Andy Stanley's North Point Community Church Raises $5M in 'Be Rich' Annual Campaign
Pastor Andy Stanley's North Point Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, has successfully raised nearly $5 million through its annual "Be Rich" campaign, an accomplishment the campaign's leader describes as both "inspiring and humbling."
The annual campaign seeks to give back to the local community's nonprofit organizations through the three themes of give, serve, and love. One hundred and fifty nonprofit organizations and 28 churches participated in the month-long campaign, which began in early November and wrapped up just before Thanksgiving.
Each week was dedicated to one of the three themes of the Be Rich campaign. For the first week, church members were encouraged to give financially, with Stanley calling on Christians to give just $39.95 to help the church's nonprofit partners. The second week, congregants were encouraged to serve by offering their time to volunteer at local nonprofit organizations in the area.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
For the third week, members of the church community were encouraged to love by simply doing something thoughtful for someone else, the inspiring results of which can be found on Twitter using the hashtag #giveservelove.
Bryan Apinis, leader of the Be Rich campaign and director of The Intersect Project at North Point Community Church, recently told The Christian Post that each of the three themes of the Be Rich campaign is important because each one is a "call to action" for members of the church.
Apinis added that the Be Rich campaign was "inspiring and humbling" for the North Point community.
"We feel like the church should be known for its generosity and compassion. It's really fun to see our church lean into that and start to do that, and gain influence in our community as we show our community the love of our Heavenly Father," Apinis continued.
"It's good to know that our church is being seen doing good in the community and that changes people's perception of the church and enhances our reputation as the church."
Apinis told CP that the purpose of the Be Rich campaign can be explained through 1 Timothy 6:18, which states: "Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share."
When asked why North Point Community Church holds the Be Rich campaign around the holiday season, Apinis explained that the holidays "really are a time of year when folks are most naturally thinking about others. Certainly we're leveraging that."
This year, the Be Rich campaign successfully raised $4.8 million, all of which goes back to the church's partner nonprofit organizations.
When asked why he believes the church was able to raise $4.8 million this year compared to $4.3 million last year, Apinis told CP that while it's "difficult to pinpoint why we raised more," he believes one factor that aided in the fundraising of more money was presenting a check to a nonprofit member on stage during a worship service.
"That's a great way to connect the dots with our congregation that this money really goes to the community. This is the difference the church can make," he said.
Apinis told CP that next year, North Point Community Church is hoping to grow its network of churches in the U.S. and abroad for participation in the Be Rich campaign, thus spreading the message that "being generous to our community is important to us."
When Stanley launched the Be Rich campaign in October he described the annual charity drive as a way to give back to the community in general, not just the faith community.
"This is when we remind our communities that everybody matters to God whether or not God matters to them. And so what we do is we come together as a group of churches and we look for opportunities to just be generous to the community. Not to the faith community, but just to the community in general. And we call this initiative Be Rich," Stanley said during his Be Rich sermon on Oct. 25.
