From the Stewardship Journal Team
Welcome back to the Stewardship Journal! We pray you had a great holiday weekend last week. We are back from our break, ready to start a new series that will give you all the tools to help you raise whatever over and above money you need for buildings, renovations, and debt elimination. Our focus for […]
Our Ticking Time Bomb
A year ago, I issued a stark warning to a group of Southern Baptist leaders: without immediate action, thousands of their churches could vanish by 2030. This year, the warning was tragically confirmed. In April, Lifeway Research reported that the Southern Baptist Convention lost 1,253 churches in 2022. This is not just a Southern Baptist […]
An Overview of Free Capital Campaign Help
Get the help you need for your next capital campaign for a price you can afford AND never have to leave your office or home! I wrote that line in 2015 for a program I developed called The Online Campaign. I devised an eight-part online series that would teach any church the basics of holding […]
Navigating Through Icebergs
An Open Letter to SBC Leadership In the fall of 2019, I began discussions with leaders of the Executive Committee about building a stewardship platform for SBC churches. Then Covid hit, and then controversy came, followed by resignations, and all that talk was shelved. Last April, I was invited to speak at the Executive Committee’s […]
Planning for Ministry in the 2030’s
I believe that by 2030, less than six years from now, we will witness a significant wave of church closures across the U.S. Church closures are happening already, and the pace of closures is picking up. A few weeks ago, Lifeway Research posted the following headline: Southern Baptists Lost More Than 1,200 Congregations in 2022. […]
The Future of Capital Funding
I have lost track of how much money I have helped churches raise in capital campaigns. In over twenty-five years, I have learned a few things. For years I have been asking, what is the future for raising the capital funding? The list below is some of the key issues churches will face as they […]
Preparing for the Future With a Legacy Lane Strategy
The churches that survived the closures in March 2020 owe their survival to a crucial group. Despite alarming predictions of widespread closures due to a decline in giving, these churches held their ground. Our financial analysis of current clients and extensive research of numerous articles and studies underscored the significant role of a few top-tiered […]
The Legacy Team
One answer to assuring the future financial security of the church is to use Legacy donors to create a Legacy Team. As you will see in the definition, membership isn’t based on wealth, but on a desire to use whatever wealth they have for The Kingdom. Here are some thoughts I wrote on the Legacy […]
Overcoming Your Church’s Biggest Stewardship Roadblock…You
“You write the best stuff on stewardship. Your problem is no one cares.” A few years back, I was talking about writing with my friend, Brian Dodd. He made that comment to me. It’s the most stinging compliment I ever got. It is also revealing of why giving continues to decline in America. Stewardship is […]
The Senior Pastor’s Weekly Stewardship Overview
How much time should a Senior Pastor spend on stewardship? I believe every Senior Pastor should commit 5% to 10% of their time to educating themselves, building out, and working on a stewardship plan. If that sounds daunting, start with thirty minutes a week and then build from there. The following is a list of […]