Brenham’s First Baptist Church recently hired Impact Stewardship to lead them in a capital campaign for the first phase of their relocation. Brenham, Texas is located between Austin and Houston, and First Baptist began outgrowing their current facilities with over 700 members in two services each Sunday. In preparation for the relocation, the church purchased 33 acres of land with an expected total project cost for relocation reaching near $7 million, which they knew would take multiple campaigns to raise. This was Pastor Ross Shelton’s first ever, major capital campaign admitting, “Like many pastors, I was somewhat anxious about the process and “asking people for money. Impact Stewardship’s non-pressure, prayerful approach helped move me out of my comfort zone by doing some activities I wouldn’t have considered doing on my own and enabled us to go through a process that was a positive and successful experience for the entire church”.
At the beginning of First Baptist’s capital campaign Hurricane Harvey hit, dropping over 20+ inches of rain in Brenham. Making a very soggy and potentially shaky start, Pastor Ross recalls, “Impact Stewardship’s focus on this being a ministry opportunity to teach our people the joys of giving and equipping them to do so. I greatly appreciated [their] God-centered, stewardship-equipping, and practical process and their consultants who helped guide us.” The people of First Baptist Church were undeterred in their determination, because of the momentum leading up to the fall of 2017. They knew this was God’s will and believing this would require trust that God knows how and when to release every resource needed for its completion. The church moved forward with the project this fall, and so far, they have raised nearly $3 million of the $7 million needed for relocation, which is amazing first campaign. At this pace, the church will meet its goal of moving in debt free with its second campaign and will have the wonderful story share of God’s faithfulness and their people’s faithful stewardship in the midst of the storm.
