Jared Lyons is the senior pastor of Zao Church planted in Sept 2019 and located in Spicewood TX near West Austin. The church has already maxed out their space and is looking to expand. Their commitment is to be a vibrant ministry in their area and a blessing to the community for years to come.
As a young pastor, Jared realized the value of getting help early in the process as he led his church into their next phase. After selecting the church design firm, Master’s Plan Church Design & Construction, to help them determine their project, the church spoke with several firms about capital fundraising for the project and selected Impact Stewardship to partner with them.
Chuck Klein, Founder of Impact Stewardship, shares is initial thoughts. “With this being Zao Church’s first building project, we realized the significance of developing a solid plan. The initial challenge set before us was to help their leadership determine the ideal scope for their project by forecasting some likely financial ranges they could raise over and above their current budget giving. The secondary challenge was helping this young church develop their vision rollout to their people gauging and garnering support before beginning any type of capital stewardship campaign.”
Jared appreciated Impact Stewardship’s ministry heart. “When I spoke to Chuck and his team, I felt like it was more of a relationship thing. We were coming together to do Kingdom business. Honestly, it’s been one of the best decisions we made in this process because they have been absolutely amazing to work with. I’m so glad we made that decision going with Impact Stewardship.”
The initial planning and strategy were incredibly fruitful. Zao Church’s vision was so well received that the church exceeded all their campaign goals and committed $3.6 million for their upcoming building project (5.5 times their operating budget at the time of the capital stewardship campaign). To date, that number is approaching $4 million in commitments and growing at the end of their first year. The people at Zao are excited about what God is doing in the community through their church and are responding sacrificially through their giving.