Mastercard’s “Priceless” ad campaign is world-famous and fairly well satirized at this point.  In those ads you might expect to see Friendship identified as “Priceless.”  But a survey by the Gallup folks in 1998 puts a definite value on friendship, $118.  That is, that for every friend a church member has in his or her congregation, […]

As the news broke in Japan it wasn’t too long before I got thinking about UMCOR and its role in the relief effort of many of these disasters.  We are blessed to have Japan as the center of much of our United Methodist missionary work in Asia so we had “people on the ground” who […]

Last week’s stock market fluctuations aside, the economy seems to be on the upswing.  Economists point to statistics like orders for durable goods and slowly easing unemployment rates as their proof. I knew it was better in late December by the mail we didn’t receive. At the Foundation we have investments from about 160 local churches […]

I was blessed to be able to preach yesterday at Orchard Path UMC, one of our new church starts.  Reverend David Rittgers is leading a great group in suburban Cleveland and asked if I would talk stewardship with his people. Having been part of a new church start years ago, I have great empathy for […]

When my daughter was younger we bought her a traffic jam game.  It was a puzzle that had a red car that you needed to get out of a parking lot by moving other cars forward and back so the red car could get to the exit.  (I know that was the worst description in […]

I really like Mike Slaughter.  He’s the first United Methodist pastor I was ever aware of with “rock star” status.  He’s the pastor at Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City.  That’s just north of the Dayton airport and half an hour from downtown.  In spite of its remote location, it is the largest United Methodist Church in […]

If you started the year with a new financial secretary he or she is probably pretty depressed seven Sundays into the new year.  He or she may have taken the total amount pledged, divided it by 52 and figured that was what you would receive each Sunday. Or you may a pastor who, while, new […]

When I was growing up you didn’t get braces until your teeth had all come in.  But today the approach is to do braces much younger, often at age 8 or so.  That way they come in straight rather than trying to correct them later.  Many churches equate stewardship with dentistry (getting our members to […]

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 […]