What Are You Reading?

Posted on March 26, 2013 Written by

Getting your staff to read together is really important. I recommend that all staffs read two or three books together every year. It will help keep everyone on the same page, and they’ll talk about it in the halls and at lunch in addition to the planned discussion times. Some of these books may be good for some key committees to read together, and that will help the key leaders be on the same page, too.

I suggest a variety of books on different subjects. Church staffs expect to read books about churches, but what about good biographies of strong leaders (Rockefeller, Jobs, Roosevelt(s), missions stories (Peace Child), business (Good to Great, The E-Myth Revisited), social justice , prayer (The Prayer Circle), or the status of the church in America (American Grace). There are thousands of good books to choose from on any number of subjects—and not only with church-related themes. Fiction such as the Narnia series, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even the Harry Potter series provide Christ-centered truths. The reading list does not have to be limited to C. S. Lewis (good as he is).

Well-written books will also help your staff members speak and write better as they see some best practices. Book discussions will help the staff communicate more and better with each other to explain their point of view in a non-threatening way (after all, it is “just” a book). And, eventually the staff will have a bookshelf which will impress office visitors (that’s my weakest argument!).

Get the staff to make suggestions. The reading list may start with the pastor’s choice, but it must include good and worthy selections submitted by other staff. The pastor will certainly want to use a book to help the staff focus on a specific topic, but the pastor should not be the only person selecting titles.

Finally, it will be interesting to see just how people read the books—in print or electronically. Each has advantages and detriments. Each method appeals to different types and ages of people. That alone can be worthy of a discussion of how society and the church are changing, and then you can discuss the contents of the book!

 

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, strategy Tagged: , ,

Financial Statements: What Are They Good For?

Posted on March 12, 2013 Written by

 

There are two essential financial statements:

Balance Sheet

This shows the current financial status of the organization since its inception. It lists all the bank balances, the designated and restricted funds (a heavily used and very good tool for non-profits), reserve accounts, debts and equity (the summary of all years’ receipts over expenses).

Income Statement (aka, Profit & Loss Statement, Statement of Revenues & Expenses, Statement of Receipts & Expenses)

This shows how well the organization is doing in the current fiscal year. It doesn’t take into consideration previous years (that is on the balance sheet). It should have annual budget to track actual expenses against what was forecasted.

  • Other financial statements are the designated funds summary (a very useful tool to track receipts and expenses in designated, restricted, and reserve funds) and statement of cash flows (to show how balance sheet money has been used).
  • Notes in financial statements are an excellent way to answer questions before they are asked. The rule of thumb is that if there is an extraordinary expense or receipt, it should be explained in the notes. Notes can also be used to explain variances from month-to-month and to give a heads-up about an upcoming expense or receipt.

But what is their purpose? How should this financial info be used?

Financial statements are not scorecards. Some organizations measure all progress in financial terms. This is a mistake. It’s like measuring a child’s progress strictly by his grades or her height. There are many, many nuances to finances that cannot be put in numbers. Financial statements are not THE measurement, they are A measurement.

Financial statements are not insignificant. Just as financial statements are not the absolute yardstick, they should not be ignored, either. There is a reason for every number on a statement. Some numbers are more important than others and it is up to the staff and finance committee members to decipher which figures should be analyzed further. Financial info should never be discarded.

Financial statements should lead to questions. Financial statements should never be taken at face value. They are a reason to ask questions, especially hard questions. All questions are good – some are purely explanatory, some may lead to defensiveness by the staff (and those ought to be explored further), and some may lead to more questions to get to the root of an issue. The oversight committee must never be afraid to ask good, tough questions and not be satisfied with easy and quick answers. This is the committee’s responsibility, to do less is negligent.

Financial statements are a decision-making tool. This is the ultimate purpose of financial statements: to aid in making critical decisions for the organization. Financial figures are one part, albeit very important, in making sound strategic and tactical decisions for every organization. This means the numbers and the reason for the important numbers must be fully understood and explainable. Then, use that knowledge to provide financial insight to critical decisions. An important decision that does not have financial input is not a fully thought-out decision. Make sure financial info is included in the process for making vital decisions but that finances are not the sole rationale for any decision.

Lead On!

Steve

Filed Under: budget, church finances, church financial statements Tagged: , , , , ,

Saying Thanks!

