The two campaigns - "Building a Home for the Spirit" and "Honoring Our Past, Building Our Future" - have been the most significant achievements in our ministry as a congregation in the past two generations. What has been most gratifying about them was not their financial success, as great as that was, but rather the spiritual renewal that accompanied the campaigns. It would be difficult to overstate the financial achievements of the campaigns themselves. What transpired here was nothing less than a miracle of generosity. No one believed it possible that a church with an annual budget of $160,000 in 1995 would be able to raise as much as we did --$1.4 million over the two campaigns through faith commitments and special gifts. Even more importantly, we were able to realize a 25% increase in our mission giving and even more in our operating budget while the campaigns were in progress. And although our congregation had authorized a significant amount of long-term debt on our construction, on May 6, 2001 - the official completion date of the second campaign - we burned the mortgage on our new building and are able to undertake new challenges in ministry debt-free.

Despite my early reluctance, I am amazed at what an uplifting and positive experience "Imagine Our Opportunity" turned out to be for me personally. All of our collective efforts and energy invested in the campaign made everything much easier than could possibly have been imagined. It changed my view of our church and our congregation - and what wondrous things can be accomplished by strong planning, active participation and wise guidance. I strongly believe that without your guidance, encouragement, and at times, prodding, we would not have reached, let alone surpassed, our financial goal.

More recently, we invited Dave to provide consultatio, training, and a plan for raising $1,000,000 at the Broomfield United Methodist Church. His leadership was outstanding! We set our goal and then raised $1,064,000 in three year pledges. There were individuals in each setting who were concerned about the concept of bringing in a stewardship consultant to assist with the project. Some thought, maybe we can do this ourselves. Others were concerned about the fee we would pay a consultant. Still others had bad feelings about previous "fund-raising" tactics they had experienced in other congregations. By the time the congregational team was recruited and the plan was in place, the fears were gone. By the time the pledges were received, everyone was convinced that we had made the appropriate choice to hire a consultant. They were also sold 100% on Dave Jackson and Stewardship Dynamics.

There are many aspects of your work that made our campaign a success. Some were obvious to everyone; your very clear organizational structure, your personal interest and involvement, your complete commitment to us. I will highlight, however, some aspects that may not have been obvious to anyone but me. You contacted me often to see how things were going. When our campaign experienced some unanticipated surprises, you and I were able to work together in a very trusting way to provide the leadership needed. Your flexibility, your honesty, your total involvement made the adjustments we had to make possible. I value the fact you remained our consultant at all times, helping us do what we wanted to do. I value also the friendship and relationship we developed.