By RaeAnn Slaybaugh First Baptist Church in Rogers, Ark., has a lot to celebrate. Most recently, it finished a new, 1,800-seat sanctuary — twice the size of its previous worship space. Now, leaders and members alike are excited for the original single-level sanctuary to be reimagined into a two-story administrative and education building, as […]
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By Brian Lindquist The modern insurance landscape is much different than it was even five years ago. Record losses, inflation, high construction costs, and more have all contributed to rising insurance costs. This industry-wide trend has many ministries asking questions about how to maximize the value of their insurance. There are many factors that drive […]
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Last week, the Supreme Court handed down its “non-decision” in the latest church school funding case, affirming the lower court decision by an equally divided court. No reasoning was given, nor was a breakdown of how the justices voted provided, leaving undecided the central issue as to whether a state can directly fund a church […]
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To weather the storm, church leaders should pay attention to 6 crucial factors — and understand how they’re affecting the lending landscape. For the last several years, I’ve been helping churches across the country make financing decisions as they seek to grow their ministries and meet their stewardship goals. At Thrivent, we’ve been monitoring the […]
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In the few years following COVID, church leaders were not focused on construction or physical plant expansion; rather, they were waiting for in-person worship attendance to fully recover. Over the last 12 to 18 months, lenders finally began to see a significant increase in construction financing requests. Enter the tariff war and the caution flags […]
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By Alina Parizianu, CFP®, MBA, RICP® You might have heard the proverb, “Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.” These wise words remind us that no one enjoys contemplating their own mortality. Many of us would prefer to postpone the preparations for our inevitable passing. However, it’s often the tasks we […]
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MAY 1, 2025 — On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two consolidated cases from Oklahoma which starkly present the clash between the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause and its Establishment Clause. The first Clause says that the government can’t penalize or interfere with the free exercise of religion; the second says that […]
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As early as this summer, two Supreme Court rulings could effectively eviscerate The Establishment Clause, which forbids governments from supporting religion or favoring one religion over another, or religion over non-religion — a potentially monumental pivot point for church schools. Church Executive has profiled several Supreme Court cases during the last few years where church […]
Read More >HERITAGE CHURCH — Lake Zurich, Ill. “For our new, 1,000-seat worship center project, we looked at several different theater seat companies and several different stacker chair companies. But — when we saw what SERIES® Seating could provide firsthand — our decision became an easy one. From the outset, it was evident they were not selling, […]
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A look back at the articles that mattered most to our readers in 2024 By RaeAnn Slaybaugh In the past year, Church Executive has covered a lot of topics. Among them, a handful resonated best with our readers. With the help of our thought leader partners, we’ve written about rapid expansion, building projects, and […]
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