The CharestCorp Blog

How to Save A Trillion Dollars

On New Years Eve my wife and I celebrated in an odd way. We fasted and prayed until midnight and then began to write down our goals for this coming year. I knew the economy was headed for bad times and as the CEO of a company that designs and builds churches I could foresee stormy weather looming in the very near future.

Even more concerning was the fact that our Nation was in grave financial danger, so much trouble that even a 3 trillion dollar bail out package could not make a dent in our economic woes. I saw a government struggling to find a way to “save” us from disaster. All the greatest minds were pointing fingers in every direction with suggestions but no real solutions. Everyone was thinking what no one was saying: “What in Gods’ name do we do?”

Then it came to me! “Gods’ name!” That is the answer! What earthly institute carries with it Gods name? It is the Body of Christ, affectionately known as the Church. For thousands of years the Church has answered the questions that governments could not, they have provided the inspiration and perspiration to meet the overwhelming social, spiritual and financial needs of the community. The Church changed the world even when it was under great persecution. So the answer was in “Gods name” and it came through the unconditional giving of the time, tithes, and talents of its family.

That revelation and the hope the Body of Christ provides for us today, led me to begin writing a book called, “How to Save a Trillion Dollars”. The premise is that if the Church and its millions of faithful followers would once again proactively walk in its divinely assigned power and authority, and take its rightful place as the One who influences culture and community, then Trillions of dollars could be saved. In fact, I estimate that “Tens of Trillions” can be saved through and by the “Church”.

I know it sounds crazy…. “ the Church saving tens of trillions of dollars and perhaps even the world economy”…, but it is absolutely possible! I appreciate your prayers as I work to complete this book and provide some much needed clarity for the Body of Christ as it moves with intentionality to impacts a lost and confused world.

Rene M. Charest

CEO CharestCorp Church Builders  

Read today’s post from from LifeWay Research President Ed Stetzer’s, Small Churches Can Thrive. Here’s a short excerpt and pastor comment:

“…Small churches are not exempt from the call to reach people because they are small. Too many churches of all sizes spend too much time moaning about what they don’t have that other churches do have or about what they can’t do that other churches are doing. No, you may not be able to do everything that other churches are doing. But that doesn’t mean your church can’t do something of purpose…”

by Alisa Manjarrez, Certified Church Consultant

If theoretically, Christian men use twitter to connect with others they don’t personally know more than women do, will they then reach more men in general for Christ? It seems as though men are really good at connecting via technology with other men, regardless of their social status, beliefs, etc. What brings them together is the technology. Technology then leads to face to face communication. Technology first, relationship next.

Basketball is like this. Just drive past outdoor courts. A bunch of guys can get together and play ball, then be friends for life. Basketball first, relationships next.

Through my very unofficial research on Christian males connected to non-Christians in twitterland, as well as some insight via Mr. Tweet, I’d venture to say that Twitter can bring more men to church.

Or at least it can keep them engaged during a service. “It’s Twitter Time for Your Church” has some good examples of how best to use it in the church itself.

Women, on the other hand, I would think would prefer face to face communication, then use technology as a tool for communication. I’m sure there’s research on all this.

In non-Twitterland, there are theories about the way men and women approach networking for business, such as the fact that men can easily search up and down the corporate ladder to get what they need, whereas women tend to stay within their own levels. If a man is looking for a job, he has no problem approaching a CEO or someone “at the top” to see what opportunities there are for him. A woman, on the other hand, will talk to her friends first and shy away from speaking to those she has no previous relationship with, therefore not climbing as high or as quickly as her male counterparts.

Twitter may actually break this mold. Twitter practically commissions you to connect with people not normally within your sphere of influence. Actually, more women (53% women to 47% men) use twitter than men. Perhaps we will soon see that social networking as a whole will shatter the ceiling for women.

Follow me on twitter.

Floods. Earthquakes. Fires. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Riots. Terrorist attacks.

Any major disaster event – whether natural or manmade – puts the affected city or community into crisis mode. This is when the facilities that house essential services like police, search and rescue, fire fighters, paramedics, dispatch call centers, data centers, and government agencies, become hubs of emergency response activities. These buildings must be designed and built to withstand massive seismic and wind forces, to have reliable and redundant operating systems, and to have uninterruptible power supplies, so that they can continue to support any and all response activities throughout the crisis. Therefore these facilities are critical to carrying out the mission of the emergency response, which is to save lives and restore order to the community.

So how does this relate to churches?

Death. Adultery. Divorce. Apostasy. Disease. Alcoholism. Domestic abuse.

Any major emotional event – whether external or internal – puts the affected church or group into crisis mode. This is when the facilities that house ministry services like prayer, counsel, fellowship and worship become hubs of emergency response activities. A church building must be designed to endure social pressures and tolerate cultural movements, just as it is designed to withstand environmental forces and structural loads, so that it can continue to provide appropriate surroundings as well as sheltering support for the response activities during the crisis and throughout the ministry of the church. Therefore we see this kind of facility being critical to carrying out the mission of the church, which is to glorify God by saving souls and being a bulwark in the community.

Here is a compelling example of a major emotional event that actually resulted from the ministry of the church: “Stop talking about Jesus” was the cry of one young woman who faced compounding issues within her own family. What kind of church facility would be most appropriate for a person in this condition: a cruiseship or a battleship? One offers a temporary escape from her reality, the other offers the armor to fight her battles and win. One offers fun, entertainment and comfort; the other offers only that which is critical to the mission of her church.

