Our Method:
Please describe your general approach.
A
presentation manual, available
on request, describes our approach in some detail. MPM
offers a consultant directed program with the theme “Not
Equal Gifts ... But Equal Sacrifice.”
Why a “Professional” Stewardship
Minister?
Some churches say, “Why can’t we do this on our own and avoid paying an
‘outsider’”. Experience proves this can rarely be done. Inevitably,
churches with strong Capital Stewardship Programs are those who understand
the value of competent outside help.
A simple
dollars and cents answer suggests other reasons for considering an
experienced consultant. Studies show that churches doing their own programs
will raise 1/4 to 1 times their annual budget income over a three-year
period. On its own, any church would do remarkably well to raise $100,000
for every $100,000 of annual income beyond its regular tithe and offering
income. MPM averages 3.65
times annual income!
If we
help you raise only $400,000 more
than you would on your own, you save our fee multiple times. For example, if
you needed $400,000 and borrowed it at 9% interest for 15 years, the
interest costs alone would be over $330,000. You would repay $730,273 plus
points and financial fees, many times over the Master
Plan Ministries fee.
Other
reasons may be even more important than dollars. An experienced consultant
helps you to:
-
Take advantage of a gifted ministry. In Romans 12
and 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of spiritual gifts in relation to
giving, motivation and faith as benefiting the body of Christ.
-
Free
the staff to continue their responsibilities uninterrupted. Lay people, all
trained by the Consultant, will be excited and motivated to
accomplish the stewardship task.
Maximize the giving potential of the church.
How are financial goals determined?
We always
recommend a three level goal structure. This is never determined by the
NEED, but rather by a realistic assessment of your peoples’ early
responses. If you need $1,000,000, but your real potential is $400,000, it
would be a disservice to you to suggest the higher, unrealistic goal.
Unattainable goals create false expectations and will cause the people to
think the program a failure even though they responded faithfully and with
sacrifice. Conversely, many churches set their goals too low, not realizing
their true potential.
Our consultants help you avoid both errors.
We always
encourage a congregation to establish goals based upon the
-
Giving
pattern of the church for the past five years,
-
Numerical
growth based upon the past five years,
-
Economic
realities of their community and
-
Preliminary
responses from leadership determined several weeks into the program.
Is your ministry Biblical?
We
teach stewardship concepts that are clearly modeled in the Bible. Your
leaders will be guided to an understanding of these truths. A good deal of
our work with the Master Leadership Team (eventually involving 40%—60% of
your people) is motivating and teaching what the Scripture says about
stewardship. It is more important for people to
hear God’s Word than to memorize the manual we provide.
Time Frame:
When should we do a program?
We seldom
do summer programs, though the success rate for those we have done is
phenomenal! The
ideal time to begin is when your leadership and people agree with the needs.
We have done very successful programs in every month of the
calendar. August is a good time to begin because the campaign will be finished before
the holidays. The beginning of a New Year and springtime are excellent times
to begin programs. Summer programs work quite well if we schedule around the
July 4th and Labor Day weekends, and these programs don’t have to compete
with the normal September—May church schedules. Another very workable
schedule is to begin in October or early November, take a break after the
first week in December until the first week of January, and then finish
early in the New Year.
What is your availability?
As noted
above, our
consultants are limited to three churches at any one time. This
is best for our marriages and for the churches we serve. Call or email us
for available dates.
What is the time frame for a campaign?
Usually a
three to four month period is adequate. After we meet with your leadership
team and they decide to engage Master Plan Ministries, you can
begin a program within two weeks if the church calendar and the
consultant’s calendar allow it. Ideally, more lead time is preferable. We
contractually obligate ourselves to congregations for a forty (40) month
period. We continue to work with the church and the follow up team for the
three years of giving.
How much time will you be on site?
Your
question probably means, “Will we get value for what we spend?”
Obviously, if we spent only one day with you and helped you raise three to
four times your annual income, you would be served well. The issue is not
the time spent on site, but results. In addition to on site time, many hours
are spent in our office developing the plan and materials. Our office
constantly helps us refine the program to meet the needs of a variety of
church cultures.
Still,
you deserve a straightforward answer to the question. Along with our first
presentation visit (no cost or obligation to the church), we will make nine
to thirteen trips to your location, including the follow up visits. These
trips range from one to five days per visit.
