Calvary Chapel Raises $103 million

Reprint from James D. Davis Religion Editor Posted May 1 2006 "Calvary Chapel in Fort Lauderdale receives $103 million in pledges for expansion"


Applause built up in waves as the numbers grew on the overhead screens: $50 million … $75 million … $90 million.Finally the worshipers leapt to their feet and cheered at the final sum: a staggering $103 million in donation pledges for the next round of expansion at Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale.

The amount, coming after a two-month appeal via sermons and brochures, overshot the $80 million goal, a beaming Pastor Bob Coy reported."Thank you, thank you, thank you for doing this," Coy said to his 2,400 listeners on Sunday, the last of four weekend services at the non-denominational evangelical church. "As your pastor, I am so proud of you."

The money, most of it to be donated over three years, will be used for several projects: A larger sanctuary, covering 360,000 square feet and seating up to 7,000 people.

The current sanctuary, with 50,000 square feet, will be used partly for an auditorium and children's classrooms.

Renovation of a youth center, including a cafe, a gym, basketball courts and a skateboard park. A new satellite campus in south Broward, plus remodeling of existing campuses in Boca Raton and Plantation. A four-story "discipleship building," already under construction, which will house adult classes, the church's day school, media and performing arts rooms, children's weekend ministries and a 650-seat theater.

Part of the building is scheduled to open in December.Coy stressed that the buildings and equipment were part of a "24/7 ministry," not just for weekends. Besides worship services, Calvary Chapel runs classes in parenting and finances, a foster care service, a counseling service, a feeding program, a radio station and other projects.

The funds will likely spur even more growth for Calvary Chapel, already the largest church in South Florida. Total weekly attendance at all three worship sites tops 20,000, according to executive minister Mark Davis.

He said the $103 million total is the most ever pledged by a church in America. The closest was $84 million, raised in 2005 by Second Baptist Church of Houston, Davis said.

George de Leon of Pembroke Pines, an avionics salesman, said he appreciated the church's openness in spelling out the fund-raising goals. "Some churches just tell you how much to give. Here, they show you the whole program and where the money is going. I'm treated like family and I can give willingly."

Getting Back to Basics: Rediscovering your Ministry

Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou star in The Da Vinci Code, the latest and most publicized attack on Biblical Christianity. The obvious errors in Dan Brown’s work (both book and now movie) and his even more obvious religious agenda will in many ways challenge and have some impact on many believers and ministries. The movie just opened this month and a search recently of “Da Vinci” on our church bookstore website resulted in 49 matches. I’m not about to get into an apologetic debate; this is not the appropriate forum even if I wanted to. However, I do want to make a comment to Mr. Brown. Dear Mr. Brown, it’s “Leonardo” (his name) not “Da Vinci” (his town). There, my Art History Professor would be proud.

The reason I start this column with remarks about The Da Vinci Code is because I have noticed that the release of the book, and now the movie, has required that many pastors, church leaders and ministries get back to the very basics of Christianity. These include basic questions about the origins of Christianity and the divinity of Jesus, His crucifixion and resurrection, the early disciples and the authority of the Bible. Many churches that were very busy with their own teaching series, upcoming activities, events and programs needed to refocus for a brief time to answer questions and preach and teach the very basic elements of the gospel.

In like manner, Christ-centered organizations from time to time need to get back to basics. Just as churches needed to focus on the very basics of the gospel, every organization is built on some basic building blocks: The mission (usually expressed as a mission or a purpose statement, the organization (including paid staff and volunteers), the revenue plan (organizations raise money through donations, the sale of products or services or possibly memberships), a leadership team (senior leadership and a board of directors) and a development or marketing plan (organizations typically need to grow or they will die). Re-focusing on the basics will help an organization reload, recalibrate and reinvigorate its ministry.

The Mission:

If the mission is important to organizations in general, it’s essential in Christ-centered ministries. In a book that I have referenced a number of times in other venues, “Jesus on Leadership”, author C. Gene Wilkes makes the case for Servant Leadership. This is a crucial concept for those of us that are involved in ministry because serving is the heart of what we do. For leaders of organizations, Pastor Wilkes helps them remember that for Jesus, the model of leadership was servanthood. One of the equally important insights in this book is the importance of “The Mission” in our ministry.