Posted on January 5, 2013 Written by

Here is a link to a good article about thanking your donors. Thanking, explaining, sharing stories, and helping others know what is going on in your church is vital to your church’s finances. People liked to be thanked – please do it often and use as many platforms as you possibly can:

  • Personal letters
  • Articles in the church bulletin
  • Social media
  • Webpage
  • Hallway conversations

If you make this part of your daily attitude, that same attitude of gratitude will flow into your staff and your church members. After all, it is well known that every organization takes on the attitude of the top dog. So, be grateful, tell others thanks, and encourage everyone to follow your lead.

http://www.guidestar.org/rxa/news/articles/2012/9-clever-ways-to-thank-donors.aspx

1. Write a Greeting Card, Not a Business Letter
2. Share Recent Progress, However Small
3. Add an Invitation—But Not to Something That Requires Another Donation!
4. Use a More Creative, Personal Opening
5. Include Results-Oriented Photography
6. Record a Video Message
7. Send a Postcard from Behind the Scenes
8. Be Specific about How the Gift Is Being Used
9. Change Who’s Saying Thank You   Lead On! Steve

Filed Under: church administration, communications, leadership Tagged: , ,

RACI

Posted on December 18, 2012 Written by

A friend and colleague of mine gave me an acronym that is used in his church whenever a decision is made. They assign RACI to actions and I like this so much I want to share it as a tool to help church staffs. RACI stands for:

  • Responsible
    • This person is in charge of the activity. All subsequent decisions go through this person to ensure that everything is working together to meet the desired outcome. This person can delegate intermediate steps but in the end, the buck stops with this person regarding the entire project. The responsible person must also have the trust and authorization to carry out the duties assigned to him or her. Anything less will set that person up for failure and perhaps even his or her departure from the church.
  • Accountable
    • This person is accountable for his or her actions (or inactions) and that accountability will affect his or her annual evaluation. An accountable person may or may be in charge of one aspect of the project or may be the responsible person, also. The accountable person must have the resources to carry out the task assigned to him or her whether those resources are financial, time, knowledge, or people. Accountable people need to know to whom they are accountable – that must be deicded initially; it is frequently the person who is responsible for everything.
  • Consulted
    • This is a person or group of people who have information which can help move the project further along the road. This may be specialized persons (lawyer, architect, teacher, pastor) but they are not part of the decision-making process. Their value is in providing additional knowledge which will help others who are decision-makers. Information is always a two-way street in the section: those who are consulted, by definition, should provide feedback to ensure the proper information is getting to the responsible or accountable person(s).
  • Informed
    • These are people who should be told what is happening along the way. This may be a person (such as the pastor or other leader) or a group of people (such as the congregation or key committee). They are not necessarily part of the decision-making process but keeping them informed can help the decisions go faster and easier. Information is usually one-way but sometimes it can flow back if it will help.

Sometimes these four are mixed and matched. For instance, someone who is consulted may also be a accountable. Sometimes you don’t have all four – one of the above may be omitted if it is not appropriate or unnecessary.

Use this terminology to ensure that everyone understands and knows their role in the decision-making process. Keeping this clear will help people know what they are supposed to do and what they should not do. It can minimize conflicts (“eliminate” is probably too much wishful thinking). Use this tool to help you become a more efficient and effective staff – and one that communicates better with each other.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church staff, leadership, wisdom Tagged: , ,

Spears, Tridents, Pitchforks, and Rakes

Posted on October 30, 2012 Written by

I am concerned about the focus of the church, or its lack of focus. There was a time when the church in the United States was relatively financially flush and spent its money on a variety of ministries. Churches had food pantries, libraries, gyms, etc. I’ve even heard of a church that had a minister of softball!

My concern with this is that lots of organizations do those same things. Some of those organizations are Christian, while others are completely secular; some do it well and some don’t. But there are others out there doing this work. So, why does a church feel the need to replicate what is already being done by others especially in today’s very tight financial economy? I fully believe that churches should be involved in social ministries, I just don’t think those ministries have to be located inside and paid for by the church. Take advantage of the economies of scale of several groups working together.

Here’s my challenge to churches: stay on your mission-critical path. Focus on those things that no one else is doing. Concentrate on what you were tasked to do by Jesus Christ. Do what is in the marrow of your bones. Stay away from things that lead to mission creep.

Instead, if a church member wants to start a ministry, ask that person to find out what other groups are doing the same type of work in your area. The other groups may or may not be Christian, but that doesn’t matter; we don’t always work with Christians, we work for Christ. Next, find out which of those groups is the most effective, most efficient, and financially transparent in what they are doing. Finally, ask them if they could use additional volunteers and perhaps an occasional financial gift–and then partner with them.

