Money Management Conference for Churches

Church Executive magazine is sponsoring an event to help churches being affected by the recent economic downturn. The two-day workshop, designed to help churches anticipate and prepare money strategies for possible lean times, will take place this spring.

On May 19-20, Church Executive magazine will sponsor "Managing the Money: Transactions and Transparency" in Grapevine, Texas. Spokesman Ron Keener says the sessions on money management could be vital to the financial solvency of churches whose members are facing their own cash crises during the current tough economic climate -- including salary freezes, layoffs, and foreclosures.

Monetary conditions in the lives of church members, according to Keener, impact "congregations ... and what's put in the offering plate." He contends churches may soon "deal with a cash flow that might be going downward."

Keener believes churches should also investigate the need to set aside proper cash reserves or even acquire a line of credit. He says the seminars will be chock-full of ways for church pastors, business administrators, and finance committee members to learn how to analyze expenses, work on financial targets, and adjust operational plans for a more secure future. "It's a matter of controlling costs and understanding how they can take care of financial matters better," Keener notes.

Church Executive magazine is published for larger churches and megachurches needing guidance in administration and management. Registration for the workshop is available at the magazine's website.

Parents Choose Faith Over Doctors - Girl Dies

Police are investigating an 11-year-old girl's death from an undiagnosed, treatable form of diabetes after her parents chose to pray for her rather than take her to a doctor.

An autopsy showed Madeline Neumann died last Sunday from diabetic ketoacidosis, a condition that left too little insulin in her body.

"She had probably been ill for about a month, suffering symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, excessive thirst, loss of appetite and weakness," the chief said Wednesday, noting that he expects to complete the investigation by Friday and forward the results to the district attorney.
The girl's mother, Leilani Neumann, said the family believes in the Bible and that healing comes from God, but she said they do not belong to an organized religion or faith, are not fanatics and have nothing against doctors.

She insisted her youngest child, a wiry girl known to wear her straight brown hair in a ponytail, was in good health until recently.

"We just noticed a tiredness within the past two weeks," she said Wednesday. "And then just the day before and that day (she died), it suddenly just went to a more serious situation. We stayed fast in prayer then. We believed that she would recover. We saw signs that to us, it looked like she was recovering."

Her daughter — who hadn't seen a doctor since she got some shots as a 3-year-old, according to Vergin — had no fever and there was warmth in her body, she said.

The girl's father, Dale Neumann, a former police officer, said he started CPR "as soon as the breath of life left" his daughter's body.

Family members elsewhere called authorities to seek help for the girl.

"My sister-in-law, she's very religious, she believes in faith instead of doctors ...," the girl's aunt told a sheriff's dispatcher Sunday afternoon in a call from California. "And she called my mother-in-law today ... and she explained to us that she believes her daughter's in a coma now and she's relying on faith."

The dispatcher got more information from the caller and asked if an ambulance should be sent.
"Please," the woman replied. "I mean, she's refusing. She's going to fight it. ... We've been trying to get her to take her to the hospital for a week, a few days now."

The aunt called back with more information on the family's location, emergency logs show. Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and immediately called for an ambulance that took her to a hospital.

But less than an hour after authorities reached the home, Madeline — a bright student who left public school for home schooling this semester — was declared dead.

She is survived by her parents and three older siblings.

"We are remaining strong for our children," Leilani Neumann said. "Only our faith in God is giving us strength at this time."

The Neumanns said they moved from California to a modern, middle-class home in woodsy Weston, just outside Wassau in central Wisconsin, about two years ago to open a coffee shop and be closer to other relatives. A basketball hoop is set up in the driveway.

Leilani Neumann said she and her husband are not worried about the investigation because "our lives are in God's hands. We know we did not do anything criminal. We know we did the best for our daughter we knew how to do."

[What do you think? Are the parents guilty of crime of faith? Does all faith take a risk?]

Today's Quote

“Sometimes, a leader emerges from among equals, a man whose natural charisma, stability, and sense of purpose make everyone turn to him, just as the office plants turn toward the window. There’s something special there, and everybody recognizes it, even if no one can put a finger on it. Leadership isn’t a job or a title, it’s a calling.”

(David Zinczenko-Men’s Health Magazine editor)

What If The Church Closed For Retraining?