The mission of Jesus was to do the will of His father (John 6:38). Often, when people get involved in ministry, they are encouraged to follow their passion. Passion is good and often an appropriate motivator. For ministry however, the mission is key. Passion can often include our own agenda but if we look at Jesus, we see that his motivation was the mission.

Most ministries have a stated mission statement. A deliberate but simple exercise of examining that mission statement and either re-discovering the mission or making adjustments to the statement based on new board endorsed policy is something very worthwhile from time to time. All too often, ministries succumb to the temptation of mission creep, allowing other influences to dictate over time where their limited energy and resources are directed. These other influences could be pet projects of board or staff members, or perhaps well-intentioned donors who have an interest in directing the ministry through their restricted funds.

The Organization

By organization, I’m referring to the organic stuff that guides, directs, plans and provides for the services of the organization. We are talking people and when we are taking people we are talking about work habits and relationships that get out of sync from time to time. Getting back to basics includes making sure you have the right people in the right jobs. Balancing work load is also important from time to time as job content and daily responsibilities change and the head of the organization is the person primarily responsible to make sure that the organization is staffed appropriately.

Ministries have two other important organizational components that are key and they include non-paid (volunteer) staff and the board (also likely volunteer). It’s easy to love these people as they understand that God wants them to be good stewards of their Time, Talents and the Treasure and they often serve in very key areas in ministry. Volunteers also need to be appropriately placed in the organization and all volunteers need to have a serving attitude towards their individual ministry. Making the more-difficult but more-correct decisions to re-deploy individuals in areas where they can better use their gift mix and can serve with the appropriate attitude is an important part of getting back to basics.

The Revenue Plan:

Fortunately, there are a variety of revenue models that successfully fund ministries. To the novice, it may appear that non-profit ministries can be defined as non-profit because they receive money in the form of cash donations. This is not true, and ministries actually have very few limitations on how they can generate revenues. Ministries are complex organizations that provide a number of different services and many have found very creative ways of raising funds to underwrite their operations.

All ministries need to develop a strategic plan that should identify financial targets (income and expenses) and elemental break-even analysis when it comes to services provided. Just as for-profit companies find the need to offer “newer”, “improved” or “reformulated” products to adapt to changing consumer desires and increased competition, ministries need to be willing to examine their revenue model and make the tune-up when necessary or even put in a new engine when needed. Like it or not, our ministries need dollars and an organization that understands how it is funded and why that model works for them is better able to plan for the future than organizations that get things done ‘by accident”.

The Leadership Team:

Getting back to basics includes an examination of how well the CEO, President, Senior Pastor and/or Directors are doing their jobs. Fortunately for Evangelical organizations, the true head of their ministry is Christ. I don’t mention this casually, for if it is truly believed to be true it makes the leadership team different. Our Evangelical organizations are extensions of the universal church and as such, after submitting to Christ as the head of the church, the leaders and directors need to have the same qualifications as Elders found in 1st Timothy and Titus.

The Bible says that our leaders are to be blameless, not motivated by money but selfless in ministry. These and other general qualities of holiness lead to a reputation that is unblemished and that which is uniquely but specifically required for leadership in ministry. Along with the moral prerequisites for ministry, competency and the right work ethic are critical. The secular, for-profit organizations would do well to also aspire to find leaders who are morally blameless but often feel the need to find key individuals with qualities best suited to bottom-line results despite obvious moral flaws.

All too often, ministry boards and senior leaders are too accommodating and allow some of their peers to fall far short of expected productivity and usefulness. They essentially allow some to retire on the job. To avoid this expensive mistake, periodic and objective performance evaluations , along with helpful 360 degree evaluations from peers and subordinates , can help ministry boards and the senior leaders in evaluating the leadership team. Coaching and counseling some of the non and under-performing team members will often help, but in some cases, more drastic changes will be necessary to better steward the resources.

