You survived another Easter! Congratulations. Now it’s time to get ready for the summer slump in giving that is heading your way. The lack of forward planning is one of the biggest mistakes churches make as they approach the summer months. My most successful churches implement a summer giving plan every...
Right after Easter, you have a crisis heading your way. The summer slump begins one minute after the last Easter service is over. This creates a challenge for keeping the proverbial offering plate full. Giving slumps at the same time as ministry and mission costs rise. Your need is to...
My job is to keep you focused and out of the ditch. I write each Stewardship Coach column with that in mind. I do for you what no one else does; think, how will that impact giving? I’ve been at this for, well, a long time. So, I’ve learned a...
I will always remember Sunday, March 13th, as the day the offering bucket passed by me for the first time in, well, forever! Since I moved to Oklahoma, I have seen a lot of things in church I have not seen in a long time, like shaking hands and maskless...
“When is showing gratitude ever inappropriate?” That was my wife Valerie’s response after I returned home from meeting with a pastor who had asked me to write a series of letters for him. One letter I wrote was a thank you letter to donors for their generosity. When I showed...
Are you running a bit behind in giving? Would you like to increase giving to assure those summer initiatives are fully funded? How about seeing some new donors start contributing? A successful Easter offering will accomplish all the above. I’m in week two of a series on Easter offering planning....
Easter is six weeks away, and I have about six seconds to keep your attention. So, how about this? Reading this Coach will help you raise your largest Easter offering ever and add new donors. Need more convincing? Here is what one pastor emailed me after using my Easter giving playbook: “We followed...
“He is twenty minutes into his sermon, and he has not yet mentioned one Bible verse.” That was my comment one Sunday morning, right after our move to Oklahoma. Valerie and I were church shopping, looking for a church that would be a good fit for us. Someone had recommended...
You are 2 ½ times more likely to see an increase in giving after preaching a series on giving rather than preaching on stewardship once or even twice a year.1. If that is true, why is it that so many pastors fail to even preach one sermon a year on...
9 in 10 Evangelicals Don’t Think Sermons Are Too Long was the title of a recent Christianity Today post that captured my attention. That is good news for us preachers. Here is another surprising discovery, 88 percent are happy with how often the church asks for tithes and donations.1. Why...
