We invite you to enjoy the second blog in a conversation with Pastors John Nuzzo and Steve Moore on the ministry of Kingdom Builders. To read our first blog, click here.
Steve: One thing I’ve noticed as we talk about Kingdom Builders with others is that pastors can get hung up on the numbers. I want to make sure we’re clear that any church of any size can use this program. 2019, our launch year for Kingdom Builders, we went into it blind. We set a goal. We were unsure what was going to happen after that. We knew we’d only be taking one offering the entire year. There were no special offerings throughout the year. There were no pledge cards. None of that. People give once. And that’s why we stress to pastors and leaders that this is really about vision, purpose and mission. It’s not about raising funds. It’s about reaching people with the gospel. That is the message you keep before the people.
In our first year, we surpassed our goal by a lot, with the largest single gift we received being $40,000. This was because we learned to communicate the vision on a consistent basis. Now, for 2023, our goal is $2.8 million. That could be overwhelming to people. But here’s what we say: “Don’t do the math; do your part. Just do what God puts on your heart to do.” We do not talk about the money. They don’t even know how much has come in until after the total offerings have been received.
The majority of the money (over 50%) actually comes in over the last seven weeks of the year. If we look at our first year again, just so no one gets hung up on where we are today, we had a brand new accounting guy. He came into my office in October and sat across from me. He asked, “Pastor Steve, have you committed all this money? Because we are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars short. What happens if we don’t get this money?” I just smiled at him and said, “There is no plan, Bud. This is it.” At that time, we were not even remotely close to hitting our goal. Then, we exceeded it by quite a lot!
I like Kingdom Builders because it provides churches with a vehicle to connect people to the mission of Jesus week in and week out. Every year, you launch/relaunch the program. We relaunch at the end of January or the first of February. We produce a guide. You can view that guide as a portfolio of what people are investing in, the three main areas we discussed in our last blog: global church expansion, local church expansion (national – could be a new campus launch or so forth), and raising future Christian leaders. What’s key is that none of this is tied to the church paying its bills. It can’t be because that would degrade it.
You can’t come to Victory and not hear Kingdom Builders mentioned every weekend. It’s often simple, like this past weekend when my daughter was the host and all she said about Kingdom Builders was two sentences in reference something that was coming up. Why do we do it like this? Because we’re not trying to convince people to give, and it’s never about money.
We share the annual goal and give a lot of reports – photos, videos, and testimonies. And we have our guide available digitally and in print. Then, in November we take up our Impact Offering. River Valley Church calls it a miracle offering. You can call it whatever fits your culture. For us, it’s the Impact Offering, and we spend the year encouraging people to give when the time comes.
The Sunday two weeks before Thanksgiving is usually when we take up our Impact Offering for Kingdom Builders. We plug Kingdom Builders in a more intentional way starting about four weeks before the Impact Offering. The first year we did it longer than this. During this time, we show longer videos and share specific testimonies that relate the impact our members’ giving has had on a person’s life. Everything we do is about impact, letting people see the impact of their giving. We don’t talk about the money; we talk about the impact.
Kingdom Builders allows you to reach more people faster. Some of the ministries we’ve launched or connected with have taken ground in six months that would have usually taken six years. They’ve been able to finish a building in months rather than years. They’ve been able to go reach a new people group that they would have never reached if they hadn’t received this funding. They’ve been able to go to places like the Middle East with immediate relief.
Kingdom Builders allows you to impact ministries because, as you know, most missions organizations don’t lack vision; they lack partners. They lack people to come alongside them who will help fund the vision and help expedite it. That, for me, is the most enjoyable part of Kingdom Builders. I count it a privilege to come alongside ministries that have heart and are willing to sacrifice their lives. They move their families overseas; they do all kinds of challenging things.
John: There’s one last thing that I would encourage you, pastor. If you’re impulsive like me, if you aren’t going to commit to this and make it a part of your culture, then don’t start Kingdom Builders because it doesn’t work if you don’t work it. But if God’s put it on your heart to do this, and if you’ll commit, then you have to think long-term strategy. I’m grateful that I have someone like Steve to help me because if I didn’t, this wouldn’t have kept building. Whatever strategy you use, just be consistent with it and carry on through to the end. If you want to start Kingdom Builders at your church, feel free to reach out and ask us for help. We’re here for you!
Steve: You can get in contact with us, and we’ll walk you through and provide you with as much information as we possibly can. We want to help you because it is important! You have to lay the foundation for it to launch it properly. It’s important that you do it right. Get with us, and we’ll help!
