CSN Podcast Host Announcement: A New Season

A CSN Podcast Host Announcement

In May’s episode of the CSN Podcast, our host, Derek Sisterhen, announces his new role in ministry at Hope Community Church and passes the baton (or microphone I should say) to our NEW CSN Podcast host, George B. Thompson.  George is the Pastor of Stewardship at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California. He has been a member of CSN for many years.

CSN Podcast Host: A New Season

George B. Thompson is a devoted father of two twin boys and a daughter, a husband, and a Pastor of Stewardship at Faithful Central Bible Church. He is, also, a nationally recognized financial expert and motivational speaker. George has written several books, including Millionaires In Training: The Wealth Builder, Set-4-Life: The Diary of a Champion, and coauthored The Total Package: The Keys to Acquiring Wealth and Walking in Divine Health. His most recent books are part of a series called Ready, Set, Grow where he has taken over 20 years of teaching and living out these life stewardship principles and turned them into easily digestible lessons for anybody to consume.  You can follow George at http://ift.tt/2rcAxJl.

Subscribe to the CSN Podcast on iTunes or Google​

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What to read more about this month’s episode? Here is an excerpt from the transcript of this episode.

Derek: My name is Derek Sisterhen, your host for today’s conversation. I also serve as the director of finance and stewardship at Hope Community Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. On today’s podcast, I’m joined by George Thompson, pastor of stewardship at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California. George is becoming a bit of a regular around here. George, how are you doing today?

George: I’m doing awesome.

Derek: Thanks for joining. So, today, we’re talking a little bit about me. Isn’t that fun? Start off the podcast with “Yeah, we’re gonna talk about me today”? How about that, everybody? We’re talking about me. We’re talking a little bit about a transition that I am making within my church, here at Hope Community Church. I’m shifting away from my full-time focus on just the financial and stewardship aspects of ministry at Hope. I’ll be bringing some attention to the broader church stewardship, as in the leadership of the church stewarding its resources well and being an example to the congregation, one that the congregation can count on and look to as a model of how biblical stewardship should look.

Today, I’ll share a little bit about my little journey. Then, George may have some questions for me. Ultimately, George is going to be taking over the responsibility of hosting The CSN Podcast. So, this conversation is the passing of the torch or the baton. That’s what’s happening here.

God has had me on a pretty interesting journey prior to and then since I’ve started working at Hope. Before I ever started working in the church world, I worked in banking. I worked in risk management. I worked in project management. From there, I transitioned into a small business that did financial consulting. Out of that, I ended up doing speaking and teaching. I wrote a book. I became a radio show and podcast host. (An old radio show and an old podcast—before I hosted the CSN Podcast). All of this had come before I worked in the church world.

I started to wonder; this is a wide variety of things. I feel like I’ve been at the buffet of things to do. Some of these things I never would’ve imagined that I’d do. I never would’ve imagined that someone would’ve put me on the radio. And then it happened. And then I never would’ve imagined that I would’ve written a book. And then it happened. And I never would’ve imagined that I would’ve walked away from a career in banking.

So, I started to wonder what the point of all these different experiences is? Next, I wound up at Hope Community Church. I began serving as the stewardship ministry director formalizing a ministry that had been run by a band of brothers and sisters that were sort of fledgling, kind of under the radar. We were not very organized. Then, in the fall of 2010, I started to provide some leadership, galvanized that, and we’ve been able to minister to a lot of needs of our congregation and our community as a result.

Over the course of the last few years, though, I’d taken on responsibility as overseeing our finance and accounting area while also managing the stewardship ministry. In the last two years, Hope has come through an extensive capital campaign season where we built a brand new campus that is also a community center. It has been an incredible project. One that challenged us and stretched us in many ways. At the end of this past year, I was asked to join our executive team to continue oversight of our finance and accounting teams, human resources, facilities, and information technology. So as a result, I’m shifting away from the role that I’ve occupied for the past six years, which has direct ties to the stewardship ministry. I’ll continue to teach in the ministry, but I won’t be as directly linked to it.

And so here I am handing over the reins to George. That’s been the catalyst. That’s why you’re here, man.

George: First of all, thank you for just giving us a little bit of a background. I did not know you worked in banking. You worked in banking before you got here and also financial consulting. What happened during that process to where you got to be on staff, working at Hope from there? There had to be a little something going on. Like, where you were meeting with people and finding out it’s just not all about the numbers? Or what did happened? How did you get from working in banking to working at Hope?

Derek: The short story is that I was convinced that I was going to make the corporate climb in banking. Right when I left college, I was like, “That’s what I’m gonna go do. I’m gonna be a lifer. I’m gonna climb the ladder.” I was very fortunate. In the course of a short period, I started working in a role where I was interacting with some people that were several steps above me in the food chain. The more I got to know about them and what they were doing, the more I was like “This is not the life for me.”

George: And earnings for the company and building up the company and not building up people. Go ahead.

Derek: That’s right, yeah. I was like “I feel like I have a glimpse into the future here, and it does not look like a future that I want.” God was really starting to move in my heart to have more compassion for people around personal finance. So, I left there and joined one other guy who had started this firm working with families and small businesses on improving how they handle their money. The more I got to know the people that became my clients, the more I realized I was dealing with emotional issues and relational issues and spiritual issues, not numbers on a page. I wish it were that simple. But, there were people behind those numbers. The more I got to serve them, the more I realized this is all about the heart and how people view themselves in relationship to God.

I got more involved in serving at Hope. Then, one day. I asked the question, “Doesn’t the church need to get some sort of group together, some person that can lead or spearhead charge on this particular area of discipleship?” And, of course, God’s timing is always perfect. Little did I know that, at that exact same time, the senior leadership of our church had just come back from a conference where they had heard from people at Gateway about how critical it is to have a stewardship ministry. So, I heard through the grapevine that they were thinking of starting one. I told them, “This is gonna sound crazy, but I might be your guy.” I’ve never done anything like that in my life, put myself out there, but that’s how I got to Hope.

