate, the congregation expects the solar system will pay for itself in only 4.8 years. The savings and revenue generated by the solar energy system can be used for community and mission work.

Michael Gorton is chief executive officer and chairman of Principal Solar, Addison, TX. www.PrincipalSolar.com

A former injection molding plant is turned into a unique gathering place for young people.

3 Mile Project is a non-denominational ministry center for youth ages 5th grade through 12th grade,  a place where teens can come for recreation and social engagement in a safe, spiritual setting and where adult leaders can play alongside the youth and offer friendship, role-modeling and spiritual guidance. Activities include indoor sports courts (which accommodate 1,200 seats for concerts), video game arcade, contest arena with seating risers, table games area, skate park, reball arena and three  theater “pods”– all free with the $5 entrance fee – as well as a subsidized café and bookstore.

The project is the brainchild of four businessmen with a history and passion for youth ministry. After surveying 750 young people about their desires for the facility, the owners challenged the architects to create a place that would efficiently and securely accommodate the program activities and cause users to say, “WOW! You did this for me?” upon entering.

The owners chose a 30-year-old former plastic injection molding plant as the venue. The design team drew on the industrial nature of the building for aesthetic inspiration and detailed to the gifts and skill-levels of volunteers. They also fabricated and installed key design features themselves, continuing an emerging trend in their architectural work nationwide. Primary materials include framing lumber, OSB panels, corrugated sheet metal, polycarbonate panels, carpet squares, sports flooring and indoor/outdoor carpeting.

Youth-created collages
Café tables were made from particle board rounds covered by youth-created collages on a variety of themes – sports, candy wrappers, movie tickets, cars, fly-fishing and even facial hair – followed by four coats of clear resin.

Quilted-vinyl shipping blankets were used as acoustical wall treatment in the theater pods and as upholstery for booth seating in the café. Additionally, acoustical wall treatment in the café was made by shingling panels of heavy-duty grey industrial felt accented with brightly colored craft felt.

Media monitor arrays were made from a spider’s web of raw lumber, aircraft cable and clear blue compressor hose. Also, the facility includes large pendant lamps shades over the concourse surround industrial fixtures and are made of spiraled layers of deer fencing, hardware cloth and insect screening.

Repurposed components
Guardrails in the three café skyboxes, which overlook the sports courts, are made from repurposed bed slats from IKEA and wire shelving components.

Digital “fire pits” surrounded by semi-circular seating tiers are made from livestock feed tanks with two layers of acrylic sheet sandwiching two inches of crushed tempered glass (from a glass supplier’s dumpster) illuminated from within by LED panels.

The store service counter is covered in 64,200 strips from brightly colored t-shirts knotted on chicken wire – the painstaking work of a senior women’s prayer circle.

3 Mile Project was privately funded and relied on donations of materials, equipment and labor amounting to more than half the construction value. Renovation expenditures came in at less than $22 per-square-foot a small price to pay for a richly creative environment that has seen attendance rapidly grow to more than 1,500 per weekend and a success by any measure.

Steve Fridsma is principal architect for Elevate Studio, Grand Rapids, MI. www.elevatestudio.net

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Show and tell: taking the virtual video tour

You can tell me about your dream and vision for your new church facility or renovation, but you won’t sell me on it until I can see it in my mind’s eye. When I can visualize it, I come a long way toward embracing the project as my own, and contributing to its success.

Ask the director of a film and he will tell you that he wants to immerse the audience into the actor’s life, events and feelings to successfully tell the story. The result is a visual and emotional journey as the story unfolds, that will bring you to a place of deciding for yourself whether to embrace or reject the connection with the characters or events of the story.

There are two distinct parts of your show and tell; this is the “what” and the “why” of your vision.  3D animated virtual tours are a great tool for illustrating the “what” of a project before it is ever built. Often this is a bricks and mortar portion of the leadership’s vision for a building or a renovation.

In the last few years, technology has increased to allow photo-real cinematic videos. The animated short films render fly-throughs, fly-overs, walk throughs, and sweeping camera moves of the proposed building with a real life feel far above the CAD and BIM software. Live video clips, a message from the pastor, interviews and testimonials of church members can be inserted to help communicate the message and heart of the churches’ plans to the viewer.

