The Stewardship Journal Goes National

“The mission of Missouri Baptists to transform lives and communities with the gospel is too important to risk losing any of our churches. As I read and reviewed the current stress on giving, I knew we had to take action and provide our churches with the tools and resources to help them stay financially secure. That’s the reason we’re launching “The Stewardship Journal.”  Dr. John Yeats

The above is a quote from our first edition of the Stewardship Journal. Of all the state conventions, Missouri has led the way in providing church leaders with actionable tools for increasing stewardship. Our mission is to help churches establish a culture of generosity based on biblical values. As we start our fourth year of publication on January 8, 2024, we will be offering the Journal to other state conventions.

We are in the final stages of negotiating with multiple state conventions about joining the Journal. Currently, we have added Mississippi, the Baptist General Convention of Texas as well as the Louisiana Baptist Convention. This brings our send list to well over 10,000 church leaders in the SBC. We are anticipating more states joining later in the year.

In this last Journal of the year, we wanted to share some of the new features you have at your disposal.

Expanded content from leading experts. By adding additional states and church leaders, we are now more attractive to potential contributors. Our reach will be well above 10K church leaders, which gives us a better opportunity to attract quality authors and contributors. One of our goals will be to curate the best information and help from across the Convention as well as other thought leaders in the area of stewardship/generosity. Going national will improve the quality of what we offer. That’s a win for you!

Free access to over 500 offering talks! We started this year giving church leaders access to Mark Brooks’ offering talk vault. That will continue to be offered, but now those talks will reside on the Stewardship Journal’s website. The talks are filed by topic and by the year they were released. Additionally, you will find a recommendation for every week of 2024. The Stewardship Journal will help you take your offering time to the next level.

Free access to seasonal giving strategies! I write giving plans called playbooks around the key driving events and times of a church calendar. My column, The Stewardship Coach, shares the stewardship basics. The seasonal playbooks tell you how to implement those basics. From Easter to Summer giving, we will provide free strategies for these key seasons in the life of a church, showing you how to use these times to increase giving and givers.

Free access to capital campaign help! One of the biggest needs in the Convention is updating and renovating facilities that were built in the last century. To do this will require millions of dollars. Our passion is to provide free coaching held via webinars throughout the year, teaching the basics of how to raise capital. Our goal is to give church leaders the tools to raise the needed capital to update and renovate our churches successfully. Church leaders will have access to The Digital Capital Campaign, Mark Brooks’ online capital campaign training, and virtual support for raising capital dollars. Your church will never need to hire a campaign consultant again!

Our objective has been, and will continue to be, the following:

• Awareness – We will give each pastor updated information on the current state of giving.
• Attitude – We will work to establish a positive biblical view of stewardship and the pastor’s role.
• Action – We will give each Church a plan of action and the tools to implement their plans.
• Advice – We will provide each Church with expert advice.

To achieve these objectives, we are committed to bringing you the best resources on stewardship and generosity in the SBC and across the Evangelical world. We are excited about the future and look forward to seeing you for our launch on January 8, 2024.