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 […]
The Three-Day Weekend Edition
Pastoring a church miles from Razorback Stadium, where the University of Arkansas Razorbacks play football, made me aware of the need to pay attention to the calendar when it came to planning. When I started in the stewardship ministry, I quickly learned that even giving initiatives must pay attention to the calendar. The Sunday after […]
A May Strategy for Summer Giving
May is your month to help you get ahead of the curve of summer giving’s challenges. The following post I wrote for my sponsor, OnlineGiving.org, illustrates the best way to avoid the slump three-day weekends give churches. For every church in America, summer presents both opportunities and challenges. The opportunities run from summer mission trips […]
The Seasonal Giving Strategy
Whether we like it or not, three-day weekends are built into our calendars. This is a major reason why churches must have a seasonal giving strategy. The following post, written primarily about an Easter offering, none the less contains valuable information about seasonal giving strategies including three-day weekends. It is used with permission. Does your […]