River Rock Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a 400-member church founded by Pastor Rick McFarland. The congregation is made up of people from every background and culture, and its mission is to equip believers to fulfill the Great Commission. The membership of the church is starting to grow beyond the current capacity of the 11,418 SF church facility, and even with two services the 250-seat sanctuary is starting to overflow. The queues at the bathrooms are getting long and there isn't enough space for everyone to sit and fellowship in the dining area. The children's ministry and other initiatives in the church are finding it hard to find adequate space for their activities. It's clear that a larger building was needed. The leader of the young adults group at the time was none other than our principal John Graham, and KDG stepped in to help.
We began by sending out a survey to the leaders of the church to get a sense of their needs and preferences when it came to adjacencies (which room should be close to what,) square footages (how many people are expected to use each space and how frequently) and specific requirements for each area (e.g. large LED screens and a good sound system for the sanctuary.)
During this "fact-finding" process, Pastor Rick requested for some early renderings so that he could present the idea of the new building to the congregation. Even though there wasn't yet a conceptual design, he wanted something that people could start to grasp - as the Bible says, "to make the vision plain on tablets." 
In response to that, KDG produced conceptual images that represented a "warm, cozy, and homey feel" - adjectives that the client used to describe their vision of the new facility. We included precedent images of other churches as a way to spur inspiration, and even used advanced AI technology to produce possible scenes of the new environment. Finally, to anchor everything down, we included a number of preliminary details such as a “river-themed" interior concept with blue accent lighting and rock accent material in the reception area.
Using these new images, we created a PowerPoint presentation and updated the church's existing fundraising graphics. Pastor Rick was able to show the congregation where the church is at currently and where it is going. The church body started to respond with cheerful giving because they could now picture what they are giving toward. 
Every first Sunday of the month, Pastor Rick provides an update on the building fund campaign, titled "Widen the River." Beyond normal tithes and offerings, the updated graphics and presentation helped the church raise an additional $100,000 in just six months. This is a successful example of how we can use good visuals to make a conceptual idea more easily accessible.
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