Joy Youell

Ministry Solutions for Rock City Church Case Study Introduction​: Ministry Solutions is an expert team of advisors that help churches grow. ​Their specialized financial expertise provides motion for the vision of church expansion.​ Their role is to guide church leadership through growth strategies that include building development, financial growth and brand identity. Ministry Solutions has helped numerous clients achieve their biggest dreams. This is the story of how Ministry Solutions partnered with leaders at Rock City Church to find success in sustainable growth. Background​: Rock City Church is a multi-campus church in Columbus, Ohio and surrounding areas. In 2010, pastors Chad and Katie had a big dream for God’s work in Columbus. Through their faithful leadership and with the help of strategic partners, Rock City Church has grown exponentially and transforms lives through its ministry. Opportunities​: Rock City Church was founded in 2010 and experienced unprecedented growth. This growth provided the opportunity for expansion. ● ● ● After five years, Rock City Church had about 4,000 attendees who were meeting in high schools One small campus was gifted to the church and available for a facility Rock City Church had an acute need to find an effective and achievable growth plan that included a financing a new building Results​: Ministry Solutions was referred to Rock City Church by word of mouth. After a free review, Ministry Solutions leaders realized a partnership could be profitable. Rock City Church hired Ministry Solutions to help them through an intensive season of church growth and expansion. 1 ● ● ● ● Ministry Solutions worked with an existing team of architects, contractors and other project stakeholders Ministry Solutions negotiated with banks and created a bidding war that resulted in a two million dollar decrease in expenses Ministry Solutions re-worked a project plan, connected relevant teams and delivered Rock City Church to construction within eight months (normally a 12-month process) Rock City Church established a new campus and grew by a sustained 40% Conclusion​: Ministry Solutions was able to provide financial expertise, project management and owner’s representation to re-track the building project for Rock City Church efficiently and under budget. Summary​: When Ministry Solutions entered into the Rock City Church story, it had been rated one of the top 30 fastest growing churches for four years in a row. One of Rock City Church’s core values is that you can belong before you believe. The church’s magnetism in the community is amplified by its re-investment in local resources: ● ● In the first five years, Rock City Church gave away one million dollars to the community Rock City Church attendees have a 40% volunteer rate for community events The church explains: “We have one Mission, and that is to reach the unchurched and awaken the spiritually restless to become fully devoted followers of Jesus.” This young church was full of passionate people who were willing to temporarily meet in local facilities. The future need for a facility became immanent when the high school where the church was meeting gave them a 20 month evacuation notice. This created urgency for a building project. Rock City Church assembled a team and began a project plan but did not find success in financing. Without the needed experience, time and expertise, the church hired Ministry Solutions. ​As with many clients, Ministry Solutions bridged the gap between Rock City Church’s human and financial capital and their potential. 2 The Need An escalated timeline often represents more money. Churches often don’t have more money. Most churches also don’t have financial experts who have experience advocating for large-scale lending at local banks. This tension can cause churches to make bad deals or no deals. In either scenario, growth stops. Churches and church leaders are specialists who went to school to do ministry. As ministry models have shifted, pastors of large churches are often expected to function as the CEO or COO. Many do this with great success. There are, of course, gaps in their business acumen and financial understanding. Several pain points emerge during large-scale growth in churches: ● ● ● ● Churches don’t have internal teams of financial experts Leadership teams don’t have time to dedicate to building projects Churches organically form local networks of other churches or ministries, not banks and businesses Fast-growing churches may only be a few years old, which creates a barrier for financing Internal church teams don’t have the time, knowledge or experience to navigate complex financial decisions.