[By Dave Ferguson]

My high school age daughter Amy is a barista at Starbucks. A few weeks ago all the Starbucks across North America closed shop for three and half hours in the evening. Why? To hear from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz via video about the companies need to get back to it's original vision. Next, the store manager talked about several strategic changes that the store would make to give the customer better and more personalized service. And the evening ended by re-training everyone at that Starbucks store. When my daughter got home here is what she said to me, "Dad, you would have loved it! ... It's really weird, I know that I really work at a fast food chain, but they made me believe that it really matters."

So here is my question: If we were to close all the churches across North America for three and half hours and we had the chance to vision-cast and re-train every Christ Follower, what would need to be said and what would you do?

[Click "comments" below to leave your's.]

Top Pastor Resources

[By Anthony Braswell]

I’m always looking new resources, so I thought you may be as well. Check out some of my favorites!

The following are my top ten resources:

• The 17 Indisputable Laws of Teamwork – John Maxwell
• Communicating for a Change – Andy Stanley
• Confessions of a Pastor – Craig Groeschel
• The Creative Leader – Ed Young Jr.
• Into the Future – Elmer Towns
• Planting New Churches in a Postmodern Age – Ed Stetzer
• Seven Practices of Effective Ministry – Andy Stanley
• Simple Church – Thom Rainer
• The Way of the Shepherd – Kevin Leman
• Church Marketing 101 – Richard Reising

The following are my top ten websites:

• Creative Pastors (sermon resources) – http://www.creativepastors.com/
• Got Print (printing) – http://www.gotprint.com/
• I Stock (images) – http://www.istockphoto.com/
• Lee Strobel (apologetics) – http://www.leestrobel.com/
• Life Church (sermon resources) – http://www.lifechurch.tv/
• Outreach Marketing (printing) – http://www.outreachmarketing.com/
• Relevant (magazine) – http://www.relevantmagazine.com/
• Sermon Spice (media) – http://www.sermonspice.com/
• Top Five (links) – http://www.topfive.org/
• Worship House Media (media) – http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/

Personal (Sabbatical) Update

Yvonne and I are on sabbatical. I cannot express how important it is for pastors to take a sabbatical from time to time. When I am away, in the mountains or on the ocean, I can think so much more clearly and focus so much better on the real priorities of life and ministry. A sabbatical must be longer than a few days. We must disconnect from the world as we know it in order to reconnect with God. Jesus set the example. How often did He retreat or get away during His three years of ministry?

Most congregations do not understand the importance of sabbaticals. It will take good communications and teaching to change this culture. But, it must be done to preserve and improve pastoral leadership. It will pay great dividends to the pastor and the congregation.

A sabbatical (from Greek sabbatikos) is a prolonged hiatus, typically one year, in the career of an individual taken in order to fulfill some goal, e.g., writing a book or traveling extensively for research. Some universities and other institutional employers of scientists, physicians, and/or academics offer a paid sabbatical as an employee benefit, called sabbatical leave. Some companies offer an unpaid sabbatical for people wanting to take career breaks - this is a growing trend in the UK, with 20% of companies having a career break policy, and 10% considering introducing one.

Sabbaticals are often taken by professors, pastors, cartoonists (e.g. Gary Larson and Bill Watterson), musicians (e.g. Cindy Wilson, Bobby McFerrin) and sportsmen (e.g. Alain Prost). Academic sabbaticals are typically for one year following six years of full-time employment. Also taken by those young professionals who just need a break from work to determine if a career path is correct for them.

In UK and Irish students' unions, particularly in higher education institutions, students can be elected to become sabbatical officers of their students' union, either taking a year out of their study (in the academic year following their election) or remaining at the institution for a year following completion of study. Sabbatical officers are usually provided with a living allowance or stipend.

As Yvonne and I spend this time alone with God, we are already seeing things differently. God is restoring our divine vision.

We may take a little longer - until April 8 or so.

Today's Prayer

Dear God, I know that You have a plan for my life. Sometimes, I'm not sure I'm following the right path that will fulfill Your perfect will. I pray that You will give me discernment to make the right choices, and to recognize when You place someone in my life to give direction and point out truths that will prepare me for the path I am to follow and the circumstances I am to face. Lord, please give me strength, grace, and unction from on high to not turn back neither to one side or the other, but to remained focused straight ahead on You. In Jesus' name, amen.

Tithing and Giving

(By Chris Blumhofer)

I just finished my taxes, and as part of the process, I reviewed a statement of all the contributions that my wife and I made to our church last year. It was humbling.

I was reminded of a missionary that Stephanie and I supported, and the time that we shared a meal with him and heard about the kingdom-building work going on in the U.K. Good times.

