There is no doubt that church committee work is cyclical and this is absolutely true for Stewardship Committees.  After Labor Day they start to get organized, are busy in October and November, are done by Thanksgiving or so and are back to sleep before the Christmas decorations are put away. Afterall, there is really nothing […]

Last summer I had the chance to hear some of the most insightful leaders who are thinking about United Methodism.  One of them was Reverend Gil Rendle. Rev. Rendle worked his career as a pastor and is now on the staff at the Texas Methodist Foundation.  I hung on every word he said for his […]

Most of us are thinking about our plans for 2011.  I suggest that your resolution for this year is to develop a plan for next year.  By next year I mean 2012. Yep, I’m giving you an entire year to procrastinate on a resolution.  I encourage you to have a vision and a set of […]

A New Year’s Prayer May God make your year a happy one! Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain, But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes; Not by making your path easy, But by making you sturdy to travel any path; Not by taking hardships from you, But by taking […]

I had planned to take most of Advent off from writing this blog, but since I have all of my shopping done I thought I’d update you on the recent tax changes signed by the President. I think the biggest Christmas gift we were given was an extension of the IRA Rollover. For most people […]

Advent, of course, is the time before Christmas.  It is the process of building toward Christmas Eve and, of course, Christmas morning.  The problem is that once December 26 has come, it’s over. Adam Hamilton, who regular readers to this blog know I respect greatly, uses Christmas as a lead-in to January.  In his book […]

By now I’m fairly sure that everyone who is doing a fall stewardship campaign has completed it. So give us all some feedback on what you did and how you did.  If you scroll down a bit, just above the big orange signs it says “Leave a comment” in red letters.  Or you can email […]

My neighborhood at home is off of a state route that is under major construction.  Just south of our street the road is closed.  Really, really closed.  So closed that the concrete is gone and the dirt is showing.  They don’t get more closed than that. This fact is announced in several signs before you […]

I don’t know if you know it or not, but our denomination is in trouble.  Deep trouble. You’ve seen or heard the numbers.  Attendance is down, churches are closing, debt is up. So what are we supposed to do? A group of church leaders met throughout this past year to figure that out.  Our own […]

Wow, what a great response to last week’s post about electronic giving!  It was the most-read entry we’ve had in 12 weeks! One church member told me that his church does nearly all of its “transactions” with members electronically.  These are things other than the offering, like registering for VBS.  And the biggest fan is the […]