I first learned the power of a hand written note while serving as a youth pastor in New Jersey.  Each year I would buy a stack of Christmas cards, and send them to all my students.  Instead of just signing my name, I would personalize each one with something that I appreciated about them, an inside joke that only the two of us got, or celebrating a significant event of the past year.  Because writing [...]

Two weeks ago Jon shared his thoughts on how churches use their vision and financial situations in their decision making processes.  Since that time I have been soaking a good bit his thoughts, and I have had a bunch of conversations that bring me back to a lot of what he shared. Over these last two weeks I feel like I have had more conversations than normal about church finances which involve the phrases “but [...]

While planting a church in Baltimore I had a love-hate relationship with partnership development (a friendlier sounding way of saying fundraising).  The truth is that fundraising for a church plant can be a bit of a grind: long hours, lots and lots of miles on the truck (just ask Dan Nichols), and if you are not a hyper-extrovert it will make you weary. But, this process can also be amazing. There are few things as exhilarating [...]

One of the challenges of serving in ministry is knowing when and how to pursue new opportunities.  This is especially tricky in an uncertain financial environment.  With this in mind, what questions should a savvy church be asking itself in anticipation of any opportunities that may present themselves? Does your vision dictate your finances, or do your finances dictate your vision? Is your vision compelling enough for your people to support it financially… to give sacrificially [...]

It’s late January, and if you’re like me, a few of your New Year’s resolutions are off to a great start while others have already fallen by the wayside.  Over the last few months, it would seem that the most common New Year’s resolution from the churches that I been working with has been to improve cash flow. At first glance this might seem like a selfish goal, but you are not improving your cash [...]

Every year around this time I tend to get inundated with friends in church leadership asking about how to go about having their financials audited.  I’ve asked Bill O’Connell from Wisdom Over Wealth to share a little bit about how churches can best handle the audit process.  Bill has over thirty years experience as a CPA, and has spent many of them helping churches wrestle through how to handle their finances.  Here is what Bill has to say about [...]

Several weeks ago Freakonomics did a story for Marketplace about the motivations of donors.  Marketplace’s interest in the story is understandable, seeing as how it is a publicly supported program produced by American Public Media.  I found the story fascinating, as I think you will as well, but I was having a struggle seeing if there was a way to apply some of what I heard to the church.  I asked Marc Pitman (who turns 40 today), [...]

Pastors and Social Security seem to be a popular topic, as it is one of the biggest hits I get from Google.  This post is originally from March 2011.   The Dime Blog has had some great information on it lately.  Today’s post is on the social security exemption for pastors and the particulars behind it: Commissioned employees (pastors) of the church fall into two categories: Those who have chosen to exempt themselves from the Social Security [...]

On Sunday all of Christendom comes together to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  Sunday also marks the last Sunday of 2011.  As we head into the last few days of the year, it is a good time to refresh our memories on the rules for year end gifts.  Tithes and offerings may be counted towards 2011 if they meet the following guidelines: Hand delivered gifts must be delivered on or before December 31, 2011. [...]

Church budgets are on my mind at the moment. Since budgets are something I deal with almost daily, and December marks the end of the fiscal year for many churches, I thought it was time to share a little bit on budgets.  While there are MANY philosophies on how to create a budget, most churches break down into one of two catagories: Those who budget with the expectation that growth will happen and help them [...]