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Stewardship Seminar Summary
With the current economic landscape, there has been a great deal of interest around the topic of church finances and stewardship in general. I think it’s a prime time for church leaders to clarify and communicate a biblical theology of money and to implement solid biblical principles within our churches.
I got the opportunity to teach The Stewardship Seminar live in Baltimore a couple of months ago and wanted to reprint this article for you today - it contains a nice summary of what I taught:
Southern Baptist Nelson Searcy teaches about stewardship
June 01, 2009
By David Jackson and Shannon Baker
BALTIMORE—Nationally known church planters Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas learned about stewardship the hard way.
“This seminar came about out of desperation,” shared Searcy at a recent seminar he and Thomas taught at White Marsh Church in Baltimore. “We were about to lose our partners. We had to learn fast and apply it right away.”
About 100 attendees from locations as diverse as California, Michigan and Tennessee, attended the two-day conference that focused also on church planting and evangelism.
Nelson, the lead and teaching pastor, and Kerrick Thomas, executive and teaching pastor at The Journey Church in the New York City-metro area, lead a successful Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) church plant that presently meets in five locations with over 1,200 currently in attendance.
Searcy said, “Here’s the deal: it’s impossible to be a fully-developed disciple without being a fully-developed steward. Your heart follows your treasure!”
Searcy and Thomas contend that the goal is to move people into becoming more fully developed stewards, from non-givers to regular-givers to tithers to extravagant givers.
“If people would give just at poverty-level tithing you’d probably double your income for ministry!” said the pastors, outlining three steps to increase giving in the local church.
Educate.
“Teach people to give; this is the first step in moving non-givers into first-time givers,” they said, suggesting that the topic of stewardship should be taught at least four times a year.
“Tie them to felt-needs in life around the calendar and seasons of life,” Thomas suggested. Searcy agreed, noting that adding a system of accountability helps increase giving.
“We report to those who support, so use an envelope and we will let you know about our expenses,” he shared, reminding, “Remember: people give to vision, not to need.”
Thomas explained, “Constantly remind people that the church’s ministry is supported by its members.” Searcy added, “Unchurched people have no idea how your church is funded. We let them know that our ministry opportunities are a result of their giving.”
Offer options.
Searcy suggests churches should give the people different options for giving.
“If you only allow people to give at your services you may be losing as much as 40 percent of your receipts!” he cautioned, sharing more opportunistic ways. For example, create a self-mailing envelope and put it in the bulletin with a business reply permit that doesn’t even need stamps.
“You don’t have to pay for those that aren’t mailed. If you just put the envelope in the bulletin not the pew rack, you will get more, I promise…and besides, [speaking of the traditional offering envelope] they’re too small! No one can put big money in a small envelope.”
The pastors said that another way to encourage giving is to set up a ‘bill pay’ with their own bank or as an ACH as an automated debit option. “This is a great option since you will KNOW what will be coming in every week unless they make a change,” Searcy said.
Otherwise, church members may give online at their website through PayPal or other online payment services.
“Sixty percent of our giving comes in ways OTHER than weekend services!” Searcy and Thomas said. “The point is: if you want to get more first time givers, you must provide more options.”
Follow up with givers.
The Journey Church pastors suggested that churches send thank you notes to first time givers and quarterly giving statements to all givers. They also acknowledge unusual gifts with a special response including a gift and a hand-written note.
Each method communicates to the givers that their gifts are important, as do the following ways:
To gain regular givers: Searcy related what pastor and national speaker, Bob Roberts, once said, “People will rise to the level of commitment you ask. For every 100 people who participate in a giving small group, the church will receive $100,000 a year.”
Searcy said that stewardship should be introduced in the church’s membership class covenant and that the language of the class should answer newcomers’ questions.
“Ask them ‘which way’ they plan to give, not ‘if’ they will give,” he urged.
Likewise, “if people have not given at all in a year, we look at the list together as a staff and ask people to follow up with them; it’s an accountability issue for you as a leader.
