Great Reminder on Stewardship as a Leader February 27, 2008
Posted by Steve in : The City, Family, Church, Urban Church, Methods & Strategies, The Cultural Conversation, Culture and Faith , add a commentTim Stevens, the Executive Pastor at Granger Community Church is a person I respect greatly, and he has another great nugget of wisdom for leaders of all types concerning how to get a strong financial framework in your life. As I move out of the church business and into my sports-oriented social networking start-up, FanFuego.com, these lessons hit home for me…here are some of my favorite nuggets on maintaining a good financial situation…read the whole article here.
If this is an area of concern for you, you should know that at Park, we have one of the leading stewardship experts in the land named Matt Bell. Check out his website at www.financially-speaking.com and you can subscribe to his excellent Biblical newletters on good financial management practices here.
- Don’t use a credit card for anything you can’t pay off right away. Use a credit card for convenience, but don’t ever pay interest. If you can’t control yourself, get rid of the cards.
- Tithe–I really believe that God blesses those who tithe. I think he keeps the car running longer, the roof from leaking as soon as it would have, and He loves to sprinkle you with raises and added cash you didn’t expect.
- Give generously. The tithe is the minimum. We began our first year of marriage giving 10% of our income and then increased it every year until we got to 20%. The first 10% goes to the general fund at our church. The other 10% we use to support missionaries, give to new building projects at our church, and bless people who come into our lives.
- If you are married, don’t ever make a big purchase without talking to each other. Really, trust me on this. [AMEN BROTHER - I LEARNED THE HARD WAY )
- Teach your kids to handle their money. They aren’t going to learn financial management at school. No one else is going to teach them to be generous. By the time they’ve been out of your house a week, they will have already received 14 credit card invitations. Teach them early.
- Set aside money for fun. Fun with your spouse. Fun with your kids. Fun for yourself (for me, that means buying a geeky gadget on occasion).
- Don’t wait until you have more money to put wise financial management into practice in your life.
Joseph: The High Cost of Righteousness November 28, 2006
Posted by Steve in : Powerful Passages, Missional , add a comment
From LeadershipJournal.net:
As the film “The Nativity Story” (see the trailer) arrives this Friday to theaters to great fanfare, John Ortberg has a great article this week looking at Joseph, and the high cost of righteousness in Joseph’s life. Typically Joseph is a bit player in the Christmas story, and is relegated to a supporting role during most of our Christian Christmas pageantry. However, Ortberg really gives us an insight into the cost of righteousness. I love this article and shared this with our leaders this week — it is a powerful reminder that there is a cost to following Christ.