This video piece stresses the “why” of the vision, the greater purpose of life change, real events as a result of the ministry of the church.

“We found that a key way to communicate our vision for the North Campus at Prestonwood was through the use of a 3D animated virtual tour,” says Jack Graham, pastor of 30,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, TX. Prestonwood has three campuses.

“It allowed us to show our people and to ‘virtually’ place them in the facility before it is was even constructed. Communication is integral when it comes to vision-casting, and this proved to be a powerful medium for us during this building campaign.”

Sherry R. Keesee, Director of Business Development, 3Dream Studios, Tulsa, OK.
www.3DreamStudios.com

Carillon of 23 bells plays automatically by a computerized system with more than 500 songs in its library.

Over the centuries, the world’s most prestigious cities have built majestic cathedrals that stand as enduring symbols of faith and beauty, illuminating the architectural, civic and spiritual landscape of our cities.

The Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, TX, within the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, was dedicated in 2008 as a spiritual home for all people of all faiths.

The challenge was to build a cathedral for the ages, of profound spiritual expression and enduring artistic quality, contemplating a 500-year planning horizon. A design team traveled to Europe, visiting scores of cathedrals, immersing themselves in the rich history and architecture of the magnificent structures.

Monumental in scale
The composition of the architectural elements, entrusted to Ziegler Cooper Architects, were intended to be monumental in scale and larger than those in other buildings. Built on a three block location in central Houston, selected for its high visibility and easy accessibility to more than 1.3 million Catholics, the cathedral faces south towards the future plaza, inviting expansion of diocesan buildings around the plaza.

The copper dome crowning the cathedral supports a 17-foot-high, gold leaf cross, one of three adorning the cathedral and bell tower that serve as beacons of faith amid the downtown skyline.

A carillon of 23 bells rings out from the campanile that stands on the southeast corner of the city block encompassing Co-Cathedral. The bells were cast with a bronze alloy of mostly copper and tin by The Royal Eijsbouts Bellfounders in The Netherlands and installed by Chime Master Systems located in Lancaster, OH.

The non-traditional carillon is played automatically by a computerized system that has more than 500 songs in its library. Cathedral musicians can play the bells and store additional music using a monitoring system inside the church. The music is categorized by liturgical season so that the bells always ring appropriate selections on the automatic ringing schedule.

The carillon was designed with room for two more octaves of bells. The layout of the bells and installation of the electric action was done in such a way to allow the carillon to be fitted with a more traditional baton style keyboard that can be hand played by a Carillonneur.

Range of strike tones
The two octaves of bells range in weight from 4,800 pounds with a diameter of 60 inches to 100 pounds with a diameter of 16 inches. The four swinging bells strike tones are middle C, D, F, and G with weights of 4,800 lbs., 3,400 lbs., 2,000 lbs. and 1,400 lbs., respectively.

The four largest bells in the carillon were blessed and named for important women who led four congregations of religious women that played prominent roles in serving the people in the Diocese of Galveston at its founding.

The Cathedral has seating for 1,800 worshippers. A wide center aisle of marble stretches from the front door to the altar. A 12-foot, 1,800-pound, crucifix presides over the sanctuary. Two major shrines devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception grace the transepts.

Sarah De Ita is senior associate with Ziegler Cooper Architects, Houston, TX. www.ZieglerCooper.com

Church is not always safe for the wife of the pastor.

The October 2011 issue of Church Executive carried an article on “Pastors’ wives under pressure in husbands’ ministries.” One response to the article came from Mary Henry, a pastor’s wife from Lamoine, ME, who describes herself as a mother, spiritual director, mentor and writer. From the latter perspective, Henry is researching a book about pastors’ wives and welcomes comments to krmds@roadrunner.com.

Here she shares her own experiences as a pastor’s wife, which weren’t always friendly — or Christian.
Church life. I’m sure many people think of it as being a nurturing environment, safe, transparent and honest. There may be some churches out there that are this way. However, it seems to me many churches present themselves this way, and act quite another way behind closed doors. Ask any pastor’s wife.

