I am a member of Concordia Lutheran Church in Kirkwood, Missouri. Our congregation has engaged your firm to assist us with our efforts to explore God’s will for the next few decades (and perhaps beyond) for His ministry here.
I am thankful for the work being performed by your firm. In particular, I am thankful for the leadership of your consultant. To my knowledge, his work among my congregation has been excellent in every regard. He is a professional. By “professional,” I mean that he is an experienced, responsive, steadfast, excellence-seeking asset for Concordia: He conducts his work, communicates his messages, and pursues our goal (on our behalf) in a manner that exceeds how we might be able to accomplish those tasks even if our lay leadership were able to devote our full-time efforts to them and even if our lay leadership possessed all his experience.
The consultant is working with a high-achieving Senior Pastor and with an elected governing body that is, in my opinion, filled with excellence-seeking individuals. He has been asked to pursue a financial goal that is degrees of magnitude beyond where God ever has led this congregation. Thus, the bar has been set high for the consultant. Nonetheless, it appears to me that those working directly with him are benefitting from his demeanor, his perceptiveness, his quest for excellence and productivity, and his patience. And, all this work is being accomplished by him against the backdrop of digesting this congregation’s heart for ministry and daily and seasonal work in ministry so that as he works along-side us toward our capital campaign goal (not a goal of fundraising, though perhaps that might occur) but our goal of discerning God’s will for our congregation, we are not jeopardizing God’s ministry in this place. Moreover, our congregation is, it appears, being brought closer together in united ministry.
With these brief words I intend to applaud not only your colleague but also your enterprise. You are bringing valuable resources to the Christian Church.
Concordia Lutheran Church
Kirkwood, Missouri
703-399-0518 
info@jdklote.com 
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Carmel Lutheran Church kicked off its ‘Hearts Compelled To Share’ capital campaign in record style. As of January 25th just 73 families of the more than 900 in the church had already committed $3.75 million dollars. That total represents not only the best kickoff to a campaign at CLC, it also represents the best campaign in total even though only 8% of the congregation has pledged so far.
The previous best campaign was just four years ago when CLC collected a total of about $3 million in pledges from over 425 donors.
"Jim Klote, president of James D. Klote and Associates, a capital stewardship consulting firm based in Fall Church, VA, appears on the big screen during his "All Things New" presentation at this year's Annual Conference session. Klote and Associates will conduct free stewardship education workshops for churches in all 18 districts of the conference this fall.
Participants listen attentively during the church stewardship workshop at Wright's Chapel UMC.The Virginia Conference sponsored series of stewardship workshops in each district is winding down, with two more district gatherings remaining in November.