To secure tithers: “Tithing shows that God has first place in your life; it’s the first ten percent of your gross income,” shared Thomas.
Searcy added, “This is the first place principle in all areas of life: if you want God to bless you in anything, give Him first place in that area of your life.” Thomas agreed, “It’s not a tithe if it comes last or if it’s leftovers…He comes first.”
They suggest that churches challenge members to consider a four-month “Tithe Challenge” to accept God’s test regarding the tithe (based on Mal. 3:10). They acknowledged, “…unbelievers have no problem with this, but people that come to you from other churches do!”
To develop extravagant givers: Searcy said, “God calls on us to give sacrificially from time to time; this can be the beginning of an extravagant giving lifestyle. People need to be educated that the tithe is the minimum of what God expects. Offerings are above this amount.”
On their website, the Journey Church offers financial tools to help their church members manage their money wisely. Included are a personal financial profile and plan as well as a monthly budget ledger form. Also included are former financial messages preached at The Journey, books about financial management, as well as several articles about how to make financial decisions.
Acknowledging that many churches are beginning to feel the crunch of the current financial recession, Searcy also offers a practical podcast on how to turn this tough time into the church’s finest hour online at www.churchleaderinsights.com.
*This is a reprint. The original article can be found here.
P.S. If you’d like to fill in the blanks in your church’s Stewardship System, invest in the full recording of The Stewardship Seminar.
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Free Download - My Mid-Year Giving Letter
Just a couple of days ago I put the finishing touches on my mid-year Giving Letter that will go out with the 2nd Quarter Giving Statements to all of The Journey’s givers. I thought I would take a moment today to share it with you (the link to download it is below).
In addition to the letter I’m enclosing:
- Year to Date Giving Statement
- Giving Envelope
- Auto Debit Form
- Series Promo Postcard
- And custom printed ice cream scoop
All of this in 6 x 9 envelope. The ice cream scoop makes it lumpy so its certain to be opened. Your giving letters are worthless if no one opens them!
In the past, my giving letters have been very well received. You can see the ones I’ve posted prior for a sample on how to write this one up.
Here’s the current letter:
2Q 2009 Giving Statement Letter.doc
P.S. To learn more about how to get your church’s Stewardship System running on all cylinders, check out The Stewardship Intensive.
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What We Give (A Saturday Quote)
“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”
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Strengthening Your Church Workshop
Many of you have heard me talk about Steve Stroope, Lead Pastor of Lake Pointe Church in Texas. It’s hard to place a value on how important he has been to my personal growth and development and to that of The Journey.He is a great personal friend and a mentor of mine, and I wanted to let you all know about a special event that his church is hosting next month.
It’s a 2-day workshop called Strengthening Your Church in Tough Times, and it’s taking place Tuesday, May 12 & Wednesday, May 13, at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX.
It looks to be a great training opportunity as we all lead our churches through these trying times, and I consider Steve Stroope one of the best resources in America today on the issue of Biblical stewardship and leading your church in that area.
For all the information on this event, go to:
http://www.ministryadvantage.org/Workshop/ConfSchedule.aspx
P.S. Steve and I recorded a downloadable audio a while back called “Money Matters in Church,” which can be found here:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p699&navicat=31 -
Town Hall for Hope
I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to spend 3 days in Nashville with Dave Ramsey. It was a great experience and I learned a lot in those three days (I’ll share more of that soon), but I wanted to make sure you know about a special, first of its kind, event that Dave has coming up.It’s coming up on Thursday, April 23, and it’s called the Town Hall for Hope. The concept is a nationwide town hall where Dave Ramsey will answer questions and reassure the American people that there is hope in the midst of our struggling economy.
Here’s perhaps the best part of all: it’s FREE. Dave is working with LifeChurch.tv to make this FREE event available to as many people as possible across the country. Not only is the event free to the participants, it’s also free to any venue that wants to host it for their community. To find a local host OR to become one, check out: www.TownHallForHope.com.
