All of us are eager for the recession to end. After five fairly difficult financial years, there is a lot of pent-up demand for change in churches and ministries. These changes can take many forms, but they all represent important God-inspired projects that many of us have lacked the courage or conviction to pursue.

This may be an excellent time for many churches and ministries to work toward building capacity. Building capacity means tooling up to do more of what you feel called to do by acquiring the needed resources. This can be facilitated by embarking on the strategic visioning process called Visioning and Values. Strategic leadership interviews are followed by focus groups and then culminate in a retreat where actual operational targets are discussed and agreed upon.

Bountiful Harvest Consulting is excited about the opportunity to work with several congregations to determine a roadmap for the future. With churches around us failing and merging, it seems that many congregations and ministry boards have been hoping these problems would just go away. It is indeed sad to see the major Protestant denominations charting their annual losses. Startlingly, there are churches that are succeeding in spite of the trends. They are not all mega churches – some are quite small but have retained or regained the vitality needed to attract young families.

Why not begin a new chapter today! Call Bountiful Harvest or retain a denominational resource person to lead you through this important self examination. What stage is your church in? Pioneer, Emerging, Established or Dying. For that matter, what stage is your whole denomination in? To find this out, call Bountiful Harvest Consulting!

John Young, President
Bountiful Harvest Consulting
513-706-8410

I heard a presentation the other day about building new church buildings. Sometimes it is practical to add an addition to the existing structure, but many times new construction is the logical answer. The speaker went on to point out that many church building committees make damaging assumptions in relation to the type of structure to be built. Even experienced contractors sometimes fail to take these observations into account. If they can’t see the issue, how can the rest of us hope to make the right decisions about how best to proceed in determining what type of building might be most affordable?

The church used as an example wanted to build a new building to tie to their existing structures. The committee believed that a metal structure would be the most economical and began to interview architects with that in mind. No one was too happy about it but they seemed resigned to the “big metal barn.” At a rather late point in the process, one of the architects being considered pointed out that building costs vary from market to market. After some investigation, the committee found that they could build a masonry structure for slightly less money than the metal building.

I thought it was interesting and I decided to pass this along to our clients and prospective clients. Check every type of building before making that important and costly decision. Happy Building!

John Young, President
Bountiful Harvest Consulting
513-706-8410

Last Fall, facing a cold winter ahead without heat, the historic First Lutheran Church in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, was seriously in danger of having to close many of its valuable services to the community.

Bountiful Harvest knew that helping raise capital funds for First Lutheran would be a unique challenge. Working with a committee of people from First Lutheran and other area Lutheran churches, a strategic plan was set in place and the campaign was begun.

Taking the capital campaign far beyond the church's sphere and into other area churches and communities, success was celebrated when the church was able to install a heating system as well as air conditioning. Happily, worship and Sunday school as well as community services continued, including the Drop Inn Shelter and Community Lunches.

Bountiful Harvest president John Young presented a commemorative plaque in July to First Lutheran's Pastor Fred Cook celebrating the church's dedication to serving the Over-the-Rhine community.

Paula Goodnight
Vice President of Communications/Consultant
Bountiful Harvest Consulting
Paula@BountifulHC.com
513-884-8171

Many churches are beginning to move ahead with plans that had been laid aside due to a lackluster economy. The inability to see the upturn coming kept most of us from feeling the optimism needed to move ahead with plans for our church to expand services in one arena or another.

While this upturn is heartening, there unfortunately seems to be just as many churches that are suffering from an inability to pay their mortgages. Perhaps these churches assumed large debt at an unfortunate time – near the beginning of the deep recession of 2008 through 2010. One example would be Dr. Robert H. Schuller's Crystal Cathedral in California which filed for bankruptcy in late 2010.

Is your church in Category One - ready to build, add on, expand missions and outreach, or enlarge staff? Or is your church in Category Two - wondering how to continue paying the monthly expenses and mortgage?

