Fellowship Bible Church North

Plano, Texas

Challenge: Keep up with growth

With attendance steadily on the rise over the past several years, the leadership at Fellowship Bible Church North in Plano, Texas, saw that unless they expanded their current facility, their growing congregation would soon stretch the capacity of their 1,000-seat sanctuary.

"Initially, we were considering buying some land around our church," said executive pastor Jack Warren. "We decided either we were going to buy 27 acres nearby, or do a search for a totally new site for our church."

Tasks: Communicating the vision

After meeting with the membership in small discussion groups, church leaders learned that what made sense for their congregation was to build an entirely new sanctuary. That, they came to realize, would help them achieve their vision of God's mission for their church: "to bridge people to a great life in Christ."

With help from Generis, the church carried out a proactive communications plan complete with brochures that explained the need for the campaign, newsletters with monthly updates, and DVD and video presentations that connected the campaign to the vision.

Solution: A new church home

Two years later, the church is making better than expected progress toward its campaign goals. After announcing its campaign in April 2005, the church has received pledges of $16.9 million toward its new facility – nearly $2 million more than its original goal of $15 million.

When complete, their new church home will include a new 1,500-seat sanctuary, a nearly 17,000-sq.-ft. youth center for teenage students, and new "Kidzone" and playground spaces for the younger children.

Individualized guidance

Throughout, the advice and consultation provided by the Generis Group have proved invaluable, said Warren. "We didn't have any experience raising money. The Generis Group helped us out in that they had a plan we could follow, but it wasn't a cookie cutter plan – each step of the way, they provided us with the right guidance and direction so we could figure out what was right for us."