BodyBuilding FAQ

• What is our goal?
• How much money are we raising? What is it being used for?
• Can you tell me more about the new building on campus?
• $2.5M isn’t enough for a new church, is it?
• I don’t understand the tithe for mission outreach. What is that?
• What happens if we don’t reach the $20.5M goal initially? What are our priorities?
• How much of that $20.5M will be spent on promoting the campaign? (I mean, those 4-color newsletters can’t be cheap!)
• How long will this take?
• Why are we starting a new church? Won’t that take away from our church?
• Will the new church be a completely autonomous congregation or an extension of St. Luke’s?
• Who will lead the new church?
• Where will the new church be located?
• How can I help?
• Can I see what the new building will look like?
• $1.6M is what percentage of St. Luke's total debt?
• What is the name of the fundraising company that is advising us?
• Has the effect of inflation been figured into the building cost?
• How many new members will we need to attract to fill the new worship space? Is this reasonable considering that contemporary worship still attracts a limited number that fluctuates with who is preaching?
• There was much interest in fundraising methods/techniques. Here are some of our groups questions and suggestions. will a price tag be placed on rooms/buildings/bricks?
• Will there be naming opportunities?
• Are folks being encouraged to make gifts of stocks/jewlery/real estate/etc.?

FAQ About the Emerging Church

• Why is St. Luke’s planting a new congregation?
• What will be the mission and vision of the new church?
• Will the new church be a satellite or extension campus of St. Luke’s or become an autonomous congregation?
• Will the new church primarily be for the existing members of St. Luke’s who live in Horizon West?
• What and where is Horizon West?
• Will the worship style of the new church be traditional or contemporary?
• How will the new church be funded?
• Will those helping to plant the new church retain their membership at St. Luke’s?
• How will the people of St. Luke’s be solicited to consider joining the new church?
• What is the anticipated impact upon the St. Luke’s congregation as a result of over one hundred potential St. Luke’s families associating with the new church?

How can we get ideas to the bodybuilding committee?
Wait, I still have more questions. Where can I ask them?

Our goal is 100% participation – so every family can say, “I’m a BodyBuilder!” This campaign’s focus is to help everyone hear God’s call, and to respond to that call. The best way you can begin your participation is to pray – pray to discern God’s plan for you in this campaign. This will bring about amazing BodyBuilding within you – this isn’t about making a commitment that’s a little bit of a stretch. It’s about relying on God to guide you, and trusting that he will be with you as you take that leap of faith. It’s not about your relationship with St. Luke’s – it’s about your relationship with God.

Based on a lot of prayer and discernment, plus several church-wide meetings and votes, we will raise $20.5M. That money will be used for:

It’s actually TWO new buildings on campus, plus renovation of an existing building. The on-campus building has four components:

• worship a new space for contemporary worship and renovation of the current Fellowship Hall back into a chapel
• fellowship a new gathering space for large groups that can also be quickly set up for many smaller meeting rooms; an expanded kitchen to support large and small gatherings
• children’s ministries this new building will allow us to provide full-day preschool and greatly expand our Sunday School instruction, after-school activities and childcare
• navigation a welcome/reception area that very clearly shows the main entrance to St. Luke’s; a rework of several roadways in and out of campus; additional parking

We’ve had the plans for years, and we’re finally in a position to move forward on them. (View proposed new campus map)

The largest building will be the New Gathering Hall – a multipurpose space that will be used both as Contemporary Worship’s permanent home, as well as banquet space. This new hall will be able to seat over 875 people in a banquet setting – and over 1200 people for worship! It can also be sectioned into multiple meeting rooms with very little effort.

Connected to the New Gathering Hall will be an administrative Welcome Center – a clearly identifiable “start here” place. We’re the kind of church that attracts a lot of visitors and we need to be prepared to welcome and guide them appropriately.

When the current Fellowship Hall is converted back into a chapel, it will be able to seat up to 268 people – a perfect setting for weddings and other intimate services.

Once we move Children’s Ministries to its new location, the existing Children’s Ministries space will be converted into adult classrooms and meeting rooms. If you’ve tried to secure meeting space at the last minute, you know how welcome additional meeting space will be!

And it wouldn’t be a good plan if we didn’t address parking (you can never have enough closets or parking spaces) – we’ll add some paved parking and additional grass parking.

No, but $2.5M is enough to provide a down payment for land acquisition and possibly cover the construction of an initial multipurpose building. We’ve been asked by the Florida Conference to “birth” a new church – also known as daughtering a new church. The mother/daughter metaphor is actually a good one. St. Luke’s will provide initial support, but the new church will eventually be self-sufficient. And “birthing” a church will strengthen the mother as well.

This new church will be in the fast-growing Horizon West area. When completed, this group of neighborhoods will have over 60,000 residents! Nearly every other denomination has already purchased land and made plans to build a new church in Horizon West. Methodists need to be represented here as well. And we’re in the best position to “birth” a new church – we’re ripe with talent and commitment and we have a special “St. Luke’s DNA” that the Florida Conference would like to see replicated elsewhere.