George: You said, “I’ve never done anything like that” in your life. But, other people actually come into this type of ministry, and we hear quite often that they worked in corporate America, then ministry began out of their heart for people. Or they make a statement, similar to what you just said, “You know, I saw how people were out there, but I didn’t know how I could just deal their finances,” because you have to deal with them as a whole person—their time, their talent, and their treasures. So, did that have a big role in how you implemented classes or how you taught when you were at Hope?

Derek: Absolutely. Part of my experience in banking that really helped a lot is was the experiences were I worked in the collections area. I did some special projects in collections.

George: You were all the way in. You were all the way in.

Derek: I was all the way…I was down there.

George: You were collecting money and talking to people and with the higher-ups. You did see it.

Derek: I saw it all, yeah.

George: You just had to come down the altar after that.

Derek: That’s right. Oh man. Yeah, so there I was figuring out the ins and outs of, you know when people get into a financially stressed position, how does that actually work on the bank’s side?  A lot of times, in our classes, we’ll talk to people who…maybe they got a bill that’s gone past due, or they’ve got an account that’s in collections. They’ll start to get stressed and wonder, “What do I do? What do I do?” Well, I’ve been able to train our entire stewardship team, our financial coaching team, to say, “Here’s what actually happens. Here’s the legal stuff. Here’s the timeline the bank’s gonna run on. And if they’re telling you this, they really mean that.” And, you know, we’ve been able to bolster the equipping of our team based off of all that experience that I didn’t think would ever play into it. I mean, it turned out that God had a plan with all that experience for me.

George: Right. And what I want the listeners to understand is that in your process in going through; God prepares you from the day you were born until the time that you’re doing that. So you said, “I don’t have any experience,” but, actually, you had your whole life experiences. God puts you in a position so that you’re able to learn how something works so that you’re able to help others.

I have one more question I want to ask you. What are you doing new and going to do in your new position? A lot of times, as a pastor at stewardship, I feel like we’re picking a lock. I feel like if someone is…they’re chained and they’re spinning around in a circle, and it’s just getting tighter and tighter and tighter. And then they come to us at different times. Unfortunately, some people come when they’re so tight. They cannot move. And we’re the ones who are picking the lock. And then there’s just that chain around them. So we can loosen that chain and so that they can walk and be free.

And I wanted to thank you for all the people that you’ve helped, not only in North Carolina, but just all over the country, and as this podcast has gone all over the world and been helping and touching people, just the impact that you have in doing that. And I’m glad that you were able to be able to do that for so long. And then so how did you start doing the podcast?

Derek: Well, it turned out that…I guess I said something to someone about how I had done a radio show and podcast in some of my prior…

George: That’s famous last words, “I said something to somebody.”

Derek: Yeah. And it sounded like sweet music to their ears, and they said, “Well, we should do a podcast.” Well, CSN, Christian Stewardship Network, years ago used to do, effectively, a large conference call with people, because back at the time, you know, we knew of maybe 30, 40, 50 stewardship leaders around the country. So you could just do a call and have people sign on and listen to something, and that would be it. But as time has gone on and as churches have really embraced launching stewardship ministries within their overall ministry, you know, activity, it’s like these stewardship leaders are all over the place. And it may not be someone that actually is on the church staff, but it could be someone serving as a volunteer leader.

So, we made the decision a couple a years ago with CSN, because at the time, I was also serving on the board, “Hey, we’ve got an opportunity to reach way more people if we put this in a nice podcast version where we’ve got 20 to 25 minutes with someone who’s an expert or who has maybe a great story of success or even a great story of failure and lessons learned that they could share and get that out to stewardship leaders across the country.” So, fortunately, I was drawing a little bit from some prior experience of doing a radio show and doing a different podcast. But it really, I think, has been a great resource to leverage through the Christian Stewardship Network.

George: Wow! That is great. And that has just been a blessing. Those are big shoes to fill. But, hey, can you talk about how your transition has started, and then just kind of how the different things we can expect from you in the future?

Derek: Yeah. There are a lot of expectations of me in the future. Sure, I’ll tell you about some of them. So, as I mentioned at the top of the show, Hope has just concluded a two-year capital campaign. We called it, “Unleashed, the Power of a Changed Life.” We focused for two years on not only funding all of our normal ministry areas and operations as well as our outreach to the local and international partners that we have but also expanding some of our international outreach and expanding our local ministry efforts by building a permanent location for one of our other campuses.

But we made a big decision, and that was not just to build a church building, but to build a community center that the church meets in. We really wanted that project to be a blessing, to be an asset to the community that it’s a part of. We built it in Apex, North Carolina, which is an incredibly family-rich area. There are so many families with kids there. We thought, “You’ve got an opportunity right out of the gate to impact two generations, to impact the parents and to impact their children.” We set about that project a little over two years ago and just opened that facility right before Christmas 2016.

And, now, on the other side of that, my role is shifting to where we’re trying to say, “What does it look like for Hope Community Church in the future?” We’re a multi-site church. We reach a lot of people. But what does it look like to really be a partner with churches across the Triangle area, which is Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill? What does it look like to bolster the faith community here, to be a resource, not just for the people that come through our doors, but to be a resource to other churches? And so, as we start to look forward into the future, one of the things that have come to bear is the need to add some new leadership at our executive level. So, I and a couple of other folks were invited to come in and take on some of the challenges and opportunities that await us to make sure that we are executing as best we can on our mission of loving people where they are and encouraging them to grow in their relationship with Jesus so that we continue to be that blessing to the community.

