Agur Foundation | About Us

About the Agur Foundation

The Agur Foundation is a Colorado Not-For-Profit corporation that was formed to
assist new Christian churches obtain a permanent church home.

Mission: To build up the body of Christ around the world by providing properties for new Christian churches to develop, grow and flourish.

Vision: The Agur Foundation will assist Christian churches in developing physical plant through:

· Donation of sites for Christian churches.

· Involving Agur staff and advisors in the entitlement process of a church site.

· Acquisition of a building that may be resold at an extremely discounted price.

· Donating an existing building that can be converted into a church.

· Acquiring a parcel of land and selling all sites at a profit which will be directed to international partner
organization to build churches worldwide.

Advisory Board & Staff

Co-Founders: Rick and Jane White

Pastoral Advisor: Dave Palmer

Real Estate Research Technician: Jason White

Technical Support: Daniel White

Operations & Marketing: Teena Harvey

Board Background & Qualifications

Rick and Jane White

Rick, along with his wife Jane, co-founded the Agur Foundation in 2002. Rick graduated from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate. Entrepreneur best describes his business background. He has owned and operated a variety of small businesses and has worked for EF Hutton as well as Minnesota Mining and Mfg (3M). He has held his Colorado Real Estate License since 1972 and began syndicating real estate partnerships and assembling tenant in common ownership properties in 1986, with over $30,000,000 in gross sales to date. He is currently a principal in Land Acquisition and Management. LLC, (www.laam.biz) a company that purchases, entitles, markets and sells undeveloped land in Colorado. He acts as a business mentor to numerous businesses and business owners and invests in small businesses as well.

Rick loves the great outdoors of the Rocky Mountains, especially hunting and fishing. He volunteers as the hunt coordinator for Outdoor Buddies, (www.outdoorbuddies.org) which is an organization that helps handicapped hunters. He serves on the Board of Advisors for Grace Counseling Center (www.gracecounseling.net) and serves as co manager of Maria Lake, a private hunting and fishing ranch in Walsenburg, Colorado. (www.marialake.com) He has served in a variety of volunteer positions at his church, Grace Chapel, in Englewood, Colorado. (www.gracechapel.org).

Jane is originally from Minnesota, and graduated from St Mary’s School of Nursing in Minneapolis in 1971 with an Associates Degree in Nursing. She later attended the University of Colorado where she obtained her surgical nursing certification in 1975. She served in a variety of nursing positions in Colorado and Montana from 1972 to 1980, when she began her most rewarding career as full time mom to her two sons as well as a supporter, bookkeeper and administrative assistant for her husband's numerous ventures.

Jane still loves to serve others. You will find her making her rounds every day among her family, friends, neighbors or associates. She loves to bake, as will attest her family and friends that cherish a bag or basket of Jane’s home made goodies. She also enjoys participating in numerous crafts.

She is currently President of the South Denver Chapter of the Retired and Part Time Nurses Association. She has served in a variety of volunteer positions at her church, Grace Chapel in Englewood, Colorado. She is a past President and has served in a variety of offices in her F.B. Chapter of PEO. She has been married for over 25 years to her husband Rick, and they have two adult children, Daniel and Jason.

Dave Palmer

Dave is currently the Executive Pastor at Grace Chapel, Englewood, Colorado. He has spent over 30 years in Christian Education and ministry. Married to Pam, they have raised three children while devoting their lives to God’s calling. Dave received his Master's of Religious Education from Grand Rapids Baptist Seminary in 1985 and Doctorate of Education, with an emphasis in Leadership, from the Southern Baptist Seminary in 2005. Dave has focused his career in Christian Education, serving as Pastor of Education at Wyoming Park Baptist Church, Wyoming Park, Michigan; Foothills Bible Church, Littleton, Colorado; and Grace Chapel. Dave was Dean of Students at both Sacramento Bible Institute and Grand Rapids School of the Bible and Music. Additionally, Dave was an Adjunct Faculty Member at Denver Seminary from 1988 – 2001.

Jason White

Jason graduated from Metropolitan State College in Denver Colorado with a degree in Industrial Design. Prior to Metro, Jason attended the Colorado Art Institute. He currently manages the printing facility for Never Summer's graphics department and is also one of the product designers for Never Summer's skates and snowboards. He serves the Agur Foundation as a real estate research technician. In his spare time, he is an accomplished artist in a variety of media. He takes pleasure in wood working and furniture making. He enjoys the Colorado high country for snow boarding and is also a skillful chef.

Daniel White

Daniel graduated from Metropolitan State University in Denver in 2000 with a B.A. in Aviation Science. Prior to his graduation from Metro, he attended Spartan School of Aviation in Tulsa Oklahoma. He is currently working on his Master's Degree in Aviation Management through Embry Riddle University.

