Friday, July 31, 2009

Stewardship Seminar Reflections

Had a great time yesterday at the Stewardship and Activate (Small Group) seminar with Kerrick Thomas of ChurchLeaderInsights and Journey Church. We had almost 100 pastors and staff members in attendance between the two seminars. What a great opportunity to use our new facility to host other pastors and churches in an effort to expand the Kingdom.

Although I had been through this material many times before, I still learned something new. In fact, I wrote down 39 thoughts and action items from the Stewardship seminar alone.

Here are a few:

1. Stewardship is discipleship. You can't be a successful disciple if you don't have a successful stewardship plan.

2. My giving begins after my tithe. The Bible says I bring the tithe out of obedience and to stay out from under the curse (Mal.3:10).

3. Stewardship involves so much more than money. It's about honoring God with my whole life.

4. Offer multiple options for giving. The more convenient you make it for people to honor God on a systematic basis the better. Here are some options: the weekend service, mail it in, online giving, and auto debit. Journey Church only receives 28% of their weekly giving in their weekend service. Over 50% of their giving is given online and through the auto debit.

5. My heart follows my money, not the other way around. So, whatever I care about or love, that's where my money goes.