The Company

RSI

1. How long has the company been in the business of conducting capital stewardship programs for local churches?

Since 1972

Over 6000 individual church campaigns. We have done hundreds more as part of conference or diocesan programs.

373

RSI is a part of Viscern that has a total of 207 employees. This includes the support staff as well as consultants at RSI, Ketchum and RSI-Ketchum.

The Consulting Staff

1. How many full-time church stewardship consultants are on staff?

82

0

Emphatically yes. RSI would recommend a consultant or consultant team and send them to meet with you for your approval.

It would vary depending on the experience of the consultant and the size of programs that he/she is working. To be considered as a potential lead consultant for your church a consultant would need to have at least 5 years of experience and have worked programs as large or larger than that proposed at your church. That level of consultant would probably be working two or three additional programs.

Consultants who work with very small churches may work 12-14 a year. A consultant working with the larger churches may work only 6 to 8 per year.

We have a person on staff who monitors all of our work and coordinates emergency assistance as needed. At times this coverage is by other consultants with similar experience. At other times this coverage is by supervising personnel. Because of our size and our commitment to the process we have been very fortunate in getting meetings covered in emergencies.

Programming/Service

1. Will the program be customized for your church?

Absolutely! This is very important. The Senior Pastor, other key staff and key lay people should be involved in the program design process. This would be begun in a two or three hour meeting, but would continue over additional meetings. Every detail of the program should be covered. In each major step of the program, RSI will give you choices that have been successful in other churches and allow you to choose the option that would be best for you. If in a particular step we do not have an option in our programming repertoire that your church would want to use, then we would work with you to design and write the materials needed to implement the strategy. That which comes out of program design should be specifically a program for your church.

Definitely yes! This is the reason that it is important that the Senior Pastor be a part of program design. All of this will be discussed as a part of program design. After that discussion there should be no surprises. There should be no teaching that has not been approved by pastor or someone he designates.

Absolutely. For instance, in the program design process we would want you to review all of our stewardship materials to make sure they are consistent with your teachings. Even if our materials are excellent, if you want to re-write stewardship education materials, we will work with you to help that happen. Bottom line…we recognize that we work for you and we will do everything within our power to ultimately do what you want done.

Yes, and this is very important in a major campaign. This is one of the reasons we have been so successful in large programs. Willow Creek, Second Baptist in Houston, Southeast Christian in Louisville and Prestonwood in Dallas would all tell you this is one of the most important strengths of RSI. Most leading companies do something in this area, but at RSI we give great emphasis to this area. Most major gifts are given as gifts in kind…not out of cash flow. Connect this issue with getting the program into a spiritual dimension and you are talking about the issues that make the difference between ordinary and extraordinary.

This is a little difficult to answer because of the needs of church calendar and pastor’s calendar.

The consultant will lead you through program design. In these meetings, the consultant will call attention to the purpose of each step of the program and give you options that have been used successfully in other churches. He will explain those options and allow you to choose the option best for you. In this manner you design your program as indicated above. The consultant assumes you know more about your church than he does. He also should have more experience and knowledge in stewardship programming than you. So the concept is to put the best knowledge from both sides in a room and let them work together to design the program.

The consultant, after program design, will give church leadership a list of personnel required for campaign leadership. That list will also indicate the job descriptions and personality descriptions of the people to be enlisted. Church leadership will identify the people to be enlisted and the consultant will come and assist church leadership in the enlistment of campaign leadership. This is important in defining the role and time requirements of each person to be enlisted.

The role of the consultant is a part of the discussion in program design. In most programs the consultant is very much like a coach of a sports team. They guide, coach, teach, support, encourage those in leadership positions. He leads all of the training meetings at every level of involvement. He assists the pastor and speaks at the Advance Commitment dinners related to tax-wise giving (gifts in kind). Our consultants do not ask for or desire to have pulpit time. Although all of them are pulpit capable, we think the best leader of your people is already in your pulpit. The pastor should be your vision caster. In other churches, we actually work even more behind the scenes. If desired, our consultants are prepared to train trainers selected by the church. In most of these situations the consultant would sit in the meetings, led by others, as a resource in case of some particular need.