First, there is the pressure applied by other pastors’ wives who feel they are co-pastoring the church with their husband, for free of course. Shortly after I got engaged to my husband, a pastor, we attended an association-of-churches meeting. I was taken by surprise when one after the other the pastors’ wives asked me if I was nervous about becoming a pastor’s wife. They all offered me advice.

One woman said she kept a file for each type of note she needed to write; thank you notes, sympathy, holiday, birthday, births, baptisms; you name it, she had a file for it. Another told me it would be good if I taught Sunday school. And, the one I remember the most vividly, told me all I had to do to be a good pastor’s wife was to memorize the Bible, back to front, front to back.

Left feeling inadequate
By the time we left the gathering, I felt totally inadequate, even though I had a great business background, had a great job, was active in my community, and had a jail ministry I absolutely loved. I wanted to scream and run the other way.

My husband was a 47-year-old bachelor in a small town church. When we started dating, one of the women in church who thought she would be his wife, treated me like dirt. For the 12 years I was a member of this church, this woman never talked to me, ignored me when I tried to talk to her, and went out of her way to alienate me. Did I mention she was married?

Another woman at church told me I was the worse minister’s wife she had ever known. She told me I should be on every committee, involved with all aspects of Christian Ed, and should be providing child care every Sunday. She tried to get my husband fired, and when that didn’t work, she and her husband left the church.

Another member of our church yelled and screamed at every annual business meeting. Every year it was the same thing, “Why should you get a 3 percent raise when I only got a 2 percent raise? And you only work one day a week.” My husband has a Ph.D. in systematic theology, this man had a high school diploma. Congregants sat in silence and let him rage. I was appalled to have 20 to 25 people talk over whether or not my husband should get a raise.

Church takes toll on family
Life in a church can take a tremendous toll on the pastor and his family. The young woman who told me I just needed to memorize the Bible to be a good pastor’s wife, admitted to her church, several years later, she had an eating disorder. She had hoped the church would support and pray for her.

Instead church members wouldn’t let their children go to her house to play with her children, nor would church members invite the wife, her husband (the pastor) or their children, to their homes anymore. This pastor’s wife had nowhere to turn, no one to talk to, not even God, who she felt had betrayed her in her own church.

I visited her in a psychiatric hospital where I found her devastated by the church’s treatment of her. The church asked the husband to resign. While he was waiting to decide how to handle this, his wife committed suicide, leaving her five children and her husband behind.

Churches are families, and every family has its secrets, its dysfunction. When these secrets are kept in the dark, they grow powerful, they breed discontent, jealousy, anger and resentment — and they destroy. The secrets and dysfunction hold us hostage in an environment we thought was safe.

Pastors’ wives struggle with alienation, loneliness, betrayal, judgment, fear and the demands of church and pastor. To whom do we turn to tell our secrets without getting our spouses fired? Who in our community is a safe person? Who can save us from the self-destructing thoughts that come when we are being abused in a church?

Women heal in community with each other. Confessing what we are feeling and thinking takes the power out of it, and brings into the light the darkness that builds as we try to be what others want us to be, or, as we try to desperately hold onto to our authentic lives within a church.

I am encouraged by Trudy Johnson’s Colorado retreats (www.anesisretreats.com), the websites that allow pastors’ wives to share their stories with other pastors’ wives all over the country, and Vision New England’s new Pastors’ Spouses’ mentoring ministry (www.VisionNewEngland.org).

It is good to know secrets are being exposed to the light.

Coppell, TX Baptist church uses environmental projection to tell visual stories during services.

Between Dallas and Ft. Worth, TX sits First Baptist Church of Coppell, where a long-time standing building and congregation wanted to modernize the inside of their sanctuary to stay in tune with the local community.

After seeing a demo and realizing the cost-benefits, the church implemented an environmental projection system, originally developed by local company Visual Worshiper, in order to transform the look and feel of their entire sanctuary with a simple click of a button.