It really does not matter much whether your church fits in Category One or Category Two – either way you likely will be finding your congregation embarking on a Capital Stewardship Campaign.

Category One churches are moving ahead with building construction, creating new mission field opportunities, and/or increasing staffing. These are inspiring outcomes and they make a good case for families or individuals to give vigorously.

But, Category Two churches need not despair! This same type of campaign is also used to eliminate debt. In fact, a debt elimination campaign if often coupled with a new, small improvement to the church or its mission opportunities at the same time.

I see every church foreclosure as a missed opportunity for a financial turnaround. If you find your church in the same situation as the Crystal Cathedral, you might consider first a Capital Campaign for debt elimination or reduction.

For further information, don't hesitate to give me a call.

John Young
President
Bountiful Harvest Consulting
513-706-8410

Part of the homework that we do as professional funding strategists is related to early cooperation with architects and builders. I try to familiarize myself with the various firms doing business here in the Midwest. Most architects and builders do not want to design facilities that turn out to be beyond the financial reach of their clients. However, we have seen evidence of this several times this past year.

Many churches and non-profits fail to take the important step analyzing their desired project as well as the sum of their funding capacity. That’s where we can help. Call Bountiful Harvest Consulting for a free Goal Alignment Analysis, or complete the online form found on our website. Then, Bountiful Harvest can recommend a lender who will tell you how much you can borrow if that is your intention. At this point, you should be able to accurately project the total cost of your project.

Our word of caution pertains to those several general contractors who want to be a one-stop shop from design to construction to fundraising strategies. It’s hard to be an expert in every field, but even if such is the case, the client is still left without any “checks and balances” on the amount of the funding goal and the total size of the project. Our best advice is take advantage of Bountiful Harvest’s free funding analysis first – whether or not you wind up hiring us to do your campaign strategy.

In this time of declining financial support, many non profit institutions are closing the doors rather than trying to extend their services. An excellent example is the county-sponsored pediatric dental practice where my wife works. They received stimulus money to offer an important new service to the community. The practice will have used up its stimulus money by September 15th, and they now have to make a decision about dropping their new clients or raising the needed dollars to provide for people who need help. I hope they choose to explore strategies to find the money to provide these valuable, needed services."

John Young
President
Bountiful Harvest Consulting

www.BountifulHC.com
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www.BountifulHarvestConsulting.org
www.BountifulHC.org
www.VisioningandValues.com

The entire Bountiful Harvest Consulting team wishes you a Happy Easter as we all rejoice in the Resurrection and look forward to......a Bountiful Harvest.
Sincerely,
John Young

We at Bountiful Harvest Consulting know that the current economy makes a frightening backdrop for a capital campaign of any kind. However, the truth is that during the last four recessions, church giving held steady during one, dropped slightly during another, and grew during the remaining two. Giving to religious causes generally "rides out the storm" while secular groups suffer more.
Put this generally optimistic news alongside the current lower cost of building materials, and you have a pretty good combination.
John Young

Bountiful Harvest's president, John Young, will soon be returning from a mission trip to install solar power in medical clinics in Ethiopia. A long time supporter of SonLight Power, John felt led to let SonLight Power know if this particular need, helped assure that it would be financially funded, and travel with his daughter, Becki, to help with the installation itself. We continue in prayer for their safe return this week as well as in praise for the solar power given and for the chance to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people there.

Prelude to the Trip! By Allen Rainey, SonLight Power:

John Young, of Bountiful Harvest Consulting, and his wife, Jessie, journeyed to St. Simons Island, Georgia, several years ago to visit friends. While visiting their friends' church, they met Rachel and Michael Weller, who have followed in their parents' footsteps to become the third generation to serve in Ethiopia among the Anyuaa tribe. They were raising support to rebuild the three medical clinics along the border with Sudan. John said, "I felt a gentle nudge from God to ask them if they had electricity." The Wellers responded with amusement that the medical clinics are many miles from any power source.

