It is one of the greatest pleasures to be contacted by churches who are ready to move from their rented or leased location and construct a facility of their own. Often times these churches contact me to provide consultation in the areas of church construction services, church development services, and church construction loans. Hearing from these churches allows me to witness first hand how the Lords presence is moving thoroughout our country to facilitate the building of his kingdom. The troubling part about church construction projects is that churches are often given incorrect council making the process extremely stress-full for pastors and the leadership of the church. Pastors and their leadership team are often faced with the daunting task of finding church development services, church construction services, and a church construction loan from multiple vendors in the market place. Finding any one of these services to meet the churches unique needs can be not only problematic but also expensive and stress-full.

One of the biggest mistakes you see in the church construction process is when churches contact an architect and get architectural drawings prior to understanding their financial boundaries with Christian loan lenders. This results in the church having expensive architectural drawings which they can not afford. This problem can be reduced by doing what I call the backward approach to church construction. This principle is based around churches first contacting a consultant that is involved in the financing arena. This allows the church to determine  how large of a church loan they will qualify for and gives them a better idea of their financial boundaries for the church construction. This qualify number can then be evaluated based on a average square foot figure in the area to give the church a good idea of what size building they should ask an architect to draw. Some pastors take this process, of understanding needs, one step further by getting a church feasibility study. Regardless of the firm used the study will define your churches specific needs and balance those needs with your financial ability.

Church 1st has taken this stress free church construction concept to another level by offering a program that combines not only the church construction loan but also church development services, architectural and engineering services, a church feasibility study, ground-up construction, as well as a church stewardship campaign and a permanent church loan for the facility. The program includes all of these features and much, much more all in an effort to reduce the stresses often faced in the church construction process. The program was specifically designed for those churches who are needing more funding then otherwise would be available through traditional Christian loan lenders. It allows churches to maximize the square footage of their church construction project while still staying within their financial boundaries. Some of the program benefits include: