Archive for Finances
How Should A Church Budget? July 14, 2010
I was reading some thoughts online the other day in regards to what many church leaders were saying about how a church should budget for the upcoming year. What bothered me was that many of them were doing what I refer to as “fear based budgeting” rather than “faith based budgeting.”
Yes, our economy isn’t as strong as it has been in the past. Yes, people are unemployed. Yes, charitable giving is down…however…
I believe the church is called to budget according to VISION and not to the VARIABLES in the world. (If Nehemiah would have taken the advice of setting the budget based on the economy of the nation…then one of the greatest projects that happened in the Bible would have NEVER taken place.)
Now…let me be VERY clear. The church IS called to be financially responsible. We are called to plan, have systems of accountability and make sure that we are not being stupid OR trying to supplement someone’s ego by building bigger and greater things.
BUT…when we allow the condition of the world to begin to dictate what we’re called to do as a church…well, that pretty much sucks.
Back in 2001 and 2002 I had the privilege to spend time with a GREAT man of God named Ron Lewis. I remember him telling me, “If your church is faithfully following God’s direction then your back will always be against the wall financially.”
I’ve never forgotten that…and since that day one of the things we’ve said around here is, “if it is God’s will then it’s God’s bill – what the King wants, the King pays for…and He’s NOT limited by the stock market!”
One more time let me emphasize that this type of mentality is NOT permission to be stupid and just blow like a kid in a candy shop. However, we’ve got to understand that as a church God calls us to take steps of faith…many times LARGE ONES…to see if we are going to trust in HIM or something else. (Hebrews 11:6)
Top 7 Money Mistakes I’ve Made – Part Two March 10, 2010
Continuing yesterday’s post…
#4 – Seeking to live the “minimum payment” lifestyle.
I remember my first credit card…after getting it I stopped at a sporting goods store and bought a gun. (Just like all pastors should!) It was $300…and when I got the bill in the mail the next month the payment was ONLY $15!!! (I didn’t know what 19% interest meant!) It was the beginning of a PAINFUL lesson for me–making the minimum payment is NOT a great financial plan!
Within four years I was carrying maxed out balances on around seven credit cards and “successfully” making the minimum payments every month…which was KILLING ME financially. I reasoned that if I continued to make the minimum payments that I would one day be out of debt…which WAS true…but “that day” would have been in the year 2900 at the rate I was going!
#5 – Transferring credit card balances
Don’t roll your eyes…some of you do this! I would get a “convenient” credit card offer in the mail and it would say, “transfer your balances today and get no interest for six months.” What the offer didn’t tell you is that the interest rate was an arm and a leg after that six months.
I always told myself that I could pay off the balance within six months–WHICH NEVER HAPPENED! I realized then that Proverbs 22:7 was/is true…in just four years of having a credit card (which was only going to be used in case of an “emergency”) I had DISCOVERED that my VISA to financial freedom wasn’t in obtaining more AMERICAN OBSESS but rather in turning over MASTER CARD to Jesus instead of the banks!
#6 – STUPID car decisions.
I used to be the guy who said, “I will always have a car payment.”
I used to be the guy that when a car needed a repair I would say, “Go get another one, you don’t want to sink money into that old thing.” (Which, by the way, is STUPID financial advice! Seriously! Spending $300 to fix a leak…or $45,000 on a new car–DUH!!!)
So…because of my desire to have a new car every year and a half (no, I am not making that up) I kept trading them in…and discovered what the term “upside down” means. (It means, “I am a stupid, materialistic person”–at least that’s what it meant to me!)
I once financed a car that was two years old for 84 months at a 12% interest rate…DUMB!!!
Today I own my cars…they do not own me…and that is a very freeing feeling. Most people I have talked to who are strapped financially could free themselves up so much if they would just sell their car…but their desire for status rather than financial freedom will prevent them from it most of the time.
#7 – Not having an emergency fund.
One of the things that Joe and Dave teach is that emergencies are going to happen, the car is going to break down, the kids are going to get sick, the tire is going to go flat…and that if money is set aside for these emergencies then they are less worrisome when they take place.
You CAN set aside an emergency fund…and you CAN live in financial freedom…it just takes WORK!!!
Top 7 Money Mistakes I’ve Made! March 9, 2010
Quite a while back I shared a two part post in regards to the top seven financial mistakes I’ve made…in light of yesterday’s message I thought I would share those posts again!