The difference between these two philosophies of church architecture is something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately. In the coming weeks, I will be writing more about designing appropriate surroundings in your church building, and about creating a church facility that is a bulwark in your community.

-James Tomlin, Architect, Certified Church Consultant

OK, I’m being literal here, but this video works on so many levels. First, the cinematography is gorgeous, isn’t it? It almost looks unreal, and you wonder if this is not just another computer animated special effect. But it’s real all right, which brings me to my point:

Are churches becoming more real?

The fun thing about this video is watching a whole community line up along the road to watch this church drive by. One can imagine schools being let out and businesses closing on this day, to give everyone a chance to witness this extraordinary event.

What could a church do, that would bring out the entire community to watch? That would be a sight to behold, way out of the ordinary, full of strange beauty and wonder? That would inspire hymns to be written about it? That people would talk about for years to come?

The last thing this world needs is another church movement. What the world needs now more than ever is a real movement of Christians, away from worldliness towards Godliness, away from blending in towards standing out, away from Churchianity towards being like Christ.

After all the programs, all the books, all the audios and the videos, after all the conferences, all the websites, all the blog posts and the downloads, are we really becoming what God wants us to be? Or are they all just making us feel involved without committing to any real action?

Are we living in virtuality or actuality?

When I was growing up, if you were anyone about town, you were either a Kiwanis, Rotary, or Lions Club member, where you met new people face to face. Now, you’re nobody unless you have a MySpace or Facebook, where you add or invite “friends” you’ve never really met.

When I was growing up, if you wanted to know more about something, you met with so-and-so who’s an expert and will show you what you need to know. Now, you don’t know anything until you’ve read so-and-so’s new book, and listened to the audio of his lecture at the last conference.

And when I was growing up, if you had to make a phone call, you had to be either at home, at your office, or at a (gasp!) pay phone. Now, you can call anyone anywhere and anytime you want – in the car, in the bathroom, in a restaurant, even in the middle of a church service!

For now we are living in the fast lane, at the speed of wireless broadband, with the wind of the world wide web in our hair. Feels great, but does anyone know where we’re going? And are we there yet? And, what was that? It looks like we just passed by someone who got left behind.

Towards a Christianity of Reality

Don’t misjudge me – I am not proposing that we abandon all this media and technology. In fact, I would like to write a book and speak at a conference someday! But when we meet people with real, desperate needs, what do we offer? A book? A website? A conference? Or ourselves?

And I recognize the irony of writing in this blog about how there are too many blogs! I am really just another fish in this stream, going with the flow like everyone else. But once in a while, I try to poke my head up above the surface, take a look around, and see the big picture.

Among all the texting, the chatting, and the blogging, through all the MySpacing, the Facebooking, and the Twittering, in between all the TV shows, mp3’s and videos, is a real life God has given us to live, surrounded by real people who crave authentic relationships.

Are we really there for those who need us? Are we spending more time with our cell phones, iPods and laptops, than we spend with our spouses, children and coworkers? Do we treat interaction with others as an interruption from using these devices, or the other way around?

At CharestCorp, this year we are challenging ourselves to have more face-to-face interaction, not only with our clients and consultants, but also with our community. We are asking God to show us where He would have us serve Him, and lead us to those who need Him most.

-James Tomlin, Architect, Certified Church Consultant

How fun is it to hear REAL stories from REAL people about why they love their church!

LifeChurch.tv is in the middle of their “I Love My Church” Campaign, where  Craig Groeschel invades people’s homes and hears testimonies of what God’s doing in their lives.

Click here to watch. It’s about 40 min.

Or to get the short version, read about it at The Christian Post.

Enjoy,

Alisa

For all you cynics out there frustrated that the Church doesn’t jump on the bandwagon for the “good” trends - like encouraging sustainability, energy saving and water conservation – think again.

Though it may have taken awhile for the mainstream Church to adopt some of these principles, there’s no better time than the present to join churches sprinkled throughout the country who are addressing the environmental challenges that organizations like Nike and DuPont have started for us.

(side note: by 2020, Nike intends to achieve zero waste, zero toxicity, and 100% recyclability across all product lines!)

Websites like ChurchesGoGreen.Org and Church Solutions Magazine are reminding the body of Christ of the importance of environmental stewardship. Plus, Jewish and Christian organizations(evangelicals and non-evangelicals), are making their environmental concerns known to their local governments and other denominations.

A new “Green Sanctuaries” initiative in the city of Los Angeles by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has put forth benefits to church efforts for energy efficiency, and financial and tactical support to encourage more area churches to be a good steward of the environment.

Faith2Green.com is home to Southern California’s Interfaith Environmental Council, which supported the initiative. The first “green sanctuary” was the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, with over 60-kilowatt solar panels.

In California, it’s easy to go green. The building codes here are more stringent than most states, so even church building renovations must meet high environmental standards. To raise the standard even more, it can be costly.

However, as we look into various solar companies and other sustainability solutions for our churches, we’re finding business partner incentives and other rebate opportunities that may be very worthwhile to the environmentally-conscious church. For example, a for-profit business can pay all the upfront costs for solar panels, receiving a hefty tax break at the end of the year, while all the church has to do is pay the monthly fees.

I’ll try to post more money-saving ideas regarding GREEN buildings, etc. in the future. For now, put recycling containers next to all your trash containers and get started!

-Alisa Manjarrez, Certified Church Consultant