Always Get More Than One Quote

Here’s a leadership lesson for you and your team:

Whenever you are having something printed or outsourced for your church, ALWAYS get two quotes and three if possible… in writing, in comparable terms.

Remember, stewardship is more than just what you expect from your church members – You are responsible for every dollar spent.

Just a few days ago, one of my staff came to me to approve a specific item they wanted to have imprinted with our name on it.

I asked for comparable quotes and they said, “I only have this one, but it fits our budget.”

Within budget or not, one quote is a lonely quote.

Bottom line: after 15 minutes of calling and checking online, we saved over $1500 on the project… and we learned a few other valuable details that the first provider hadn’t told us.

And be careful of this myth:

- “There’s only one supplier” or “I can’t find it anywhere else”

In my experience this myth is very rarely (if ever) true, and often indicates a lack of effort from the one who speaks it.  The internet has revolutionized the search for comparable quotes on just about any service/product imaginable.

Final caution: the lowest quote doesn’t always mean the best.

It’s quality and price and turnaround time and relationship with the vendor….and I often pay a bit more for quality or speed or from a vendor I trust but when the payment is made, I know this:

With multiple quotes I’m never “wasting money” that could be better used in other God-honoring ways.

P.S. For more on improving your church’s Stewardship System, across the board, check out The Stewardship Seminar.

How to Cast Vision for Stewardship at Your Church

One of the foundational truths that my friend and coach Steve Stroope shared earlier this week in the Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church Webinar was that “an important part of your job as a church leader is to provide the resources for ministry.”

Unfortunately, many pastors struggle to cast a compelling vision for stewardship. As a result, their churches remain painfully underfunded and miss out on some great ministry opportunities just because they can’t afford them.

The first step for any church leader – even before casting a vision for stewardship – is to clarify your theology of money.  Spend some time digging in to what the Bible teaches about money and grab & read through a copy of Money Matters in Church.

In short – know what you believe about stewardship and make sure you’re living that out in your own life.

Remember: “if it’s a mist in the pulpit, it will be a fog in the pew.”

Then, boldly cast vision for stewardship.  Steve shared these vision-casting arenas in the webinar:

1. In Your Preaching – Don’t shy away from the topic of money.  Evaluate your preaching on a regular basis to stay balanced (click here for a resource to help you do just that). When was the last time you preached an entire series on the topic of money? How can you include a stewardship illustration in an upcoming message, to raise the value of honoring God with your finances?
2. In Membership Class – Clearly present the expectations of membership (including giving) and be sure they understand what the church believes about money (click here for a post about Steve’s membership expectations). Be sure that financial giving is understood as a commitment of membership from the beginning.  Then remind members of their commitment to give and support the work of the church periodically.
3. In Small Groups – For most of us, small groups are what Steve refers to as a “Level 2″ activity (primarily for the development of believers).  Because of that, you can teach on the topic of giving, stewardship, and finances in general with a different approach than you do during your worship services. In addition to incorporating stewardship teaching into your small groups curriculum from time to time, you can provide ongoing opportunities for financial education and growth (ex: Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University).

These are three powerful (and often untapped) opportunities to teach, challenge and cast vision for biblical stewardship at your church.

So what’s your next step?

• Do you need to clarify your theology of money?
• Is it time to evaluate your preaching and add in some points about stewardship?
• Are you clearly letting members know that they’re expected to give?
• Should you order Financial Peace University and offer it as a small group this summer?

Whatever it is, know this – my prayer is that you will take the steps required for your church to be fully resourced to reach the people of your community!

P.S. If you want to dig in on more of Steve Stroope’s wisdom and experience when it comes to church finances, check out “Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church” by clicking here.

Meet Steve Stroope (plus Free Download)

I had a blast yesterday on the Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church Webinar with my friend and coach Steve Stroope.

Steve is the Lead Pastor of the 10,000+ member Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, co-author of Money Matters in Church with Aubrey Malphurs, and one of the nation’s experts on church finances, capital campaigns and stewardship in general.

My only problem yesterday was trying to make sure I took good notes (and making sure I didn’t run out of notebook space)!

