Fourteen New Churches for Easter!

In the first four months of 2009, while many lenders pulled back, held cash in reserve and even shut down funding for construction (leaving some projects, including churches, incomplete), CDF funded nearly $40 million in construction loans, allowing 14 Christian churches to open new ministry facilities by Easter Sunday.

President Doug Crozier remembers the decision that CDF faced in the fall of 2008 when the credit markets shut down and other lenders were looking for ways out of their lending commitments. “We had to make the decision either to stop funding loans and renege on our commitments or find the capital to help those churches.”

Though the decision to make good on CDF’s loan commitments was “swift and strong,” Doug Crozier acknowledges that it was not easy to finding the capital to fund nearly $40 million in construction loans for churches. In fact, as other construction projects across the country shut down, contractors focused their teams on the few active jobs they could find – speeding the demand for loan dollars. As active construction projects began moving at unprecedented paces, CDF’s average monthly loan demand nearly doubled, increasing from $4 million to almost $8 million.

Despite the challenges, CDF’s leadership was committed to funding the churches that were counting on those loan dollars. Thanks not only to CDF’s dedicated team of financial specialists, but to thousands of CDF investors, 14 churches opened new facilities between January 1 and Easter Sunday. Nearly 12,000 people worshipped in those 14 churches on Easter morning, an increase of more than 50% over the previous week.

For Doug Crozier and the CDF team, that’s what it was all about. “When I presented this dilemma to the team last fall, it was more about ministry than business. Yes, cash flow and liquidity are essential – and we maintained ALL of our key ratios – but reaching the lost and growing the Kingdom are paramount to every employee at CDF.”

To celebrate the 14 churches that opened in time for Easter, CDF recently introduced a special 22-month time certificate at 5.5% APY.*