Westside Baptist Church in Fort Pierce, Florida, was once a quaint family chapel on half a city block. Charter members recall fondly how the old chapel was floated on two barges down the inter-coastal canal from a military base and reassembled on the edge of town. And there it sat for almost 50 years as the church grew to 200 and the town grew up around it.

Today the church has relocated to 86 acres with interstate highway frontage. We have completed three capital campaigns. A fourth, to build a new sanctuary, is next, and we're developing a 116-unit retirement community.

I often get calls from pastors asking how to handle a fundraising campaign. Here are the questions I hear frequently:

1. Will a capital campaign work in my church?

The success of the program is partly related to the nature of the project. Our first project was to buy land and build our first building. We had a capital campaign and a $1 million bond issue, and the people fully supported both.

Our second campaign was for an ...