While attending undergraduate school, he worked in multiple capacities with Northwest Airlines. Since 2002 he has worked for Alaska Airlines in Colorado, Washington, California and Minnesota. He is a Customer Service Manager in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In his spare time, Daniel loves high tech toys. He is the Agur Foundation’s technical support advisor and helps with computer and telephony equipment. He enjoys flying and currently holds a commercial license with multi-engine ratings. He also enjoys reading, travel, kickball, and snowboarding.

Teena Harvey

After spending over 20 years in the telecommunications industry, Teena joined the staff of Land Acquisition and Management, LLC to direct operations, communications and marketing. She received her undergraduate degree in Marketing from Texas A& M University and her Master’s of Business Administration from Colorado State University. Teena spent the vast majority of her corporate career at AT&T, with her last position as Director of Strategic Planning and Operations. She and her husband Mark enjoy living in Colorado. They have a special heart for domestic and international missions. Teena is Vice President of Operations & Marketing for the Agur Foundation.

Proverbs 30

1. The words of Agur, the son of Jakeh, even the prophesy: the man spake unto Ithiel, even unto Ithiel and Ucal, 2. Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. 3. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. 4. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? 5. Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. 6. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar. 7. Two things have I required of thee; deny me them not before I die: 8. Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: 9. Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do churches require help and assistance in purchasing property to build their church?

The demoralizing and daunting economic reality of building a new facility is a sizable hurdle that most new churches face. Further exacerbating the problem is the extremely lengthy and expensive land planning process, and the condescension for churches by most municipalities as competition to tax generating retail property that vie for the same types of locations. Most churches are seeking a 3-5 acre tract of land, but they soon understand the price may approach $600,000-$700,000. Add to that over $150,000 in planning approval of the land on most parcels and the church stares at $750,000 for just the dirt!

Then they begin to research the facility themselves and they find that they are looking at $100 per sq. ft. in building cost. For a modest facility of 10,000 sq. feet with a sanctuary for 350, a few classrooms and some staff offices, the package can easily add up to $1,750,000! If the church has been working to raise money for a building fund, they may have $200,000 +/- set aside as a down payment. At a 6% commercial loan rate, the monthly payment will be over $15,000 per month! Additionally, financing sources will require 30-35% down which amounts to over $500,000 of equity, a difficult if not impossible down payment and loan payment for a church of 100 or so families to afford!

Even if the church was fortunate enough to solve the equity problem, the church still has the facility payment to plate ratio lender requirement which cannot be met by most of these organizations. Thus, the down payment is out of reach, the monthly payment cannot be met and the church cannot qualify for the loan. So what happens? These vibrant churches, the fastest growing in the United States, become discouraged, wilt and die! The parishioners migrate back to the large established churches and the mega churches grow.

How does Agur Foundation help in the acquisition of a parcel?

Consider the following illustration: If you owned a coffee shop and served pie, you could purchase an entire pie wholesale for $6.00. If you divided the pie in half and then cut one half of the pie into three pieces you would have 3/6 of the pie on one side and ½ of the pie on the other side. If it cost you another $1.50 in labor to have cut the pie into pieces, you would have a total investment of $7.50 in the pieces of pie. Now, if you sold the 3 small pieces of pie for $2.50 each, you would recoup your original $6.00 for the pie plus the $1.50 for cutting the pie and still have half the pie left!

Think about real estate similarly. The Agur Foundation may purchase 6 acres of land for $600,000. It then takes three acres and subdivides those three acres into three 1 acre separate lots. Typically there will be an additional cost of about $150,000 to subdivide the pads. The pads then are sold to a variety of retailers such as fast food restaurants, banks, auto parts stores, car washes, etc. If the pads are sold for $250,000 each, Agur Foundation has its investment returned plus the entitlement cost and still owns three acres of land. Since Agur Foundation is a 501c(3) entity there are no taxes due. The three acres, that normally would be sold producing a profit for the developer, are instead donated to a Christian church. In some cases Agur Foundation may sell the additional three acres and donate the profits to International Cooperating Ministries for building churches in third world countries.

How can Agur Foundation help in the entitlement of a parcel?

Each parcel is unique and has a synergistic relationship between each pad as well as a central theme for the retail pads. With the right retail mix there can also be shared parking benefits reducing the size and expense of parking lots. The retail business may utilize the church parking area anytime except Sunday and the church may use the retail business parking in off business hours for evening services and Sunday morning worship. Utilizing these methods, the church benefits by having significant instantaneous equity, its monthly payments reduced by over 1/3 in most cases, and has more parking than would normally be available. All of these factors make the difference between a sandwich board church having a lasting home or fading and dying.