John felt God calling him to take action. "As a professional fund raiser, I felt that I could find the money if I could convince my friend, Allen Rainey, that this was a good chance to share Christ with many Anyuaa people while furnishing solar power in the SonLight tradition. Allen agreed and God opened the funding doors over the last two years so the trip can become a reality."

After much prayer and planning, the Ethiopia trip {became} an actuality. The equipment {was} purchased and is in the midst of the Ethiopia customs approval process. Our contact, Gilo Gora, committed Christian and director of the program, says the customs process is nearly complete. The team, comprised of Allen Rainey, John Young and his daughter Becki, Kevin Montgomery and Steve McLemore, will be in Ethiopia September 9 through 23. Please pray that the equipment will finish clearing customs as quickly as expected, that the drought stricken area of Gambella will receive much needed rain and that local logistics and other details would run smoothly.

UPDATE #1 By Andrea Brown, SonLight Power:

The Ethiopia team has completed one of two days of transit to the Gambella region of the country. They are asking for prayer because the terrain is very rough and there are lots of cows, goats, etc., on the roads. They traveled six hours today and have eight more to travel tomorrow. They'll probably be hitting the road tomorrow around midnight our time because they're seven hours ahead.

SUCCESS!! Update #2 By Allen Rainey, SonLight Power:

Greetings All!

I (we) are writing from Addis Abba after completing our trip to Gambella. The week(s) have been very successful both in solar installation and relationship building. Our purpose was to install two medical clinic systems we shipped ahead of us and to install the solar water pumping system we brought with us. Rev. Teferi, Alaymu and the entire staff of the Bethel Synod office here in Addis as well as Gilo Gora and his staff in Gambella have been most helpful in assisting us through the various trials. Omar was our driver both to Gambella and to and from our install sites.

Our trials & tribulations are too numerous to detail but include health issues, custom issues, luggage issues, broken solar panel, transportation issues and sometimes communication issues, especially from here to stateside. On the positive side, all the health issues have resolved themselves, custom issues are past, and the broken solar panel is still in limbo, but the second medical system will work fine with the two solar panels we have left.

Transportation from Addis to Gambella included a two-day journey. We started last Monday after having to wait three days for our entire luggage to arrive. Our method of transportation was a Land Cruiser which held the five of us (barely) – as well as luggage and selected solar equipment. The first day took six hours to get to Jima – the only “safe” place to stay between the cities. Everyone needed a chiropractor upon finally arriving at the East Bethel Synod complex!

Our first objective was to install the solar water pumping system we brought with us – in the Bethel Synod complex in Gambella. This was accomplished with ease on Thursday after spending much of the day Wednesday purchasing necessary items, arranging for welding of the pole, and waiting for the arrival of the rest of the solar equipment by truck. However we did not complete the connections due to lateness of the day and low light due to clouds. Gilo says we brought rain with us as it rained for two consecutive days for the first time in a long time.

Friday, we left for the countryside after completing additional purchases. After another bone-jarring, two-hour+ drive we arrived at the clinic and started working on the install. The day went well and the work progressed with the worship music of the worship gathering (Jewish style with African rhythm) providing a pleasant backdrop. About six o’clock in the afternoon we finished the install and celebrated by taking photos by the open fridge, showing the light. Omar along with nurses assisted with the roof work while Gilo was the rafter person and Kevin the head electrician. John, Rebecca and Steve all assisted in various ways, and Allen just bossed everyone around. We greeted the 3000+ people at the gathering, sang a worship song with them and piled back into the Land Rover for the trip back, another “experience.” Omar experienced problems with owls in the road and a collision with one added another crack to the windshield. Rain slowed the trip back and we discovered our preferred (safe) place to eat was closed down by the health department. So the day was finished with a water and power bar toast. The beds were welcome sights.

Saturday we finished the connections on the solar water pumping system and pumped water out of the well for the first time (other than a hand pump), for a long time. Now the banana trees and other crops will be watered 12 months out of the year.

We are resting and catching up today in prep for our long trip home tomorrow.