Millennials may inherit over $68 trillion from previous generations by 2030. According to Newsweek, some experts believe this "could be the largest transfer of wealth in the history of humankind." What will younger generations do with that wealth? Studies show the younger someone is, the less he or she tends to give financially. Not just [...]
Charitable fundraising statistics about giving during the last month of the year tell us that 30% of annual donations are given in December and 10% come during the last 48 hours of the year! So, be sure to send an email to everyone in your church and cover these four things: #1. Say Thank You! A [...]
As a pastor, the stretch between Thanksgiving and New Year’s was a time when I heard and used the word “later” a lot! If I tried to set up a meeting with someone or schedule a committee meeting, the response was usually “Can we do it later?” And for good reason. We are all busy [...]
I used to think it would be fun and adventurous to skydive. Now? Not so much. IF the plane was sure to crash and someone happened to slap a chute on my trembling body, I might strongly consider fearfully jumping. In the account of the Rich Young Ruler (Mark 10, Luke 18, and Matthew 19), [...]
“It’s a custom color. Bradenton plum.” The church council member and I laughed together about the project in front of us. He had been part of the original capital campaign in the late 1980s and early 1990s. “The color was popular then, but I think it’s time for an update,” he said as we prioritized [...]
In 2014, Thom Rainer released a 102-page book called “Autopsy of a Deceased Church” which became a number-one bestseller and a must read for all church leaders/pastors. In this little book, Rainer shared his research by identifying 9 reasons churches die and 12 ways to keep your church alive. If you don’t have a copy [...]
Jon C. Wiebe recently spoke at Mosaic in Denver, preaching a 2-part sermon series entitled "Real Life". In his message he walked through I Timothy 6:17-19 finding clues as to how each person can take hold of real life as talked about in this passage. The challenge comes from addressing three questions: How do you [...]
I have developed a phrase over the last couple of years composed of two questions; "Does it make sense on paper"? and "Does it make sense on purpose"? I use these questions to describe to a potential church borrower how we generally consider their loan application, but I think the same questions could be posed [...]
At some point in my pastoral ministry I came across a story about catching monkeys. A person just needs a hollow gourd with a small hole barely big enough for a monkey to put his hand inside the gourd. Next, find a tree with monkeys and tie the gourd to the base of the tree. [...]
Why do we have margins on our paper and in our books? I first thought it might be so that my teachers would have plenty of room to add their red ink comments. It turns out, according to Google, books needed margins in the old days because mice like to eat paper. Since they start [...]
If you had the opportunity to change someone’s heart or change their mind, which would you choose? We often change our minds – what to wear, which meal to order, call vs text, where to go on vacation, etc. But a change of heart isn’t as common since we often wrestle with our worldly selves. [...]
According to a recent summary of the MB Associational 403(b) Retirement Plan, 220 pastors participate in the denomination's plan with an average account balance of $59,375. Of the active participants, average employee contributions total $5,808 per participant while the employer is contributing $3,935 per year. The final observation from our plan report is that according [...]
When it comes to our economy and investment markets, the wisdom of King Solomon is true when he states in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “History merely repeats itself, it has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.” We can’t reference all the way back to Solomon’s time, but in recent history there have [...]
When I was a pastor I enjoyed my children talking to me about my sermons. Well… most of the time. I had just finished preaching from Luke 10:25-37 about the Good Samaritan or to be true to the text, “an example of being a neighbor”. I hit the main points – two Jewish men returning [...]
In the last Insights, I introduced the concept of a dashboard for church leaders. A dashboard is a visual summary of key indicators of church health, using significant data points to help leaders assess the current conditions and what actions to take. In this article, we consider what to measure, how and how often to [...]