Development and Marketing Plan

Fortunately, most Evangelical organizations have embraced modern and professional marketing tools that help communicate their message effectively. Recent breakthroughs in printing, in graphics and in web technology have reduced the cost of doing things professionally. Getting back to basics for ministries includes a look at all of their marketing and promotional materials to ensure that they are hitting the target and up-to-date in their message.

The message itself is very important. Flourishing organizations have found that their mission, their purpose in life, is more likely to be successfully received when quality time and effort is spent in developing the plan that gets the word out. Jesus gave us the “Great Commission” so now go, and communicate the good news of the gospel and your particular ministry to the whole world.

Joy at Work: Core Values

I have had this book (Joy at Work by Dennis W. Bakke) on my nightstand for several months. I know that at least one of my colleagues has used this book as a text in one of his MBA classes. This is an interesting read because the author proposes some radical ideas about work from a Christian point of view. The most fascinating part of the book to me is the postscript. But before discussing the “philosophical underpinnings” of Joy at Work, I thought we’d take a lightning-fast tour through the book itself. In fact, I only plan to relate to you those items of the book I highlighted as I read.

Here goes.

“My passion is to make work exciting, rewarding, stimulating, and enjoyable, “states the author. Bakke argues that the workplace should be fun (by the way, “fun” is defined to mean rewarding, exciting, creative, and successful) and fulfilling. He also argues that the ultimate aim of any enterprise is not economic success. The primary goal is to work according to “timeless, true, and transcendent values and principles.” Financial goals take a backseat to this. In other words, we do what we do because it is right, not because it works. For example, “There is a real difference between saying to your workers, ‘We care about your welfare because we do,’ and saying, ‘We care about your welfare because that will make you work harder for us.’”

Thus, our motivation(s) come into play. Which reminds me, have you ever noticed how much more difficult the “why” questions are to answer than the “what” and “how” questions? Paul writes in I Corinthians 3:13-15, “…each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss…” What determines the quality of my work or your work in this context? One study Bible I referred to on this passage offers this interpretation: “All that which has been accomplished in His power and for His glory will survive.” That is a humbling thought—and brings me back to the point about motivation.

Why did God call me to start DayStar Consulting, Inc. Why did he call you to start your business or work in your chosen field? What was my motivation then? What is my motivation today? These are convicting questions to me and one that I wrestle with through a non-profit organization I founded (Leaders Serving Beaver County; http://www.ls-bc.org/). Having the proper motivation (from God’s point of view) is critical—let’s leave it at that for now.

Bakke’s company (AES) promoted the following values:
• To act with integrity
• To be fair
• To have fun
• To be socially responsible

Now these shared values or core values are, at “face value,” not too different from those I’ve seen promoted within other organizations. However, here is the difference, and I’ll quote from Joy at Work:

“AES believes that earning a fair profit is an important result of providing a quality product to its customers. However, if the Company perceives a conflict between these values and profits, the Company will try to adhere to its values—even though doing so might result in diminished profits or foregone opportunities. Moreover, the Company seeks to adhere to these values not as a means to achieve economic success, but because adherence is a worthwhile goal in and of itself.”

Do you see what he’s saying? Profits are important—but profits do not “trump” our core values. According to the author, the question is not whether we have values, but which values and principles really guide our behavior. Values and principles mean something only when they affect everything we do, every day of the week.

How many organizations do you know that follow their core values—even when doing so harms them economically? How many companies do you know where the core values are more “caught than taught” just by watching the behavior of the owners, executives, managers, supervisors, and individual contributors? In your organization and mine, the shared values are not necessarily what is written on paper, posted on walls and promoted in company speeches. The real core values are demonstrated daily in the behavior of those who manage and run the organization.

Bakke was committed to leading an organization that “walked the talk” of its shared values. That is not an easy thing to do.

Personal Application

Why not take a few minutes this week and take stock of your organization and its core values? Pretend you are an outsider visiting your company. Listen closely. Watch closely. Notice the how and the why behind decisions. How are people interacting with one another? Write down what you observe. At week’s end, review your observations and think about what an outsider would say your company’s shared values are based upon what you have observed and heard. Compare what you’ve written with the official core values of your company? Are there any disconnects? Are there any conflicts?

