by Jim Michel | Jul 6, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
I went to my dentist’s office the other day. Normally this is not a place I enjoy going to, but this time was different. I didn’t expect it to be, as I left the house, and I didn’t know it was going to be different when I pulled into the parking lot. But as soon...
by Craig Walls | Jun 30, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, Featured
I have a strange fascination with church buildings. I grew up attending worship in a very traditional looking church modeled after one in colonial Williamsburg. Community Christian Church in North Canton, Ohio, was breathtakingly beautiful. This Norman Rockwell-like...
by Nadine Compton | Jun 25, 2020 | Stories
Parkway Christian Church prides itself as a multigenerational family of faith. “We have little babies to 95-year-olds,” explains Arnold Ramos, Parkway Christian’s treasurer, financial director, and one of its elders. But it’s the children served by Parkway CC that...
by Nadine Compton | Jun 25, 2020 | Stories
Superheroes: They are the flashy, caped crusaders who show up in the nick of time to save the day… Right? Not in the real world. Take Jim Michel for example. A soft-spoken professional with 35 years of experience in civil engineering and land surveying, Jim...
by Gilberto Collazo | Jun 23, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
This week, Ask the Advisors welcomes guest blogger Gilberto Collazo, Vice President of Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF) and Lead for Hope Partnership Services. In his role he has walked alongside Disciples congregations, witnessing the transforming impact of...
by Rosario Ibarra | Jun 16, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, Featured
To quote President Harry S. Truman, “The way in which you endure that which you must endure is more important than the crisis itself.” I think we have all come to understand that over the last few months. When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, church leaders faced a...
by Joe Whitman | Jun 15, 2020 | COVID-19, Featured, News
After being away from our buildings for months during this pandemic, we now have the opportunity to get a new perspective on them. Your financial people may remark that your utility and maintenance bills dropped without visitors needing these creature comforts. You...
by Belinda King | Jun 9, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
For more than 20 years, I have had a passion for the church in the area of finance. Before coming to Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF), I worked at Chase Bank where I was known as “the church lady.” Now that I work for the church, I am known as “the bank lady.”...
by Jim Michel | Jun 2, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
As I looked at the question that had popped up on my email this morning I thought to myself, “Wow, which direction should I go with this?” I can look at this strictly for what do we need to do with our buildings after being away from them for as long as three months....
by Nadine Compton | May 28, 2020 | Ask the Advisors, COVID-19, Featured
At Disciples Church Extension Fund (DCEF), our staff members work with Disciples congregations and organizations on investments, loans, and more. But it’s our four Building and Capital Services Advisors who meet pastors, planters, and worshipers face-to-face,...