#1 – I Did Not Place Jesus First In My Finances
OR…in other words…I did not tithe.
I used the excuse that I could not afford to tithe…and it was through some painful financial lessons that God actually showed me that I could not afford NOT to tithe. God kept bringing me back to Matthew 6:21 and Matthew 6:24 over and over again…and in the fall of 1999 I completely surrendered the 10%. (And I’ve never missed it!)
#2 – I treated tithing as the finish line.
When I began tithing I sort of expected God to strike up the heavenly marching band…and for about a year I was quite proud of my newly formed spiritual discipline…until…
In the summer of 2000 Jason Wilson, our Executive Pastor, was speaking at NewSpring Church and said, “We all know that Scripture says to tithe…what I want to ask tonight is what are you doing with the other 90% to advance His Kingdom; after all, He does own it all!”
That statement hit me in the face like a ton of bricks…Psalm 24:1 became more real to me than ever before…and that night I surrendered the other 90% to Jesus!
Tithing isn’t the finish line…it’s the starting point…God has called us to be generous givers–HE IS!!! (II Corinthians 9:15)
#3 – I thought I could NEVER get out of debt.
When Lucretia and I got married on April 8, 2000 we had over $100,000 worth of debt and DIDN’T EVEN OWN A HOME. It was all credit cards, student loans and ridiculous purchases (all made by me!)
I felt trapped–heck, I was trapped…and I had just about given up hope until I heard about this guy named Dave Ramsey. It was in one of his all day sessions that I began to understand that I could get out of debt…but it was going to take sacrifice, a lifestyle adjustment…but it COULD be done!
In November of 2007 Lucretia and I became debt free…we owe on nothing except for the house. Trust me–if we can do it–YOU CAN TOO!!!
(By the way…if you are making one of these mistakes…OR any of the next four that I will talk about later on this week…and you do not MAKE it a priority to get to JOES CLASS THIS WEEK then you’re passing on an incredible opportunity! Seriously, there is NO REASON for you to be in debt…when Jesus sets us free…WE ARE FREE, and yet so many Christians go and enslave themselves to debt! BREAK FREE THIS WEEKEND!!!
Stay tuned for the other four…
Giving from a Child’s Perspective March 8, 2010
We showed THIS VIDEO yesterday…thought it was one of the best “sermons” on giving I’ve ever watched!
Want To Be Free Financially? August 31, 2009
One More Thing About Money…
Can I just say that Proverbs 22:7 is true for a lot of you reading this right now!
You are a SLAVE…to Visa…to a car payment…to a house you cannot afford.
And…IF you are SERVING THEM you cannot be FULLY SERVING CHRIST! (See Matthew 6:24!)
You have been saying for quite a while that you are going to get a handle on this…but it’s getting worse, not better…
You are transferring credit card balances…making minimum payments…you are freaking out…and there is significant financial stress in your life…
AND…if God placed HIS CALLING on your life today…told you to pursue something other than what you are doing right now it would bring stress to your life, not joy because…you could not afford to do it!
ONE of the things you are fighting against is PRIDE…you HATE to admit you are strapped financially. You think you will get it under control one day…but that’s just not going to happen until you are willing to admit you have a problem and then step up and do something about it!!!
And NewSpring Church wants to help.
Joe Sangl will be teaching at each of our campuses this week…
- Tonight in Greenville
- Tomorrow in Anderson
- Wednesday in Florence
And you NEED TO BE THERE! (SIGN UP HERE!!!)
It doesn’t cost you a dime! (And NO…you DON’T have to be a NewSpring member or attender to attend…this is for ANYONE!!!)
AND…if you will come we will provide you with dinner AND childcare…FOR FREE!
Like I said yesterday…we don’t want a thing from you…we want something for you!!!
Now the choice is yours…step up…sign up…and get out of financial bondage!!!
My Friend Joe June 19, 2009
Pastors, church leaders…let me introduce you to Joe Sangl. (Just in case you haven’t met him.)
Why do you need to meet Joe? It’s really quite simple…there are people in your church that are up to their eyeballs in debt…they would love to tithe, many of them would love to give generously…but they feel like they can’t because they are enslaved to consumer debt.
