Stewardship Services was formed in 1992 in Wheaton, Illinois, by Innis L. Reaves with the support of a group of Christian families serving as the original Board of Directors. The company applied for and was granted a NFP (not-for-profit) corporation.
With more than twenty-five years experience in church design and construction, he understood the problems churches face during a building program. In July 1988, after nearly 40 years of being in and out of the church, he received the blessing of knowing Christ for the first time and a need was taking hold in him to use his 25+ years of experience in church design and construction to help churches eliminate the problems that architects, designers, and contractors take advantage of for their own profit. He knew well how to stop these situations since he had spent years using them to his own advantage.
This desire was fueled when he spent time immediately after Hurricane Andrew helping the churches in Florida City and Homestead, Florida. There were many horror stories of companies taking advantage of the situation and charging exorbitant fees for their services. Upon returning to Illinois and sharing church stories about what had happened in Florida, his prayer partner and dear friend, Richard Cook, told him to "quit complaining and do something about it". With Dick's support and a new resolve, Stewardship Services was founded.
After seven wonderful years of building church facilities in the Midwest, in early 1998, the decision was made to move the ministry to Port Orange, Florida in order for the Reaves family to live closer to their families. The move was not completed until April 1999 when all commitments in the Chicago area were fulfilled.
Since its conception, Stewardship Services has been able to save churches over $5,000,000 in direct construction costs. Assuming much of the money would have been borrowed, the real savings is much higher. The money these churches saved by hiring Stewardship Services was used towards serving God's people instead of lining the pockets of architects/designers, contractors, suppliers, banks, etc. This is proof that the ministry is needed and is destined to grow as long as Stewardship Services remains dedicated to insuring all work done is pleasing to God.