George: Wow. It is great just to hear about and watch all of that progress, and not only just in watching you, but just watching what God is doing just in your whole area and at your church as well. The vision that your senior pastor has in doing everything for the community, because, see, that’s kingdom-building. I’m gonna also give you all the website at gethope.net. I was just looking at all your different locations and how you are spreading the gospel. Just how you guys have planned this and how it’s going, that’s great.

Hey, just two other questions for you. And I just wanna let you know; you have two minutes for each.

Derek: Thank you.

George: In your time doing the podcast and being the host, what has been your vision for that? Or how did you see this starting and changing as the process went?

Derek: That’s a good question. You know, I think, like any good ideas, sometimes you just don’t know until you get out there. And so, with the podcast, I think what we saw it as or what I saw it as was we’ve gotta have an opportunity to continue the discussion out of the CSN Forum. You know, the CSN Forum happens once a year. You have this chance to come and just get bathed in experience from other stewardship leaders. You get bathed in wisdom. You get to share some of your wins, some of your failures. And you come out of there, and you feel like, “Oh, man, I have been totally rejuvenated.”

And then a month goes by, and you’re back at your church, and you got deadlines to meet, and you got classes that you’re trying to fill, and you got stuff you gotta do. And all of a sudden, the forum is, you know, that was back then, back in Texas. And I think that the podcast really started off as a great way to continue the conversation. A lot of the people that had been a part of the podcast as guests, they’ve been people that have attended the forum. And so, hey, we’ll take a subject matter from the forum, and we’ll say, “Let’s unpack that for 20 more, 25 more minutes on a podcast.” It just gives us a chance to continue that connection between stewardship leaders throughout the year.

As far as a vision for the future, I would say that what we would want…what I would hope would happen is that this resource grows as a go-to point of contact for stewardship leaders, whether they’re just getting started or whether they’ve been at it for a long time. And they can pop this on, and they can say, “I’m gonna get something of value that I can use.” Whatever the time may be, they may listen to a podcast three years from now. They may listen to this three years from now, and they may just say, “Hey, that was encouraging.” So I think that’s what the vision is, how can this be a meaningful resource to the people that are on the ground doing stewardship ministry?

George: Right. And one of the things that I think is very important, and that’s one of the reasons why, but getting involved was just listening and finding out how to keep things going. You used a great illustration at the very beginning. I’ve gone to the conference for ten years. And every time that I go, I always say, “This is great information. This is great information. This is great information.” And then how you would during the year be able to keep cheering us higher and higher by saying, “Good, now, we can break this out,” and break things into practical applications that we can have in our lives and do.

My last question for you is quite simple. It is what are some good nuggets or different things that you have learned over the years or over the time of doing stewardship ministry that you would like someone to know that is just getting started in stewardship ministry?

Derek: I guess a couple of things. One is, just like we would say in a class that we’re gonna teach that God owns all of our stuff, it’s all God’s money, it’s all God’s stuff, this is also God’s ministry. This is not our ministry. We are stewards of the stewardship ministry. If we ever take an attitude of ownership or if we think too highly of ourselves that we’re the driver behind this thing, that’s where you start to get way off track. That’s one of the things that I’ve learned is that it’s gotta be God’s ministry. And I just get the privilege of partnering with him in doing it in my local church.

The next thing that I would say is that in the stewardship world, in the stewardship ministry world, it’s easy to have that one person that’s the champion. They’re on staff, or maybe they’re a key volunteer that’s the champion. You cannot do this alone. You cannot do this alone. As soon as you think that you can do it alone, you have just put a cap on the ministry, and you will not be able to reach or serve the people that God wants to bring your way. So, by all means, you must engage other people who have a passion for this and get them alongside you. You will multiply your energy. And it will be a beautiful, beautiful thing for the kingdom.

And then the third thing that I would say is that this is a…and you have shared this before, George. Stewardship is not a department. It’s a way that we do things. It is an element of our culture. And so for a stewardship leader, you have the opportunity to engage ministries all across the church in something that must infuse its way into every aspect of a Christ follower, a disciple’s life. This is a part of who we are if we say that we’re Christians is we are stewards. So it should show up. And you have the ability to engage other ministries. It should show up in those.

So those are the three things I would say. It’s God’s ministry, don’t do this alone, and see yourself as a resource to all of the other ministries in your church.

George: Good. Hey, I just wanted to give you a standing ovation for your work with CSN, as the CSN Podcast Host and everything that you have done. It has been an honor. You have blessed so many people. And I, along with all of the other people that are involved with stewardship and ministers, pastors, everyone, just wanna say thank you so much for all that you’ve done and your commitment to excellence and thank you.

Derek: Well, thank you, George. I appreciate you taking the time to do this little kind of reverse interview with me. Thank you for being a part of the podcast. I thank you, also, for taking on the baton of this CSN podcast, because, as we just talked about, there is so much potential for making this resource available, so thank you.

George: My pleasure.

Derek: All right. Well, I am just so grateful to all of our listeners who’ve tuned in and who’ve allowed me to serve as a host in this capacity. I may not be around as much, but I’ll still be around, so don’t forget that. For all the great content that CSN produces, the podcast, and now, of course, with George at the helm, and info on the next CSN forum, and so much more, you can visit christianstewardshipnetwork.com. Until next time, whenever that time may be, here’s to leading and serving well for God’s glory and your joy. Thank you so much for being with us.

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How One Church Used A 21-Day Financial Fast To Grow In Contentment, Joy, & Peace

How to Start a Generosity Ministry at Your Church

By Chris Willard with Warren Bird featuring Christian Stewardship Ministry board member, Chris Goulard.

You’ve realized that having a generosity and stewardship ministry is a major need at your church, but where do you start?

When you view the landscape, and see all the great programs to help people master this vital area of discipleship, how do you start tackling this ministry giant?

My friend and colleague  Chris Goulard, Pastor of Financial Ministries at Saddleback Church, offers some great principles for getting started:

Mobilize the Right Person to Lead

Most churches don’t have resources to hire a staff member dedicated solely to stewardship. Chris says don’t feel the pressure to start there, or to designate a current staff member as “the stewardship point person.”

