From My Desk to Yours
Welcome back to the Stewardship Journal! I pray you had a great holiday weekend last week. We are back from our break, ready to start a new series that will give you all the tools to help you raise whatever over and above money you need for buildings, renovations, and debt elimination. Our focus for the next few weeks will be on planning and executing capital campaigns.
Mark Brooks, The Stewardship Coach, sets the stage for the next few weeks in our opening post. Here is his thumbnail overview, “I believe God has laid it upon my heart to help, for free, as many churches as possible raise the funds they need to position them to sustain their ministries into and beyond the 2030s. Starting with this Coach, I’m starting a series I’m calling Giving Away the Farm. For the next few months, I will be writing on the basics of how to raise over and above funds so you will be prepared for future ministry. Basically, for free, I’m giving away advice that would cost you thousands of dollars. Hence the title, Giving Away the Farm. This Coach, entitled Our Ticking Time Bomb, sets the stage for what will follow.” You will get the help you need to raise the funds you need for free!
Mark’s Bonus Section, entitled An Overview of Free Capital Campaign Help, is exactly that: an overview of what to expect. Mark has devised eight key lessons to help any church have a successful capital stewardship campaign. Mark states, “I’m going to lay out for all of us the key principles you will need to be prepared for the 2030s.”
Our final post is also by Mark Brooks and is entitled Navigating Through Icebergs – An Open Letter to SBC Leadership. In this post, Mark lays out what he would have told SBC state convention leaders about the state of giving and what that means for our future. It’s a sobering read, and we, in our convention, are taking this seriously, which is why we provide you, for free, this valuable tool. Let’s pray others will follow and help reverse the decline in giving.
Don’t forget you have a treasure trove of valuable resources and insightful past posts waiting for you at https://stewardshipjournal.com/. Let us equip you to foster a culture of generosity within your church.
In Jesus’ name!
Dr. Shawn Parker