Here are the details:
Town Hall for Hope
Thursday, April 23
8:00 PM Eastern Time
www.TownHallForHope.comP.S. If you’re looking to teach your church what the Bible says about financial stewardship, you might want to consider the Stewardship Sermon Series, a collection of 5 of our most powerful and popular stewardship messages:
https://nelsonsearcy.infusionsoft.com/cart/store.jsp?view=4&i=p64&navicat=31 -
Stewardship Intensive
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.
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Year End Giving Letter
A lot of blog readers have asked me for my 2008 Year End Giving letter which will be mailed this month to everyone who gave to our church in 2008. I just finished it so I’m posting it here for you to download:
This is ‘my draft’ it will be posted on Letterhead and typeset by our designer but I wanted you to have it first. It will eventually be printed in 2 colors on nice paper.
We are also going to include a half-page insert from Kerrick, our Executive Pastor - you can download it here:
We’ve found that doing an insert on a brightly colored paper is beneficial, as a lot of people will read the insert first.
We are mailing our statements in regular #10 envelopes with the following enclosed:
Giving Letter
Giving Insert
Giving Statement
Postcard about February 8 series
Auto-Debit Form
Giving EnvelopeOn the front of the envelope we are printing in red: Important 2008 Tax Documents Enclosed.
Giving letters are a great way to communicate to your key audience and to cast vision for 2009. For more on building a healthy Stewardship System, see my Stewardship Seminar by clicking here.
Hope that helps,
Nelson
P.S. Full disclosure: I modified the first three sentences of my giving letter from an email I received from www.earlytorise.com
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Year End Giving Email
About 1/3 of most parachurch ministry income comes in during the month of December. Often times we as church leaders miss this opportunity. Here’s an email I have going out to our church on Monday, December 29 - feel free to adapt it for your situation:
Subject line: A courtesy reminder . . . (The Journey Church)
This is a courtesy reminder that your year-end financial gifts to The Journey Church are to be given online or postmarked in the mail by Dec 31, 2008 in order to qualify for 2008 tax benefits
In fact, it is your year-end gifts that allow us to finish 2008 strong and to be fully prepared for ministry opportunities in 2009.
And, of course, right now is a great time to make a gift to The ONE IN A MLLION Special Offering. Maybe God is stretching you to give a sacrificial gift to this offering.
As you prayerfully consider a year-end gift, here are three convenient giving options for you:
1. To give online to either the regular offering or the special offering simply visit:
http://www.journeymetro.com/giving
Here you can give via debit or credit card. It’s completely secure and very easy.
2. If you wish to mail a gift to our office our address is:
The Journey Church
321 W 44th St, Suite 203A
New York, NY 10036
212.730.8300 x2123. You may also use your bank’s online website to send a check to The Journey (via the Bill Pay option). Just direct your bank to send your check to the address above – you don’t even need a stamp!
Thank you for your faithful giving in 2008.
Happy New Year!!
Pastor Nelson
P.S. Remember, regular Sunday services will resume this Sunday, January 4 in all locations, although there is no evening service in Manhattan. I’ll be teaching live in Manhattan; Pastor Elliott will be teaching live in Brooklyn and Pastor Jim will be teaching live in Jersey City. It’s going to be a great Sunday! See you then.
Nelson Searcy, Lead Pastor
The Journey Church of the City
One Church: Multiple Locations
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Bad Economy + Bad Decisions = Disaster
I continue to hear of a lot of pastors and church leaders making bad decisions because the economy is bad. If you make bad decisions when the economy is good, you may be able to ride it out with minimal effects. But if you make bad decisions when the economy is bad, disaster is almost certain.
Before you make any major (or minor) decision at your church based on the potential impact of the troublesome economy can I beg you to listen to my latest podcast? You can listen for free by clicking here:
HOW TO LEAD YOUR CHURCH DURING FINANCIAL CRISIS
Share this podcast with your elders, deacons and key leaders in your church. You have my permission to rip it to CD or share it in whatever way is most convenient.
I hope this helps!
