Church Financial Leadership

Jesus, I've Got Your Ass

2012-02-10T22:08:00.001-05:00

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, say that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” (Matthew 21:1-3)

At some point, Jesus slipped away from his followers and found a man with a donkey and a new colt. Jesus told the man that at some point a couple of his followers would be coming around asking to borrow the donkey. Evidently the man had some type of relationship with Jesus (of which we know nothing except by implication) but it was strong enough for Jesus to borrow something of value. And when asked, the man must have said, "Jesus, I've got your ass." Jesus thanked him and returned to his disciples.

Every leader has followers by definition. One of the great problems of leadership is that sometimes its hard to know if people are following you or chasing you. Leaders have lots of arrows thrown at them. Usually those darts are tossed by enemies or people who are not adherents to the leaders' cause. Ocassionally the barbs are by well-meaning followers who help the leader manage his blindside (because every person, including great leaders, have areas of their personal and professional lives that they just can't see). But a few times the leader is shot by followers who react to something he (or she) has done or said.

It into those slings and arrows that a few trusted people must be willing to insert themselves. These are key people that the leader has invested in over the course of months or years. These are people who have had some personal time with the leader and who the leader is grooming for their own positions of leadership. These are people who are present or future leaders - they know that they, too, will suffer attacks from friends and foes. But for now, they are willing to absorb some of the blows thrown at a leader and explain to the dart-throwers why the leader is doing what he is because they understand the bigger picture. These are people who can say to the leader, "I've got your back."

Jesus spent some time with a guy who would play a critical role just a few days before the crucifixion. It may be that the man had waited for months or years for his time; we don't know and it doesn't matter. We do know that he stepped forward when asked. Are you grooming new generation leaders? Are you teaching them the perils of leadership? Are you helping them to explain to others about leadership decisions that come from big visions? Are you helping them to know that at some point, they need to say to you and mean it, "Lead on and don't worry about your back because, I've got your ass."

Lead On!
Steve

New Year's Letter

2012-01-01T12:30:00.000-05:00

I've got a job for the leader of your faith community: write a letter to your congregation about your dreams for 2012. Technically it is not a "New Year's Resolution" letter but it is a letter about your hopes and vision for the church for the new year. Call it a "New Year Vision Letter."

What should be in this letter? Well, it should be no more than one page - please don't get long-winded or else people will stop reading after about two paragraphs (if you're lucky). Use a 12 point font to make the letter easier to read - don't cheat by using 8 point font to cram in more words! Make the letter no more than five paragraphs long using the following template:

Intro Paragraph - Write about 2011 and where the congregation has come in the past 12 months and even the years before then. Be brief, be very brief in this synopsis - this is NOT the purpose of your letter; this is just a starting point so that everyone is on the same page.
Next Two or Three Paragraphs - give three concrete (lots of details) ideas of what you want to accomplish in 2012. Flesh out each idea in one paragraph with financial costs, numbers of volunteers needed, dates by which the goals need to be met, and the promise of a party when each goal is reached. (I believe the church doesn't party enough - we need to celebrate accomplishments more often but that requires knowing where the finish line is in each goal.)
Final Paragraph - a prayer of blessing on each reader and an acknowledgement of the generosity by the family of faith which has permitted the church to do all is has done so far. Being sincerely thankful is very important.

This letter should go out to every person in the church because it will help set the tone for the church in 2012. A good way to send out the letter is to include it in the 2011 statement of contributions which every church mails out to every member (at least to every donor) of the church. Every person will open that letter because they want to see how much they can write off on their taxes - when a letter from the pastor falls out, they'll read that, too. Who knows, your letter may spark some dialogue with people - it can certainly be a conversation starter with your leadership. I know they want to know what your dreams are and how they can participate in making them happen - to benefit the church and the Kingdom.

Lead On!
Steve

Leadership and Followship

2011-12-10T07:57:00.000-05:00

Recently I came across a couple of really good articles on leadership:

Leadership in Church:

http://www.healthychurch.org/doorpost/enews-december-2011
Oh, those are sticky wickets to address but every single one of them is a potential minefield for both the church and its leaders. And, minefields don't go away. A study of minefields (the ones used in wars) show that mines become more unstable over time and the least little pebble can set them off. This is also true of church life - any event can set off a long-dormant mine. Dig up the mines (carefully); confront the elephants in the church (carefully) - they won't go away on their own but need to be led/taken gently out of harm's way.

