Cargill Associates

Testimonial Video (St. Luke's UMC)

Cargill Associates exists with a stated mission of "Advancing The Church," and I produced this testimonial video to document another of their client stories — St. Luke's UMC, told by their pastor.

St. Luke's faced a familiar problem for a historic church building: an aging, expensive-to-maintain HVAC system. What started as a roughly $500,000 repair estimate turned into a broader capital campaign once Cargill got involved — Kurt Appel, a longtime friend of the pastor's, helped the church's leadership set their sights higher: an $800,000 goal, well beyond their annual budget, to fund the HVAC replacement along with cosmetic updates to the sanctuary.

The pastor credits Cargill with more than fundraising logistics — breaking an overwhelming goal into manageable steps, providing "top notch" campaign materials, and modeling a non-manipulative approach to talking about giving. He points to benefits that outlasted the campaign itself: stronger small groups, better habits around stewardship, and a congregation newly confident it could think beyond survival mode.

My job on this one was simple: help tell the story clearly, so Cargill can keep using it to show other churches what's possible.