​ It is often not feasible or even desirable to fundraise their way out of the problem. Banks hear a lot of the wrong messages from churches. From insignificant tenure to seasonal giving, churches can present a lot of wrong information to banks. Ministry Solutions has a team of seasoned financial experts who are skilled at negotiating at banks on behalf of churches. “We know how to create and execute financial strategies that create fundable profits.” Ministry Solutions’ expertise includes: ● ● ● ● ● Financial strategies Presenting non-profit financials in a way that turns them into for-profit opportunities Framing the message as a deal that banks want to close Explaining church-specific finances, including giving or governance, to banks in an coherent way Creating the right executive summary to turn a “no” into a “yes” 3 At Rock City Church, 14-15 million dollars could easily have been spent (and justified) due to their size and growth potential. However, 12 million dollars was the top of their budget. An expansive family ministry space was needed. However, they also needed parking and office spaces. A creative, effective strategy was needed to achieve this project within an urgent timeline. ​Ministry Solutions was up to the task. The Action For Rock City Church, the first need was to update the project plan while maintaining support from stakeholders. The timeline and money currently presented simply wouldn’t work. The team at this church needed outside support to navigate this complex issue. ​Ministry Solutions acted as a translator: they re-worked the project plan and changed the narrative. The project plan adjustments included: ● ● ● Re-worked plans to include 7,000 additional square feet of office space without exceeding budget Addressed all program space needs and parking Plan to build within budget and timeframe Ministry Solutions engaged in this project with an existing team. The partners who achieved these ambitious goals included: ● ● ● Ruscili Contracting Company Summit Integrated Systems​ for Audio, Visual and Lighting out of Denver Live Design​ out of Birmingham These companies’ professionalism and specialties helped launch the state-of-the-art Rock City Church facility. Because they have done this for many churches many times, Ministry Solutions understands what’s most valuable. In other words, they can help prioritize needs. Having a meaningful presence in a community through a building has to include multi-use spaces and the right footprint allocations. ​Ministry Solutions helps refine the vision for how ministry will take place in a physical space. “There are 10 ways to build a wall but we know the way to make it most efficient.” At first, Rock City Church could not secure financing for this building. After Ministry Solutions came on board and presented the revised project plan, everything changed: 4 “We went from not having any banks who were interested in financing Rock City to having four offers and those last four banks competed in order to get their business.” The Solution Ministry Solutions invests before they ask for commitments. Ministry Solutions launched this successful project with Rock City Church before they asked for any fees. Based on thorough analysis, they gathered and reviewed the scenario before presenting a path forward. Once the plan was offered, Rock City Church saw the value in leveraging Ministry Solutions’ knowledge and experience and hired them. Ministry Solutions frequently enters into non-conventional situations to make creative solutions. ​In this instance, their partnership with Rock City Church included a great team of architects and contractors who had already begun working. They were able to build relationships with those teams and work together to redesign and realign objectives for the meeting space. Ministry Solutions led the team through pricing exercises and design work to guarantee the best return on investment in use per square foot of space. After Ministry Solutions re-worked the project plan, a bidding war secured the necessary financing for the Rock City Church building on the best possible terms. The Result Rock City Church continues to thrive in Columbus and the surrounding areas. Ministry Solutions’ project leadership and management ensured that the build was begun in record time and concluded within schedule. Ministry Solutions provided a wide range of services for Rock City Church, including: ● ● ● ● ● Free Analysis Clear Path Forward Project Funding Project Management Owner’s Representation Rock City Church now has a thriving broadcast program that projects messages to their four other campuses. A huge increase has happened in their family ministry as a result of the building design and execution. Part of the creative Ministry Solutions solutions included developing a green space with space for food trucks. This and other building elements have 5 made this facility a popular place for corporate events, community events and weddings. Rock City Church has experienced sustained growth of 40% and are looking to launch two additional campuses. Ministry Solutions provided guidance and support through this building process. ​This is just one example of how our services can remove the guesswork and catapult a church into their best future. At Ministry Solutions, our handprint is present in the foundation of ministries and churches throughout the nation. Our work is to provide the business, financial and construction expertise that may be absent from church leadership teams. We can provide the missing piece. We can help you succeed. 6