Leadership in Sports:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/in-sports-theres-no-faking-leadership/2011/11/30/gIQAnoksGO_story.html
Actually, the "cover story" is about sports but the article cites some research on what followers want: "According to Hogan’s research, followers want four things: integrity, confidence, decision-making and clarity. But just as important is what followers don’t want: irritability, moodiness, untrustworthiness, indecisiveness, needless micro-management and excessive authority. They perceive these things as incompetent, and pretty soon the leveling mechanism kicks in and there is a subtle rebellion." Those are very powerful words for leaders to remember - all the time.

I also saw a short (less than one minute video) with the former CEO of Xerox. She turned the company around from death's door to being financially successful. When asked about leadership, her answer was that leadership was dependent on followship - how those who actually do all the work see you and follow you.

Years ago I heard that one of the problems of leadership is that sometimes people are following you and sometimes they are chasing you. Obviously, followers are much better than chasers but sometimes you need both to keep you on your toes.

Don't run away from the chasers, turn and ask them point-blank (in a nice way) what they want to follow. You may be surprised by how reasonable their answers are. And you will certainly take the wind out of their angry sails. Make the chasers your followers; make the followers your disciples; make your disciples your new leaders; make the new leaders your successors.

Lead On!
Steve

Funnies - December 2011

2011-12-01T10:47:00.000-05:00

IRS Tax-Exempt Ruling Letter

2011-11-29T09:26:00.001-05:00

Whether or not a church should obtain its own 501(c)(3)ruling letter fromthe Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a question with some confusion. It is a simple question with amulti-layered answer so here is my take on this issue.

1. TheIRS considers, by definition, all churches to be exempt from federal incometaxes. Thus, just because you are a church, the IRS will not tax theorganization for income tax purposes.

AND,

2. Mostchurches that belong to denominational bodies fall under an umbrella thatcovers all churches in the regional, state or national organization. Forinstance, the local Episcopal diocese has a letter with the IRS which coversall churches in the Richmond diocese. That way, churches do not have to obtaintheir own ruling letter from the IRS.

HOWEVER

3. Timesare changing and church finances are getting more complicated every day. In2008, some churches have intentionally sought to violate the IRS requirementthat churches not endorse a political candidate. In 2004, the IRS revoked thenon-profit status of 56 churches (albeit temporarily while there was aninvestigation).

THEREFORE

4. Becausesome churches are getting involved in national politics, I am of the opinionthat each church should control its own destiny as regards the IRS. I wouldhate for an umbrella letter (covering hundreds of churches) to be revoked becausea few churches in that group decided to flaunt the IRS. My worst case scenariowould be that the IRS would revoke the tax-exempt status of the entire umbrellawhile there is an investigation. In the end everything will work out fine, butin the meantime there can be some heartache because of the actions of otherchurches. So, my recommendation is that each church obtain its own rulingletter from the IRS. Yes, it isa pain to fill out the forms, get things approved, write a check for a fewhundred dollars, and wait on the IRS for a few months, but think about theheadache and hassle it could save the church later. Again, I feel it isimportant to control your own destiny and not potentially suffer because of theactions of other churches.

I hope thathelps you and the decision by your church. I’ll be happy to talk with anyoneabout this. In January I’m going to launch a new career of consulting withchurches in the area of finances; if I can help you and your church, please contactme.

Lead On!
Steve

Advice for Young Leaders

2011-11-15T08:16:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine recently became the CEO of a non-profit he's worked at for several years. He asked me for advice on what he should do in his first few days and months. This is what I suggested to him and to anyone who finds themselves in the lonely position at the top of an organization.

· MBWA – management by walking around

o This is the single greatest act management can ever do – get out on the floor where things are happening. Don’t hide in your office. Wander around, have coffee, do idle chit chat, talk about football games, be visible and approachable. “The Boss” is scary enough – decrease the fear factor.

o MBWA is absolutely critical and huge. You get to see how clean (or not) the building is, who is in the office, who isn’t in the office (because of vacation or sick), what offices look like, what the grounds look like, what the morale is like, etc. MBWA is a great way to get feedback in a non-threatening manner.

o Administrative assistants will make or break a leader. Keep them informed and find out what’s going on from them. Work the grapevine – make it your friend and put stuff on the grapevine as you need to. When it comes to office equipment, let the administrative assistants be the ones that make the decision about which copier to get (within budget boundaries), etc. Empower them – they are the ones that are going to use it more than anyone else.

· Find a mentor/coach

o The leader needs someone to vent to, to seek guidance and wisdom from, and to bounce ideas off of before sharing the ideas with those whom the leader is leading. Find someone you trust and meet with him/her regularly (should be a person of the same gender).

o This should be one person – some form of sage and whose input does not need to be publicly acknowledged (that person is not in it for the credit).