But there are embarrassing omissions on our statement, too. Last July is an example, when our church recorded zero contributions from us. I vividly recall four weeks of, "Did you remember the offering?" "No, I thought you had it."

This year, my wife and I are striving to do better, though not under any illusions that four more weeks of tithing will usher in the kingdom. Instead, we give because we're convinced that faithful, generous giving is the appropriate response to him who's been so generous to us.

A church that embraces the right attitudes toward tithing requires wise leadership in the area of financial stewardship.

[The entire church leadership team must have the right training and attitude on how to teach tithing and giving.]

Fire Damages Church

A fire damaged the interior of the 21st Street Church of God of Prophecy in Kansas City, Kan. The fire was believed to have started in a kitchen area. No one was hurt.

Does Your Church Have Unity?

[Here are five ways to help your church remain united by Rick Warren.]

Does your church have the kind of unity that honors God and draws others to the cross?

As pastors, it’s our job to face conflicts and lead the church in a united effort. Let's look at five ways to help your church remain united.

[ more]

Universities Will Teach the "Business" of Church Management

[By: Ed Thomas]

Villanova University's new graduate-level church management program, offered online beginning this summer, is designed to bring standard knowledge of financial controls and reporting, and personnel management, up to speed enough to help avoid any more moral scandals or embezzlement situations in religious institutional settings.

It is one of three new programs started within the last year at major Catholic universities, according to Charles Zech, director of Villanova's Center for the Study of Church Management -- which researches church management issues and looks for policy solutions. "With all the problems that [Catholic and Protestant] churches have had in recent years ... with managerial issues, we felt the time was right for the business school to get involved and do something to address those issues," says Zech.

"All churches face the same sort of problems [with such things as] financial control ... evaluating their personnel ... reconciling church law with civil law ...," he adds. "So all the issues we talk about in our program are germane to all churches in the United States today."

With the program specifically tailored for church management situations and legal issues, Zech feels it will be more help to clergy and lay volunteers in churches than just a standard business program with a broader range of issues -- and more useful in identifying red flags that might have headed off disasters like the priest sex abuse scandal and several high-profile embezzlement cases.

"The best thing that we can do for someone is give them the tools to be good managers," Zech shares, "and it really, then, protects them from being accused of something -- because if they know what they're doing, they're less likely to get themselves in trouble and less likely to have folks accusing them of making a mistake, either on purpose or not." So far enrollment has been 50-50 clergy and laity, as well as Catholic and Protestant. Zech hopes many more religious-affiliated universities will follow suit on similar church management programs in the future.

Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and Boston College began similar programs in September.

(Source: OneNewsNow.com)

Pastor - Your Life IS Different. Embrace It.

[From LifeChurch.tv : swerve by Craig Groeschel]

Pastors, your life is different.

I used to fight for the normal life. One of my mentors told me that as long as I strive for normal, I’ll fail. He encouraged me to embrace the differences of ministry and learn to flourish within those differences. (Living the balanced life will likely be impossible.)

Pastor, here are just a few ways your life is different:

• You prepare new messages every week for the same crowd. (I can’t think of any other profession who does this without the help of curriculum or speech writers.)
• You do what many managers or business owners do. (The short list includes: maintaining the building, building new facilities, hiring, training and firing staff, overseeing the budget, raising money, recruiting and leading volunteers, etc.)
• You shepherd the flock. You might counsel someone who is suicidal, meet with a couple who is about to divorce, do a funeral and a wedding before your preach on the weekend.
• You are rarely “off duty.” Like the doctor who might be on call one weekend a month, you are almost always “on call.”
• Though your hours are flexible, they are generally long and unusual. You work many nights, weekends and most holidays.
• You have the pressure of life in the “fish bowl.”
• Your role creates many social obligations.
• No matter how much you do, your ministry is never “finished.”

Some resent the differences. Some embrace them. I choose to embrace the differences and strive to follow Christ as my model instead of the culture’s cry for balanced living.

Which of these differences affect you? What differences have I not mentioned that are important to you?

How Important Is Children's Ministry?

Because He Lives

Free Online Storage

[From Planting Space by Doug]

Most church plants cannot afford to have office space in the early days. One of the problems that creates is how to share files easily between staff members who are working out of their homes.

Many companies are now offering free online storage for files. ADrive is currently offering 50GB of free online storage. You can use this service as an easy way to exchange files or as a cheap and secure backup solution.