• The five Legacy Lanes are International Missions, Domestic Church Planting, Local Outreach, Growth and Expansion, and Leadership Multiplication. We have God-sized dreams for each of the Legacy Lanes that the Lord has put on our hearts. We’ve listed a handful below to give you a taste of what we are dreaming about.
• For International Missions we want to translate the Bible for the first time into some native languages in the regions where we have strategic overseas missionaries. A full Bible translation costs about $300,000.
• In Domestic Church Planting, we want to multiply our capacity to plant churches by starting not just new churches, but five new collaborative training centers across the country to multiply leaders. Each of these costs about one million dollars.
• When it comes to Local Outreach, we believe God is leading us to create a family and community outreach center which would enable our campuses to serve and work with community partners to create new resources—such as affordable daycare—that currently do not exist in our city. To give us a center from which we can bless the homeless, orphan, prisoner, unwed mother and high school dropout. That will be a couple million dollar project.
• For Growth and Expansion, there are a few specific projects the Lord has put on our hearts: to get the Chapel Hill Campus built, for example, and others!... Also, if the Lord wills, we’d love to purchase a Camp and Retreat Center where we can host our Summit Kids, Students, College, men’s and women’s discipleship conferences, and much more. So we don’t have to drive 8 hours to go to camp, for example.
• For Leadership Multiplication. As Pastor J.D. has told us before: The church historian Rodney Stark says that the #1 predictor of the future of any Christian movement in America--#1 predictor--is not how many baptisms they have or how much property they own or how much money they have, it’s how many young men and women they are raising up for ministry. So, we want to excel at that. And we want to build a training complex to house and train the hundreds of apprentices and interns for future leadership roles in Summit, for our church plants, for faith leadership in the marketplace and government and other ministry positions around the world.
• If you’d like more specifics about our vision for the Legacy Lanes, you can join the Legacy Team to get access to our Legacy Lane Reports to learn more.

• During the year, we take a one-fund approach to giving, meaning your giving goes toward everything we do in our congregation approved budget.
• Out of that, 65% runs the church--that is, all the ministries, all the salaries, all the bills, etc. The other 35% goes to fund the ongoing kingdom ministries and God-sized dreams he’s given us in what we call our five Legacy Lanes:
  • International Missions
  • Domestic Church Planting
  • Local Outreach
  • Growth and Expansion
  • Leadership Multiplication
• This December, everything you give to The Summit Church will go directly to our Legacy Lanes—both to support what God’s doing now and what he will do in the years to come.
• After December, we will resume our one-fund approach. For more information on how to give toward specific Legacy Lanes beyond December, join the Legacy Team!

Your first step is to join the Legacy Team. Once your Legacy Team submission is completed and your request is approved you will receive access for giving directly to any of the five Legacy Lanes over and above your tithe.

If you meet the requirements stated above, click on this link to commit to joining the Legacy Team.

• Absolutely! As Paul says in Romans 12:6,8, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well…If it is giving, give generously.” God gives varied gifts to the body of Christ found in people from all socioeconomic backgrounds and walks of life. Our prayer is that our church reflects the diversity of our community and declares the diversity of the kingdom. The Legacy Team is for any Summit member who wants to give over and above their tithe to accelerate the mission and vision of The Summit Church. It’s an invitation for everyone in our church.
• As members of the body of Christ, we should help our brothers and sisters identify the spiritual gifts that the Lord has given them and help them steward those gifts to build up the body of Christ. Just like we would encourage someone in our small group who seems to have the gift of worship to get involved in Summit Worship, or someone with the spiritual gift of teaching to learn more about our preaching cohorts or teaching track in women’s discipleship, we should encourage those with the spiritual gift of giving to consider joining the Legacy Team.

Legacy Team members generally self-identify and already operate in the spiritual gift of giving above and beyond their tithe. The Legacy Team is composed of Summit members from all walks of life, including young professionals, widows, single moms, married couples, and grandparents. One’s career path does not define a Legacy Team member, and it can include anyone—small business owners, executives, mid-level managers, teachers, college students, hourly wage earners, or retirees.

We often say around here that someone likely has the spiritual gift of giving by either position or disposition. Think of the widow who gave her two mites. She was celebrated by Jesus as an example of someone with the spiritual gift of generosity. She had the disposition, or the desire, to be generous with the little that she had been entrusted with. Contrast that with someone who has been placed by God in a position of managing large amounts of financial resources. We would say that it’s likely that person has the spiritual gift of generosity by position, as the Lord expects them to be a generous steward with what he has entrusted them with. As you consider that framework, ask yourself the question of if you fit into either one of those. Do you have a longing or desire to be generous with what God has given you? Do you see how God has entrusted you with much and stirred in you the question of why he has entrusted so much to you to manage?

• You can absolutely fulfill the requirements of being on the Legacy Team by giving over and above your tithe to the Summit One Fund instead of to the Legacy Lanes. We’ve heard from other Legacy Team members that they love how the Summit is stewarding their gifts and may continue to give over and above their tithe to the Summit through the One Fund, as they have done for years.
• Everything given to the Summit One Fund will continue to fund our mission and vision through our annual budget, which is recommended by the directional elder board and presented to the congregation for their approval by a ballot vote.
• Our Legacy Team members are encouraged to learn about the vision the Lord has given us and prayerfully consider if the Lord is directing them to accelerate the vision through giving over and above their tithe directly to Legacy Lanes or to continue to do that through our One Fund. Ultimately, we want our members to ask the Lord how he wants them to steward what he has entrusted them with and to be faithful to what he says.

• At the Summit, we’ve had a one-fund approach to giving where all our members give goes to all we do. Over the years, we’ve intentionally discipled our church to understand that the Lord has appointed elders to direct and lead his church. Just like in Acts 4 when the early church laid down their offering, we encourage our members to submit to the elders as they follow the Holy Spirit and submit themselves to the Lord to guide and direct his church.
• The Legacy Lanes create an opportunity for our members to follow the Holy Spirit as he leads them to give over and above their tithe to specific Legacy Lanes, giving them an opportunity to give through their local church instead of outside the church.
• Legacy Team members are encouraged to continue to give to the Summit One Fund for at least their tithe, and beyond that as the Holy Spirit directs.

• Before joining the Legacy Team, we encourage those interested to commit to the practice of bringing their tithe to their local church. That means that for a Summit covenant member who has not yet started tithing (giving the first 10% of their income) to the Summit, we encourage them to begin that process before they apply to join the Legacy Team.
• Summit members can give over and above their tithe directly to the Legacy Lanes once approved to be on the Legacy Team. Legacy Team members are expected to continue giving to the Summit One Fund for a minimum of their tithe at summitchurch.com/give

The Legacy Team is a ministry that allows anyone at our church with the spiritual gift of generosity to use their gift to accelerate the church’s vision. The Legacy Team is one way covenant members of the Summit can use their gift of giving to serve the church.