"Our consultant, in the past nine months, has become like a member of the family... immersing himself in the "communion of saints" here at First Lutheran Church."

In its early history-now some ninety years ago- First Lutheran had a largesse of heart for ministry and mission development (starting academies and a Lutheran college here in Sioux Falls, buying a building for unwed mothers in the 1920's that later became Lutheran Social Services of South Dakota, helping to build and trustee a new major hospital , providing a Banquet downtown for the homeless. But somewhere along the "ups and downs" of its growth, the congregation began to suffer from chronic heart failure - unwilling to risk, to commit, to pledge "time, talent, and... er, what's the other one?!"

Here's where our JDK&A Consultant has been of good cheer. Identifying and rallying a core group of E.O. Rolvaag's famous "giants who [still] walk the earth", who have begun to model anew for all of us, how to disciple out of an attitude of abundance rather than scarcity. Our consultant, in the past nine months, has become like a member of the family... immersing himself in the "communion of saints" here at First Lutheran Church.

– John R. Christopherson, M.Div., Ph.D.
First Lutheran Church
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

When we learned about our church council's considerations of a capital campaign, we knew it would be a tall order to complete. Our congregation was only a few years removed from a multimillion dollar effort to renovate our church and build much needed additions to our campus. The perceptions among many members was that the latest campaign would "clean up" mistakes made, and debt created by a previous campaign.

It was quite evident that the right firm and the right consultant would be crucial in a successful fund drive. We got both with Klote & Associates and our Klote Consultant. From the first meeting, we knew our consultant was the perfect, take-charge, organized and outgoing professional we needed.

Through the weeks of the campaign it was his drive, determination and tactful approach that not only kept us on point as a committee, it also kept us enthused about the process. He knows when to push as well as when to pull back; and those are good skills to have in dealing with such a diverse group among the steering committee and the congregation in general. He turned the tide and many of the nay sayers became true believers in the campaign "God's Gifts, Our Responsibility".

– Mitch & Shantel Krebs
Campaign Co-Chairs

In the setting of a challenging economic environment and a recent controversial, somewhat polarizing decision by the ELCA, our congregation elected to take on a $4.7 million dollar capital campaign to retire residual debt from a prior campaign, to provide funding for needed upkeep about our sanctuary including maintenance and repair of our treasured 50-year old Aeolian-Skinner organ, and to provide a campaign to tithe to missions projects. Preliminary work had suggested that our congregation would be quite fortunate to raise 2 million dollars. The Klote organization has provided background assessments, a game plan for success, and continual monitoring that have helped us grow this campaign to 3.5 million dollars and counting. Our success thus far at First Lutheran has been uncommon as compared to sister churches in our community who are also involved in capital campaigns, and much of our success can be attributed to involvement of James D. Klote & Associates.

– Brian C. Aamlid, M.D.
Campaign Co-Chairperson