Methodist Foundation of OhioCategory: Stewardship
Why Have A Campaign?
I often get a comment like “We haven’t done a stewardship campaign in decades. We don’t need to, we always pay the bills.” Or sometimes it’s “We don’t really talk stewardship in our church, it makes people uncomfortable.” Or my…
Read MoreRethinking our purpose
The Board of Directors at the Foundation has spent the last year in a strategic planning process. We are a much different organization than when I got here seven years ago and we were trying to get a handle on…
Read MoreRethinking the Committee’s Place
Last night I met with a local church’s Finance Committee. They spent a few minutes going over the financials, discussing the pluses and the minuses. They they got to me to talk stewardship. Here’s the problem. It was the Finance…
Read MoreWanted: something big, hairy and audacious
If you’re a regular reader of this space you know that missions are important to me. In fact, if I could only have the church do one thing, I would skip worship, Sunday School and (gasp!) even committee meetings and…
Read MoreInvesting Found Money
I had a great consultation last week with a pastor who had an interesting dilemma, one that many wish they were in. The church was about to receive a significant bequest from a member and he was looking for some…
Read MoreInsuring the Future
I was recently part of a discussion about gifts of life insurance to the church and whether or not I like them. (I know, you’re amazed at how exciting my life is, aren’t you?) Given the question “Is life insurance…
Read MoreSaving Shoes, my Annual Conference Report
Here is my report from Annual Conference this morning, including links to the two videos. All week we have heard from church people. As a change of pace, I’d like to open my presentation with the perspective of a volunteer…
Read MoreRaising up them kids
Everyone talks about leaving a better planet for the children. Why nobody tries to leave better children to the planet? That’s one of my favorite quotes, and as a parent of two above average teenagers, it is one that…
Read MoreProgram Review: Committed to Christ
This past weekend I had the chance to preview Committed to Christ: Six Steps to a Generous Life. The short version: I like it. The program is written by Rev. Bob Crossman, a United Methodist pastor from Arkansas and a…
Read MoreGetting stronger by focusing on strength
I spend a lot of time listening to people who are smarter than I am. Perhaps because there are so many of them out there! Marcus Buckingham is a pretty smart guy and a management guru. One of his basics…
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