By Aaron Moeckly , Calvary EFC Leadership Board

On July 10, the Leadership Board approved the hiring of Paul Murphy as a consultant to our Capital Campaign Drive.  After considering a number of other professional services, it became very clear to us that Paul is the right person for the task.  Paul is well known and respected within the body of Calvary having served as Calvary’s interim senior pastor for over a year (January ‘05 to April ‘06).  Paul brings a servant’s heart, good leadership, and has several years of fund raising experience.  We are excited to take this journey with Paul shepherding the process.

We expect that our church family will be able to make an intelligent and prayerful decision about this kingdom opportunity.  We believe that prayer will be the driving and uniting force in bringing the entire process together.  Communication will also be very important.  We will seek to provide open, honest, and regular communication regarding all aspects of the capital drive.  Two-way communication is also very important, so we hope to have several opportunities for individuals to share and ask questions.  We hope everyone has a positive experience as we seek God’s direction with the decision of investing in this Kingdom Challenge.

Just a quick note regarding Capital Campaigns; Capital Campaigns are typically used by churches and other non-profit organizations to raise money above and beyond their general budgets.  Capital Campaigns are used not only to raise money, but to communicate the vision and direction of the organization.

Now, I can imagine that there are many questions regarding the details of the Capital Campaign that you would like to ask.  Over the next few weeks, several task teams will be identified, each with specific tasks in assisting with writing the Capital Campaign plan.  If you sense a call to participate in this process, please respond by talking with a Leadership Board member.  You will see and hear the results of these efforts on a regular basis.

We desire to have our church raise the funds needed, yet more importantly, we desire to grow in our dependency on the Lord for meeting our needs.  We desire that through this Capital Campaign drive, Calvary will grow in unity and in our enthusiasm for seeing how the Lord will use our church in the bigger picture of growing His Kingdom.  Above all, may we stand strong and continue to grow in our spiritual health through God’s truth applied to life.

Our goal is to retire our debt and free funds for ministry.

At present $202,500 of our annual budget is used for debt repayment (not including the recent remodeling loan).

Projected Benefits of the Capital Campaign:

• If we raise 2.2 million and retire the debt by March of 2010, we save $258,000 per year in our budget.  Over the life of the loan of $2.2 million we could save as much as $1.25 million in interest alone.
  
  
• The money saved by retiring our debt will be available for kingdom work.