· Ask for staff input

o Within the first 90 days, meet with each person and find out what is one thing they wish would happen or that they need to do their job. Then see if you can make that happen within the next 90-180 days. It shows the leader is listening, cares, and is willing to make things happen if it is within his power (and budget).

o Meet weekly with the executive staff. Meet monthly with each level of staff, including having a monthly meeting with the secretarial/support staff. Listen to your staff and remind them at least monthly of the big picture vision and strategy for achieving that vision.

o Always let your staff know what you expect from them and how they’re doing (“One Minute Manager” stuff). When the annual personnel evaluation comes along, you will have met so often with your staff that they will know exactly where they stand with you, so the eval should take about 15-20 minutes (enough time to fill out the paperwork and have a prayer).

o Consult regularly with your staff and ask them sincerely for insight/input and then act on it. Ask your staff for ideas on how to reach the vision (tactical moves to achieve the strategic goals) - they'll appreciate being heard. Don't kill ideas before they're hatched - let some ideas develop more fully before you either kill them or invest substantial resources in them.

o If someone gives a great idea that is implemented, give credit to that person, publicly. It’s a great morale booster and costs you nothing, but you gain lots of capital.

· Read together

o Get some GREAT books on business leadership and read them together. Personally I prefer business leadership over “Christian leadership” books – I find them more practical and less preachy.

o Suggestions: “Me, myself and Bob” by Phil Vischer (of Veggie Tales – this is one of the absolute best business books I’ve ever read and funny as heck, too), “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters (or other Tom Peters’ books), “The Best Question Ever” by Andy Stanley (Visioneering is also very good but TBQE is one of the best books I’ve ever, ever read). Andy Stanley likes “The E-Myth Revisited” by Michael Gerber and used it to guide his church to what it is today.

o Discuss the books, learn from the books, critique them, implement what they say, move on to the next book.

o Go through 2-3 books a year on leadership.

· Have fun

o Each quarter (or more often) have the staff do something fun, not professional. You’ll learn more about each other outside the office than sitting in your workplace.

o For instance: bowling, painting pottery, ropes course, canoeing, ballgame, go to a movie, etc. This is not sitting in a restaurant but doing something together – essentially, making memories from an experience together.

o Divide the staff and ask them (not your executive assistant) to plan the day and give them a budget (maybe $250 each quarter) for them to plan something fun in an afternoon (or even a whole day). This will help the staff to keep things light when life/work gets very tense.

o I can’t stress enough how important it is for the staff to get out of the office and do things together and even have events when the staff families are invited to join in.

· Know the numbers

o Keep up with all of your financial data. Each month ask the CFO to meet with you (and the treasurer of the board) to review the past month’s financials and to forecast future expenses and revenues. Ask your CFO what numbers are of my interest to others (the ones he/she cites) and be able to repeat those key numbers to outsiders with ease (and understand what you’re saying).

o Bring your CFO to key meetings and get him to speak to the finer points (the geek-speak detail).

o Hire me as your financial consultant/coach or your CFO (just checking to see if you’re reading this).

· Cultivate your top 25 donors

o Learn who they are.

o Meet one for coffee each week or every other week (make it a regular part of your schedule to meet with a top donor).

o In your meetings, share with them your vision for the future of the organization. Ask them for input and insight – they’ll be honored to give it and appreciate your asking.

o Don’t ask them for money – that’s what they’re expecting. After a few meetings, they’ll ask you how they can help – if they’ve truly bought into the vision. Be able to cite financial figures – they’ll be impressed.

o Never be afraid to talk money with the wealthy – they’re over it. Non-wealthy types like us are the ones with a problem in talking about money. See “Robbing the Rich” in my blog. The wealthy want to give money away – give them a compelling reason to give it to you – one that they’ll tell others about and feel good about.

Lead On!

Steve

Funnies

2011-10-27T14:31:00.000-04:00

I'm totally convinced that a sitcom could be made about church life. And the kicker is that all the storylines would be based on actual stories submitted by church members and church staff. The problem is that most people would never believe these actually happened. Here are a few examples:

Follow that Pastor

A pastor performed a funeral. Afterwards, everyone proceeded to their cars to go to the cemetery. As is the custom, the hearse and all the mourners followed the lead car, the pastor's car. The pastor led the way and then completely forgot what he was doing and led the entourage into the parking lot at Wal-Mart. When he got out of his car, he realized he was leading the pack to the wrong destination.

