Serious Money
02/08/12 04:01
We have hired an engineering firm to help us put together proposals for some major building projects at the church. There are some deferred maintenance projects, some normal wear and tear, and the need to make upgrades to decrease our energy consumption. Our building is 53 years old and although it is well-maintained, it will require some major investments to keep it viable in the coming decades.
It would be silly for me to speculate about the amount of money that is going to be required. Before we see the numbers, any figures that I might offer would be pure speculation. I am confident, however, that the numbers are going to be big. We will have to engage a process of evaluating our priorities and clarifying our values as we put together a plan that fits the needs and abilities of our congregation. There are items on our current wish list that will have to be deferred. A church isn’t different from a family or any other group of people. We do not have infinite funds. We can’t spend without careful thought about the source of our funds. The process of clarifying what is most important is a healthy endeavor for a congregation. I’m looking forward to that process.
I’ve walked through capital fund raising with congregations before. I have a rough sense of how the process works. I even have some numbers in my mind as to what might be possible for our church. I’m not the most astute financial manager, but I’ve been working with church finances long enough to have a pretty good sense of what will work.
As such, I deal with small numbers when compared to other arenas. Our church budget hovers in the $300,000 per year range. A capital funds project might near a million dollars, but my experience doesn’t go into the millions. I am not a big numbers kind of person.
In contrast to our congregation and my experience, there are people in our community who deal with much bigger numbers. The proposed Presidents Plaza project, planned for ground breaking in 2013 is estimated to cost between $41 million and $48 million. The totals are staggering from my perspective. Totals aside, the fact that the variation in estimates is $7 million is pretty impressive.
On July 9, Civic center officials proposed a $125 million to $150 million expansion of that facility including a 15,000 to 20,000-seat arena, two elevated parking garages and reworking of some of the existing space. Even for a growing city, when you start talking about hundreds of millions of dollars, you are talking about really big numbers. The range between the highest and lowest estimates is more than the total of the most recent expansion of the Civic Center which included a hockey arena.
For the city to engage in such projects requires people who are comfortable and have experience in dealing with much bigger numbers than my limited experience. I’m happy to be nervous about a comparatively small capital funds proposal that will arise in our congregation. The numbers of that proposal still have plenty of capability to impress me.
Truth be told, the price of a used car is enough to get my attention.
Those numbers, however, pale in comparison with what our country is spending on politics. The estimated price tag for the November general election in the United States is $6 billion.
Quite frankly, I don’t think that anyone who is involved in spending that much money can be honestly called “conservative.”
Keep in mind that while the economy is not growing and jobs are scarce and nearly one in five American households lacks the security of health insurance, election spending is projected to be a whopping 7% over the already inflated 2008 numbers.
To put that in perspective, our country will spend more on this election than the annual GDP of Malawi. US election spending is 120 times as much as election spending in the United Kingdom. 23 times as much per person is spent on elections here compared to those in England. It seems we are still paying a high price for our independence.
Again, I’m no expert in numbers when they get that big. Michael Franz, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project said, “You could say that we’ve gotten into a crazy world, where the cost of elections has sky-rocketed, and that we are in a wacko world of crazy spending, but it all depends on what apples and oranges you want to compare.” He says U.S. elections are “relatively cheap” when compared with spending on, for example, the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan.
Michael Toner, former chair of the U.S. Federal Elections Commission, points out that we will spend less on elections this year than the $7 billion Americans spend each year on potato chips. Even though I am awed and perplexed by the incredible costs, I do have to to say that I think that elections are worth more than potato chips.
The problem, of course, is the source of the money.
In our small church, if we tackle a capital funds project that is too large for us, there is little danger that we would fail to somehow raise the money. The real danger is that raising too much money would distract us from the core of our ministry. A senior pastor needs to be visiting people, conducting funerals and weddings, preparing for worship, studying and serving the community. Every hour invested in raising money detracts from the work to which our congregation is called.
The same is true of Senators, Representatives and our President. The fact that political fund-raising is now a 24/7/365 operation in Washington, D.C. detracts from the work to which we elected these people. Too much time spent raising money detracts from public service and creates entanglements that are not good for representative democracy. In a small population state like South Dakota, our federal representatives are so beholden to out-of-state interests before they are elected, that the voices of their constituents are tiny in comparison to the voices of their funders.
Therefore, I am officially announcing that I have no intention of running for office. I will not be a candidate. I’m going to stay in our small congregation and participate with the other members in trying to make responsible decisions with a relatively small amount of money.
I’m just not a good enough fundraiser to pursue a career in politics.
I’ve walked through capital fund raising with congregations before. I have a rough sense of how the process works. I even have some numbers in my mind as to what might be possible for our church. I’m not the most astute financial manager, but I’ve been working with church finances long enough to have a pretty good sense of what will work.
As such, I deal with small numbers when compared to other arenas. Our church budget hovers in the $300,000 per year range. A capital funds project might near a million dollars, but my experience doesn’t go into the millions. I am not a big numbers kind of person.
For the city to engage in such projects requires people who are comfortable and have experience in dealing with much bigger numbers than my limited experience. I’m happy to be nervous about a comparatively small capital funds proposal that will arise in our congregation. The numbers of that proposal still have plenty of capability to impress me.
Truth be told, the price of a used car is enough to get my attention.
Those numbers, however, pale in comparison with what our country is spending on politics. The estimated price tag for the November general election in the United States is $6 billion.
Quite frankly, I don’t think that anyone who is involved in spending that much money can be honestly called “conservative.”
Keep in mind that while the economy is not growing and jobs are scarce and nearly one in five American households lacks the security of health insurance, election spending is projected to be a whopping 7% over the already inflated 2008 numbers.
To put that in perspective, our country will spend more on this election than the annual GDP of Malawi. US election spending is 120 times as much as election spending in the United Kingdom. 23 times as much per person is spent on elections here compared to those in England. It seems we are still paying a high price for our independence.
Again, I’m no expert in numbers when they get that big. Michael Franz, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project said, “You could say that we’ve gotten into a crazy world, where the cost of elections has sky-rocketed, and that we are in a wacko world of crazy spending, but it all depends on what apples and oranges you want to compare.” He says U.S. elections are “relatively cheap” when compared with spending on, for example, the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan.
The problem, of course, is the source of the money.
In our small church, if we tackle a capital funds project that is too large for us, there is little danger that we would fail to somehow raise the money. The real danger is that raising too much money would distract us from the core of our ministry. A senior pastor needs to be visiting people, conducting funerals and weddings, preparing for worship, studying and serving the community. Every hour invested in raising money detracts from the work to which our congregation is called.
Therefore, I am officially announcing that I have no intention of running for office. I will not be a candidate. I’m going to stay in our small congregation and participate with the other members in trying to make responsible decisions with a relatively small amount of money.
I’m just not a good enough fundraiser to pursue a career in politics.