Steve has been a tremendous help to me and The Journey since the early days, and he’s partnered with Church Leader Insights on a number of practical resources, including:

Lead Your Own Capital Campaign Kit (DVD Set)	Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church Seminar (3 CD Set)	Money Matters in Church (Downloadable Audio)

One of the powerful stewardship ideas I wrote in my notebook yesterday was to ask your church members to re-commit to the commitments of membership on an annual basis (including, but not limited to, their giving commitment for the year).

Steve gave me permission to share one of the free downloads that webinar participants received yesterday - the actual commitment card that they use at Lake Pointe.  Here it is, for your downloading pleasure:

P.S. If you’re even considering a Capital Campaign in your church, perhaps the best investment you can make is to order a copy of Steve’s Lead Your Own Capital Campaign DVD Set - Click here for more details.

Meet My Mentor – Church Finance Webinar on Tuesday

By now, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, there’s no doubt in your mind that I’m a firm believer in coaching.  In fact, I happen to believe that everyone needs a coach.

One of my coaches for the past few years is Steve Stroope, Lead Pastor of Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas (in the Dallas area).  Among other things, Steve is an expert when it comes to church finances and building campaigns.

I’ve “twisted his arm” to get Steve to join me for a brand new webinar called “How to Improve the Financial Fitness of Your Church” next Tuesday, April 20 from 2:00 – 3:15 pm (Eastern).

In this webinar, here’s what I plan to ask Steve about:

* How to motivate new people to give
* How to preach on money (so that people listen and respond)
* How to get an accurate picture of your stewardship fitness
* How to cast vision so that people want to give (it’s easier than you think)
* How to use membership and small groups to cultivate givers
* How to cultivate key givers
* How to meet with key givers (and why you should start doing this asap)
* How to maximize the five different pockets of giving
* How to raise the stewardship level of your church year after year
* How to connect ‘regular’ stewardship with a capital campaign
. . .Plus the three key stewardship roles of the senior pastor

Like all of our Webinar Training Opportunities, the best part of all this is that you (and your finance team) can join Steve and me for this training from the comfort of your office or home on Tuesday.

For all the details and to Register Now, click the link below:

THE “IMPROVE THE FINANCIAL FITNESS
OF YOUR CHURCH” WEBINAR
with Steve Stroope & Nelson Searcy

Tuesday, April 20, 2010
2:00pm – 3:15pm (Eastern)
1:00pm – 2:15pm (Central)
12:00pm – 1:15pm (Mountain)
11:00am – 12:15pm (Pacific)

P.S. This webinar is filling up fast, so you’re going to want to Register Today to reserve your spot: Click Here to Register Now

In God We Trust – Stewardship Messages Worth Your Time

I’m always on the lookout for solid teaching about Stewardship and I recently came across a great series of messages from Willow Creek called “In God We Trust.”

It’s a three message series, and it’s great to hear such solid content from the likes of Andy Stanley and Bill Hybels.  I recommend you carve out a little time, follow the link below and listen (or watch) to this series:

Thanks to the gang at Willow for more great stuff!

P.S. If you realize that stewardship is discipleship and you’re ready to get serious with your church’s Stewardship System, check out my most comprehensive resource on the subject, The Stewardship Intensive.

P.P.S. If you’re ready to teach your people what the Bible has to say about money, consider investing in the Stewardship Sermon Series.

Great Christmas Offering Report (even in a new church!)

I know we’re about as far away from Christmas as you can get, but I’ve been wanting to share some of the great testimonies that many of you have been sending in about how God used your Christmas Offering to bless your church and fund more ministry in 2010.

Here’s a recent report from Ryan Heller, a New York Coaching Network Alumni and Lead Pastor of The Edge Church in Aurora, Colorado.  It goes to show that the Christmas Offering works — even in a brand new church:

Hey Nelson,

I wanted to give you a good report on our special offering.  A few months ago I participated in your free training session on how to conduct a special Christmas offering.

I was a little apprehensive to try to raise the extra money because our church was only one month old and we had a small launch team.  However, I decided to go for it.  We were not able to do all the promotional things I would have liked but we did send out an info packet telling everyone why the offering was important.