Nelson
P.S. My thanks to Rick Warren and Gerald Sharon at Saddleback Church/Purpose Driven for featuring this podcast in Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox Email
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Q & A: How to respond to the financial crisis?
The most frequently asked question I’ve received over the last two months is:
How am I to lead my church during this financial crisis? How do I prepare? What do I need to do and not do?
To listen to my answer to this question, check out my latest podcast:
HOW TO LEAD YOUR CHURCH DURING THE FINANCIAL CRISIS
(Download the free MP3, Listen online or subscribe via iTunes)I promise this podcast will leave you with HOPE!
Enjoy!
Nelson
P.S. If you have questions, simply use the Ask Nelson button on the right.
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Christmas Offering Documents and Envelope
Yesterday we talked about my free report on “How to Conduct a Christmas Offering.” Today I wanted to share with you the packets we created to promote our Christmas Offering. I’m not sharing these documents because we got it ‘perfect!’ By no means. Instead, this document may help you with language and formating for your offering.
On Sunday I’m going to present the Christmas Offering in the middle of my sermon. And as people leave they will receive a packet that includes:
6 x 9 Envelope which contains…
A Letter from me introducing the offering
A two page overview of the offering
A Q & A about the offering
and a Giving Envelope
During the week of November 9, everyone will receive this packet in the mail and it will also include a Christmas Offering Pen (a very fat pen that, hopefully, will make people want to open the envelope - after all, the packet is a waste if no one opens it).
OK, so here’s the documents for you to download:
Christmas Offering Packet (Right Click to Download)
Christmas Offering Envelope (Right Click to Download)
If you have additional questions about Christmas Offerings, just use the Ask Nelson button on the right.
Oh, and for all the Baptists who read my blog: Happy Halloween!
Nelson
P.S. If you still haven’t snagged your copy of the free “How to Conduct a Christmas Offering” report, click here.
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How to Conduct a Christmas Offering
Last week I released my latest report entitled “How to Conduct A Christmas Offering.” Its been the fastest downloaded report I’ve offered (over 1000 people in a few days!). If you haven’t snagged your copy yet, grab it now (its not too late to plan a Christmas Offering) - its FREE:HOW TO CONDUCT A CHRISTMAS OFFERING FREE REPORT LINK CLICK HERE
If you’ve already downloaded the report (and assuming you found it helpful) will you send this link to a friend or let the pastors in your network or on your blog know about it? I want it to help as many people as possible.
We are rolling out our Christmas Offering this Sunday. That’s a little early for most churches but it ties in with my message this weekend. You would be fine to roll out your offering on the Sunday before Thanksgiving or even December 7, depending on the amount you want to raise (start earlier if the amount is more than three or four times your regular weekly offering). Check out the free report for more details on the hows and, more importantly, the why’s.
I’ll try to post some of the documents we are using in our Christmas Offering tomorrow.
And let me be the first to say…Merry Christmas,
Nelson
P.S. I’m sure I didn’t cover everything about Christmas Offerings in the report so if you have any questions, use the Ask Nelson button on the right!
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Third Quarter Giving Letters (Free Downloads)
As promised, here’s our Third Quarter Giving letter. Right click below to download:
Main 2-Page Economic Hope Letter from me
Small Church Stat Insert from Kerrick
(Note: These may not be the final versions we actually mailed - they were proofed and designed on letterhead before the final two-color printing. Thank God for proof readers!)
We sent the two letters above plus an auto-debit form and a giving envelope in a 6 x 9 Envelope with these words printed in blue on the front of the envelope:
An Important Economic Message from Pastor Nelson Searcy
plus your third quarter statement of givingThey started hitting over the weekend and the early reponse has been very positive.
Even though its late October, I don’t think its too late for you to do a 3rd Quarter Giving letter. People are interested in the economy and your letter (like mine above) can provide hope. Also, you can use a letter that hits in November to promote your Christmas Offering - see my free report here - and you can mail it first class and use it to clean up your database (the post office will send you the new addresses if you pay first class postage). Lyle Schaller has also argued for November giving letters.