Follow up consists of three pieces. During the campaign the consultant will work with a follow up leader and committee to outline a three year follow up plan related to the building plans and other church activities. This will be calendared and approved by the campaign leadership team to give it importance and commitment. This is designed to keep the program alive and vibrant throughout the giving period. Additionally, it would include plans to work with all the new people who join your church over the gift period. This is done in a variety of ways that is a part of the follow up planning. The third piece is that RSI has a Follow Up Division that would work as a liaison between the church and the RSI consultant. The follow up department will assist your church in tracking your program, offer counsel as needed and involve the consultant in onsite consultation as needed. Whatever your church needs we will do. We will schedule onsite visits, but we are available at any time you need us. This is a part of our service to you and there is no additional cost.

RSI gives full support in this process. We will work with people from your church to plan, design and produce all of the printed materials and videos that would be needed for your program. We typically bring in sample printed materials and videos from other programs to assist in the thinking about these projects.

RSI is presently developing some online promotional material programs and templates that may be available by the time you are in your program. This could reduce your costs and make the promotional design and development much easier.

Stewardship Education Materials

1. What stewardship education materials are available?

Stewardship education materials are available for all age groups-adults, youth, children and small children. We presently have three sets of materials that are available and are coordinated with preaching subjects for the inspirational period. Additional materials are being developed at this time that probably will be available by the time you would need them in your program.

Some large churches want to write their own materials and if that were to be so in your church, we would assist and guide in that process.

The Cost

1. What is included in the fee?

This fee covers everything related to RSI…all travel, lodging, auto rental, food, etc. There is no other expense related to RSI. The fee includes all of the manuals, non-personalized training materials, all follow up activities.

Not included in the fee are the costs for developing and producing printed materials and video materials for the program. There could be some expense if your church should choose a commitment activity that required food, i.e. banquet, brunch, etc. Most Advance Commitment dinners are provided by the host families. There could be a need to hire a part-time person to assist in freeing one of your most knowledgeable clerical persons to work on the campaign.

In the payment of our fee, we ask for a 10% deposit at the time of decision and ask for the balance in equal monthly payments ending a couple of months after commitment Sunday. If another schedule is needed, RSI would be happy to consider your particular needs.

We believe the reasons RSI should be strongly considered are:

• Commitment to spirituality – Our commitment is to help you move your program into a spiritual dimension. We help you to lead your people to make spiritual decisions and not simply financial decisions. We want you to have a program so good that it can only be explained by the presence and power of God. God did it! That’s the reason that Bill Hybel’s said in his celebration address, "Only God…"

• Flexibility – We can and will help you design a specific program for your church. Your program, and particularly in your case of bringing in outside counsel for the first time, should be designed with your leadership and be specifically for your church. To have a program that is damaging to your spirit and people could never produce enough money to be worth it.
• Follow Up – This is the most difficult part of any program, but it is important in the sustaining of your program. I simply do not believe anyone matches the efforts of RSI in this area.
• Our work with major donors, and particularly those who may have potential to give gifts in kind. Many pastors will tell you this is a primary benefit of the work of RSI. This work can and will be done in a productive but sensitive way.
• Productivity and Experience – Compare our record and experience with anyone. God has simply allowed us to work with more large churches and lead more large programs than anyone. Again, we were told that when Hybel’s was asked why he and the leaders at Willow Creek chose RSI said, "Absolutely no one can match the experience and record of RSI, particularly in working in large churches. We only have this one chance to do this right; it is too important to our ministry to take a chance."

Thanks for your consideration. I trust there is no doubt about my desire for us to have the opportunity to work with you and your church. I commit to you the finest stewardship programming available. May God bless and guide you in this process. I will call you in a few days.