A Dozen Thoughts About Stewardship Never think of stewardship as begging for money.  Your church does good work and you are inviting others to invest in that ministry. Giving to God is not a transaction.  Anytime you give anyone a gift it is a reflection of your relationship.  Your commitment to the church should […]

It used to be that when a baby cried, you heard it.  Then came baby monitors and babies could cry by remote control.  Now a new line of baby wear, Exmobaby, has biometric sensors built right in.  Now a concerned parent can be halfway around the world and receive updates on junior’s  heart rate and body temperature right […]

This blog is about stewardship and is not the appropriate place for me or others to weigh in on Planned Parenthood’s myriad of services.  Let’s keep the discussion to the Komen decision. It’s not very often that the Susan G. Komen Foundation for the Cure gets it wrong.  But it sure happened a few weeks […]

I’m not sure if you heard, but the Super Bowl was yesterday.  In the last 10 days, some 150,000 visitors came to downtown Indianapolis to be part of the festivities in Super Bowl Village.  That’s great for Indy tourism, but local businesses told their employees to hit the road or stay at home and work […]

Last week I talked about a campaign to get your church out of debt, and I appreciate all of the feedback.  I knew it would be a hot topic. Let’s stay on the same topic but take a bit of a shift this morning. Circle of Hope, a Brethren in Christ Church in Philadelphia has the […]

One of the best things to come out of the economic downturn of the last four years is that consumers are working hard to get out of debt.  The Federal Reserve reported that last year the amount of debt held by the average household in this country shrunk to its lowest level since 1993. And […]

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that the lowest birth rates in our country in the 20th Century happened in the 1930s, as a result of the Great Depression. But why should you care? Because the folks were born in those years are now in their 70s and 80s. These are the ages when we […]

Last winter I was asked to meet with a group of leaders from a United Methodist church that is facing some all too-common issues:  sliding attendance, less money in the offering plate and a general malaise.  As I discussed a number of ways to help members shift from giving out of obligation to giving out of […]

Coming down the new and improved Route 8 north of Akron I see a lot of companies I understand, like Schwebel’s Bakery or all of the hotels and gas stations.  But there was one with an interesting name that I had no clue about.  I Googled the company name and an on the front page […]

Yesterday my wife Chris wrapped up her participation in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure.  From early Friday morning until yesterday afternoon she and about 1,000 others walked 60 miles around western Cuyahoga County. Many of you are familiar with the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a 5k (3.1 mile) walk […]