A Short History

ChurchPlanSource was developed as a resource in 2007 and offered as a free resource through my church consulting ministry, AMI Church Consulting. As a church building consultant and an author on the same subject, I often recommended to many of my church clients that they should consider using stock building plans, or building plans from other church building projects. Every year millions of dollars are wasted on church plans that cannot be built- and I wanted to do what I could to prevent that from happening to you.

In most cases, the utilization of an existing building program will help churches save time and money in one or more of the following ways.

• Jump start the design process
• Save time in preliminary design process
• Save money in design
• Get the project into construction quicker
• Help the church visualize a recommended solution
• Motivate a congregation
• Develop unity

In late, 2010, I merged AMI Church Consulting with Church Development Services, LLC, a church design and construction firm with which I had a long and successful relationship with.  The marriage of our church building, design and fundraising services was a perfect fit with CDS's church design, church financing, and church construction services.  In November of 2010, AMI became the church consulting division of CDS.  As part of that acquisition, ChurchPlanSource.com became a service of CDS.  Today, with other acquisitions and partnerships, CDS is the undisputed leader in church building plans - with a library of over 1,000 churches developed over the past 30 years. the

Church Development Services Mission

Our mission is to honor God by providing affordable, value-added church building solutions through education, consulting, cost effective church design, affordable church financing, and cost saving construction methods tailored to the unique needs of each church.

Church Development Services Offering

We provide the church with the benefit of a single relationship that can meet any or all of the church’s needs with respect to organizing, planning, designing, financing, and building new church facilities.  Follow the link to view a summary table of church development services we offer. We can provide these services piecemeal or as a church integrated project delivery turnkey solution.  For more information, please visit ChurchDevelopment.com.

Four Divisions – One Goal: Church Development Services, LLC is comprised of 4 divisions staffed with experts in their respective fields.  Each division works interactively and in a collaborative effort for the benefit of the church.  For instance, in a consulting engagement to help a church understand what it needs to build and what it can afford, we will draw upon the combined resources of the church building and fundraising consultants, finance team, design team and construction team to provide a comprehensive, multi-discipline analysis. 

Church Consulting Services

The Church Consulting Division provides education and consulting services to assist churches to prepare for a building program by helping churches objectively understand what they need to build, what they can afford to build, and how to pay for it.  Asking and answering these questions prepares the church for design and fund raising. In addition to identifying needs and assessing feasibility, the consulting division also assists in church fundraising though a professionally facilitated church capital campaign program called Abundant Giving.

 

Church Design Services

With over 25 years of church design experience, the Church Design Division has completed over 400 church design projects.  With the recent acquisitions, we have more than doubled that number to approximately 1,000 church projects completed over a span of nearly 3 decades. One thing we have learned is that there is a huge difference between an architect and a church architect.  Church design is fundamentally different than any other architectural discipline.  All we do are churches and church related facilities.  We have an unmatched level of experience and pricing that reflects our ministry focus, usually providing design services at ½ the cost of secular architectural firms, sometimes less in certain markets.

 Church Financial Services

Church Development Financial Services (CDFS) draws on over fifty-years of principal experience not only in development and restructuring church projects, but also business mergers and acquisitions (up to $50 million) and large real estate transactions (over $175 million).  Combining this experience with our love for the Lord, CDFS is able to deliver cost effective financing solutions to the church.  Since CDFS has access to multiple sources of funding, it can be creative in mixing and matching what is needed to enable a congregation to fulfill God’s commission to spread the Gospel. In addition to church financing, CDFS offers a wide range of church financial services.

 Church Construction Services

The Church Construction Division was founded to implement the church building plans in a manner that is most cost effective for the church.  Our Open Book Construction Management (OBCM) process is proven to save the church money and insures that all cost savings are retained by the church, not the builder.  We believe that OBCM provides the most cost-effective church construction solution and one which best implements sound biblical stewardship principals.   Follow the link to learn more about how OBCM and Integrated Project Delivery can provide your church the best building solution while getting the most out of every precious church dollar.

All church plans and/or services are purchased directly from the architect.  Our role is to help you select the right plan and to facilitate your church getting the plans and services you require from a licensed church architect.