Leawood Updates Blog
Pictured here is Adam and LaVon Hamilton
Leawood
Dear Friends,
This is such an exciting time in the life of our church! We’ve launched new locations, with the help of TV and online tripled the number of people worshiping with us, seen growing numbers of children and students in Sunday school, mid-week programming, and going on mission trips, and as a church we have served those outside our walls in ways we never thought possible.
Over the past 33 years, we have learned that even our biggest dreams don’t come close to the ways God can use us to transform lives, renew churches and change the world. And, we believe God is not finished with us yet!
This Fall, we are embarking on a campaign to prepare our congregation for a bright future. The campaign is called Generation to Generation and will focus on creating the right spaces for our children and grandchildren and generations “yet unborn.” At the same time, we’ll be looking at how we can address the needs of our oldest members. And, we hope to reduce or eliminate our debt at Leawood so that we can redeploy the portion of your offerings that currently go to debt service for mission and ministry instead.
LaVon and I are excited about the Generation to Generation campaign and believe it is important to care for people of all ages in our congregation. We want to ensure that the church continues to do a great job caring for our parents and grandparents’ generations, and we desperately want to know that we’re doing all we can to connect with our daughters and our granddaughter and their generations. We hope you will prayerfully consider being a part of this important effort, and join us to ensure a vibrant future for the church.
In Christ’s love,
Adam Hamilton, Senior Pastor
The Plan
Where is God Calling Us Now...
In 2020, Resurrection set several critical goals for the year 2030. Recognizing that fewer children, youth and young adults were going to church across the US and that 78% of all people who make a commitment to Christ do so before they are 19, one of these goals was to INVEST IN INTENTIONAL EFFORTS TO REACH EMERGING GENERATIONS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
A second goal was to ADDRESS THE MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF THE COMMUNITY, which have skyrocketed among younger, and older generations.
To that end, we believe God is calling us to the following four goals:
- Create Spaces Where Students Know They Belong
- Create a Place for Care and Connection
- Create a Chapel for Weddings, Funerals and Worship
- Retire Debt, Redeploying Debt Service to Expanding Ministry
Click here to see a special message from Pastor Adam
Click here to learn more about the specific plans for Resurrection Leawood.
A Place Where Students Know They Belong
The last decade has seen a significant decline in the involvement of youth and young adults in church. As most people come to faith before age 18, we hope to redouble our investment in student ministries and create a youth program reaching both our own students and teens not involved in church. Demographics show over 14,000 middle and high school students live within 5-miles of our Leawood location.
To that end, we’ve spent the last two years recruiting and developing an outstanding staff of youth leaders and doubled the number of our volunteers. We’ve created programs to help students find fellowship and faith. This past year, 671 unique teens participated in our programs with 167 being brand new to Resurrection. Our hope over the next seven years is to double these numbers.
To accommodate our youth programs, we need to renovate our student ministry spaces. Our Student Center was last remodeled 18 years ago, before our current students were born. These students need small group meeting spaces. In addition, we hope to create outdoor recreation spaces that foster fun, friendship, and community for teens, families and individuals of all ages and abilities.
Spaces for students where everyone belongs and has the opportunity to grow and live out their faith
Engaging spaces for worship, teaching, community, and indoor activities and games
Creation of classrooms for small groups and Bible study
An outdoor pavilion with large LED screens for youth concerts and movies on the lawn
Multi-purpose sport court for youth and adult recreation
Outdoor seating areas on the event lawn for small groups and fellowship
Green space for games and gatherings
The plan includes space for an inclusive playground that creates a multi-generational gathering space, where children, youth and adults of all abilities can socialize, experience physical activity, and simply have fun.
A Place for Care and Connection
Resurrection’s first building was built in 1994, and the entrance was designed to be the “front door” to the church, a place that would welcome the congregation and community throughout the week. Our plan is to renovate the current Wesley Chapel to be a central place for care and connection. It will include a reception area to welcome all who enter and provide a visible, easy-to-access entrance to the Student Center. The space will also become a hub for pastoral care and counseling, allowing us to expand the number of individuals we are able to provide care to. We will bring together our pastoral care and counseling by moving our pastoral offices into one easy-to-find location. On the east side will be a small chapel for our students, those coming for pastoral care, and smaller weddings and funerals.