Hope this helps!
Nelson
P.S. For more thoughts on Giving Letters and Stewardship Systems, check out my Stewardship Seminar by Clicking here.
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How I Saved $2000
In 2003 I had a conversation with Steve Merriman and from that one conversation I saved over $2000 in taxes that year. Steve is the founder of ClergySupport.com (you’ve heard me talk about them in the blog before - they are the ones who cleared me when I was recently audited - you can read about it here).
I’ve known Steve since my days at Saddleback when he was a consultant for us. In 2003 he helped me adjust my housing allowance and retirement to match my current reality of living in NYC (and did I mention it saved me over $2000 in taxes). Steve is a friend, a trusted adviser to our staff and is one of the biggest PRO-ponents of clergy that I know. He is the person I trust with my taxes, retirement and investing.
On Tuesday, October 21, Steve and his colleagues are holding a free webinar for church staff. I strongly encourage you to attend. Steve and his team did a similar seminar at our church earlier this year and our staff and a packed room of local pastors found it to be very helpful. I’m sure you will too. Here’s the details:
<Begin Quote>
Clergy Financial, Inc. would like to invite you, your spouse, and ministry staff to attend our “Tax Basics & Advanced Housing Allowance Strategies” webinar. If you’ve been unable to attend the summer workshops, this is a great way to learn how to maximize your tax benefits and save money on gas at the same time! It’s also not too late for “year end” tax planning.Tuesday, October 21, 200810:00 to 11:00 AM MSTWebinar(Via the Internet)The workshop and all materials are complimentary. All you need is an hour with a phone and a computer available to gain complete knowledge of “The Greatest Tax Benefit for Ministers and Those Who Qualify”. You’ll learn tried and true strategies to maximize your housing allowance benefits and keep them during retirement. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask questions in a two-way conversation with our Clergy Tax and Retirement Specialists.Why Attend?We will cover these topics and more:-
Lowering your Social Security Tax liability.
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Social Security Self Employed Status for ministers.
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Use Housing Allowance for a down-payment on a new home.
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What expenses qualify for deductions?
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Who qualifies as a minister?
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Understand the Four Tax Rules for Ministers only.
How to Register
We hope to hear from you! To register and receive your log-in information and instructions, please email jenny@clergysupport.com.
<End quote>I hope you can make the webinar but even if you can’t, make sure that you have an adviser that is fully versed on the ins and outs of clergy taxes taking care of you.
Nelson
P.S. If you decide to participate in the webinar, let them know that I you heard about it from me. Thanks in advance!
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Challenge Others Toward Godly Stewardship - Pastor’s Financial Life: Part 5 of 5
Today, I’m wrapping up my five-part miniseries on the pastor’s financial life. I want to conclude by asking you to make this fourth and final commitment:
4 - I commit to challenging others toward Godly stewardship.
Most pastors make the mistake of being too timid in the area of stewardship. We aren’t afraid to challenge our congregations on many other aspects of their spiritual growth, but we often shrink back from discussions of money. Please don’t let this be true of you.The Bible speaks so frequently about stewardship that we just can’t ignore the subject with our people. And the fact is, once you’ve made the other commitments we’ve discussed over the last week, you’ll have the moral authority to address stewardship head on. With this moral authority and Biblical imperative, there’s no reason you need to shy away from challenging your congregation to:
- Make a commitment to being debt free for the rest of their lives.
- Make a commitment to always giving more than a tithe.
- Make a commitment to living out Biblical stewardship.If you missed the earlier installments of this “Pastor’s Financial Life” miniseries, use these links to check them out: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.
I hope you have found this miniseries both challenging and encouraging. Let’s all commit to leading the Stewardship charge in our churches.
Nelson
P.S. Today is the last chance to take me up on my offer to receive a free copy of my resource “Debt Free Pastor: Free Yourself to Lead Your Church.” Just email cristina@churchleaderinsights.com with the subject line “Debt Free Pastor” and we’ll send you a free download.
