Houston’s First Baptist Church is blessed by tremendous unity and openness among the staff, Deacons and members. In the spirit of that relationship, HFBC provides this forum to address questions that many of you may have about current developments at the church, how things operate, and so on. 

Our goal is to provide a place where you can get a straight answer from the people who know the answers. As questions are submitted or as staff members become aware of questions being asked ‘around the halls’ at church, we will take steps to provide information here—so you can hear it here first!

If you have questions of your own, send them to communications.office@hfbc.org. Every question will receive a response, but only those of interest to a wide audience will be posted here.

Click on one of the following categories, or scroll down to view all of the questions and answers:

Administration
Capital Campaign
Facilities
Financial
Personnel
West Parking Lot Ground Lease
Worship Services

How does the committee system work?
HFBC is Pastor-led, staff-operated, committee-reviewed, Deacon-served and congregationally-approved in matters of governance. Our by-laws establish certain standing committees (including Finance, Personnel and Facilities) whose members are nominated annually by the Committee on Committees and approved by a congregational vote. Members serve three-year terms.

Generally, committees review staff work and act on recommendations. Committees are authorized by the church to ratify business on behalf of the congregation up to a certain percentage of the operating budget. Thus, Church Conferences are not typically burdened with voting on paint colors or personnel policies.

Major committee decisions are reported on a monthly basis to the Deacon Administrative Committee (DAC). Any action that has major financial implications must gain a second approval from the DAC. In addition, the DAC must review any matter of business before it is placed on the Church Conference agenda.

Committee work can be time consuming; however, it provides insight into the daily operations and “behind the scenes” business of HFBC. If you would like to recommend a church member to serve on a committee, contact Nancy Monarch, the Committee on Committee liaison, at nancy.monarch@hfbc.org.

Why are we listed as members of the Saddleback and Willow Creek Associations?
From time to time, a department may order material from one of these associations. Also, staff members take advantage of specialized seminars offered by these groups. This “membership” does not imply the responsibility, funding or cooperation that is involved with being a member of organizations such as the Union Baptist Association.

Why are we not giving money to the mission projects first, as opposed to paying for the Worship Center renovation?
The renovation of the Worship Center will require the church to take on a short-term construction loan for a projected 20 months.    

If the church were to set aside 10% of donations as they are received beginning with First Fruits Sunday, December 2, 2007, for the purpose of applying them to the various mission projects, this would require an extension of the loan to 22 months. In addition, this would increase the total interest paid on the debt by approximately $100,000. 

In essence, this second scenario would require the church to borrow money in order to give to missions.  The church’s Finance Committee decided that this was not good stewardship of the capital campaign contributions.

Because Mission funding is occurring prior to the currently existing debt being paid off, the full funding of the Mission projects will occur sooner under the current schedule than if 10% of donations were set aside throughout the campaign.

Why are we borrowing money for the Worship Center renovation? Why don’t we collect the entire amount of funds first, and then renovate the Worship Center?
One difficulty in waiting until all the funds come in is that construction costs are escalating.  We are projecting that the interest paid on the loan will be less than the escalation in constructions costs.  Because donations will be received prior to the renovation of the Worship Center, we will not have to borrow the full $12.6 million.  A conservative cash flow model shows that our loan balance will not exceed $7 million, and we will have some loan balance for approximately 20 months, resulting in estimated interest expenses of approximately $370,000.

What if we raise more than the targeted $20 million?
If we were to raise more than the targeted amount, all of the projects in the Be a Part of the Story brochure will be funded as planned—Worship Center Renovation, HFBC Capital Projects, Mission Projects and Debt Retirement. 

However, the amount earmarked for Mission Projects would be increased, receiving 10% of the total amount raised. Church leaders will seek the Lord’s guidance on how any remaining funds should be used to further the ministry of HFBC.

For example, if we raise $25 million, the funds would be allocated as follows:

Worship Center Renovation	$12,600,000
HFBC Capital Projects	$3,000,000
Mission Projects	$2,500,000 (10% of total raised)
Debt Retirement	$1,700,000
Campaign Administration and Worship Service Relocation	$700,000
Remaining Funds	$4,500,000
Total Raised	$25,000,000

How does our study of Nehemiah relate to the Be a Part of the Story capital campaign?
In the Summer of 2006, Pastor Gregg sensed God’s leadership to teach Nehemiah not only to impact our lives by the truths found in that book, but also to prepare our hearts to start the rebuilding process that He was leading us toward. Studying how people with different backgrounds and gifts united to rebuild the wall provided us all with a biblical example of how we, as a church family, can do the same—and how each one of us can Be a Part of the Story.

Since two of our worship services use contemporary music, will the remodeled Worship Center still have a choir loft and organ?
Absolutely! The design for the Worship Center includes the choir loft and room for the orchestra, organ, piano, and other musical equipment. In fact, the acoustics are being adjusted throughout the Worship Center so that these musical elements of our worship services can be better heard and appreciated by everyone no matter where they are sitting.