A Place for Weddings, Funerals, and Worship
From our first master plan, the current Wesley Chapel was intended to be the entry for Building C and a permanent chapel would be built. Our 2013 master plan envisioned it close to the permanent sanctuary, fellowship hall and other ministry spaces. Our permanent chapel will be located on the south side of Building B, an expansion of the existing prayer chapel. It will be used for weddings, funerals, worship and special services. We currently have close to 50 weddings and more than 150 funerals each year. We project the number of funerals will double to 300 per year in the next five years and hope the number of weddings doubles as well. This beautiful new 450-seat Chapel will have timbers, stone, and natural light. Tens of thousands of funerals, weddings, worship services and other special services will be held there over the next 100 years.
Resurrection History
In 1990, a group of visionaries shared a dream that they could build a Christian community where non-religious and nominally religious people of all ages would become deeply committed Christians. Launching Resurrection in a funeral home, they laid a foundation for generations to come. They had no idea the number of lives that would be transformed or the impact the church would have on the community, but they trusted God and dreamed big.
Resurrection has always been about people whose lives can be transformed when they follow Jesus, and who in turn can change the world. But, as we’ve grown and expanded, we’ve recognized that facilities and resources are important tools for ministry. Today, as a thriving church with six physical locations and a growing online presence, we are committed to ensuring that our buildings and programs continue to welcome and care for our community – from those yet to be born, to teens and young adults, to our oldest adults.
Resurrection Leawood Story
Launch to Lift High the Cross
Resurrection launched with four people and a dream to reach non-religious and nominally religious people. The church grew exponentially, leading to a move to a temporary space at Leawood Elementary School, followed by the first Capital Campaign called Life High the Cross to build Leawood's first sanctuary.
Continued Growth & Expanded Ministry
Worship attendance multiplied, and we quickly outgrew our beautiful 300 seat chapel. We boldly knew we needed to build a new Sanctuary to accommodate this growth. In 1998, we moved to a new 1,500 seat Sanctuary, which is now the Student Center. We built the East Wing of Building C, adding children and student classrooms to accommodate the growth. During this time we launched many new ministries including our Preschool, Leadership Institute, and hosted our first Holy Land trips. Easter 2001, we welcomed 11,500 people in worship.
New Locations & Online Worship
Our new sanctuary and classrooms enabled us to welcome more, yet once again we found ourselves out of space. So, in 2002, we responded to God’s Plans for our church to build a new Sanctuary with more seating and adjacent children’s nurseries and classrooms. Easter 2004, we opened our 3,500-seat sanctuary, welcoming 15,895 in worship. The next few years celebrated many new transformative ministries: Bless the School, Congregational Care Ministry, the Grow, Pray, Study guide, and our first online worship service. By 2010, three new locations launched so we could continue to reach new people: West (2006), Downtown (2009), and Blue Springs (2010).
10,000 Reasons - Finishing What We Started
Our buildings have always been an important ministry tool helping us fulfill our purpose and vision, so in 2014, the 10,000 Reasons campaign focused on building our permanent Sanctuary as a sacred space for all to encounter God. A three-year campaign – we moved in on Palm Sunday 2017 - followed by another three-year campaign, Finishing What We Started, enabled us to renovate Building B, adding adult classrooms and transforming the former sanctuary into a multifunctional fellowship hall while also addressing debt. We welcomed Saint Paul School of Theology to Building C, drawing seminarians as a part of our vision to strengthen churches. In 2019, our fifth location Resurrection Overland Park launched.
Generation to Generation
We set goals for the year 2030 to close critical gaps, and through this unrelenting focus Resurrection became a beacon of hope across the community in the middle of uncertain times. Our catalytic television ministry reached more than 35,000 weekly and more than 100,000 on Christmas Eve. Our buildings served as an outpost to distribute over 42,000 COVID-19 vaccines, and the mobile food truck distributed more than 230,000 lbs. of food to the community. In 2022, Resurrection Brookside launched as our 6th location. In 2023, a record number of families, children, and youth returned to church with 1550 children participating in Vacation Bible School and 300 students serving on summer mission trips.
The Mesmer Family
What younger generations are often missing today is community. Having a
church that meets young people where they are
and helps them find community is so important. We hope to leave a legacy for our children and grandchildren that they can carry forward with their families.
Retire Debt and Expand Ministry
We intend to do all of the building and renovations outlined in this brochure without taking on additional debt. In addition, we would like to retire most, if not all, of the existing Leawood debt by the end of this campaign. Thanks to previous campaigns, nearly all of the buildings and land at Leawood are paid for. Our existing debt is $16 million, and our current debt service is $1.2 million each year. Two years ago, our interest on that debt was 2%. Today it is 6%.
A goal of this campaign is to retire the debt and burn the mortgage by 2027. This will free up $1.2 million currently coming out of our ministry budget to pay for interest and principal which will then be deployed for mission and ministry, including the expansion of youth, young adult, and care ministries.
Together We Can Ensure a Vital Ministry for Resurrection Leawood for Generations to Come
Campaign Need $46 Million
$46 million seems like a very large number, and it is. But given the size of our congregation and the size of our ministry budget, our leaders believe this is a realistic goal. It is about half of the inflation-adjusted amount of our 2014 campaign that built our sanctuary and less than two times our annual giving at Leawood.
We have broken out the need in three tiers:
$40M: If we raise $40M we will complete the following:
- Student Center renovation
- Care Ministry and Pastoral Care Offices expanded and relocated
- New Chapel adjacent to Building B
- Inclusive Playground designed for people with special needs
- $10M in debt reduction
$43M: If we raise $43M we will add completion of the following:
- Outdoor recreation area
- $12M in debt reduction
$46M: If we raise $46M we will complete the entire project, including elimination of the debt.
How will we get there?
This campaign is a time of spiritual growth – for our church and for us individually. You have the opportunity to be a part of something that will have a tremendous impact. We need your commitment as we continue this journey of transforming lives, renewing churches and changing the world. Thank you for praying about a sacrificial gift to ensure our congregation has a vital future caring for all generations.
Rusty and Martha Carpenter Smith
Joy in sacrifice for us is the belief you are putting God first. With our gifts we can make a difference,
and God’s will be done.
We sacrifice doing something we could do for ourselves because God comes first. This is important, and we are committed.
Campaign Timeline & Next Steps
Two Commitments. One Purpose.
Annual Ministry Fund
Your commitment to the Annual Ministry Fund makes possible all the mission and ministry at Resurrection. Your generosity and commitment to join us in closing the gap between where the world is and where it could be is the lifeblood of the church.
Generation to Generation
This capital campaign commitment, over and above your regular offering, will make possible creating and improving facilities to help us in passing on the faith from generation to generation.
Begin with prayer.
Pray for this campaign, specifically that God will give our leaders wisdom and touch the hearts of our congregation.
Pray for personal discernment as you consider how God is calling you to invest in a church for generations today and tomorrow.
Pray this simple prayer daily:
God, you have called us to tell coming generations of your glorious deeds. Grant us vision to know the plans you have for your church, and give us the conviction, courage and boldness to pursue them. Amen.
Determine your commitment.
The success of the campaign will require a commitment from us all to complete the building designs and achieve our goals. A sacrificial gift is an opportunity to take a bold step in your spiritual journey, make a sacrificial gift to invest in God’s work, and experience the joy of knowing that you will be sharing Jesus with current and future generations.
Resources
Give as a Family
Family Resources
Parents, this is an opportunity to discuss giving with your children. Our children’s ministry team has designed activities and a Talk & Tunes resource with these conversations in mind. Share with your children how you make giving decisions. Talk about the difference you want to make, and work as a family to find other ways to make an impact. Download printable versions of these resources by clicking the buttons below.
Qualified Charitable Distribution Information
If you have an IRA, consider contributing through a Qualified Charitable Distribution. A QCD is a direct transfer of funds from an IRA custodian, payable to a qualified charity like Resurrection. These gifts expand the impact of your giving, because instead of paying taxes on the money, every dollar goes directly to mission and ministry. Seek advice from a financial advisor to determine the best way to maximize this opportunity. For more information visit cor.org/waystogive or click the button below.
Giving Online
Setting up a recurring gift at Resurrection is a convenient and secure way to manage your giving. Use this link for easy-to-use steps. As you set up your gifts, be sure to read carefully as you enter your giving amount and frequency.
Spiritual Discernment Resources
Begin with Prayer
Spiritual Discernment Guide
Our sacrificial gifts to the church, above and beyond our annual ministry fund gift or tithe, over the next three years towards the Generation to Generation capital campaign will provide resources that will impact thousands and thousands of lives for generations to come. Making a sacrificial gift is something that requires prayerful discernment, and it will take each of us to make the goals of this campaign a reality. As you embark on this spiritual journey, this devotional is designed to help you prayerfully seek God’s calling as you consider what He is asking you to sacrifice to be a part of ensuring spaces for all generations at Resurrection, today and into the future.
GPS Videos
