The Stewardship Coach

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...


Why You Need a Summer Giving Plan

“Did you or anyone on your staff think of that?” That was my reply to an Executive Pastor of one of the largest churches in America after I had laid out a plan for summer giving. His comment was, “This isn’t hard at all.” His comment was meant as a...


Navigating the Annual Great Decline

Get ready for The Annual Great Decline. You are probably still basking in the glow of Easter, a packed house filled with promise and potential. Then, this past Sunday brought you back to reality. The typical church will not see any better attendance and engagement until sometime next fall. I...


The Generosity Lane: Using Gratitude to Increase Generosity

What do you do on Monday after Easter? The tendency after Easter is to pass out on the couch to rest up. Yet, if you want to keep your giving tank full, you must continually think about your generosity lanes. I’m continuing my series on the key generosity lanes you...


How to Make Appeals Appealing

The typical church in America today seldom, if ever, talks about money for fear of driving people away. Jesus said, “You have not because you ask not.” I realize he was talking about prayer, but people will respond when we ask correctly. It is not that we ask for financial...


How to Use Social Media to Advance Generosity

Should your church have a social media strategy for increasing generosity? Consider these statistics: More than half of the world now uses social media (62.3%) 5.04 billion people around the world now use social media, and 266 million new users have come online within the last year. The average daily time spent using...


The Digital Lane: Using Today’s Technology to Shape Eternity

“And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.”  Luke 14:23 The above verse is from Jesus's teachings in The Parable of the Great Banquet. The master invited many guests, but few came. So,...


Using Your Campus and Platform Lanes to Increase Generosity

Do you have a campus strategy for stewardship? Do you use your platform effectively for stewardship? As I continue my series on the various lanes of stewardship needed to build and sustain a culture of generosity, I want to show you how these two lanes can work to achieve that...


Saying Yes to the Easter Offering

I’m interrupting my series on the key lanes needed to build a culture of generosity by announcing we are five Sundays away from Easter! I have successfully used Easter as a means of increasing generosity with my playbook, Say Yes to Easter Giving: Making Plans for Your Best Easter Offering....


The Importance of Preaching on Stewardship

A study was done in the mid-'90s where only 32% of American church members reported that they had heard a sermon on the relationship between faith and personal finances in the previous year. If it was 32% in the '90s, what do you think that percentage is today? That study...