Parking Problems

A minister parked his stick-shift car in the parking lot which had a slight incline to it. At some point the car slipped out of gear, and a few minutes later a staff person glanced outside and noticed three ladies by the minister's car. They were yelling for help as together they put all their strength in trying to keep the car from rolling down the parking lot into other cars.

Bulletin of Evidence

A woman came to the church office asking for a copy of the bulletin for the previous Sunday, the Sunday after Easter. The church's custom was to print the names of all guests who attended the previous Sunday. She wanted the bulletin because it listed not only her husband's name but also that of his girlfriend. The wife had wanted to attend Easter with her husband, but he had preferred to attend with his girlfriend. The wife wanted the bulletin to use in divorce court!

Hijacked Website

A well-meaning member purchased a website domain name for her church. She not only created the website but also made email addresses for the staff to use. This volunteer ran the whole operation out of her house because the church didn't have the financial or personnel resources to run the website. After a few years, the church decided to take on the website. When a staff member went to the woman's house to talk about transferring the site, the woman very proudly showed the staff member not only the website but how she, a volunteer church member, was monitoring all the emails that the staff was sending and receiving. Oh MY!

We Have Liftoff

The spring-loaded candle on the candelabra was stuck, but the groom worked hard to loosen it so he could join his bride in lighting the unity candle. The bride was growing impatient as she held her candle. The groom's father stepped up and handed him the candle the father had used to light the groom's candle (and which the father had taken to his seat). The bride and groom then lit the unity candle, she put her candle back in its place, the groom placed his extra candle on the floor, and they began walking back to the altar. It launched. Very high. The spring-loaded groom's candle finally loosened, and the innards of the candle launched. Every eye watched it soar, and everyone heard it clang on the stone floor. The MOTB (mother of the bride) was aghast. The soloists stopped singing because they were laughing so hard. The minister couldn't gain his composure and guffawed four times before he was able to pronounce them "husband and wife."

Babies!

A baby was brought forward by his parents for christening during a hymn. When the minister uncovered the small baptismal font, he discovered it was dry as a bone. It had not been filled by the volunteer in charge of that. The minister motioned to the music minister to keep singing, and the minister disappeared. A couple of minutes later he came back carrying a pitcher of water from the church kitchen and poured it in the font. The baby was christened with no further delays.

I'd love to hear your stories. I'll put more on here, too. Who knows, maybe we can get someone in Hollywood to produce "Steeple Chase."

Lead On!
Steve

Church Violence Website

2011-10-23T15:20:00.001-04:00

I found a website that deals exclusively with church violence, Church Crime History. I do not know this person so I'm not endorsing it but he has a lot of information and statistics. I believe that his purpose (and mine, frankly) is to make people aware that churches can have violence. Information is always good - information can be used to help members be more aware of what is happening in other churches. Share this resource with whomever you feel it would help to know about this.

Let me encourage church leadership to take some pro-active steps for safety and security. The depth of those actions is dependent on the church's budget and the perceived potential danger to the church and its people. Some actions won't cost the church a dime (such as setting up a Safety Officer Team) while others are much more expensive (such as security cameras). It is true that many of the items listed in Church Crime History could never be prevented - no argument there - but some precautions are always a good step in the right direction.

Lead On!
Steve

Fundraisers for Youth Events

2011-10-19T08:32:00.000-04:00

Fundraisers have two purposes:

To make money in an effective and efficient manner
To build unity among the participants and interested people arounda specific goal

All fundraisers need to have a balance between these two purposes and do it in a fun way (that’s the “fun” in fundraising).Too often, the group putting on the fundraiser focuses on one purpose to theneglect or even exclusion of the other purpose. That is not good and will harmfuture efforts. For instance, if you put on a concert and ask a bunch of peopleto work really hard in all the areas of the concert but then receive only $350after all that effort, the volunteers will probably come away disillusionedabout the results (but have good memories of the event). They achieved onepurpose but nearly killed themselves without achieving the other purpose. Onthe flip side, if you put on an event and raise lots of money with littlevested support, people may not feel as committed to the cause but feelincredibly proud of how much money they raised. Balance is good. Balance is key.

Another key to fundraising is to spread out the “ask” over aperiod of time such as several months. Some organizations do a “blitz ask” butthey’ve done months of preparation (and received gifts during the prep time,too). Success is always, always a factor of how much effort you put intoit. Every good fundraiser will require lots of effort on everyone's part - make sure that you get enough "return on your investment" to have made all that effort worthwhile.

Some fundraising ideas for youth events:

Penny War

Boys versus girls. