The church that survives into the future is the church that prepares today for the future. That’s been one of my Brooks Mantras on stewardship that I have been repeating to you since around 2018. Pastor Shane, Bishop of Christ Church outside of Saint Louis, took that advice to heart...
As I wind down my newsletters, I plan on bringing back some of what I consider my key articles. Build, renovate, or repurpose the facilities you need and pay off any debt quickly. That has been my advice for the last few years. I thought about that last Sunday night as...
As we near the end of the year and the start of the New Year, I will be sharing with you posts about how to end well and start well. Here is a post I wrote last year that contains four timeless stewardship plans. “Almost all on Wall Street and in...
I’m focused on helping churches be financially secure by 2030. For years, I have marched under the motto, “Reversing Giving One Church at a Time.” With the decline of giving picking up speed and endangering the future of thousands of churches, there is never a better time to prepare for...
How do we engage younger people, with Baby Boomers aging out as our primary donors? I wrote a post for my sponsor, OnlineGiving.org, that shares creative ways to accomplish this. Recent reports on the state of giving in America have revealed that engaging younger generations to become motivated to give generously...
With summer over and the Holiday season ahead, your church will be seeing new faces and faces you haven’t seen in a while. How can you motivate them to give and then give continually? This post shares the importance of a plan of action and ideas on how to implement...
The following post is reprinted with permission. 25% to 30% of non-profits annual giving comes in during the last six weeks of the year. In my experience, churches can also see a significant bump in year-end giving if they have and work a plan. A good end-of-year plan must have the...
My Goal for this Playbook “My goal in preaching is for you to come back next week and bring a friend.” I once heard Andy Stanley make that comment at a preaching conference. When it comes to the goal of this playbook, let me borrow that phrase and tweak it a...
Think like a pastor. That’s what I often write on my yellow legal thinking pad as I face each stewardship issue. I ask myself, “If I were still a pastor, what should I do about this information?” I would want to know what this meant for me and my church...
Southern Baptist churches are heading into a crisis that will determine which local churches will survive and which will slowly die. The chart above identifies the ticking time bomb about to explode throughout the Convention. Can you see the problem? Can you do the math? 84% vs. 16%! 84% of the...
