Client Spotlight: NorthStar Church

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“NorthStar began in 1997 with the hope and dream of being a church for people who didn’t know they wanted to go to church yet.” —Mike Linch, Senior Pastor 

In 2016, nineteen years after they first opened their doors, NorthStar Church set out to transform their finances and launched an ambitious campaign to pay off $6.8 million of debt. Just two years later, they reduced their debt to $0, and they’re now putting those resources back into the community by giving away $30,000 per month toward kingdom impact. 

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NorthStar is located just 30 minutes outside of Atlanta, Georgia between the two cities of Acworth and Kennesaw. The church is situated between the two towns, and has congregants in both with an average weekly attendance of 2,500.

In 2012, Lead Pastor Mike Linch gathered together 30 members and leaders within the church community and asked them to choose from three options to help grow and advance the church: pay off debt, take out additional loans, or stay where the church was at. All 30 members voted to pay off debt, and from that moment the “Bold” campaign was born. 

“We looked at debt and said, you know what, we can keep living with it. We were servicing it out of our budget—at $46,000 a month—but we just asked, what could we do with that money if our debt was paid? So we called the campaign ‘Bold,’ and the goal was to attack that debt. To let people not just know that we want to get rid of debt, but what could we do when the debt was gone.” —Mike Linch

To reach their goal, they knew they would need to make some changes. One of the first steps to paying off the debt was finding a fully integrated online church giving solution that encouraged greater generosity among NorthStar’s congregation. They chose Subsplash for its ease of use and seamless integration with their custom mobile app and website. 

“The greatest benefit of Subsplash Giving is the ease of integration to a platform that we were already using and had seen be successful. Plus, the integration into our custom Subsplash app allowed our congregants to have it in their hand, which was probably the biggest reason it has been so successful.” —Jeremy Thompson, Art Director

Since switching to Subsplash Giving, NorthStar has seen an increase in consistent tithing, continuing even after the initial debt campaign was complete. After paying off every dollar of  debt, “Bold” became “BeBold”, which focused on taking those resources and pouring them back into their community. Now, they give away $30,000 every month to charities, businesses, and individuals in their area.

“It’s been so fun watching BeBold because the generosity of our church has gone through the roof! When their gift puts a smile on someone’s face it takes giving to another level.” —Mike Linch

We loved visiting our friends at NorthStar Church and hearing their story. To find out more about NorthStar Church, you can download their app or visit their website. To learn more about how your church can experience these same results, [.blog-contact-cta]let’s chat![.blog-contact-cta]