In my over twenty years as a Southern Baptist pastor, few people commented on my sermon points. I think they forgot them before they left the building! But they still remember many of the illustrations and stories I told to this day to buttress my points. That’s the power of...
Welcome to another Stewardship Journal! For the last few weeks, the Journal has had a focus on budget planning. We continue that in this week’s edition. Here is a preview of this week’s Stewardship Journal. The Power of a Story is our lead post. The post shares how to help create stories...
Can you believe that summer is almost over? I know that technically summer does not end until mid-September. Yet, in just a few weeks, schools will be back in session, and for all practical purposes, summer will be over. Have you had a good time this summer? Did anybody go to...
I’m working on several new books, and I’ve been reviewing my past writing and material. I recently came across my posts from March 2020 as the pandemic began to shut down everything, including our churches. In a series of posts, I gave advice on how to survive. The advice I...
How will the current economic climate impact your budget for 2023? That is the question I will explore in this edition of the Coach, entitled Recession Proofing Your Offerings. I appropriated the title from my first book seen here on the left. Let’s start by asking, are we headed towards a...
Are we headed for a recession? Mark Brooks, The Stewardship Coach, gives his answer to that question in his column of this edition, saying, “My view is that recession or not, we are in for a challenging year for giving.” As a result, we at the Journal have been writing...
Are we in a recession or not? Our politicians and the media are hotly debating the answer to that question. Recession or not, every time we go to the gas pump or the grocery store, we feel the impact of this economy. How can you, as a pastor, best address...
Are you having a good summer? Has anyone already been on vacation? How many of you wish you were on vacation? Do you remember when you were a kid and had the whole summer off from school? Now that is a vacation! Alas, we now must work so that our...
What is your plan? The best message and tools, while essential, are worthless without a plan of action. Let me lay out my overall strategy for plans for special offerings. The following action plan uses Labor Day weekend as the target giving date. However, the principles here can be adapted...
Are you too late? Waiting too late is perhaps the biggest mistake pastors, and church leaders make when it comes to giving. By the time a pastor gets around to emailing or calling me, they are typically experiencing a huge giving-to-budget gap. At that point, they are being reactionary rather...