We currently tithe on our weekly offering through our apportionment to the United Methodist Convention. These monies are collectively used to support mission capital projects and evangelism throughout the world. However, we have not tithed on monies we raised for capital in the past, and that didn’t seem right. A decision made by the Church Council 2 years ago, and voted on by the Church Conference, allowed us to remedy that.

From this point forward, whenever we raise money for a capital project, we will tithe on the money raised. This money will be placed into an endowment fund for capital mission projects. So, the next time we want to help one of our sister churches in the Dominican Republic build a parsonage, or when the Habitat House we’re responsible for needs additional roofing materials, we can use the interest on the endowment fund to purchase those materials.

Our focus is on the entire package. We feel very strongly that God chose the number and that he is leading us all in this direction. We have always given the best we have at whatever God lays on our hearts, and this campaign will be no exception. However, should we need to prioritize, there would be a time of discernment and a churchwide meeting to help us determine the priorities.

Many campaigns like this strive to spend no more than 10% of their proceeds on campaign. We will do better than that. We plan to spend no more than 2.5% on campaign work.

The campaign to achieve full participation will run from now through November 20th – Commitment Sunday. Most families will opt to make their gifts over a period of three years. Due to the timing of the campaign, some families may opt to make gifts over 4 years, with their first gift made in December 2005 and their last gift made sometime during 2008.

Building will begin late spring/early summer 2006 and will take 12-18 months.

Did you know that 60% of the families living right around St. Luke’s are not actively involved in a community of faith? They’re missing something essential – many of these people don’t yet know how much God loves them. You probably know people on your street who don’t consider God at all when making decisions. Yet these same people have a desire to make a significant impact on others’ lives. We need to do a better job of reaching these people – both here, and in areas like Horizons West. In our recent church survey, we came up very short on “needs based evangelism” – you and other church members told us that we need to do a much better job at finding out what our neighbors need, and then meeting that need.

Birthing a church strengthens the “mother” church as much as the “daughter” church. History has shown that when a successful church seeds a new church, they will lose some members to the new church initially, but then both churches will see a growth spurt. People see the planting of a new church as a success story – and success is very attractive.

When a healthy “mother” church gives birth to a nearby “daughter” church, there’s an 80% success rate in both the growth of the new church and a revived growth in the mother church. The Florida Conference chose us, of all the other United Methodist Churches, to lead this effort. All churches are unique and special – but the Conference saw something in the St. Luke’s DNA that they wanted replicated.

Under Pastor Gary’s guidance we’re in the prayer and discerning stage of our new church’s development. We’re carefully evaluating what would be the most effective way for us to fulfill our vision to reach out to people in the name of Christ especially in the area of Horizons West. There are several effective models for new church development that include extension, satellite or autonomous s campuses. As we continue to study these models we’re seeking God’s guidance to know the most effective model for us.

Right now the leadership of St. Luke’s is helping to guide us toward this exciting venture. As the director of this ministry, Pastor Gary will develop a launch team that would work with him toward a public launch of the new church is approximately 18-24 months. The launching of our new church will depend upon our meeting several important benchmarks. We have a goal of at least 140 adults actively participating in 10-12 small groups specific to the new church; we will have at least 250 adults regularly participating in worship each week off site from St. Luke’s; we will have sufficient financial viability to sustain and grow ministry; we will have the sufficient ministry teams needed to reach, proclaim, nurture and deploy new persons in and through this new community of faith. Right now we need everyone to be leading this effort with prayer!

The new church will be located in Horizon West. Horizon's West is a planned community of multiple villages and a town center in Western Orange County. When completed, within the next few years, Horizon West will have approximately 68,000 residents living in planned communities. We are looking to plant the new church in the Town Center portion of Horizon's West. View the Horizon West map for more details.

• Pray, pray, pray – talk to God about the blessings you’ve received, and how he wants you to use those blessings to “BodyBuild”.
• Pray for the people we’ll reach with our expansion – the people we haven’t even met yet.
• Pray for the people who are at St. Luke’s right now, and who may be reached in a much deeper way than ever before because of this campaign.
• Pray for your BodyBuilding Leadership team (and thank you!)
• Say “yes” if someone from the Leadership team asks you to help with a BodyBuilding task or event.
• Attend a BodyBuilding Basics meeting and the church-wide special event.
• Join us for worship every week, but especially on August 21st, September 18th, October 9th, October 23rd and November 13th and 20th.
• Talk with your fellow St. Lukers about the campaign.
• Ask more questions – your BodyBuilding Leadership team is a friendly, chatty bunch.

And when your heart lands on a number – pledge it. God won’t lead you down the wrong path!

You can see some snapshots here on the website. Click the images below to see even more. You’ll also be able to see the preview on our web site soon. Can't wait until then? Have a slow Internet connection? There will be a new version shown this Sunday, October 9th at all five services.

