Funding Church Growth: the Legacy of Steve Drury

Stewardship founder helped secure funds to build churches, ministries across North America

Stephen M. Drury, the founder and longtime director of The Stewardship Group, retired on February 28 after twenty-one years of service.

Drury guided the ministry as it grew from two employees and an idea into a foundation, a loan fund, and an insurance company, as well as several other entities that blend business expertise, entrepreneurship, and evangelism. Collectively, The Stewardship Group now manages more than $100 million in assets.

“Through visionary leadership, hard work, and perseverance, Steve and Evelyn Drury have significantly advanced the mission of the UPCI and the kingdom of God,” said UPCI General Superintendent Dr. David K. Bernard. “It has been a joy to partner with them to develop and grow many initiatives that will bless the church from now until the coming of the Lord.”

Assistant Stewardship Director Rick Lovall has been appointed to serve as Drury’s successor.

“To be asked to follow Steve Drury as director of the Stewardship Group has been one of the most humbling opportunities I could have ever imagined,” Lovall said. “Brother Drury’s legacy is one of eternal impact.”

More than money

Drury founded The Stewardship Group in 2002 at the request of former UPCI General Superintendent Kenneth Haney. His first initiative was establishing the United Pentecostal Foundation to generate an ongoing stream of income for the UPCI and its ministries. The foundation now manages $7.3 million in assets.

The Stewardship Group launched United Insurance Solutions and the Church Loan Fund in 2011. Within two years, the Loan Fund had reached $10 million in total assets and had begun offering low-interest loans to UPCI churches and ministries that were looking to purchase or renovate property.

Drury’s vision was much bigger than just raising money, however. In 2003 he established E3, a conference designed to equip Apostolic entrepreneurs and business leaders. That eventually led to the creation of LifeSprings, an effort to create new business ventures that would use a portion of their profits to fund ministry efforts. He launched SeedSprings, a ministry that provides financing for digging wells in developing nations, in 2014. He helped cofound Impact Junkie, an organization designed to address global challenges such as poverty and lack of access to clean water, healthcare, and education, in 2016.

That same year, the Loan Fund provided the financing that made it possible for the UPCI to move from its longtime headquarters in Hazelwood, Missouri, to a larger and more modern facility in Weldon Spring, on the outskirts of the St. Louis metropolitan area. Not long afterward, the Loan Fund provided the capital needed for the purchase and renovation of a new campus for Urshan College and Urshan Graduate School of Theology in nearby Wentzville, Missouri.

Lovall takes the lead

The Loan Fund’s growth necessitated the hiring of Lovall in 2019 as senior loan officer and assistant director of The Stewardship Group. With Lovall at the helm, the Loan Fund grew from $50 million to nearly $100 million in assets by early 2023.

Since its founding, the Loan Fund has helped more than 250 churches and ministries acquire property and build or renovate their facilities.

“I remember in my twenties thinking that a banking degree could create opportunities for me to minister in my community,” Lovall recalls. “I had no idea that God intended for that experience to benefit churches and ministries around the world.”

Lovall attended Arkansas State University and graduated from Barret School of Banking at Christian Brothers University in 2007. He then served fifteen years in the banking industry, working his way up from part-time teller at a bank in Arkansas to vice president of lending. He resigned the bank in 2010 when he was elected pastor of The Sanctuary in Sikeston, Missouri, where he served nine years before joining The Stewardship Group.

Lovall assumed his new duties effective March 1. As director of The Stewardship Group, he serves as president of the Loan Fund, the Foundation, and United Insurance Solutions, Inc.

“I am so excited to work with our team to see God do even more through the work of the Stewardship Group,” he said.

Lovall also owns LEAD Strategies, LLC, a leadership consulting and training firm. He and his wife, Kelby, have two sons, Easton and Parker.

Drury will continue to work with LifeSprings and Impact Junkie, and he will serve as a consultant to The Stewardship Group.

Visit UPCIStewardship.com to learn more about the work of The Stewardship Group.

Prior to founding The Stewardship Group, Drury served as president of Tupelo Children’s Mansion from 1976 until 1999. He and his wife, Evelyn, helped provide care for more than one thousand children while expanding the home’s facilities and increasing its finances and staff. The Drurys also established New Beginnings adoption agency to help connect Mansion residents with permanent families. In addition, the couple served as pastors in Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Arkansas.