Churches don’t need to use their resources to accomplish everything. They need to use their resources strategically. There are three main resources a church has: buildings, money, and people. When a church uses one, two, or all of these for a ministry within their own walls, they may take away resources that could be used for the church’s critical path needs. And, when a church uses some of its resources in a ministry outside its buildings, it gets its people and money to be involved and invested in the community–exactly what Jesus asked us to do.

Every manager knows that he or she can focus on 3-7 goals at any given time, at a maximum. Do anything more and projects began to suffer; resources get scarce. Businesses know to concentrate on no more than five major items at one time (for confirmation, read any book by business guru Jim Collins). ITT is a great example of business that decided it could do everything at the same time. You’ve never heard of ITT? That is probably because it went bankrupt decades ago.

Churches need to learn from businesses and remain focused on a primary goal: sharing the Good News of Christ. Extraneous ministries are good, but they can be done by church members volunteering at other well-run organizations. They will still be able to explain their motivation in helping others: because of their desire to share and exemplify God’s love.

Here’s an analogy: if you take one piece of steel, you can shape it into a spear, trident, or even a pitchfork and those one, three, or five points can make a very strong impact. Those points are always going in the same direction and are virtually unbreakable. That same piece of steel can be made into a rake which has 20 or 30 prongs which bend every which way and sometimes don’t even work together, bend at awkward angles, or even break off.

I challenge every church to be a spear,  a trident, or a pitchfork–singularly focused, very strong, and unified in its mission. Too many churches are like rakes going in lots of different directions with a wide variety of ministries. Use your resources strategically; use them for the Kingdom of God and the path on which God has set the church.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: leadership, wisdom Tagged: ,

Generosity Index

Posted on October 5, 2012 Written by

You need to know about the annual Generosity Index  which is an interesting measure (at least to us numbers geeks) of how generous people are. This link is to the 2011 publication of the 2009 tax data. The compilers gather data from the US Internal Revenue Service (Canada is in the survey but in this blog I’m referring only to the US). They gather data by state:

  • Total amount of income on all the tax docs filed
  • Total number of tax filers
  • Total number of tax filers that made a charitable contribution
  • Total amount given to charities

The data is sliced and diced in two primary ways: 1) percentage of total aggregate income given to charity and 2) amount of average charitable donation. Those two are merged to get the Generosity Index and then states are ranked by each of these.

It is interesting to see the number of tax filers in a specific state but we don’t know if these donors gave $10 or $10,000 so I prefer to look at the percentage of income that is given to charities. That percentage is very telling about those who are inclined to be generous with their money. BTW, by far the largest recipient of charitable dollars are churches – no one else comes close.

  • The most generous state is Utah whose residents give an average of 3.09% of all their income to charities. The second is Georgia whose tax filers give away 1.85% of their collective income. There is a big drop from #1 to #2 and that is due to the Mormon emphasis on tithing.
  • The top ten most generous states are
    • 1. Utah
    • 2. Georgia
    • 3. Alabama
    • 4. Maryland
    • 5. South Carolina
    • 6. Idaho
    • 7. North Carolina
    • 8. Oklahoma
    • 9. Mississipp and New York (tie)
  • The top ten stingiest states are
    • 41. Ohio
    • 42. New Mexico
    • 43. Arkansas
    • 44. Hawaii
    • 45. Rhode Island
    • 46. West Virginia
    • 47. New Hampshire and Vermont (tie)
    • 49. Maine
    • 50. North Dakota

Generalizations are rarely correct but there are interesting patterns

  • Many of the most generous states are seen to be very religious (Utah & Idaho with Latter-Day Saints; Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi with Baptists and Methodists).
  • Many of the most generous states are seen as some of the poorest states
  • Many of the stingiest states are in the Northeast: Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine which is an area of the US that is considered less religious
  • Is there a correlation between faith and generosity – it would seem so (if we are looking broadly).

Years ago I read that research by Empty Tomb, Inc. showed some interesting statistics:

  • In 1932 the average Christian gave 3.2% of his or her income to the church. This is at the depth of the Depression, when people had less to give than ever before as a nation. It was a very, very tough time for the US.
  • Just before the economic collapse of 2008, the average Christian was giving 2.3% of his income to charity. During one of the most prosperous economic times in the US, Christians were more stingy than during the Great Depression. The figure of 2.3% has steadily dropped since, which means Christians are giving even less.

