Author - MBC Staff

The Number One Reason Churches Fail to Make Their Budget

A few years ago, we were asked to make a presentation to a church about raising capital dollars. In preparation for that meeting, we discovered from the church newsletter that giving was running about 10% below the previous year. Some of that decline was related to a decline in attendance....


From the Desk of Our Executive Director

Welcome to another Stewardship Journal. July has always been a challenging time for giving. We believe the contents of the Journal will help you navigate your way through this time successfully. Here is a preview of this week’s Stewardship Journal. Have you started working on next year’s budget? Then our lead post,...


How Donor Confidence Will Impact Your Giving

“Consumers’ Economic Outlook Worsens” and “Stocks Fall on Consumer Gloom” were two recent headlines in the Wall Street Journal that caught our attention. Americans feel the financial strain of our current downward economy from the gas pump to the grocery shelves. We are reeling from a 40-year-high inflation impacting the...


From the Desk of Our Executive Director

Welcome back! We took last week off for the 4th of July, and we pray that you had a relaxing and wonderful time with your family. We are excited to be back this week with another Stewardship Journal! And, let me thank everyone who participated in our survey. We are...


Failing Forward: Learning From Our Peers

John Maxwell once authored a book entitled Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success. His premise was that we often learn more from our mistakes than we do our failures. We have found this is often true when it comes to churches. In fact, there is a popular...


From the Desk of Our Executive Director

Help us improve The Stewardship Journal. We launched The Stewardship Journal in January 2021 as a biblically-grounded resource to help you improve the financial health of your church. Please tell us your thoughts in a short survey and help us improve this resource. The survey remains open through Friday. Take the...


How Partnerships Happen (Re-post)

One year ago, we asked long-time MBC pastor, Richie Rhea, to write a post about the importance of partnering together in the aftermath of a contentious Southern Baptist Convention. Given the nature leading up to the Convention in Anaheim, we thought his words were worth re-posting. Here is his original...


From the Desk of Our Executive Director

Welcome to another Stewardship Journal! Another Southern Baptist Convention has come and gone. I have been blessed to serve these many years as the Recording Secretary of the Convention. Serving for this last time was one of mixed emotions for me. I have loved my time serving and it has given...


From the Desk of Our Executive Director

Welcome to another Stewardship Journal! All of us as Southern Baptists grieve the findings from the recent Guidepost report. We as a Convention have some difficult decisions to make in the coming days. I am confident that we will do the right thing and I am prayerful that it will bring...


The Central Baptist Story

How old is your newest building? That is a question we raise in this edition of the Stewardship Journal as we begin a series in the month of June about project development for churches. As we often do, we wanted to hear real-life stories from MBC pastors about how their...