I’ll never forget days like that day in March of 2020 when our nation came to a screeching halt. I was in the shower getting ready to fly to Atlanta to talk with a denominational guy about helping them build a stewardship platform. I kept hearing my phone ring. The...
"Digital offerings will be the end of the offering as worship." That is what someone wrote to me many years ago when I wrote a post encouraging churches to set up online giving. Ten years later, my response is still the same as I gave then: the offering isn't dead...
What should pastors be thinking? That is the question I often ask myself. Notice I said what pastors should be thinking about. At this time of year, I’m lucky if a pastor even opens my emails! This is one of your busiest times of the year, but as we near...
It is impossible to create a culture of generosity without, at the same time, creating a culture of gratitude. As our nation pauses this Thursday to celebrate Thanksgiving, I decided to focus writing this Coach on the topic of The Importance of Gratitude. Let me share a few key points...
“You never have to recover from a good start.” My mentor in the stewardship field, Dave Sutherland, taught me that years ago. Ask any football team if the statement is true or not. Consider this: 3/4 of NFL teams leading after the first quarter go on to victory. The first...
“Should we burn the mortgage note before we start raising money for future projects?” That was a question one of my pastors asked me last week in a Zoom call about planning for their future. Let me state right up front: one of my goals is to get churches out of...
Did Bruce Willis predict the future of the Church in the 2009 movie Surrogates? IMB says this about the film, “Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in...
19% of evangelicals give zero to church or charities. That was the shocking revelation in a new Infinity Concepts|Grey Matter Research study entitled, The Generosity Factor: Evangelicals and Giving. Here is their sobering conclusion, “The common thread we have discovered when it comes to generosity is that, as a group,...
50% of U.S. Protestant pastors say the current economy is negatively impacting their churches.1. “Most churches are not seeing growth in offerings that keep pace with inflation (currently at 3.7% annually according to the Consumer Price Index,)” says Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “The good news is the...
Last weekend, football teams across America, from the Peewee ranks to the NFL, had players at the start of the fourth quarter raise their hands extending four fingers. Why? It’s a reminder to their team that games are won and lost during the fourth quarter. It’s a symbol asking everyone...