When we are on site, we provide the plan (program), the motivation and
training for every facet of the Master Plan. Our ministry is designed to
help you achieve success. Like good coaches, we call the plays to help your
people reach their goals. The
most important decision you will make will not be the firm you choose, but
rather the consultant .We
will explain that statement fully when we meet.
Fees:
How are fees determined?
The fee
is based on the annual income of the church — not
on a percentage of the dollars raised. The fee covers all our
expenses during the intensive part of the program and the follow up visits
over the three-year period are also provided at no additional cost to the
church. These fees have changed very little through the years even though
the cost of doing business has increased tremendously.
How do your fees compare?
The MPM
fees compare very favorably with other outstanding stewardship firms.
Occasionally, some small group may quote a lower fee, but the results cannot
compare with those of Master Plan Ministries. The
crucial issue is the value you receive for the price! Remember that ours is
a consultant-directed
program. We come to your church every ten to twenty one days
to help you implement every step of the program. You are encouraged to call
and speak with pastors who have engaged MPM for stewardship programs. A
list of churches and phone numbers will be provided on request.
Some
“denomination programs” may help you raise 1-1.25 times your annual
income over a three-year period. After additional costs are included this
type of program costs at least two thirds of our fee and the results cannot
compare. Sadly, already busy pastors must carry the load to implement such
programs.
Suppose a
church has the potential to raise $1,000,000. If firm XYZ helps you raise
$350,000 while your real potential and project cost were $1,000,000, you
would need to borrow $650,000. To borrow this sum for fifteen years at 9%
will cost $536,692 (interest), plus the $650,000 principal for a total of
$1,186,692, not to mention any additional points or finance fees. That is a
steep price to possibly save around $5,000, in fees. Your best stewardship
and business decision is to choose the firm who can help you do two things
well:
What does the fee include?
Airfare,
motels, car rentals, meals with church leaders, all manuals and office
support are included (the cost of doing business). There
is never an additional charge to the church throughout the three years of
follow up attention.
Are there other costs?
In order
to develop a program budget, you should consider three items:
-
Printing
costs for brochure, five newsletters, and in some
larger churches, a video,
-
Meal
costs for the Advance Commitments Dinner and Banquet,
-
The
fee to Master Plan Ministries.
Experience:
What is your background and work
history?
Master
Plan Ministries was founded in 1986 by Dr.
Dan Myers after 28 years as a local church pastor—the
last 18 years at First Baptist Church in Lancaster, CA.
Dan Jackson, MPM’s Managing Partner and Senior
Consultant, succeeded Dr. Myers as Senior Pastor in
Lancaster, serving that church for over eight years. Under
his leadership First Baptist continued a pattern of
significant growth and
Desert
Christian
School
expanded to include Junior and Senior High Schools.
Enrollment grew to over 2400 students making DCS one of
the largest Christian schools on the West Coast. The
combined annual budgets of church and school were over
$3,000,000.
Master
Plan Ministries has become one of the
premier Stewardship firms in
America
,
working with hundreds of congregations. Dan Jackson began
with MPM in 1996 and has served with remarkable success,
first as a consultant and now as Managing Partner/Senior
Consultant
Have you worked with similar churches?
Yes. MPM
has worked with churches representing almost every kind of
need—churches with budgets as small as $49,000, and as
large as $3,000,000.
Can you provide us with references?
Please
refer to the comments of pastors and lay leaders provided
in the
Accolades section of this website. Additional references will be
provided upon request.
Are you sensitive to special ethnic
congregations?
Master
Plan Ministries has an outstanding record with African
American churches, Japanese churches and other mixed Asian
congregations. References are available from a variety of
very significant ministries and well-known pastors.
Some
Additional Questions:
Questions
for prospective consultants...
What
is your experience? Our consultants have served an average of 15 years in specific
stewardship ministry after each serving more than 25 years
in local church pastoral ministry.
How
many programs have you completed? Hundreds
Will
you tell us about your least successful program? Yes
If
you consider all the churches you have worked with in the
past three years, what is the capital committed as
compared to the annual income? Our
average over this period is 3.65 times annual income,
meaning that for every $100,000 of annual income, the
average raised over a three-year period
would be $365,000.
What
percentage of dollars committed is actually received? 93-95%
How
many churches do you work with annually? We average
five
to ten
per year.
Are
you able to provide the names and phone numbers of lay
people with whom you have worked? Yes