Environmental projection uses video projectors to project images and video onto the walls and architecture of an existing sanctuary, taking its roots from ancient cathedrals and churches where stained glass was used to tell stories. Now it is done digitally, right from a computer. This allows the church to tell visual stories during worship, the message and any other time they want to transform the worship space into something other than four white walls.

Three projectors cast a seamless image around the front of the room, controlled from one computer by a volunteer, with an additional two projectors filling in the extreme side walls for special events which creates a 180-degree visual canvas. This setup allows the church to project not only still imagery, but also seamless motion video to tell a story or enhance the worship.

The church did not have to modify its existing walls or textures. It utilized the existing architecture in the room and mapped the environmental projection to key areas on the walls and ceiling, and at the same time, kept the light out of unwanted areas, such as the eyes of the people on stage and the congregation.

The visual media content is key in a system like this. Most standard images and videos won’t look correct being stretched around a room, but First Baptist received a sample library of content so they were able to use the system right away, with the ability to add more.

The church uses the environmental projection system as a way to foster a mood for worship; projecting images of crosses, stained glass, creation scenes, and anything else that is an enhancement to the worship and message. Motion videos are used as well, but very sparingly as they can be very quick to distract. A favorite among the congregation is a subtle video of snowfall around the room during a Christmas service, or white names of God slowly fading in around the congregation can serve as a powerful reminder.

Using the system First Baptist of Coppell is able to completely transform their worship space for a fraction of the cost and effort than with lighting or with anything physical, such as stained glass.

Camron Ware is founder of Visual Worshipper, Coppell, TX, which produces powerful atmospheres in churches. www.visualworshipper.com

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Project:

• Gear involved:  Five Hitachi Pro-grade projectors, Apple computers, ProPresenter Presentation Software
• Project cost: $25,000
• Project designer: Visual Worshiper

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Salem, OR, has become the first church and the third institution in the United States to purchase the acclaimed Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano. The church last fall took delivery of the 9-foot state-of-the-art instrument.

Dr. Paul Klemme, director of Music Ministries, says “We had an overflow crowd at both services. The instrument was extremely well-received.”

The purchase culminated Klemme’s quest to replace a smaller, aging grand piano in the church’s nave. Parishioners Lester and Marylou Green offered to buy a fine piano in recognition of the church’s rich musical heritage, which includes concerts by visiting artists from all over the world, including Chanticleer, Canadian Brass, Worcester Cathedral Men and Boys Choir and the St. Thomas Episcopal Church Men and Boys Choir.

Looking to the significance of the piano in the future, Klemme believes that the Yamaha will allow the church to attract major recitalists. “We did not have an adequate concert piano to bring major artists to play recitals,” Klemme said, but “now we do. Introduced in January 2010 in the United States, the nine-foot CFX concert grand is Yamaha’s flagship concert grand model.

Church Executive, in this age of praise music and keyboards, asked Dr. Klemme about the significance of the new piano:

What makes the Yamaha CFX Concert Grand Piano so grand, state of the art?

The thing that separates the CFX from other Yamaha and other concert grands is its true perfection and even scale of sound from bottom to top. It has a rich bass but a mellower top and middle.

The overall sound for the listener is quite a bit louder and fuller than any other grand piano.  It was the goal of the company to build a piano that can play above a symphony orchestra.

Finally the touch is fantastic, very comfortable and even.

What is the extent of the church’s music ministries, especially in a church of 400 people)?

The music ministry at St. Paul’s include two grand pianos, two tracker organs, seven singing choirs, two bell choirs, two guitar ensembles, brass ensemble and a concert series that bring artists from local, regional, national and international locations. We have one full time music minister, plus six part-time.

Is there an organ in the church too?

The piano will be used mostly for special concerts and worship services along with four hand piano music. The church blends many different styles of music into the four services held on Sundays including “contemporary Christian.” The organ is used every Sunday. It is a Gabriel Kney — neo baroque tracker action instrument of 22 stops from 1975.

For people who know pianos, what is it that they listen for when comparing them?

I listened for richness of sound and an even spectrum from top to bottom. It is certainly a taste issue but in my research I found almost every piano I tried to have some inconsistency in this arena. The CFX, however, did not.