Our goal was to raise $3,500 and as of last Sunday we had raised $3,800.  I can’t wait to give the church a good report on Sunday.  Also during this time the attendance of our church almost doubled.  We are now preparing to add a second service on Easter.

Thanks for all your encouragement and assistance in raising funds for the kingdom.

Ryan Heller
Lead Pastor
The Edge Church

That’s great news Ryan – keep on making an impact for the Kingdom in Colorado!

P.S. If you’re looking to ramp up your Stewardship System to turn first time givers into extravagant givers and fund God’s vision for your church, check out The Stewardship Seminar.

The Best Church Tracking Software

OK, OK, the title of today’s post is a little misleading. I apologize in advance for disappointing you.

It gives you hope that I’m going to endorse or recommend or review one specific church tracking software and tell you “this is unequivocally the best package – go and get it,” but alas….

The truth is, there’s no such thing as great tracking software.

As you develop and strengthen your church’s systems, you’ll inevitably find that you want to track more information, view more reports and just generally “do more” than any of the available church database software allows.

Full disclosure: at The Journey we currently use FellowshipOne, and while we are happy with it, there are still things that we’d like to do that just aren’t possible.

All of the “big three” (FellowshipOne, Shelby & ACS) can prove quite expensive, and my experience has been that the less expensive offerings available on the market don’t get the job done.

Even though the available tracking tools are far from perfect, your church’s systems (especially Assimilation and Stewardship) depend heavily on your ability to keep track of vital information.

My purpose for today’s post is to say this: Don’t let the lack of a perfect database software keep you and your church from tracking the information that makes all the difference today and in the months and years to come.

And as long as you can do it securely, feel free to get creative…

We used Microsoft Excel for all of our tracking at The Journey until we had over 800 people in attendance!

P.S. Even if you’re tracking the right information, you may be missing out on prime opportunities to use that info to strengthen and grow your church.

Learn the proven, step-by-step process to move people from first-time giving to faithful (even extravagant) giving with The Stewardship Seminar.

2009 Year End Giving Statements – What to Include?

Each year about  this time I start getting emails from churches about sending their year-end giving statements, so I thought I’d share a few thoughts today.

While most churches send year-end giving statements, many of them miss out on a great chance to share information, celebrate & remind people of all that God is doing and cast vision for the year to come.

With that in mind, I think it’s important to consider what you will include with those statements.

Here’s what I like to send (at a minimum):

• Giving Statement
• Giving Letter (see below)
• Postcard about Our Upcoming Message Series
• Auto-Debit Form
• Giving Envelope

I’m also a fan of putting all of this in an envelope that will get attention (maybe a colored envelope, an “Important Tax Documents Enclosed” message printed on the outside, or even something “lumpy” enclosed).  After all, what good is it to mail something that never gets opened?

And just to help you out with the format and what you might want to include in your giving letter, here’s a draft of the letter I’ll be sending out to our folks:

2009 YEAR END GIVING LETTER

P.S. For more information on how to maximize your church’s Stewardship System, check out The Stewardship Intensive.

Should You Keep Mailing Offering Envelopes?

Any of you who have listened to The Stewardship Seminar or The Stewardship Intensive know that I am a firm believer in creating custom offering envelopes for your church and including them in each week’s program/bulletin.

In fact, I shared our latest envelope design from The Journey (including our Christmas Offering info) in a post a few weeks ago (click here to download).

Since there are so many different styles of offering envelopes out there (including those tiny ones that can barely hold a quarter) and methods associated with receiving the offering , the transition sometimes leaves churches with a few questions.

One such question is about using an Offering Envelope Service, with personalized printed envelopes for all of your church members, typically distributed annually or quarterly.

Many churches have been using these services for years and ask me about whether they should discontinue because of their new system.

Honestly, I don’t think there’s a reason to stop the envelope service.  The cost of these services is typically very inexpensive, so just do both!

In fact, we do both at The Journey – we have envelopes in every program each week and we mail out envelopes to our members and regular givers.

Some people who get the mailed ones asked to be removed from the mailing and said they would use the ones we provide on Sunday, but we have a lot of people who appreciate the convenience.

That said, we saw a much bigger increase in giving when we went to envelopes in the program compared to when we add people to the mailed envelope service.

