A week ago my family and I attended The Fest, an all-day Christian music concert outdoors on Cleveland’s far east side.  There were thousands of people there, enjoying the music, relaxing in the decent weather and eating overpriced bratwurst and that fresh-squeezed lemonade that leaves a sugar sludge in the bottom of the cup. It […]

The newest fad in philanthropy is the Giving Circle.  This is a group of individuals who come together to discuss different needs and the organizations that work to meet those needs.  The group decides on a mission project to support and pools the members’ donations to make a larger gift and a larger impact than each […]

I remember going to Buckeye Village Market with my mom when I was a kid.  She would clip coupons to get savings.  We would stop by the deli counter, the bakery counter and the meat counter, all of which were staffed by middle-aged men.  The closest we got to ethnic food were two big cans […]

Last week I attended a dinner at a church where Danny and Kathy Dickriede told their story.  Kathy is a Deacon and on the staff at Mentor.  The Dickriedes have committed much of the last three years to missionary work in Africa with a great deal of 2009 in Liberia at Camphor Mission Station.  Here at […]

I think that working for a sausage factory would be a lot like working for the church.  There are some things you’re just better off not seeing behind the scenes. One thing that I have been very disappointed to learn in the three years that I have been with the Foundation is the state of stewardship education […]

I thought one of the most thought-provoking presentations at Annual Conference was Rev. Valerie Stultz’ analogy of the church as a family business.  I thought about retelling the story, but thought it would be better coming from her.  Here is the much boiled-down version she provided.  I was raised in a family business – truly. […]

Largely lost in the cycle of annual conference was an announcement that the churches of East Ohio had donated  $634,423.74 for relief in Haiti.  This is money that people donated through their local churches to UMCOR for this important cause. That’s a lot of money.  Of the nearly 800 local churches in the conference there are […]

In the last week I had the pleasure of spending more than 24 hours driving on Interstate 70 between home and Kansas City.  There’s not much to see, so in the rare event that something came up, it got our attention. About an hour outside of St. Louis was the American Farm Heritage Museum.  It […]

I’ve had many requests for copies of the information I presented at Annual Conference last week.  Below is my report in its entirety.  Take what is helpful and leave the rest. They say it’s good to summarize at the beginning of the presentation.  So here’s my summary.  This is the fourth consecutive day you have […]

I had a great consultation with a local church last week.  The topic was starting an endowment fund and a planned giving program.  By the end of June I will have had this conversation with four different churches this month. When I do these, I am interested to see who the group is that I’m […]