This piano has the strength and carrying power to lead a full congregation in singing without the aid of microphone.

What was the purchase price of the piano?

I prefer not to reveal the purchase price, but the suggested MSRP is $150,000.

When “Old Blue” broke down with students for the fourth time in a year, it was time to make a decision.

The call came on a Monday night in July, it was Mark, our student pastor. “Well, it happened again! The bus broke down on the highway, in the middle of rush hour, and I’m not happy. I’m sorry but I will never use this bus for a ministry trip again.” The students were on their way to ministry camp on “Old Blue,” our 1997 Ford diesel school bus.

This was about the fourth time the bus had stranded a group in the past 12 months. After each occurrence we invested a few thousand dollars, thinking we fixed the issue only to be surprised again. The frustration was compounded by the fact that our 2001 15-passenger Dodge van had broken down on the last two of three trips out of town that same year.

So, after this incident with our students, involving two hours of calling parents and arranging for alternative transportation to camp, towing the bus and thousands of dollars later, it was clear that it was time to evaluate the useful life of our four aging church vehicles.

After 14 years of owning vehicles, our church has made the decision to sell off our small church fleet and rent as needed for our ministry travel needs. What brought us to this decision was a combination of factors. Some of these factors are unique to our situation, but the process by which we came to this decision is really a pathway that every church has to walk in deciding on how travel will be managed for ministry needs.

Assess costs of owning vs. leasing
To lease or to buy? That is the age-old question. Is it cheaper to buy or lease? Well the answer really hasn’t changed. It continues to be less expensive to buy a good used vehicle and keep it for at least 10 years. The repair costs are low early on and then increase over the life of the vehicle. If you have any kind of history of ownership these are easy costs to measure. For us the purchase of gently used vehicles broke down like this:

Years 1 to 5 the cost was all in the purchase price and routine maintenance. Years 6 to 14 the cost was all repair and maintenance. The cost was almost equal in those periods. The cost in the first five years equaled the cost of maintenance in years 6 to 14.

The trick? You want to keep a vehicle as long as you can before it starts having problems and requiring cash to repair. It’s harder than it sounds because as you near the 10-year mark or so, you’re saving the most money at this point because it’s paid for and not costing any money. But keeping it too long can catch you with big repair costs and then you’re out the cash to fix it before you can sell it.

It’s a gamble. It’s a game we lost. We kept our bus for 14 years. The last five years cost us $30,000. We could have purchased another bus for that amount. Truth is, it’s hard to sell a perfectly good “paid for” vehicle. But selling a perfectly good paid for vehicle is exactly what you must do to win this game.

Remember to measure what I call Leadership Relationship Capital. This is a strange consideration, but an important one nonetheless. I learned it the hard way. After the last bus break down, I spent two weeks fielding conversations from parents about their concern, and some their disgust, with the failure of the bus. Ultimately it led to a perspective that this was a result of church leadership’s poor management.

Stranding kids on a bus may become a fun fond memory for kids to carry into high school, but for parents it’s incredibly distressing. They trust us with their kids and we must be careful to show as much concern for their safety and comfort as their parents do. If we blow it, we may not get another chance to minister to their kids. So, depending on the church’s leadership status, this may or may not be a major consideration in your decision.

Expectations and culture
Business culture. Because we have some leadership who work in the business culture, our church is pretty comfortable with business loans and leasing in the church. We do have some members who I would call our “No Debt Christians” who resist both church debt and paying the new vehicle price tag.

Neither is right or wrong as such, but you need to know your church culture and how that will influence the vehicle decision. In our setting we have a pretty good balance between those who are comfortable with leasing and outsourcing and those who believe the church should invest and own its own equipment.

Vehicle debt. I normally would not consider debt on a vehicle for a church, but we are in exceptional times where a 2 percent interest rate on a vehicle is cheap money. This makes a vehicle loan for a church quite affordable and something to consider for the cash-strapped church.

Probably the bigger issue here is the church’s philosophy on debt. Most churches see debt as negative and will resist debt on vehicles. (Our church would fit this category.) Another part of the culture we often don’t consider is what kind of vehicles the church body drives. Many will expect to put their kids in a vehicle that is in the condition and age like they drive.

