The Shine the Light Campaign, St. Philip’s first capital campaign in 25 years, launched on April 30, 2023, with an ambitious goal of $21.5 million––four times more than we’d raised in a single campaign before.

At the announcements during the 10:30 service on Sunday, May 11, campaign co-chair Maybank Hagood, flanked by co-chairs Karen Phillips and Martha Freshley, took to the eagle to share that a few days earlier, the campaign had raised pledges and donations surpassing that mark. The congregation responded with a very enthusiastic round of applause.

“Words cannot describe the benefits and blessings that will come from each of your commitment and support,” he said. “There is no question that our Lord provided through your heartfelt, prayerful, and sacrificial generosity. We are all blessed to be a part of a congregation that embraced this opportunity to serve and to sacrifice for our future body of Christ.”

Indeed, we are already seeing the generosity at work; the scaffolding surrounding the spire and filling the sanctuary are hard to miss! This generational fix, Hagood pointed out, takes care of decades––and in some cases, centuries––of deferred maintenance. “This campaign is our opportunity to restore His Gospel assets in a glorious, God-honoring way for generations to come,” he said. The campaign is also enabling a new mission and ministry, St. Philip’s Academy, which will strive to be one strand in the threefold chord of family, church, and school that helps each child grow into God’s unique purpose for his or her life.

When our Rector, the Reverend Jeffrey S. Miller, returned to the microphone, he thanked the congregation for their sacrificial giving and pointed out that it was rather extraordinary that just nine years ago, our parish was $1.2 million in debt. We had our goal of simply retiring that debt, which we accomplished with our 198 To Be Great campaign.

“And nine years later, we have raised, by the grace of God, $21.5 million [in pledges and donations] to do the work that you are seeing around here,” he said. “That is the Holy Spirit moving in the hearts and the minds of these people, and I cannot thank you enough.”

Well done, good and faithful servants! We have reached our goal and will continue to receive the remaining funds through existing pledges. “Thank you to each of you that engaged in this effort,” Hagood said in closing Sunday before inviting those who hadn’t yet taken part to prayerfully consider it now. “We can say with confidence that joining the Shine the Light effort is a privilege more joyous than we could have ever imagined.” Visit our website, saintphilips.church/shine-the-light, for more information.