- Do not try to save on legal or accounting. A real estate attorney who is experienced and
well versed will protect everyone. Audits and accountability in financials are critical to
maintaining the nonprofit status and respectability of the organization. Everything you build
can be brought down by one avoidable mistake.
- When hiring, understand you are not competing with church wages. The team you want to
build is highly marketable in the private sector. Understand what that sector will pay. You will
find talented people who are excited about the impact your work is making and the mission
culture you are building. They might rather be in your space than in the sometimes-cutthroat
world of traditional commercial real estate. Remember, they most likely have families to feed.
Find the middle ground. It is important the Firm’s Board understands this as well.
- A seminary degree does not qualify a person to do this work. Our work requires looking
through a different prism. Part time pastors can be helpful in walking a church through the
grieving process of closure. It takes a pastor with a heart for the work as it is not natural for a
pastor to close a church.
- Never underestimate the toll this work can take on the team. I know before long I will walk
into a church to change the locks—it will be a church my father served, and I grew up in.
There is an emotional and mental drain you must understand. We have created a game
counting Christmas trees as we walk closed churches. It takes some of the gloom out of the
process.
- The culture you develop amongst your team is everything. They need to support each other,
back each other up, and look forward to the next day of working together. Once you are
established, the calls will come frequently and can tax your resources. They understand the
importance of the work they are doing. Appreciate their efforts and dedication.
- Always remember the building was never the church, and the church was never the building.
The real estate we are working with is a tool, not a ministry.
- If you close a church that is down to 10 members, remember that is 10 people who may
well have given their lives to this church. We need to be better about treating these 10 with
love and grace. While our eyes are on the future, we must honor those who provided the
opportunity, often sacrificially. If they know they are not being abandoned, everything will be
easier.
- Hitting a few singles and doubles early on is a good thing. It allows you to test your systems
and people. Taking on a large project right out the box can be very challenging to the team.
Failure of a large project in the early stages will be detrimental not only to the team, but to
the reputation of the organization.
- With few exceptions, churches work with the blazing speed of a tortoise with an ankle sprain.
Use that to your advantage and the church’s advantage.