An effective starting point is finding someone in the church who is passionate about generosity and then to enlist them as a volunteer leader to launch a couple of elements that fit your congregation.

“A teaching pastor or lead pastor doesn’t have time to lead specific ministries like this,” Chris says. “So cast a vision for it, empower somebody to do it and get out of the way and let them do it.”

Start Small, But Offer Multiple Options

When you see large church programs in this area, you might be tempted to try everything they do. No need to start that big, Chris says. “Take a couple things and start there,” he says.

It is important to create some variety in what you offer, so the program doesn’t go stale and so that it meets multiple needs. Perhaps start with someone who can do one-on-one financial coaching, and offer a class such as Dave Ramsey’s “Financial Peace University.”

“You need more than one thing,” says Chris, who is also director of the Christian Stewardship Network. “No matter how great a program is, if you do it over and over again, you will lose momentum and interest over time.”

Some Content Ideas

We mentioned Financial Peace University as a great place to start. The teaching is on video, led by syndicated radio host Dave Ramsey. Pre-packaged resources will help your volunteer start the class.

Budgeting workshops are helpful for people who are struggling financially. Estate planning, retirement planning and investing are popular topics for people who are strong financially. Another great idea is a class that teaches parents how to teach their kids about money. “A lot of times the parents come to realize, ‘Maybe I need a little help with some of this, too,’ ” Chris says.

Multisite Campuses: Let Local Leaders Advise

When launching a stewardship ministry at a multisite church, Chris says one size definitely does not fit all. “We are trying to customize as much as possible and meet the needs of each campus pastor,” says Chris, who has four international campuses among Saddleback’s 13 sites.

Similar to Chris’ point earlier, a volunteer leader is vital to stewardship ministry with multisites, so they have keen insight into campus-specific needs.

Chris’ team tries to determine from the key multisite leaders: What are the needs at your campus around generosity/stewardship? What can you do with small groups? What kind of classes can we offer?

“The leaders feel like they are invested in what’s happening on their campus,” Chris says.

A multisite leader obviously won’t be able to handle everything the primary campus is doing, but they can pick and choose what they can implement from the main campus menu based on their resources.

Let Holistic Leadership Support Financial Stewardship

Chris reminds us that biblical stewardship is about more than money. Managing health, time and energy are all stewardship issues. At Saddleback, teaching pastors maintain the focus that almost any topic can have a generosity component.

“When you teach in a broad context about holistic stewardship, it actually makes it easier to talk about financial stewardship,” Chris says. “One of the best ways to keep talking about money from being awkward or seeming self-serving is to talk about stewardship in the context of other things.”

For example, if you are doing a marriage series, one point could be about money problems being a main cause for divorce and how to address those issues.

“You can tie stewardship into almost any other topic because it ties to so many areas of the church,” Chris says. “Leverage those opportunities when you’re talking about other things to come behind and do some more teaching on stewardship.”

Andy Williams contributed to the writing of this article.

Generosity Strategies and Tactics is an ongoing series brought to you by Leadership Network thanks to a grant from the Lilly Endowment. To learn more go to www.leadnet.org.

This article How to Start a Generosity Ministry at Your Church first appeared on Leadership Network and is used by permission.

The post How to Start a Generosity Ministry at Your Church appeared first on Christian Stewardship Network.

The Future of Stewardship Ministry: How to Cross the Generational Divide [Podcast]

The Future of Stewardship Ministry

In this month’s episode of the CSN Podcast, our host, Derek Sisterhen, interviews Chris Brown in a discussion about Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z on, “How to organize your stewardship ministry to reach across the generational divide in your church.”

The Future of Stewardship Ministry

Chris Brown is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host, pastor and dynamic speaker carrying the message of stewardship and intentional living nationwide as a Ramsey Personality. Available on radio stations across the country, Chris Brown’s True Stewardship provides biblical solutions and sound advice for questions on life and money. Prior to joining Ramsey Solutions in 2014, Chris spent seven years leading many to Christ while growing churches in North Carolina and Florida. Chris and his wife, Holly, live in Franklin, Tennessee, with their three children. You can follow Chris online at Stewardship.com, on Twitter and Instagram at @ChrisBrownOnAir, or at http://ift.tt/2jYVd4J.

What to read more about this month’s episode? Here is an excerpt from the transcript of this episode’s conversation. 

Derek: So it seems, to me at least, almost a daily occurrence that I come across something talking about how millennials are taking over the world. The baby boomers don’t know what to do with them. Gen-Xers don’t know what to do with them. We’ve just got this generational kind of tension if you will. All of these generations, these people, are present in our churches, and our stewardship leaders are trying to figure out, “How do we minister to them?” So my first question to you is, how do you see stewardship leaders in the local church effectively reach across those generational divides in the days ahead?

Chris: Yeah. Great question, and definitely a felt need. I think first and foremost; the millennials want to feel involve. They want to feel valued. So when you’re trying to bridge that gap between generations, you’ve got to look to your staffing. How many millennials do you have on your staff? How bought in are they to the stewardship movement? The only way you’re going to get buy-in when it comes to the stewardship movement is to get them involved so they can actually feel the pain. They can touch the pain, and they can be real to them. They can see the results.

So first of all, I would just say staffing. If you look around and you’ve got 14 people on staff and all of them are over 50, you’re not going to connect well with millennials. Another one is your stage, and it might not just be the auditorium. It might be everywhere there’s influence. Do you have any millennials that have influence? Are they onstage in some capacity? Maybe they’re making an announcement, or maybe they’re doing worship, or maybe they’re even speaking occasionally.