Lease options. Our city culture has some great competitive lease options near our church. For us this makes great sense. The availability of this option made it sensible for us. Other churches don’t have access to good lease options so it’s not really part of the equation. We are benefiting from San Antonio’s great corporate vehicle lease market.

We are in a unique season in the history of our church. We are rolling into a capital campaign to pay down facility debt. We grew by 30 percent last year and continue to feel the stretch of needing more cash for a growing ministry, yet less cash flow to make it happen. These are just two factors in our church situation that make outlaying large chunks of cash to buy vehicles unattractive. We would prefer to pay as we go for flexibility and keep our cash in the bank.

We have sold all but one of our vehicles with one pending sale at auction. So far our staff and volunteers are excited about the plan to rent newer vehicles that someone else will worry about maintaining. We have already earned some credit for this decision. While it appears that selling the church fleet is the best decision for us at this time, it’s an experiment and we are willing to learn a new and better way to do this.

Brad Sullard is on the ministry team as executive pastor at Northeast Bible Church, Garden Ridge, TX.  www.nebible.net

Church attendance has increased and there’s a waiting list for preschool.

First came the newly designed children’s wing at Hazel Dell Christian Church in Carmel, IN. Then came children’s minister Tony Johnson’s desire to design his own method to kindly, yet subtly, nudge people out the doors after services.

It turns out the new addition is so popular that well after services have ended, parents linger as their kids romp on the indoor play area. His solution? Much as he hates to admit it, he often sees no other choice than to turn out the lights.

“I really don’t want to rush them out of church. It’s so exciting to see the enthusiasm people have for children’s ministry,” Johnson says. “And that enthusiasm is extending to the church as a whole.”

Since opening the 23,000-square-foot children’s wing, attendance is up nearly 20 percent, and there’s a waiting list for preschool. Even finicky middle-schoolers are eager to participate. Yes, it’s important to have strong programs, but Johnson and other church leaders say it’s the design of the facility in combination with creative teaching that’s helped them reach its ultimate goal of educating more children and increasing the church’s membership.

Working in the culture
It all began when Hazel Dell Christian started working with Indianapolis-based arcDESIGN and Pepper Construction to create an expanded children’s ministry for the 1,200-member church in Carmel, just north of Indianapolis. The design needed to reflect the culture of this family-friendly city, where about 30 percent of the 65,000 residents are under the age of 18. Among the most affluent communities in the Midwest, its residents are highly educated and value the education their children receive.

Hazel Dell knows that a strong children’s program often is among the most important elements that help turn visitors into members.

This addition was designed to meet the growing needs of the congregation.

The addition blends seamlessly with the contemporary design of the worship center. But there’s no question that behind the curved, colored glass wall is the children’s area. The congregation understands that impressions are made from the moment someone pulls into the parking lot. While aesthetics were important, the space has plenty of security and safety features as well.

Those features – for both children and teachers – were factors considered throughout the design. All classrooms have half-doors that are high enough that children can’t see out and get distracted, yet low enough that parents can observe. Plus, the openness makes it easy for teachers to summon help if needed.

Then there were the basics, such as a security system, which was designed to give parents peace-of-mind, but is far from looking like an airport security checkpoint.

Security prime concern
“There was no question we had to have a security system, but we wanted to make sure it was easy and quick to use. At the same time, newcomers needed more hands-on attention,” explains Russ Love, chairman of the building committee. “We needed all of that without making it look like a military post.”

To accomplish that, there are two distinct areas at the entrance: A welcome desk for newcomers, who can ask questions and get information. And a computer kiosk for self check-in.

Beyond safety came practicality. Teachers’ input was sought early on, which was the impetus for the resource room where all the supplies are stored in clearly marked containers. The design also led to some changes in teaching style. Instead of smaller, individualized classrooms, older children have one large room. It was designed to accommodate large group instruction and performances, but also is flexible enough for small group discussions or teamwork. Custom-designed, fabricated partitions covered with brightly colored patterns look like artwork when they are flush against the walls, but they easily swing open and serve as room dividers.

