Several years ago a church found a dynamic youth minister they wanted to hire. However, that minister had school and housing debt which had financially strapped him. He wanted to move to his new location with his family, but he couldn’t afford a … [Continue reading]
Publicly Available Financial Statements
Posted on August 19, 2014 Written by
Right outside the door to my Finance Office is a multi-tier tray in which I put several documents. This is part of my goal of complete financial transparency. Members (and non-members) can get any of these documents without having to ask for them and … [Continue reading]
The Most Important Job in the World
Posted on August 12, 2014 Written by
Working for God is it. Whether you’re paid or not paid, working for God is a job like no other. And like other jobs, it has its own standards by which the workers are measured: what are your motives (it should be based on love) and what quality of … [Continue reading]
Checklist Faith
Posted on August 7, 2014 Written by
My wife and I taught middle school kids in Sunday School for three years. Nearly 20 years later we’re still good friends with the four core kids. For those three years we were the additional adult voice that said the same things their parents were … [Continue reading]
Unnecessarily Complicated
Posted on July 29, 2014 Written by
Relationships get complicated mostly because people can be complicated. However, work product should be as simple as possible. Over the years I’ve seen things at work made complicated because people (it always boils down to people being involved!) … [Continue reading]
Degradation of Civility
Posted on July 22, 2014 Written by
I heard this term recently. It’s a good description of what we’ve all seen on social media: someone gives their opinion on a topic and others attack the person for his/her point of view. When we hide behind a computer screen, we feel we can be … [Continue reading]
Simple, Transparent, Expectant, Accountable
Posted on July 15, 2014 Written by
Financial statements should have these characteristics and here’s why: Simple o Any accountant can make financial statements hard to read and interpret but that undermines their goal of being a tool which is used to help the church make … [Continue reading]
The “Dying Season”
Posted on July 8, 2014 Written by
Jane Wilson was the Senior Adult Minister at South Highland Presbyterian Church. In the late 1990s she told me that January through April, just four months, are “The Dying Season.” More senior adults die in those 17 weeks than the rest of the year … [Continue reading]