But get them involved. Millennials are going to connect with you more if they see millennials onstage. It starts even on Sunday morning and Saturday nights, and then it goes from there, so in the ministries and everything else after that. I think also, we’ve got to research. What are they excited about? They’re excited about life change. They’re excited about being involved in movements. They love like serving Saturdays and community outreach. So we’ve got to do the research on what they’re actually looking for.

Another thing is programming. If your programming is directed towards the 55-year-old or 45-year-old, you’re not going to reach them. So there’s got to be some programming. We’ve got to kind of move with the times and make sure that we’re connecting, not alienating other generations, but we’ve got to find some common ground where we can connect to all generations through our programming. That’s counting the weekend services and also counting secondary environments as well.

Then, recently, there was a post. I think there was a Washington Post article that talked about what millennials are looking for in the church. They’re not looking for flashy lights and all that stuff. The primary thing they’re looking for is warmth. They’re looking for warmth. It’s a little bit more than friendliness. It’s this tone of the environments that you create. Create warmth. Even though there is a generational gap, all people are attracted to warmth.

Derek: Sure.

Chris: So you’ve got to create that with your programming.

Derek: I think those are really great observations. I know here, in North Carolina, when we are engaging that particular age segment, the millennial group… So they tend to get a bad rap, and we think of them as, “Well, maybe they’re kind of lazy or entitled,” and those kinds of things. But I think you’re making a great point. There’s a sense of wanting to belong.

Chris: Yes.

Derek: Wanting to be a part of something that’s bigger than themselves. When we can create that atmosphere in our churches, absolutely, you start to draw them in.

Chris: Yeah. Derek, I’m going just to add, I would say that they appear to be very entitled. But I would just say, they just haven’t mastered the art of covering up their entitlement. I actually think that 40-year-olds and 50-year-olds, we have an overall problem. Our human nature is that we deserve. I just think millennials have not grown up enough to polish it and make it look sophisticated. They’re coming out being blunt about it. So they get the bad rap, but all of us have an entitlement that we’ve got to beat over the head on a daily basis.

Derek: I appreciate you making that point. I think you’re right on. They’re just being more transparent. They’re just real about it.

Chris: Yes.

Derek: From a practical standpoint, as particularly on the financial side, the stewardship side, I’d be interested in getting your perspective on this. But I would envision that over the course of the next, say, five, ten years, we see a shift in maybe stewardship programming and course offerings, and resource offerings towards really helping people work through systematically eliminating student loan debt. Because we know that the millennial generation has had this front row seat to the Great Recession. But then, on the other side, this is also the one, this generation is saddled with the most student loan debt coming out.

We’ve seen in some of our programmings at Hope; these folks totally get it. “Yeah. I need to have a budget. I want to be able to give money and contribute to what God is doing. I need to have savings. But I’ve also got $60,000, $80,000, $100,000 worth of student loan debt. Now what?” So it’s like, I don’t have to convince them that living on a budget and controlling their spending is smart. They want to get a real action plan together to eliminate that big monkey on their back. What do you see in that regard?

Chris: Yeah. I think the latest stat I saw, the average student is graduating with $37,000 in student loans. You think about their average salary coming is probably around $30,000 to $35,000. So it’s a year’s worth of debt. That’s a hard thing to tackle. For me, as far as whether you’re a millennial or whether you’re 50, regardless, if you’ve got that much debt, it comes back to Proverb 6:5. It just does. You’ve got to free yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter. There’s no other way around it. I don’t like debt consolidation. I don’t like debt management. I don’t like debt kits. I like debt elimination.

What that means is you’ve got to be a minimalist for 18, 24, 36 months, and you cream it. You just absolutely send $1,000 payments and $1,500 payments, and you live on nothing. That’s the only way to do this. Otherwise, you pay your debt for seven years or 15 years. You know this. You can fall into debt, but you can’t fall out. So you’ve absolutely got just to slap it in the face. You’ve got to get mad at it. I think that generation actually does pretty good from the standpoint of minimalists. Somehow, it’s a little bit trendy. I know it [isn’t here, national]. It’s kind of like, “What’s the littlest amount I can live on and kind of be a mooch for a while?” Which is another whole sermon.

Derek: Right.

Chris: But I think they take pride in that, that, “Hey, yeah. I can get some Old Navy jeans and wear them ten times out of 14 days,” and figure it out. But that’s the only way out of this. Whether you’re 50 or whether you’re 20, it’s the same deal.

Derek: Yeah. I mean, this is the generation that kind of birthed the whole tiny house thing. Right?

Chris: Yeah. That’s true. That’s true. They’ve got some good ideas.

Derek: They do. They live on less. I like it.

Chris: Yep.

Derek: Well, let me kind of make a transition here to talking about tools that we use. So we know that we’ve got this generational gap to bridge. But let’s talk a little bit about technology and how that’s going to help us in the days ahead. I know here, again at Hope, we made a decision a couple of years ago to record one of these live classes that we did. We just called it “Financial Foundations,” and we thought, “Well…” We saw attendance decline in the live version of the class. So we recorded it. We threw the videos out there online. People can watch them in their pajamas.

As a result, we were able to start connecting with a whole new group of people that either might not choose to show up to one of our classes, or they may not even be able to based on their schedule. All of our listeners are aware of FPU and just the incredible paradigm shift, I think, that occurred in stewardship ministry with that resource alone being available. How is technology influencing the further development of new tools and new resources at Ramsey Solutions?

Chris: Well, I think it’s a huge deal, and it’s a huge conversation, and it’s very, very important. When you’re thinking about this next generation, they’ve got a shorter attention span. So a 45-minute lesson, we’ve got to condense that. Instead of having nine 45-minute lessons, maybe we have… [We don’t want to cut out some of the material because it’s all very good material.] So maybe it’s like 15 15-minute sessions. They’re not called “classes.” They’re called “hangouts.” You sign up via text, not via email. Do you see the shift there?