You can draw your own conclusions from this information. Here are mine:

  • More money does not make you more generous.
  • Generosity comes from the heart, not the wallet.
  • Being poor (a relative term in our country when we compare ourselves to other countries) means you understand better than others the importance of helping others.
  • A person’s faith and religion plays a large role in his or her generosity.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: budget, church finances, generosity, leadership Tagged: , , ,

EveryTHING Ends Up in the Trash

Posted on September 24, 2012 Written by

I have two kids: a teenager and a preteen. One of the lessons that I, as a parent, am trying to teach them is the lack of value of possessions. My wife are not wealthy, but we are blessed financially and can use our money to give our kids lots of things. However, we know that everyTHING we give our kids will end up in a landfill as trash. No exceptions – even our house will end up there at some point.

There is one thing that we can give our kids that will never end up in the trash: memories. Memories will last a lifetime. Memories are stories and when coupled with pictures, they are powerful reminders of days gone by. Those bygone days (like today) are not perfect, but they hold their value better than most possessions.

So a couple of years ago, we began carrying out what we feel is a much better investment of our money: going on trips in the US and internationally. We drove from our home in Virginia to Oklahoma for a family wedding and on the way back, we visited Ft. Worth, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Louisville, Mammoth Cave, and other sights on the way. Last year we took a trip to Spain and visited Madrid, Granada, and Sevilla. We’re already dreaming and planning more trips across the US and to Europe (our preferred international destination).

These trips are fun (my kids are great travelers), instructional and educational (they’ve visited the Gateway Arch and the Alhambra, learning about culture and architecture), and priceless bonding time (my kids get to see their parents in a different light in a different venue). My wife and I want to continue traveling as often as we can; we are blessed financially to be able to do this, and (more importantly) we consider it one of the best things we can do for our kids. Travel and memories are certainly better and longer lasting than a video game or clothes.

To etch these memories in our collective memory, my wife does something wonderful at the end of each year and special trip. She uses an online publisher to create a picture book. These picture or memory books are easy to do, relatively inexpensive, and they will be wonderful to look at years later.

I don’t want to tell anyone how to spend their money. I will suggest you consider how you’re investing your money in your kids and in the future. Are you putting it into assets that will wither up, break, and end up in the trash? Or are you putting your money in priceless, precious memories which involve spending time with your kids? You don’t have to travel (that is our choice and we’re grateful we can do that), but you do have to set aside time to be with your family.

Invest yourself in the future—in memories made with your kids and your family. You’ll never regret it.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: generosity, leadership Tagged: ,

What Hasn’t Changed?

Posted on August 20, 2012 Written by

My missionary/pastor father was born in 1928. I distinctly remember going on vacations where he wore a coat and tie every day – of vacation! That’s who he was and the generation of which he was a part. He went to church every time the doors were open, even when he wasn’t the pastor of the church.

It’s been 32 years since he died. And times have changed – dramatically. My children don’t go to church in “Sunday go to meeting” clothes. They wear what they wear to school – shorts, flip-flops, shirts (we usually do require a solid color shirt, not a logo shirt).

What else has changed in church from 30, 40, or 50 years ago? Actually, EVERYTHING!

  • The music we sing to
  • The instrumentalists
  • The “hymnals”
  • The pews
  • What people wear
  • The Bibles people bring (mine is on my iPhone)
  • How people learn (in the middle of a Bible study, someone will pull up a doc from the internet)
  • The “Sunday School quarterlies”
  • Mission trips
  • How we do missions
  • How members support their church financially (electronic offerings are increasingly the norm)
  • etc., etc.

I can’t think of a single area of church-life which has remained stagnant in the past 30 years (except maybe the sermon!).

Okay, now think 30 years from now to the year 2042. If you think we’ve had a lot of change in the past 30 years, it’s going to be increasingly exponential change in the next 30. That leads me to ask:

Are you being intentional in preparing your church for upcoming changes? OR Are you just going to let the changes happen to you?

Change will happen – you can’t stop time, don’t even try. But you can get ready for change. I’m not saying you have to embrace every change that comes along, but you don’t have to fight every change either. Pick and choose your battles (the best piece of advice my mom ever gave me!) – learn what changes your church should adopt and adapt to. If you resist change, your church might end up with closed doors. Your church will be stronger in the long run by developing a healthy attitude to change.

Lead On!
Steve

Filed Under: church administration, leadership, wisdom Tagged: , ,
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