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Become An Expert on Biblical Stewardship - Pastor’s Financial Life: Part 4 of 5
This week, we are discussing four financial commitments I’ve made and that I’m challenging you to make. Today, let’s examine commitment #3:
3. The commitment to become an expert on biblical stewardship.
I don’t think I had a single class on stewardship in seminary, so I had to go searching for the knowledge. Here are the books that helped me the most:
Money Possessions and Eternity by Randy Alcorn
Money Matters in Church by Aubrey Malphurs and Steve Stroope
Rich in Every Way by Gene Getz
Developing a Giving Church by Elmer Towns and Stan Toler
Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey
I encourage you to pick up these books and work through each of them. With the current economic problems, now is the perfect time to become an expert on biblical stewardship.
I’ll wrap up this series next Tuesday. In the meantime, have you taken me up on the offer to receive a free copy of my resource “Debt Free Pastor: Free Yourself to Lead Your Church”? You can request it by sending an email to cristina@churchleaderinsights.com with the subject line “Debt Free Pastor” and we’ll send you a free download – no questions asked. And if you know someone else who might want it too, just invite them to contact me.
Nelson
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Give More Than the Tithe - Pastor’s Financial Life: Part 3 of 5
This week, we are discussing four financial commitments I’ve made and that I’m challenging you to make. Today, let’s examine commitment #2:
2. The commitment to give more than the tithe
Within weeks of becoming a Christian I was taught the biblical principle of tithing. I remember thinking: “What a great deal! God has gives me heaven and forgiveness and all he asks from me is 10%!” Now I’ve grown in my understanding of God since then, but my excitement about tithing has rarely waned.
I am a committed tither – not because I think God will punish me if I’m not, but because I believe it honors Him when I am. Here’s what I believe about the tithe:
1- The first 10% of all income I receive should be returned to God.
2- I return it to God by giving it to my local church
3- By returning the first 10%, God blesses the other 90%
I believe that I argue these three beliefs on solid biblical foundation (but please don’t send me argumentative notes or comments until you read the resources I’m recommending in tomorrow’s post). Here’s a belief that I’m not sure I can back up with one or more specific verses, but I do believe it captures the spirit of giving as found in the New Testament:
As I grow as a Christian, the percentage of my income I return to God through his local church should increase in proportion to my maturity.
This is why I’m committed to giving more than the tithe! Do you need to increase your giving to the local church? Is your giving increasing as your maturity is increasing?
More on the pastor’s financial life tomorrow.
Nelson
P.S. A friend of mine is committed to become a reverse tither by giving 90% of his income to the local church and living on 10%. I love it!
P.P.S. Have you taken me up on the offer to receive a free copy of my resource “Debt Free Pastor: Free Yourself to Lead Your Church”? You can request it by sending an email to cristina@churchleaderinsights.com with the subject line “Debt Free Pastor” and we’ll send you a free download – no questions asked. And if you know someone else who might want it too, just invite them to contact me.
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Live Debt Free - Pastor’s Financial Life: Part 2 of 5
Yesterday, I talked about four financial commitments I’ve made and that I’m challenging you to make. Today, let’s examine Commitment #1:
1. The commitment to be DEBT FREE for the rest of my life.
In 2002, just after Kelley and I had started The Journey Church, we were surprised to discover that we had over $16,000 in credit card and graduate school debt. (For the sake of this post, I will not focus on mortgage debt. Mortgage debt, if incurred through a conservative loan, could be considered secured debt - but now I’m splitting hairs!). Back to the story…about four months into our new church we felt like God was saying to us, “Get out of debt!”
We put together a 3-year plan and through God’s power we were debt free in 2.5 years!
I learned a great number of stewardship principles through this process of becoming debt free. The most important one is that a pastor’s personal stewardship will impact the stewardship life of the church.
In other word, how I manage my money will promote or limit God’s blessing on our church’s finances. I believe that one of the reasons our new church was able to become financially self-sufficient in less than three years is because I honored God by getting and staying out of debt.