It’s still the same content, but we’re going about it a different way, trying to make sure that we speak their language. I think whatever the recording and the capture, it’s got to be the latest HD quality. Subconsciously, they’re going to be equating that to what they’ve got in their living room and what they see in Walmart, and what they see in Target and Best Buy. They’re going to see the best stuff out there. So on the weekends, we’ve got to have the best screens.

So we’ve got to make sure that we work our budgets in a way where we’ve got money to put into those creative solutions because that is the mouthpiece of the vision. That’s the mouthpiece of, “Jesus uses the church.” We want to make sure that message is just as compelling as a Coca-Cola commercial on the weekend. So it’s got to be just as compelling. I also think, convenience matters. Convenience is huge to this generation.

So those kiosks that are in the lobby, the website to give has only got to be like one or two clicks. It can’t be seven clicks, and then you’re scrolling and clicking, and scrolling. You’re putting in everything, all your information, including like your blood type and where you were born. It really is just two or three things. It’s got to be quick. When you send out a letter, the letter can’t be three pages long and a bunch of text. It’s got to be just a couple paragraphs. “Hey, thank you so much.”

Those are the kind of moves that we’ve got to start making if we haven’t already, and I think we’ve got to be aware of skepticism. They live in a generation where they’ve seen several pastors fall over the last 20 or 30 years, which have been a little bit more public. They’ve fallen for hundreds of years.

Derek: Sure.

Chris: But now, it’s more public. Because of social media, because of media in general, there’s a little bit of skepticism. So you’ve got to go about it in a different way, where it’s, I would say, just a little bit less threatening, and you’ve got to be aware of the stigmas that are out there as well. You can’t provide a class and just say, “Hey, we’re providing a class.” No. You’ve got to see if you can get everyone to kind of rally around it and go together. Because if you go to a class and you’re just one of five people, well there’s a stigma that you’re a broke person. “Oh, that’s the broke person class.”

Derek: Right.

Chris: We’ve got to think through all these things when you’re thinking about the next generation.
Listen To More Episodes of The CSN Podcast

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The Christian Stewardship Network Forum | Early Bird Registration Ends Soon

15th Annual CSN Forum
February 27-March 1, 2017 | Dallas, TX

Each year we gather for the Christians Stewardship Network Forum— a live, interactive event for ministry leaders from around the world to connect, learn and exchange collective wisdom on stewardship ministry best practices in the local church.

Help for those new to Stewardship Ministry . . .

“After three years of trying to establish a stewardship ministry, I felt I had reached a brick wall. I didn’t know what it should look like or how to achieve it. The CSN Forum  and Stewardship Impact Workshop was incredibly informative and honest. I saw my brick wall coming down as we covered each section and am leaving with the belief that I can build something of value within our church. Their passion for stewardship is tangible.”

– Paola Easton, Stewardship Pastor, Birmingham City Church

And those with experience who want to be even more effective.

“Thank you for a great Forum. Coming together with like-minded people is incredible. The knowledge and wisdom is incredible. This is my second year coming in from Europe.”

– Jeff Lestz, Stewardship Pastor, Hillsong Church London

Join Us! Share and Learn.

No matter where you are in your journey as a stewardship champion in your church or non-profit, you’ll gain wisdom and new insight. You’ll learn from other CSN Members new and proven ways to grow a healthy culture of generosity through stewardship ministry.

You’ll gain new ideas from a variety of breakout sessions and as you share with others in small group discussions. Ask questions and hear from leading stewardship pastors in our panel interviews. Plus, you’ll have the opportunity to learn about the newest stewardship resources and curriculums available for you and your members.

Get The Early Bird Registration Rate Until January 22

If you are planning to join us for the CSN Forum, now is the time to act!

Register by midnight on January 22nd and use the promotional code, CSNFORUM50 to receive $50 OFF any level ticket price.*

P.S. Don’t forget to register for the Stewardship Impact Workshop, held just before the CSN Forum.

*Limited Time Offer Expires on 1/22/2017. Offer cannot be combined with any previous offer. All sales are final.

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International Stewardship: Ministry In The United Kingdom

Jeff Lestz and James Mowle from Hillsong Church London join Derek in a discussion about stewardship ministry in the church in the UK.

International Stewardship: Ministry In The United Kingdom

 

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The Attributes of a Generous Church

What are the attributes of a generous church and how can you build these into your congregation? A guest post by By Dr. Michael Reeves, Director of Strategic Resources at St. Andrew United Methodist Church, Plano, TX

How do we discern “every wind of doctrine” from true theological revelation?
How can the diverse community of faith distinguish passing theological fads from lasting and relevant spiritual insights? Surely, sincerity of conviction should not be the standard. On the other hand, using conditional and tentative language to sow such absolutes seems to be disingenuous at best.

John Wesley suggested that practical theology should be built on scripture, reason, experience, and tradition. So, this is one approaching the subject. And the subject demands attention! Whether it is provoked by the impact of the “great recession” behaviors caused by affluenza, the connection between our faith and our money and time and talents is an ever present, relevant continuing issue.

The explosion of discretionary income in the prosperity of the last fifty years in the United States is unparalleled in history. Unfortunately, this wealth has brought some significant challenges. While discretionary wealth has grown, proportionate giving declined. We have more and give less of it. Corporately, the church has also seen a general decline in giving beyond the fixed expenses of the overhead of “doing church.” Rather than addressing this challenge from a perspective of spiritual and cogent thought, the leaders of the church have most often gravitated to fund raising rather than connecting faith and money. Leadership has most often been characterized by fear rather than Paul’s admonition that we should not have a spirit of fear, power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Another major issue that has had direct negative impact on the culture and shaped the terrain is the emergence of easy credit. The “Great American Dream” has been defined by acquisition and financed by credit. One theologian put it this way: “The two goals of the culture seem to be the pursuit of personal affluence and personal peace.” And within this issue is “the elephant room” – the excessive use of unsecured credit in the form of credit cards to finance a self-indulgent lifestyle. One pastor put way: “we spend money we don’t have to buy stuff we don’t need to impress people we don’t know.” The result has been the loss of the joy of salvation to the voluntary enslaving of ourselves and our future to financial bondage. In this reality, what does generosity look like?

