The LBC Community

THE CHURCH CONTEXT

It is common to hear and feel a sense of gratitude and positive pride that LBC is an excellent church from both leadership on the platform and the small group settings participant. Any faults that could be found are minor, and pale in comparison to many of the issues that a church could face. LBC is a regional church with multiple campus locations strategically selected for maximum impact to reach Kanas City with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This as a result of a shared vision and cooperation of the staff, members, and Pastor Steve Dighton’s previous leadership as the founding pastor. LBC is also known as the flagship conservative evangelical church in KC. Despite LBC’s current size it has maintained a small church
friendliness. The church and its Pastor Emeritus is described as being aggressively evangelistic.
The campuses are in Greenwood, MO, KC North, Shawnee, KS, Bonner Springs, KS, and the main campus in Lenexa, KS. The Greenwood campus was started in 2011, KC North and Shawnee were stated in 2013. The Bonner Springs campus stated in 2014. LBC is dually aligned with the Missouri Baptist Convention and the Kansas Nebraska Baptist Convention to pool resources and support church planting efforts in Missouri and Kansas.
From modest beginnings, in 1988, what is now called LBC was started as a mission church sponsored by Emmanuel Baptist Church in Overland Park. LBC was initially named Westside Baptist Church. Two years later Dighton came to Lenexa after receiving the call to come serve as pastor. He served for twenty-five years as Lead Pastor. He currently serves as Pastor Emeritus.
There was also a seamless succession that began in 2011. One of the features that was helpful was the transition of financial matters. Pastor Dighton’s shows great optimism about his protégé, Pastor Chad McDonald, the current Lead Pastor. “I am convinced this church is going to prosper and do great things and I am honored to have him follow me.” The process of succession included the, “specifics of running the church, including the complex financial details. Although the executive leaders manage the church’s finances, Dighton knew it was important for McDonald to learn how the church allocated its resources and managed its investments.”
Pastor Chad McDonald affirmed his desire to be a good steward and honor Pastor Dighton as he, “financially step[ed] away and actually plan[ed] how I want to spend the rest of my ministry,” Leaving Pastor Chad McDonald final conclusion to be, “the pews are full, and financial support is strong.” So why a stewardship emphasis or a dissertation that assumes an issue that needs to be addressed. There has not been anything offered for five years. The Millennials are a large portion of the members and as the church strives to reach and release them to do ministry. Financial stewardship will be an area that must be taught and mastered to maximize benefits to them and the next generations that come after them. How will the torch be carried to continue to take ground for Christ’s sake? How will the potential for impact be realized for a new generation?
The previous generations had met in several different temporary locations in both Shawnee and Lenexa from 1988 to 1994.
Then for seven years met in a refurbished office building. The church then relocated to its current site on 87th Street in Lenexa. LBC starting in late 1990’s through 2009, has been through a three phase building campaigns. In November 2014, the 27 Million mortgage was paid in full. Even catching the eye of Fox 4 TV. Pastor Chad McDonald was interviewed explaining how freeing it is to serve the community debt-free. What does ministry and budget allocations look now that the buildings are paid off. The other feature of the TV interview was the pledge to donate one million to local charities. What new ministries can be birthed? What new strategies will be employed? None of those shackled by the constraints of debt as a church or its members. With all due respect to the previous leadership and multiple generations enjoying the fruits of LBCs ministry. There is still a desire to be known for what it accomplish next? How is that optimism turned into realize potential? Those questions will be answered by more than just stewardship, but stewardship is part of the
equation. Here are a few of the denominational recognitions up to date.
It is listed 104th among SBC largest churches in 2014 up from 141st in 2013. As mentioned earlier the current weekly attendance around 3,000. In 2005, LBC was named by LifeWay President, Dr. Thom Rainer, as one of only 13 “Breakout Churches” in America. In his book, Breakout Churches, Dr. Rainer recognizes 13 elite churches out of 52,333 churches that have moved from mediocrity to greatness. LBC was one of only two Baptist churches recognized for this accomplishment. In 2007, LBC was named as a Standout Church by LifeWay Research as a Southern Baptist Churches that baptized at least 26 people and had overall worship attendance over a 10 consecutive years with 20:1 membership–to-baptism ratio. Pastor Dighton was also elected to the office of Southern Baptist Convention Vice-president in 2015. The first time the office of Vice-president had been established. Are they greater recognition and greater things to be accomplished in the years to come? Pastor Dighton has mentioned a great deal of optimism toward this aim. Pastor Chad MacDonald has also affirmed the same optimism. What could hinder impact or cause a shackling of potential? How is stewardship of financial resources and an aggressive stewardship of the gospel that unashamedly proclaims the gospel and produces real life
change.
The rest of the chapter will be taking a look under the hood to reveal several things. The first is that giving is consistent. The peak of the giving season is December for the church as a whole because of year end giving. The second is that a significant number of people give infrequently or impulsively, and that high impact givers give most frequently based on a monthly pay. The following data is a graphic interpretation of the data given by Jeanne Hultgren, the data base administrator, for the year starting in August 2015 through the present up through July 2016.

Even though there is consistent giving totals that does not show frequency and impact ratio. Although all donations are appreciated infrequent and impulsive gifts lack maximum impact. There is a large number of infrequent or impulsive givers. The churchwide median donor total for those that give 1-4 times per year is $75. The average donor total is $469. This means that there are plenty of large donations in the 1-4 times giving range, but that it lacks overall impact compared to other giving frequencies.