James 1:7 warns of the result of being a “double minded man”—the result is instability “in all his ways.” I understand that the context requires an interpretation of having one’s mind and heart divided between God and the world. But I also think there is an application that can be made within the context of our discussion on company core values.

Do you?

The Ministry of Administration

Sometimes I feel like Rodney Dangerfield, I get no respect. Don’t get me wrong, I’m the kind of person that really doesn’t crave a lot of encouragement and I certainly don’t need cheerleaders on this highway of life. God has blessed me in all things and has provided for me in so many ways that I really don’t need special accolades, awards or remarks about how valuable I am to the organization.

At the same time however, a feeling of "no respect" is not uncommon and I’m aware that many of my fellow laborers in Christ are feeling significantly under appreciated. It is very likely that this feeling is likely affecting their attitude, their altitude and their aptitude.

My passion has been, and I think will always be, to be an encourager. One of the assignments I have enjoyed is to encourage organizations and their leaders to become successful. There are all kinds of ways to measure success and while one of the metrics I use is financial, the other is quality and excellence in ministry.

Both measurements of success really go hand in hand as it’s difficult to have quality and excellence in ministry without the proper financial metric so that bills are paid and that employees are well compensated.

The skills that need to be acquired in an organization in order to have the bills paid promptly and the appropriate compensation for the employees are also the same skills that are needed in almost very organization which are the skills of Administration.

Administration is really just another name for management to which people tend to pay a little more attention. Management is really become a science and it has been determined that there are four basic functions of Management, which include Planning, Organizing, Leading and Controlling. These four functions are identified as such to represent the totality of management. While some new college textbooks will offer up a fifth or sixth function such as leadership or communication, typically these functions fit quite nicely in one of the other four functions.

What is interesting in a church or other not-for-profit organization is that administration and management is often considered as an after-thought, and not one of the primary enablers of success in ministry. This can be a costly and avoidable mistake. While it is true that most seminaries don’t offer a lot of classes in management or require students to attend lectures on various administrative responsibilities, the Apostle Paul was not so remise.

The Apostle Paul listed the gift of Administration in the gifts of the Spirit. In 1 Cor. 12:28 he writes, “And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, administration, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues”. In Romans 12:8 Paul also encourages a similar gift when he writes, "If it is leadership, let him govern diligently."

This gift of governing, administering, and managing a church or other ministry is an extremely important gift in the body of Christ. I have found that the vast majority of the skills that I acquired in 25 years of experience in for-profit organizations are directly transferable to not-for-profit organizations as well.

For example, some HR skill comes in handy as "who" organizations hire becomes problematic as soon as the second employee is hired. In addition, it can be said that how to compensate employees and the method that is used to measure their accomplishments is critical if an organization wants to attain and retain talented individuals. Further, the method and process that delegates authority down from the senior leader, whether that leader is called the senior pastor or CEO, enables the organization to grow and adapt to change. Finally, financial matters are recognized as significant the first time the organization fails to meet a payroll or needs to borrow funds for expansion.

So, to my friends in ministry, be encouraged. The gift of administration that has been given to you is a God-given gift that you need to use. While many may not recognize how critical the gift is in sustaining the ministry, use your gift to propel the ministry onto excellence; excellence in Planning, Organizing, Directing and Controlling the organization.

Money and Ministry

One of the ministries that I have the opportunity to work with is “The Good $ense Ministry”. Yes, that is a dollar sign instead of an “S” in case you didn’t know that we are not bashful about what we talk about in the ministry. Good $ense is one of those ministries that takes seriously the numerous verses and instruction about money in the Bible.

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to meet Randy Alcorn. Randy Alcorn is one of this countries top Christian authors. I just counted ten of his books presently available on our website at (http://www.lifelinesbooks.org/). It was his book, The Treasure Principle, that I had just finished reading when I met him and we had a great, albeit brief, conversation about financial stewardship. Randy teaches very clearly that while there are over 2,300 verses concerning money, we should not assume that means that Jesus is talking solely about money in these verses.