That is the entire church building debt.

RSI Chuch Services Group. It is the largest, most successful church fundraising group in the country. More information about RSI can be found http://rsichurch.visern.com.

Yes.

We are trying to promote giving to the entire campaign rather than "sell" portions of it.

If there are persons making signifigantly large gifts who desire such an opportunity we would be delighted to consider this option.

Stock gifts, YES by all means. Real estate, yes, depending on marketability (sometimes we are offered properties which we can not market.) Jewlery or other household or personal assets: like artwork no. We are unable to sell china, furs and other items that we recieved during the last campagn. We encourage a donor to sell on his or her own and donate the cash proceeds.

The Florida Conference identified St. Luke’s as a healthy church with the kind of DNA that makes it right for planting a new congregation. The Florida Conference is the leading church-planting conference in the United States and is committed to a “mother-daughter” planting model that will be utilized by St. Luke’s in this process under the direction of Pastor Gary.

Mission: Planting a United Methodist Church that will plant churches to fulfill the vision of Jesus, as communicated in His Great Commission- to make disciples for the Kingdom of God.

Vision: A Christian community in the Town Center of Horizon West grounded in a relationship with Christ and Spirit-empowered to meet the spiritual, emotional and physical needs of people so they might become transformed into the likeness of Christ and be whole, as God intends them to be.

While the new church will be sponsored and supported by St. Luke’s the goal will be for the new church to become an autonomous congregation with it’s own name and identity, chartered by the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church.

While the location of the new church will no doubt be in a more convenient geographical location for some of St. Luke’s families the main goal of the church is to extend the grace and love of God in Jesus Christ to those who are not in relationship with Him or a church community.

Horizon West is a planned community of multiple villages and a town center in Western Orange County. When completed, within the next few years, Horizon West will have approximately 68,000 residents living in planned communities that will feature single dwelling homes, apartments and townhouses. The village communities will be designed with new schools, commerce, recreational areas all within a half-mile from any home. Horizon West is located south of John’s Lake and Winter Garden, West of Lake Butler and Windermere, North of Disney, and borders Lake County to the West. Routes 535 and 545 travel north and south through Horizon West. The Orange County National Golf Center is located on what will be the southeastern edge of the Town Center. (See map)

The worship style needs to be relevant to the people we are seeking to reach. It most likely will include traditional and contemporary elements and will need to be a continually evolving style that creates an inspiring, uplifting and God-centered experience.

St. Luke’s has committed 2.5 million dollars from our BodyBuilding campaign to help the new church acquire property and fund its first facility. During the first three years of the church, post launch, St. Luke’s will provide some support for pastoral salary, staff assistance, and administrative support. The Florida Conference will also provide pastoral support. The new church will raise a significant amount of its financial resources through the tithes and offerings of it’s participants.

Those who join the initial launch team will be asked to make an 18-24 month commitment to the new church. They will retain their membership at St. Luke’s during that period. If persons decide to remain in the new church their membership would remain at St. Luke’s until the chartering of the new church when they would become full members of that church.

Through a series of information meetings Pastor Gary will share the vision and plan of the new church. Person’s interested in helping with the launch of this ministry would be asked to enter a prayerful discernment process and, if agree to the requirements of launch team membership, would become part of the team under Pastor Gary’s leadership.

Launch Team members will be asked to make the following commitments:

• Demonstrate a commitment to Christ and the Kingdom of God
• Practice spiritual disciplines including, but not limited to:
• Regular worship participation
• Personal prayer support for this ministry
• Proportional giving with a commitment to grow toward tithing
• Commitment to one’s own spiritual growth
• Active involvement in a small group
• Serving in one of the core ministries of the church
• Make an 18-24 month commitment to the new church
• Be trained and committed to reaching new people for Christ and the church
• Be committed to "service" not "serve-us"

National studies indicate in a compelling manner that churches who start new churches by seeding membership, almost always regain that “lost” membership quickly and in most cases grow beyond the prior levels of membership. Starting new churches has the benefit of raising the awareness of reaching and evangelism among the congregants, which in turn empowers the members to become passionate about need-based evangelism.

St. Luke’s leadership is excited about the challenges and benefits which are offered by this new church start opportunity. Members who feel the call to be a part of this new congregation are encouraged to enter the discernment process with prayer and open discussions. God’s will for the new congregation and it’s launch team depend upon our dedicated and continuous prayerful discernment. Please hold this church start opportunity in your daily prayers.

E-mail Kelly is the campaign coordonater for the church and will pass along all ideas to the leadership team. You can also email the leadership team at bodybuilding@st.lukes.org or chat with any BodyBuilding coaches and leadership team members (look for the red whistles) you see on campus.

Stop by the "Take the Plunge" table during the month of October in Building C-- BodyBuilding coaches will be on hand to answer any questions you have about the campaign, as well as about our November 5th special event. Or you may submit your questions to bodybuilding@st.lukes.org. Common questions will be added to this page in the coming months. Please check back often for updates.