Here are two formulas to get us thinking the right way for this blog post:

motivation to give X financial problems = guilt.

Guilt = no giving.

So you preach God's word faithfully on stewardship and generosity. You cast a compelling vision of how God is working through your church to impact the Kingdom. People are touched; they are motivated ... read full post  |  3 comments

I've learned a lot from Ron Blue over the last 10 years. Ron has a way of taking complex ideas and simplifying them so that everyone gets the point. Think of the "5 uses of money" that he has been talking about for 20+ years: give, spend, pay taxes, save, and eliminate debt.

Money is complex, but Ron makes it simple. This is harder than it seems if you've never done it – and some people would even ... read full post  |  5 comments

I am reading through a boring book that is filled with interesting information. I hate it when that happens – someone has very useful material but their writing skills tend to make it difficult to locate and extract the nuggets. It is kind of like panning for gold in a desert creek instead of a Rocky Mountain stream. The gold is just as valuable but the experience of getting it may not be inspiring.

The ... read full post  |  1 comments

A pastor might say to me, "I preach a stewardship sermon regularly, and we pass the offering plate every Sunday ... but nothing seems to change. The money problems never go away. When the economy tanked, it just got worse."

Over the years, I have seen some of the best – and worst – practices when it comes to encouraging Christian stewardship. I refer to the best as the Five Disciplines of a ... read full post  |  2 comments