The Scripture is very clear that there is a fundamental connection between our spiritual growth and our ability to handle our money. While it’s often considered more “spiritual” to be above any concern for financial stewardship, the Bible actually teaches the exact opposite and makes our stewardship of our money and finances a prerequisite to handling true spiritual riches.

In Matthew 16, Jesus tells a very unusual parable of the unjust steward. In the conclusion of the parable Jesus says, “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon (money), who will commit to your trust the true riches?"

While I’ve written a few times on the importance of individuals to be good stewards, I want to talk a little about how important it is for Christian ministries to be good stewards as well.

What is a good steward? Well, from the biblical perspective, we understand that a steward is a manager of the household of another. The Bible teaches very clearly that everything we have belongs to God. Further, we are entrusted with the care of what he temporarily allows us to manage; and we need to manage it for His glory. Ministries, unfortunately often avoid the very necessary requirements of budgeting, saving, planning and forecasting as if these financial skills were somehow contrary to having faith. Nothing could be further from the truth as we can site numerous instructions in the Bible to plan for the future.

Here are two good examples: The first is from Matthew 6:31. Jesus said, "Do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat? or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?” The late Larry Burkett of Crown Financial Ministry said, “God does not want us to worry, but He does want us to plan.” One of the verses he often quoted was Luke 14:28. "For which of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it?"

Christian Ministries should understand that just as they need to follow a budget and a financial plan for their own family, their ministries need to carefully budget and plan as well in order to successfully prepare for the financial needs of the future. God often calls us to step out in faith and I believe that those ministries that are in good financial health are much more likely to be able to commit additional financial resources to new opportunities that the Lord brings their way.

One of the essential elements of a financial plan that ministries need is a detailed spending plan. A ministry that doesn’t control its spending will never have enough money regardless of how much is received through offerings, gifts and tithes.

I’m somewhat amused when I hear a ministry leader tell me, “Ministry is not like a business; there are too many unforeseen events in a ministry”. Actually, from my observation, the opposite is true. Many businesses often have much more severe financial cycles than the average church. “Boom or bust” is a characteristic of many businesses and it’s not unusual for businesses to have to cut fifteen to twenty percent of their expenses in order to maintain a healthy bottom line.

Churches on the other hand are typically slow but steady. Revenues, while totally dependent on giving, are often very predictable. Capital campaigns for extensive building expansion plans are often based on pledges, which are predictably and faithfully fulfilled over a two or three-year timeline. Spending is typically predictable and can be forecasted if the ministry leadership is willing to look at historical spending patterns and identify likely needs.

What most ministries don’t want is financial accountability. Accountability is often embraced when it comes to moral, sexual, ethically, doctrinal and other questionable practices, but money and financial stewardship is usually not covered in ministry handbooks.

Proverbs 27:17 says, "iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another” and many ministries have taken the first step and paid lip service to financial stewardship. They may have even hired or otherwise been fortunate to have found very gifted business professionals that are willing to give advice and council on financial matters. All too often however, these financially gifted individuals are relegated to “a voice, crying in the wilderness” and given about as much respect as John the Baptist had with the Pharisees and Sanhedrin.

Leaders of ministry should be very careful to pay attention to wise council and should be willing to submit a spending plan to an accountable third party. Church and ministry boards need to support the leadership of the ministry and one of the best ways that they can support the leadership is to insist on financial integrity.

About Me

Pastor Kenneth Behr is the founder and teaching pastor of Faith Dialogue and has served as Executive and Senior Pastor at churches in Florida, Tennesse and Pennsylvania. He has been a guest on numerous news broadcasts including Fox News, CNN, CBN Newswatch as well as the local affiliates for ABC, CBS and Fox. He has been on panel discussions on NPR Radio and Janet Parshall and is a frequent guest on Christian radio. His articles have been published in Ministry Today, Church Executive, and CMA Magazine.