The children’s area definitely has big “wow” moments. There are the two-story steel columns made to look like a huge tree in the library and a diner-themed fifth and sixth grade area complete with retro-looking booths and a counter with swivel stools. But it’s some of the smallest details that have made the greatest impact. There are alcoves with cushioned-bench seats, water features, glass mirrors that look like bubbles over the bathroom sinks and a custom-designed play set shaped to look like mountains

The key to the success was the careful planning, understanding needs of parents, children and teachers, and a church leadership team that was willing to take some risks. Add to that an eye-catching, functional design, and it’s already paying off. As more people discover Hazel Dell Christian, the building committee already is talking about the next expansion.

Mike Engledow,  AIA –LEED AP, BD+C, is an architect in the design of religious architecture. He is a principal with arcDESIGN, in Indianapolis, IN. www.arcdesign.us

A Georgia church responds to the needs of its congregation by providing spaces designed for youth.

Several years ago a trend began in church design, which grew from the desire to be intentional and creative in addressing the needs of young families with children. The proactive approach was to design spaces uniquely suited to the ministries of the children and youth. Since that time the bar continues to be raised to make these spaces the “third place” for children and students.

Just as the coffee/cafe has become the third place for adults, these unique spaces provide an alternative place within the church facilities for our children and youth ministries. This setting is well suited for current church leaders to nurture the next generation of leaders with surroundings that are comfortable for the children, the students and the adults. To reach a generation that is technologically savvy – one that has grown up with i-pods, Wi-Fi, streaming video and smart phones – these spaces need to be technology-rich environments.

With greater frequency we see that it is a priority for churches planning to build for their growing ministries to address the needs of children and students early in the development of their campus. When Prince Avenue Baptist Church in Athens, GA, relocated to the growing suburban environment of Bogart, GA, they elected to adopt just such a strategy.

Starting out new
The relocation gave the church an opportunity to start fresh on a new site adjacent to the church’s school facilities. The initial phase of construction included a multi-purpose space which seats 1,400 for worship. A later phase of the master plan will include a new worship center to accommodate 2,500 worshipers. The study of the church’s demographics indicated its surrounding community had a large population of young families with children. This led to the decision that the church should focus on spaces for the children and students in its first phase of the construction.

Prince Avenue saw the need to adapt these spaces for children and students to suit them personally as the end-users. The multipurpose worship space on the ground level and is closest to the preschool and nursery children ministries. “Genesis Junction” is a themed space replicating a train depot.

The check-in station is designed as a ticket counter with security doors for limited access and video cameras to monitor entry. A large mural of an old steam locomotive extends down the hall with blinking red lights on the railroad crossing signals near the check in desk. A small theater just inside the preschooler’s space allows for the children to be engaged with a puppet show or other programs while learning.

Teaching environment
On the upper level is “Kidzopolis,” a space designated for kindergarteners to fifth graders. It includes “The Clubhouse” theater, a themed age-appropriate ministry space. Large trees and marquee style posters depicting the theme for the current lesson flank the clubhouse entry. A stage with props suitable for the lesson is all a part of the teaching environment. Carpeting was selected for the space that was sensitive to the black lights provides for another part of the sensory rich experience. Exits from the Clubhouse lead to secure corridors and provide access to the children’s ministry classrooms.

Also on the upper level are two unique ministry spaces for the high school students and for the middle school students. Providing easy access for group circulation to these spaces are large glass overhead garage doors that open on to the second floor corridor. Inside are large gathering areas that provide ample space for students to meet in small groups before entering their theater space for assembly. For these ministries the church chose to develop the spaces similar to converted warehouse lofts that use stained concrete floors and painted exposed structures overhead.

Within the gathering areas the students can relax on large comfortable furnishings or gather around small tables. Students may wish to use one of the iMac computers for access to the internet, or challenge their friends to a video game on one of the flat panel televisions that are dedicated to gaming. Within the high school ministry space the students can enter a basketball cage for relaxed games like they would have in their driveways at home.

David Strickland serves as a principal of the Religious Studio at CDH Partners, a design firm in Marietta, GA.