Remember what it was like that first shut down Sunday in March 2020, and your offering went to practically zero overnight? That is your future if you don’t do something quickly. If you doubt me, have your financial person give you a listing of the top ten donors in your...
“Has the Pandemic Made Your Pastor Want to Quit? Probably,” was a recent headline at Christianity Today’s blog site. 1 No doubt you too have seen similar headlines. For the last two years, Pastors have been plunged into a multitude of decisions creating stress and burnout. Without question, we are...
Welcome to another Stewardship Journal! These are some of the most challenging days to minister in that any of us have ever experienced. We have all seen the headlines or heard the talk of ministerial weariness. At the end of last year, as we were planning out 2022, we wanted to...
Last year, the average American spent $164.76 on Valentine's Day cards, candies, and flowers. As a nation, we spent almost $22 billion all in an attempt to say; I Love You.1. All those flowers wilted, the candy was eaten, and most cards were thrown out. Is it worth it? We...
If there were any doubts about the impact of online giving on offerings, those doubts vanished with the rise of COVID-19. I hear continually from pastors, “We will never pass an offering plate ever again.” Commerce had already moved to become digital. The pandemic forced churches to finally adapt. Now...
A few years ago, I asked a pastor what my biggest obstacle was in helping him increase giving at his church. He replied, “My staff.” I thought he was kidding until I held my first meeting with his staff. I walked into the room to bored looks, and everyone had...
64% of churches are optimistic about total cash gifts to their churches going into 2022, according to a study done by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA).1 That was the opening line in our post last week on the 2022 state of giving and offerings. When we see national...
Missouri Baptist Pastors are optimistic about giving! You will discover that by reading our lead post. Last year we started a series called Missouri Baptist Pastors Speak Up. We asked pastors their views on stewardship-related topics. We pick back up with that series in this issue of the Journal with...
Dreams matter. Tomorrow's holiday honoring Martin Luther King is proof of that. On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered the iconic "I Have a Dream" speech in front of over 250,000 supporters gathered at the Lincoln Memorial. The speech was ranked the best American speech of the 20th...
Ideas to take your offerings to the next level – Since even my stellar offering talks can become routine, causing members to tune you out, let me give you some ideas on how to take your talks to the next level. You must keep changing what you do during the offering...
