St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Hollywood is a thriving congregation in the Anglo-Catholic tradition with energetic clergy and lay leadership. At the heart of this faith community is inspiring worship and beautiful music.
With its commitment to music as part of the liturgy, the simple truth was that the existing organ was in need of repair and upgrade. The clergy, staff and leadership had secured a loan to begin the work and contracted with a leading organ builder to do the work. The budget for the organ work was $500,000. In addition, the church needed other delayed maintenance to stain glass windows and other facility upgrades including installation of air conditioning. The total budget for organ and building repairs is $700,000.
Matthew Five Sixteen conducted a study to determine the feasibility of such a raising that amount of money. The results of that study indicated that while it could be raised, a major donor would not make any pledge if the project didn’t include a dramatic remodel of the church’s kitchen so they could more adequately continue a program of feeding the homeless. Because of that information, the goal was raised to $750,000.
Matthew Five Sixteen developed the campaign theme, “Claiming Our Heritage-Building Our Future”; developed and produced all of the campaign materials, trained volunteers and staff, developed a timeline and oversaw all of the solicitations. Additionally, Richard Felton preached leading up to and during the campaign.
he result was a successful campaign that reached its goal. The organ has been refurbished, the kitchen was remodeled and the sanctuary received new heating and air conditioning.
St. Thomas the Apostle Episcopal Church in Hollywood
St. Thomas is an Episcopal Church and as such, we are part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. We are Anglo-Catholic by tradition, meaning we have a great respect for both the rich liturgical heritage of the church, and for living the message of social justice proclaimed by Jesus Christ.