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Stewardship is about honoring God with what he’s blessed us with. One of God’s gifts is time. And, it’s a precious gift, because in the grand scheme of things, our time on earth is extremely brief! Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered—how fleeting … Read more
This past week, Joleen and I attended one of our remaining requirements for ordination, an all-day training day sponsored by the Board of Ordained Ministry. The day featured Dr. Lovett Weems from Wesley Theological Seminary. The topic was “Church Finances.” Part of the content confirmed some things we already knew, but we did learn some … Read more
I’ve been writing about The Balancing Act by Bishop Robert Schnase (see “The Balancing Act” and Pray More Than Criticize). Bishop Schnase writes on “Redeeming Time.” By that, he means “making time sacred, useful to God, holy” (119). Schnase adds: … redeeming the time involves discovering the holy, gift-like quality, the grace of time. It … Read more
In the years Joleen and I have been married, we can highlight several financial practices that have proven valuable. While we can always be better stewards, we believe the following practices are an important part of being good stewards of what God entrusts us with … 1. Honor God with tithes and offerings!Tithing wasn’t a … Read more
Here’s my latest finance letter for West Side … Summer is upon us! Some days we can feel it in the warm sunshine and some days we wonder as we experience the cool rain and blustery winds. One day I was in eastern PA and we traveled from balmy eighty degree temperatures to an icy … Read more
Jesus, consistent with the Old Testament, speaks unabashedly and repeatedly about wealth, greed and generosity. In Mark 12.41-44, Jesus relates a story comparing the giving of the rich to that of poor widow who gives two very small copper coins. Jesus comments … They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, … Read more
Today, I connected my laptop to the TV and Ethan (wearing his backpack, at the time) helped us choose some gifts. As we’ve written about before recently, we’re enjoying involving our kids (mainly Ethan, at this point) in our mission giving. We usually do some extra giving at the end of the year and one … Read more
In the monthly West Side UMC Stewardship newsletter, we have been looking at the twelve qualities of the Christian steward as presented by Rev. Phillis M. Bowers in the booklet, Guidelines for Leading Your Congregation: Stewardship. The next quality, which is appropriate in the midst of Advent/Christmas and as we begin the new year, is … Read more
In the days and weeks leading up to our first trip to Korea — and to becoming parents — we wrote about the kind of culture we wanted to create in our home and family life. Part of that included Shaping a Servant Culture. To help our children become servants and givers, we want to … Read more
I have noticed a number of commercials from Fidelity Investments lately. They’re the commercials with the green line on the ground that offers guidance and direction. Last week, one especially caught my attention. In the commercial, the financial advisor encourages the client that the plan they worked out for his retirement “makes sense” and that … Read more