P.S. Is your church’s Stewardship System due for an upgrade?  Check out my most comprehensive stewardship resource, The Stewardship Intensive.

Cultivating the Spiritual Gift of Generosity

As church leaders, we’re all called to make disciples.  A big part of the disciple-making process is helping people recognize and grow in using their spiritual gifts for God’s Kingdom.

This is not a foreign concept to any pastor I know – in fact, you are probably doing it already with respect to some spiritual gifts.

For example, if someone has the gift of serving, you give them opportunities to serve.  If someone has the gift of hospitality, you let them serve as a greeter.  If someone has the gift of leadership, you give them opportunities to lead.

As Pastors and Church Leaders we have an obligation to cultivate all of the spiritual gifts.

But how do you cultivate those people in your church who have the gift of generosity?

Here are some ideas to help you cultivate the gift of generosity in the people of your church:

1 – Familiarize yourself and them with God’s generosity. Jesus talked about money more than heaven and hell combined.  Read through the Gospels and look at the generosity of Jesus with the person in question.  Read the parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16), The Parable of the Worker’s in the Vineyard (Matthew 20) and others.

Remind them that God doesn’t give us what is fair, he gives to us out of His grace.  Generous giving is an extension of God’s grace and His work.  Generosity is not fair.

2 – Don’t neglect the tithe. Generous giving is above the tithe.  The Bible tells us that the tithe belongs to God, so generosity is not giving something that already belongs to God.  Remind people to continue to be diligent in their tithe and know that generous giving is above the tithe.

3 – Help them to recognize God’s voice in their life. Most people who have the gift of generosity are compelled to give a specific number.  Help them to have confidence in the direction that they’re given.  Encourage them to only give what they’ve been told/compelled to give.  No more or less.

4 – Teach them to discern how they are to give what God calls them to give. Sometimes they are to give anonymously and sometimes they are to do it with someone else’s knowledge.  God may not only use them to give but to compel others to do so.

There may be times when they’re to give their gift with someone’s knowledge through a testimony to help disciple others.  Sometimes their giving and someone else knowing is to teach that person or to compel them to do the same.  God uses people with the gift of giving to be examples to others.  Encourage them to only do that which God leads them to do.

5 – Encourage them to never be motivated by guilt or manipulation. Others who find out that they have this gift or ‘are just a generous’ person may try to take advantage of them.  Encourage them to not allow this to happen.  God has given this gift to them and it’s their responsibility to be obedient.  He’s already found them to be a good steward, now it’s just up to them to be obedient.

6 – Challenge them to grow in their gift. There may be times when they’re to give a gift that seems completely outrageous.  Challenge them to trust God that this is the right gift to give.  Take it as a challenge and opportunity for growing their faith.

Look for ways to give in both large and small ways.  It may be as simple as leaving behind a larger tip for their waiter or it may be that they’re to give to a large endeavor.  Help them to look to grow in their gift not only by the amount that they give but by the number of opportunities that God gives them.

7 – Let them know there may be times when God doesn’t give them a figure to give. He just wants them to give out of the gift He’s given them.  That’s an opportunity for them to use their discretion.  During those opportunities let them know that there’s no right or wrong gift.  God just wants you to use the gift He’s given them.

8 – Challenge them to set goals for their giving. One of the things that Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents is that “you have been faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things.”  Encourage them to look for opportunities to grow spiritually through their financial goals.

9 – Teach them to be wise about those who concern themselves with your gift. Studies have shown that generosity as a spiritual gift is given to a small percentage of believers.  With that in mind, they should be careful of people who seem overly concerned with their gift.

10 – Lastly, remind them that they can’t out-give God. We can try, but it will never happen.  In fact, it’s a lot of fun to try to out-give Him and watch how He blesses in return.

P.S. Here are some great resources to help you cultivate the spiritual gifts of the people in your congregation:

• For more on cultivating the gift of generosity, check out The Stewardship Intensive.
• For more on cultivating the gift of hospitality, check out The Assimilation Intensive.
• For more on cultivating the gift of serving, check out The Ministry Seminar.
• For more on cultivating the gift of leadership, check out Leadership Skills for a Growing Church.