
How to Be Leading at the End of the First Quarter
“You never have to recover from a good start.” My mentor in the stewardship field, Dave Sutherland, taught me that years ago. Ask any football team if the statement is true or not. Consider this: 3/4 of NFL teams leading after the first quarter go on to victory. The first quarter is so important that I sharing this post, entitled How to Be Leading at the End of the First Quarter, to help you end your first quarter ahead.

Does Your Church Have a 2 Minute Drill?
How many games are won and lost in the last two minutes? You remember the ones that you favorite team won and try to forget the ones that your team lost! Yet if you follow football you know that often winning or losing comes down to who executes the best in the fourth quarter and often who does the best in the last two minutes. NFL teams called it the two minute drill and they practice and practice how to run a winning drive in under two minutes. Are you ready for your two minute drill?

The Changing World of Giving
One of the greatest changes to church life in the last five years is how people give to their local church. A recent Lifeway Research study found that patterns of giving to local churches have changed dramatically in the last five years. For churches, we must understand how the changing world of giving impacts church life.

The Three Primary Keys For Fully Funding Your Church
Generosity is not caught, it is taught. Yet many pastors act as if their members will eventually “get it.” I was one of those pastors early on in my career. I seldom, if ever, preached on giving. When I realized that Jesus taught more about finances than any other subject, I realized I needed to change.
This post, entitled The Three Primary Keys For Fully Funding Your Church, lays out how you can teach generosity.

Without a Vision, Giving Declines
Nonprofit employees want inspired leaders with bold vision: Nonprofit employees ranked vision, relationship building, inspiring trust, and strong communication skills as the most valued elements of leadership. That was the finding of a national study recently conducted among nonprofit employees by a leading non-profit firm, Dickerson, Bakker & Associates. You would find a similar result if you presented the same survey to your congregation. Look at any growing church, and you will find an inspiring leader with a bold vision.

What Does a Capital Campaign Consultant Actually Do?
What Does a Capital Campaign Consultant Actually Do? That was the subject line of an email I recently received from a non-profit fundraising consultant. The email began by saying,