The View From The Other Side

From Someone Who Has Been Through the Process

Excerpted from the Foreword to “Preparing to Build”

Factually, pastors and their leadership teams often lack the “nuts and bolts” know-how of building programs.  The concepts of budgeting for construction, reading architectural plans, leading capital campaigns, and working with contractors are foreign to many church leaders.  This leaves us wide open to poor decisions which could cost a congregation thousands of dollars in unnecessary costs, months of extra work, and compromised relational trust.

That is why both Stephen Anderson and his book, Preparing to Build, are such a blessing to the Church. From personal experience, Stephen’s insight and principles helped us realize the purpose God had in our building project.  Stephen first laid out the realities of a building project, and then gave us practical and orderly steps to take.

He showed our church leadership teams how to lead in such a way our people felt a strong sense of ownership in the project.  He stressed cultural sensitivity and gave us latitude to make the process personal. Ultimately, he helped us discover the answer to the all important question, “What is God calling us to build for the sake of vision fulfillment in the context of what we can afford?”  And he did this while never letting us forget what we are about is truly is “Bigger than a Building!”

Like Jethro being a blessing to Moses, Stephen’s insight, experience and principles will be a blessing to so many pastors and church leaders who believe God is leading them to trust Him in a building project.

Dr. Paul W. Smith
Lead Pastor – Warner Alliance Church, Lewiston, ID
(Now Crosspoint Alliance Church – New Church, New Name, Same Gospel)