65 Years of Helping Churches Grow
Senior Vice President, Ministry Development
The writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”
The Christian leaders who came together for a meeting on May 12, 1953 saw a new season before them. This season involved churches growing, the Kingdom of God expanding, and removing obstacles to that growth, specifically the need to fund it all.
These leaders searched for solutions to assist churches in locations across Southern California to buy land and build buildings. On October 30, 1953, they incorporated the Churches of Christ Building and Loan Fund, known today as CDF Capital.
During the first decade of its growth, the fund made loans totaling about $100,000, relying solely on monetary gifts from Christians who believed in the mission to help churches grow. In 1962, the fund began to offer investments to individuals and churches in order to provide a greater source of capital for church building projects, growing to about $750,000 in total assets by 1968.
It was then that a church planting dynamo from the Midwest was hired as the first full-time Executive Director of what would soon be renamed Church Development Fund, or simply CDF. Ralph Dornette planted 50 churches in Ohio, Oklahoma, and California, but his work with CDF may be his most enduring legacy. Ralph created a model of church funding that included members of the local church participating, by investing in CDF, to accelerate raising the capital needed to fund their church’s projects.
Ralph Dornette created a model of church funding that included members of the local church participating, by investing in CDF, to accelerate raising the capital needed to fund their church’s projects.
In June 1969, CDF achieved a benchmark that its earliest founders thought of as an impossible dream: reaching $1 million in total assets. That was just the beginning of what would become an average annual growth rate of 20% during Ralph’s 26-year career, with the fund reaching about $70 million in total assets upon his 1994 retirement. During his tenure, CDF made over 300 loans for more than $60 million—but more importantly Ralph left the fund on solid financial footing, which would help churches grow across the U.S. in the decades to come.
As a new millennium was about to unfold, the leadership of California’s CDF found ways to fulfill the funding needs of churches in other states as near as Arizona and Oregon and as far away as Louisiana and New Hampshire. Mergers and acquisitions of similar funds in Ohio, Georgia, and Colorado paved the way for CDF to put its model of church funding to work across state lines. Today CDF has investors in all 50 states and has made loans in 45 states plus the District of Columbia.
Although CDF was not well-known outside of its home environs of Southern California, an effort to provide leadership training to church leaders across the U.S. began to help people understand the heart of this ministry that desired to help churches grow. “Blueprint for the Future of the Church” seminars reached over 10,000 church leaders in its decade-long run and had a twofold purpose: introduce the ministry of CDF to those in need of funding and strengthen the church with practical, thoughtful training. That heartbeat of leadership training continues today through CDF Leadership Capital, helping leaders and churches grow through discovering clarity, health, and alignment in their ministries.
A passion for church planting pulsated in the members of CDF’s Board of Directors 50 years after its founding.
As CDF was growing in size, it began to grow in scope as well; under the leadership of Larry Winger and then Doug Crozier, the national expansion unfolded. A passion for church planting pulsated in the members of CDF’s Board of Directors 50 years after its founding. That passion led to the incorporation of a church planting movement, Stadia, as a sister ministry to CDF. About that same time CDF launched Visioneering Studios, which became an award-winning design-build and architectural firm. Operating under the banner of the newly created Provision Ministry Group, CDF, Stadia, and Visioneering were later joined by the Co:Mission Foundation, Kairos Legacy Partners, and The Slingshot Group.
CDF’s growth continued with the fund reaching $500 million in total assets in 2009. Despite the economic downturn, CDF continued to grow, with Brad Dupray serving as President during this turbulent time. One year later CDF joined the growing trend of digital commerce, now fully established as a tool for consumers, and began allowing individuals to purchase new investments online and add funds to their accounts through electronic funds transfer. Today CDF offers a full suite of online tools to stay informed about their investments with CDF, both online and through a mobile app.
In 2014 Dusty Rubeck, a former CDF board member, was asked to join CDF and serve as President. Dusty’s vision for CDF was simple—bring it back to the original purpose of helping churches grow. Dusty recognized that CDF was not founded to become just a lender but to remove obstacles to church growth. Church obstacles were not merely financial but involved leadership issues and the spiritual lives of ministers as well. Thus the organization launched initiatives to provide churches with Leadership Capital and Spiritual Capital along with Financial Capital. After these additions, it only made sense in 2016 to change the name of the corporation from Church Development Fund to CDF Capital.
Dusty recognized that CDF was not founded to become just a lender but to remove obstacles to church growth.
As the writer of Ecclesiastes assessed the birthing, growing, and healing times of life, he summed it all up by saying, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
We cannot fathom what God holds for the future of CDF Capital, but we have placed this ministry in His hands and trust that He will make it beautiful in His time.