How can we divine God’s direction in connecting our faith and our money? Is the best analysis of generosity seen in the church “meeting the budget?” Although a common default mission, no one ought to intentionally express the mission of the church this way. So the purpose of this paper is to begin to consider the attributes of a biblically generous church.

Ten attributes will be addressed but the list is not intended to be comprehensive or complete. Our expressions could always be worded differently different audiences or might include additional attributes depending on the local spiritual community. However, these ten at seem to capture the essence of generosity across many different communities of faith. It will be surprising to some that tithing one of attributes considered. While tithing is generally stated as the goal or standard of giving by many churches and denominations, tithing is seldom confused with generosity. Tithing is also complicated by historical Christian behavior. Tithing has been the exception and not the rule since the time of the early church. A verbalized concept or emotional catharsis about tithing does advance the consideration of what a generous church looks like. So the subject of tithing must wait for consideration by others

1. Biblical stewardship and generosity are seen as whole life issues (time, talent, and treasure) in a generous church.

Generous church leaders see biblical stewardship as a whole life issue rather than being just about money. The church works to develop skills, experiences, and gifts God has given the lay members. Members are taught about the importance and effective deployment of spiritual gifts. Leadership models generous service in the church and community and encourages members to do the same.

This has to do with ownership and the nature of God. The word Lord is exalted language and indicates authority – complete absolute. One of the first attributes is how the church sees the issue of Lordship. Is God really the creator – owner? Is all that I have, all that we are, all that we hope to be God’s? In the western culture, the issue of ownership is huge. One of the dangers of the holistic perspective is the notion that we need to address all of these subjects as one. However, scripture has definitive passages address each of these issues – not as one, but individually. A great number of churches assert an expectation of participation in holistic terms: Will you support this local church with your prayers, presence, gifts and service? Unfortunately, these variables are often presented as a multiple choice of discipleship. The truth is that biblical stewardship and generosity are relevant in each. He usually the result of theological imbalance when one aspect of Christian life and thought is pressed to the disregard of others Therefore, a biblically generous church holds our time, our God given talents and service, and our earthly treasure in balance which are all important to our maturation as a disciple.

2. The concept of biblical stewardship is woven into the culture and values of the generous church.

Interested visitors would quickly see that biblical stewardship is a core value of the generous church. The Senior Pastor and other church leaders appear to be comfortable teaching and modeling biblical stewardship. Stewardship related information is easily found in various places around the church, including the web site. Giving opportunities are widely promoted in the church. Church leadership should work to ensure the congregation is appropriately connected to the financial state of affairs of the church.

Stewardship is not seen or approached as an adjunctive issue. The old dysfunctional paradigm is that stewardship is at best an issue where appeals are made in some sense of financial need. The annual “lamentation of desperation” is a well used model that is not well integrated into the DNA of the body. The attribute of the generous church is that stewardship is a part of the spiritual formation and values of the church. It is not adjunctive to core values of discipleship – rather, it is a core value of discipleship. The well worn phrase “all they talk about is money” reflects at least two realities. One is that the speaker is not making the comment from a generous heart and second, the church has not effectively woven the message of stewardship into the expression of faith.

3. Stewardship has strong support from a generous church’s leadership.

The Senior Pastor and church leadership clearly and consistently model biblical stewardship and generosity. Stewardship is recognized and distinct ministry within the church. The generous church budgets money needed to achieve the goals of our stewardship ministry. There is concerted prayer support for the stewardship ministry. The various church departments, programs, and/o ministries take the initiative to partner with the stewardship ministry.

One of the issues that must be addressed is the vetting process for identification, recruitment and equipping of leaders. The Pastor or someone designated needs to make sure that leaders are generous in their financial contributions. Because giving cloaked in secrecy, some non-generous members have been appointed to positions of leadership. They often offer no spiritual or faith in matters of stewardship because it is foreign to their current state of spiritual immaturity. This must be an intentional expectation, openly discussed in an appropriate setting. There also needs to be an intentional consideration of spiritual gifts task at hand. For instance, a CPA or banker might well be suited to serve on a financial leadership role, but not be qualified stewardship role of educating, motivating, and equipping. Finally, it is simply foolish to enlist a leader who has inadequate time to give the task at hand. If a person’s work schedule or other obligations preclude participating in an established meeting and tasks, then the person should not be enlisted until those restrictions and expectations change. Strong support from church leaders cannot be achieved without these primary considerations.

4. There is widespread understanding and application of biblical stewardship principles among the congregation.

Generous church leadership works to understand the level of understanding and application of biblical stewardship practices in the congregation and implement strategies to increase both understanding and application. Members are encouraged to grow by taking advantage of resources that would help them grow in their understanding and application of biblical principles of stewardship. Principles biblical stewardship are an integral part of membership and pre-marriage classes.

Evaluative criteria often present a challenge in theological expression. What could be considered widespread understanding application? How is understanding defined and what constitutes understanding. Is the evaluation of widespread application meeting the church budget? What is the field of consideration – formal church membership, adherents, attenders, those who financially? Under application, a subjective issue is seen in the member who speaks of being generous and gives an annual is a very small percentage of income. What is their understanding of generosity? When three people in a church have a sim profession, economic ability, and radically different experiences in generosity – how is understanding and application evaluated.

