Are we headed for a recession? Mark Brooks, The Stewardship Coach, gives his answer to that question in his column of this edition, saying, “My view is that recession or not, we are in for a challenging year for giving.” As a result, we at the Journal have been writing...
With inflation running nearly double digits and an economy filled with uncertainties, how should your church prepare for next year’s budget? Our team at the Stewardship Journal probes that question in our lead post. It’s budget planning time for many churches and setting a budget that can’t be met is...
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....
“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...
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...
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...
The following is a personal opinion piece by Mark Brooks “How will that impact giving?” That is the question I always ask as a stewardship minister. When the economy goes south, I ask this question. When weather cancels a service, I ask that question. When a crisis such as Covid-19 appears,...
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...
By Richie Rhea, Care Pastor, NorthRoad Community Church, Moscow Mills, Missouri VBS. So many memories. I was blessed to attend Vacation Bible School every year of my childhood. As a pastor, I haven’t missed a single year. Some years, I’ve attended more than one. That’s about 63 years of uninterrupted VBS....
“Through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, Southern Baptists have given over $5 billion to international missions,” proclaims the International Mission Board’s website.1. Many churches saw their greatest response ever to the offering this past year, setting record dollar amounts. So, how can the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering be in trouble?...