Previously, he served as the president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). Under his leadership at ECFA, the nonprofit organization with offices outside of Washington DC, added a church division and expanded their membership to include Accredited Memberships for smaller organizations. He was also involved with the Senate Finance inquiry of selected media ministries ("Grassley Six")

Faith Dialogue is an evangelical ministry and a 501(c)3 charitable organization. Their mission is to equip the Body of Christ, promote the unity of the Church, encourage & strengthen churches and contribute to the Great Commission. Their popular media ministry is Prophecy Countdown Podcast, that premiers at 11:00 AM on Wednesday and 1:00 PM on Sunday on multiple audio and video channels including iTunes, Audible, YouTube, Podchaser, Amazon, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Audible and others. 

Dr. Ken is a pastor and teacher and has authored a number of books including "The Apocalypse and Coming Kingdom" available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and local Christian bookstores.

Prior to serving in ministry, Ken had a long-term career and assignments on three continents for Ford Motor Co., ultimately serving as president of the Ford Financial Group in Mexico City. In Mexico, he held the position of president and general manager of the international subsidiaries of Ford Credit, Primus, Jaguar Credit and Volvo Cars Finance. At Ford, Ken had management positions in treasury, finance, systems and marketing, and served on a number of Ford mergers and acquisitions teams, including the acquisition of Jaguar Motors, Associates First Capital and First Nationwide Bank.

Winds of Change

There are some people that are good at spotting trends. My daughter is that way. It seemed that when she was a teenager, she was able to identify and be the first to embrace emerging fashion trends. That of course meant that she was a little “ahead of the curve” sometimes -- wearing colors, belts or even hats before they were “in”. She really didn’t seem to mind making a fashion statement a little before things became popular with her friends or the general population.

The ability to keenly identify change before it is fully recognized by the rest of the populace is a great asset and something many would aspire to have. In the world of big business, people like Bill Gates, Michael Dell and even Donald Trump have had great financial success because they were able to identify a growing trend in the general population and jumped in to capitalize on it in business.

We call these changes that appear on the scene “trends” and the people that identify and quickly embrace these trends “trendsetters”. When the winds of change are in the air, people that are alert to such changes pick up almost intuitively that things are changing and are better prepared to react and either embrace or resist the change.

In the spiritual realm, there are also times when there are “Winds of Change”. If we use the general term “trends” regarding these changes we will be apt to miss the true significance of what may be actually happening. Often what prognosticators consider to be religious trends may in fact be a movement that is ordained by the Holy Spirit. For example, we can look at recent phenomena such as the popularity of Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Life”, which has sold over 18 million copies, as just a trend towards spiritual self-help books. The success of conservative political viewpoints in politics could be attributed to the growing alliance between right-wing religious activists and fiscal conservatives. Or we could look at the growth of the mega churches which are typically culturally relevant and often independent non-denominational churches and categorize these phenomena as nothing more than the general trend towards large box, one-stop solutions to everyday needs similar to the growth of Wall-Mart and Best Buy.

If we think of these changes as simply a part of our popular culture we are apt to miss the more spiritual significance. On the spiritual side of our culture, we categorize these large developing trends that are breathed by the Holy Spirit as movements and occasionally even revivals.

Spiritual movements in general and revivals in particular are of great interests to religious historians and theologians. I am neither, so I will not even attempt to define the requirements of a true revival. I can tell you however that there are definite Winds of Change. People are being called to faith in Christ in record numbers and in many different ways, in many different venues and in the most unlikely places. If you study the numbers that people like George Barna provide us, the common denominator among those churches and Para-church organizations that are growing and appearing in greater number in the United States are two things: The first is a deep abiding faith in the God of the Bible and the second is a heart for changed lives.

The wind of change that I see is a growing number of people that are completely surrendered to God. They, like the Apostle Paul are “dead to self”, Paul said it best, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by Faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20). I daily thank God that I am meeting people in all walks of life that are “dead to self”. These are people that are only interested in serving God. They are sometimes in ministry but often are employed elsewhere. Together, regardless of their occupation are fully convinced of the reality of the Kingdom of God and they understand that their primary purpose in life is to serve God.

The Wind of Change is in the air.