So, some objective evaluative criteria needs to be established for what widespread, understanding, and application means in context of the culture of a local community of faith. It might be different on the basis of age, gender, family, region, etc. The temptation to use tithing as a universal standard exists as a part of this conversation, but should not be elevated to sole criteria Tithing in the church since the time of Christ has been a very subjective consideration and a minimal experience for the church issue needs to be addressed from a clear statement of expectation with the foundations of those expectation being expressed local church.

5. Giving opportunities and generosity are reflected in the prayer and praise of the church.

Stories of generosity with time, talent, and treasure are shared regularly at church events and worship services. Generous church leadership prays regularly for those in need and prayer needs within and outside the church are shared with the congregation. Stewardship teaching is regularly a part of the worship service.
The visual and spiritual impact of return on investment stories has a place here. The celebration of how the church through stewardship has individually and corporately touched lives is a critically important educational experience. This should not equivalent with the old board placed in the sanctuary that lists offering amounts, or a bulletin insert that gives a dollar assess weekly or monthly reporting. And this should also not be confused as appeals for funding. Instead of an ask, this experience openly raises the level of discourse about the understanding and application of stewardship as an expression of faith.

6. Generous lifestyles are lived throughout the congregation.

Church leaders model biblical stewardship in the use of their time and life gifts. A significant number of the congregation give generously of their time as volunteers in our church. Members of the congregation regularly generate ideas for new service outreach ministries for the church and community. There is an overall attitude of cheerfulness in giving throughout the church.  When Paul encourages the Philippians to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ, this attribute is a part of that challenge. dentist uses vacation time to provide mission dental care in an underserved area, or a young person serves in a mission field raising their own financial support, or when a member uses half of their annual vacation to volunteer in vacation bible school observing a generous lifestyle. When the staff and finance committee continue to initiate and fund new ministry ideas and opportunities despite a challenging economy, when a member continues generous giving while experiencing diminishing in when church steps out in faith with a ministry budget, this attribute is again visited. When the casual leadership conversation do more with blessing and abundance than limitation and scarcity, generous lifestyles are seen

7. There is a designated stewardship leader to champion the cause of biblical generosity throughout the church.

The generous church has a staff member or lay volunteer in place and dedicated (i.e., a stewardship leader) to facilitate the stewardship of our church among the staff and congregation. This role has a clearly defined role and responsibilities and the full support senior leadership of the church to do his/her job.

While many in leadership might have a commitment to biblical stewardship, this attribute of a generous church takes the idea to a new level. This is not the finance chair who also has fund raising as a part of the responsibility. This is not just the Senior Pastor who has personal conviction and distinct leadership role. This is a person with both gifts and commitment in the specific area of stewardship. This is also not the youngest leader or least experienced. This is the E F Hutton who has credibility and when they speak, everyone listens.

8. A well developed stewardship strategy with clear success measures is in place in the generous church.

The generous church has a clear, well-articulated stewardship vision that is aligned with the larger vision of the church. There is a clear place to achieve that vision. Programs are in place (teaching, training, communication strategies, etc.) to move closer to the goals. Progress toward becoming a biblically generous church is monitored and discussed on a regular basis and changed when needed. Too often, stewardship is an after thought that comes up on the basis of need or calendar but not from an intentional visionary approach. This limits creativity and diminishes effectiveness. With regard to a stewardship strategy, activities can be used measuring stick. The number of thank you cards sent, the number of lessons developed, financial courses taught, sermons preached all could count in evaluating strategy. But the real evaluative criteria are more difficult and revolve around two basic principles is the increase in the number of those who give of their time, talent, and treasure and the other is how the quality of the giving increased. In the area of finances, the two criteria would be the number of new donors and how the existing donors had cont grow. While the stewardship leader and other leaders can only measure their activity level, it stands to reason that the right combination of activities should result in qualitative analysis as well.

9. Stewardship and biblical generosity are taught as a part of the teaching and training of the church.

The church has a thoughtful strategy to ensure they are presenting good teaching and training regarding biblical stewardship congregation. Church leadership is clear about the stewardship message they want to convey to the membership (i.e., what t them to understand, believe, and do about stewardship). Time is set aside each year to teach/train members on biblical stewardship.  Stewardship teaching is available for all age groups (adolescent and adult) in the church.

There is a theological imbalance when we fail to address the sheer quantity of stewardship teachings through the Bible. If w we should teach about believing, everyone would agree – after all there are almost 300 verses that address that subject. The could be said of prayer with almost 400 verses or about love and justice where over 700 verses could be identified. What is of avoiding financial stewardship when there are well over 2,000 verses? Education should not be confused with asking for contributions. Again it has to do with Lordship and relationship. This must be incorporated into a spiritually and theological perspective of discipleship values. When the church only speaks of stewardship at the point of need instead of consistently throughout Christian education, the church has missed the mark of this attribute.

10. Church needs are abundantly met.

The operational and capital budget needs of the church are consistently and well met. The congregation enthusiastically sup growing missions and outreach budget. In times of economic uncertainty and turbulence the church financial needs continue well met. The needs of those who are financially challenged or are in need (poor, widows, single parent families, etc.) within church are met.

The church budget is a variable tool valued differently in different settings. The measure of a church is not whether they “make budget” but whether the expenses of their ministries are well met. To often a chart of accounts line item budget is misused a vehicle of communication for a church member. A narrative budget is more appropriate and effective in seeing stewardship holistically instead of a mathematical tool. When the budgeted needs of the church are well met, it means that funds are ava pay for what God has called us to do. One challenge in this area is hearing the voice of the Lord in capital development. Th experienced when wide awareness and support is found in a church for a project. Too often a small group of leaders have a vision and it is not effectively communicated beyond the small group. Leaders lead, they don’t issue unfunded mandates wi enabling the funding. When David prepared for Solomon to build the Temple, the leaders modeled giving and the people re gave willing with a whole heart. Debt is not a reflection of the lack of faith nor is it forbidden biblically. However, excessive that adversely impacts ministry funding is another example of imbalance.

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