AND…I’ve learned after nearly 10 years of being a pastor that preaching on what the Bible says about money just isn’t enough. You know what I mean…a good sermon on money will usually motivate people for about four hours…then reality sets in and they usually feel more hopeless (and guilt ridden) than before. Because…
When we preach on money we usually talk about WHAT should be done…but we often leave out the HOW it CAN be done!
This is where Joe comes in. In my opinion Joe is the best that there is when it comes to teaching people HOW to get out of debt and begin to honor God with the money He has blessed them with. His teaching is both biblical and practical and can help ANYONE…regardless of their financial condition.
Joe has been on staff here at NewSpring Church for the past three years. (He actually is one of the founding members of NewSpring…we used to have staff meetings in a room above his garage!) BUT…he is now launching out with the ministry the Lord has given him to help as many people as possible begin to handle their money in a way that honors God and helps them to accomplish their potential in Christ.
NO…he’s not leaving NewSpring; in fact, he will still be volunteering, teaching seminars, training counselors and probably even teaching on a Sunday from time to time.
The reason for this post is to introduce him to as many people as possible…and to let you know that if you want to take this area of your church to the next level…I highly recommend you contact Joe. He is an excellent communicator AND does an awesome job at training others and doing Financial Learning Experiences where people learn the basics and get on the right track.
One more time…here is his website. I am quite sure he would LOVE to hear from you! And once again…if you want someone to come along side of you and help you assist people in getting out of debt…Joe is your man!
Finances, Frustration and Freedom March 18, 2009
If you are broke, in debt, upside down in a car payment and/or buried in credit card debt…it is MOST LIKELY because you, at some point, allowed selfishness and the desire to acquire take over your ability to make a rational, Spirit filled decision.
(I know there are exceptions to the above…however, in my 20 years of ministry I have discovered that those exceptions are rare! Trust me…at one point I was all of the above! I posted about my dumbest financial mistakes quite a while back–here is part one of the series…and here is part two.)
One of the frustrations I have as a pastor is when people want to blame external circumstances for internal disobedience. Especially in America…EVERYONE is blaming SOMEONE for their financial condition. (Heck, for every condition…fat people are suing McDonalds for making them fat…anyone see a problem here?) Nothing is our fault. BUT…
I believe that financial freedom will never take place in a persons life until they are willing to accept personal responsibility for where they are…and then make the hard decisions and sacrifices necessary to climb out of the financial hole they have dug.
God has HUGE dreams and plans for our lives…unfortunately many people limit “God’s dreams” to driving a certain type of car or living in a certain neighborhood…and because of that they dive into a debt hole all in the name of Jesus.
I believe it makes Him sick! (See Matthew 6:19-24.)
Proverbs 22:7 says the borrower is a SERVANT to the lender…but, as followers of Jesus Christ we are to serve Him alone. We can’t serve Jesus with all our hearts and also serve Visa at the same time!
So…what do we do about it?
Great question…I highly suggest you do WHATEVER it takes to get to the Financial Learning Experience that NewSpring Church will be offering next week. (You can go here to sign up!!!) The class is FREE…but you need to sign up so we can make sure we provide the best experience possible for you! It will be held at:
- Anderson Campus, Tuesday March 24, 6:30 – 8:30
- Florence Campus, Wednesday March 25, 6:30 – 8:30
- Greenville Campus, Thursday, March 26, 6:30 – 8:30
In this class taught by Joe Sangl you will learn how to…
- Develop a plan for one’s life
- Create a budget that works
- Eliminate debt
- Calculate debt freedom date
- Calculate amount needed for retirement
- Power of compound interest
One of the biggest problems that people have when it comes to finances is that they have no plan…and because of that they’ve bought into the world’s plan, “buy now, pay later.” BTW…it hasn’t worked very well!!!
To steal a line from Andy Stanley…when it comes to finances we here at NewSpring Church don’t want a thing from you…we want something FOR you….
- We want FOR you to live in freedom, not held in the bondage of debt.
- We want FOR you to be able to provide a future for your children…instead of hoping they will provide one for you!
- We want FOR you to honor Jesus Christ with every financial decision you make…because God’s Word is so clear that until He has our money He doesn’t fully have our hearts.
One more time…here is the link for the class. DO IT! Seriously! YES, it will take discipline. YES, you will have to admit where you are financially…but when we put God first and get out of debt there is tremendous freedom!!!