Our team is not only committed to Facility Stewardship...we are fanatics about it. We even have an eBook on the topic. We have developed a FREE online community to support the premise. There is no doubt what we stand for!
We have been blessed to have established a lasting relationship with Dr. Thom Rainer and his staff. We have participated in a number of podcasts where we have discussed topics around facility management, facility care, life cycle planning and right sizing of facilities when you have too much space. I love these opportunities.
Recently, we were recording another podcast discussing how planning is such a critical part of operating a church. In particular we were discussing worship service and other event planning. Dr. Rainer asked a compelling question to me that allowed me to articulate a believe we have, but have not done well with communicating. He asked "Cool Solutions Group is facility and facility stewardship experts, so how does planning fit in that?"
I am SOOO glad he asked.
If you have ever been on our Cool Solutions Group website, you will see a graphic like this:
This has been a foundation belief for as long as we have been in business, and the foundation for our passion of Facility Stewardship. We tend to spend a great deal of time talking about issues related to the SUSTAIN phase (life cycle, capital reserve, maintenance, management, eSPACE Software, system integrations, etc). But that is not the crux of what true Facility Stewardship encompasses.
Here are the 4 Principles of Facility Stewardship:
- Properly initial planning, design and construction - If the facility is not planned correctly, design efficiently and built in a professional manner, then we are failing our Facility Stewardship initiative before we even get started....which is why we spend an inordinate amount of time addressing deferred maintenance and other facility "ownership" and operational issues.
- Utilization - If you are not going to use the facility to meet your vision and mission, then why have a building? A tent or a rental property would be far less expensive. Intentional utilization of your facility starts with a focus on meeting your ministry objectives which leads to a need to properly PLAN all activities, utilization, events, worship services, etc. This component of Facility Stewardship is often swept under the rugs. Check out this eBook to help plan events and make sure to check out worshipplanning.com to use the most intentional worship planning and event management system on the market.
- Management and Maintenance - ALL facilities require both! Management is the art of planning, managing, being proactive, thinking to the future, vendor management, budgets, etc. Maintenance is the fulfillment of tasks needed to keep the facility operational.
- Life Cycle Planning - We have written many blog articles and eBooks on this topic...mainly because the church as a whole does an inadequate job planning ahead for the inevitable costs of capital renewal, replacement and reserves. I don't need to reiterate what has been written prior.
I hope that clears things up for some. Facility Stewardship is not just about caring for an existing facility. All 4 tenets are critical.