I would like to give you a resource where I describe the exact process I used to become debt free. It’s called:
Debt Free Pastor: Free Yourself to Lead Your Church (FREE Download)
It’s my gift to you as an encouragement for you to become debt free. To receive the free download, send an email to cristina@churchleaderinsights.com with “Debt Free Pastor” in the subject line.
If you are in debt, I hope you’ll make the bold decision to become debt free. If you are debt free, I hope you’ll determine today to remain debt free. The future stewardship vitality of your church just might depend on the financial decisions you make.
Nelson
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Pastor’s Financial Life: Part 1 of 5
For the last two months I’ve been preparing for Financial Peace, a new series we started on Sunday at The Journey. This preparation made me think about my own financial journey.
If you know some of my story (and I won’t repeat it here) then you know that in my teenage/pre-Christian years I made a lot of money writing computer programs and building a computer business. Basically, I earned more money than any 16 year old should be allowed to earn. I wasted quite a bit of it but also used some of it for good (to graduate college debt free and to start my first evangelism ministry after I became a Christian).
In 1990, shortly after I became a Christian, I learned the principle of tithing. I remember thinking, “This is great! God gives me salvation and all he asks from me, from a financial perspective, is 10%.” Sounded like a good deal! (Still does, although I’ve grown quite a bit in my understanding of what God expects.)
Over the next 11 years, through marriage, pastoring, moving and attending seminary, I racked up over $16,000 in credit card debt. This slide into the red began my journey toward becoming a student of biblical stewardship.
Now, I’m happy to say that I’ve been debt free since 2004 (see my P.S. for a free resource on this). And I’ve been living according to biblical stewardship principles at a higher level than ever before. I’m sure I have a long way to go, but I’ve learned a lot.
In fact, my up and down financial journey has led me to make four very strong commitments:
1- The commitment to be debt free for the rest of my life
2- The commitment to always give more than a tithe
3- The commitment to become an expert on biblical stewardship
4- The commitment to challenge others toward Godly stewardship
Let me challenge you to make these four commitments, too! I’ll be going into more detail on each one for the rest of the week…Nelson
P.S. In 2006, after being debt free for a couple of years, I recorded a resource where I challenged my fellow pastors to also become debt free. It’s called Debt Free Pastor. I would like to send you a free copy – just send an email to cristina@churchleaderinsights.com with the subject line “Debt Free Pastor” and we’ll send you a free download.
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3rd Quarter Giving Statements
It’s October 2 so its time to start thinking about your 3rd Quarter Giving Statements.
I haven’t written our third quarter letter yet but I will post it here as soon as I do (for a sample of my 2nd Quarter Giving Letter click here). The obvious issue to address in the letter is the ecomony. My letter will be a letter of hope and encouragement. I suggest you do the same.
Here’s items you can start thinking about and preparing for as you get ready for your 3rd Quarter Giving Statements:
- The financial statements (make sure all giving data thru September 30 is entered).
- The inserts (what are you going to put in with the letter. Could you use the letter to promote a November series or an upcoming special event).
- An offering envelope (always enclose one that your givers can mail back to your office. Do you need to get some printed?).
- Auto-debit forms (it’s not too late to get this set-up; call you bank today. You can take them our auto-debit form to show them what you want to do - download it here)
- A speciality item (A pen for example, gives your letter bulks and encourages people to open your letter. We sent a tin of mints with our second quarter giving letter. Your letter is a waste if no one opens it).
- The mailing envelope for the packet (will it be a regular envelope or a custom envelope. I suggest you avoid window envelopes).
- Postage (you might consider doing this mailing via first class mail so you’ll receive the address updates from the postal service for anyone who moves. This will help you clean up your database).
And finally, there’s your target mail date. When will the letters/packets go into the mail. I’m planning for ours to hit in mid-October.
I hope this helps you prepare. I gotta run…I’ve got a giving letter to write!
Nelson
P.S. For my complete thoughts on a Stewardship System, check out The Stewardship Seminar and my collection of Stewardship Sermons by clicking here.
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