t may come as a surprise to some, but one of my favorite topics to talk about with church leaders is stewardship.  I enjoy talking about money and the church because stewardship is discipleship.  Jesus himself said where your money is, there your heart will be also.

I got to spend a couple of days last week in our Manhattan office with 10 churches (coaching alumni and their teams – 32 people total) from all over the United States leading the Stewardship Intensive.  The intensive is a two-day workshop where we go far deeper than we go in the Stewardship Seminar, to outline and share the inner workings of the Stewardship System.

One of the ideas the gang really got a lot out of was the simple idea of paying more attention to how we receive the offering during each service.  Church leaders will plan every other element of a worship service down to the millisecond and not give the offering a moment’s glance.  In fact, many people don’t give at church because the offering catches them by surprise!  One simple truth: you can increase your weekly offering by intentionally giving your people notice that the offering is coming so they have time to prepare for it.

PS – The Stewardship Intensive will be available for purchase in about a month but until then, if you would like to learn more about the Stewardship System, check out The Stewardship Seminar.