Why don’t we just build a parking garage and solve our parking issues once and for all?
The average cost to build a parking garage is between $10,000 and $12,000 per parking space. To justify a garage on the HFBC campus, we would need to replace the spaces lost by the footprint of the garage, plus add hundreds of additional spaces to alleviate our parking shortage on campus. Therefore, a parking garage of just 1,000 spaces could have a price tag between $10,000,000 and $12,000,000—and that still may not be enough spaces to meet our needs. For now, the use of off-site parking locations is the best solution for HFBC.

What internal controls are in place related to spending? 
The church business office requires that all spending requests have documentation of the ministry/business purpose, as well as the signature of a minister or director. All expenses are then signed off on by the Director of Operations, ensuring that expenses have been reviewed twice. Items in excess of $1,000 must be signed by the responsible Leadership Team member. Non-recurring items in excess of 1% of the church’s operating budget require a church action at the monthly church conference.

The Finance Committee reviews the financials of the church on a monthly basis, and reviews audited financials once a year. In addition, the church body is encouraged to attend the monthly church conference, where the monthly financials are reviewed and approved by the church. 

Click here for additional information on the designated WCI page.

What are the implications of a new Worship Pastor for the choir and orchestra?
Great days are ahead! The choir and orchestra are a part of our ongoing strategy for the Assembly worship service. We have plans of seeing both grow and thrive in the future.

January 20, 2008

Background: From the day we moved to this location (April 17, 1977), finding room for parking has been a challenge. In fact, the first published “master plan” for this site specified a parking garage on the west parking lot.  Since that time, financial constraints and questions concerning feasibility have thwarted at least three attempts to construct a parking garage. This opportunity is the first that brings no additional financial obligation to HFBC and actually returns funds to HFBC in the form of lease payments to the church and the elimination to the church of parking leases and shuttle fees.

In April of 2007, representatives of the Gerald Hines Company met with Pastor Gregg and several Deacons to explore the possibility of commercial development on our west parking lot which would include a parking garage containing about 1500 spaces. Following the meeting, Hines paid for a feasibility study including traffic, engineering and architectural issues.

In a presentation to the Deacons in August of 2007, Hines asked for a vote of approval to investigate the economic viability of such a project. Now, in January of 2008, they are asking for a congregational vote ensuring the “surety of the proposal.” In other words, if Hines can locate the tenants, Trustees of HFBC have the authority to enter into a ground lease.

Question #1: Who is Hines?
Answer: This development company is responsible for the Galleria, One Shell Plaza and Williams Tower. They are highly respected and privately held.

Question #2: What’s the deal?
Answer: HFBC agrees to sign a ground lease for the West parking lot in exchange for free use of the parking garage on Sundays and after normal business hours each weekday.

Question #3: Will this solve our parking problems?
Answer: Yes, it will for the foreseeable future. We currently park about 300 cars off site. The garage would replace the existing 480 spaces on the West parking lot and add approximately an additional 1000 spaces. Based on growth projections, this would allow us to save approximately $200,000 per year currently spent on parking shuttles and garage leases and have enough parking for three completely full Sunday services, approximately doubling our current attendance. 

Question #4: Is a lease finalized?
Answer: No, it is not. The congregational vote on January 27th simply authorizes the Finance Committee and Deacon Administrative Committee to finalize a lease and allows our Trustees to execute such document by May 31, 2008. The resolution to be voted on is as follows:

“Houston's First Baptist Church authorizes the Finance Committee and Deacon Administration Committee to approve, and Church Trustees to execute, a ninety-nine year land lease, with the right to three twenty-five year renewal options, of the West parking lot to a developer which will result in a parking garage for church use on weekends, and on week nights after business hours. Furthermore, if the Finance Committee and Deacon Administrative Committee deem that it is advantageous to transfer ownership of the West lot to a separate legal entity, which would be wholly owned by the Church, the Church authorizes the Trustees to execute such a transfer.”

Some points of agreement to be contained in the lease have been documented in a Letter of Intent from Hines:

• HFBC would lease the land currently occupied by our West parking lot for 99 years with three 25 year renewal options.
• Hines’ initial lease payments would be approximately $740,000 per year with increases based on the Consumer Price Index built in every 7 years.
• Lease language will be included that prohibits tenants in the office building that are opposed to the mission or reputation of HFBC. 

Question #5: How will this impact parking during normal business hours?
Answer: Obviously, we’ll lose the use of 480 spaces on the West lot. However, we have about 1,000 other spaces that are more than sufficient for the normal operations of the church and school and daytime events such as funerals. Any large conference or event held during the day would require off-site shuttle parking. Hines would also pay for the additional parking leases and shuttles required during the construction phase.

Question # 6: How would HFBC be affected if Hines sold their interest in the lease?
Answer: Any potential lessee would be bound by the terms stated in the lease agreement and would assume the lease as is. 

Question #7: What would the timetable for construction of the garage be?
Answer: Garage construction would begin no earlier than January 2009 and take approximately 1 year to complete.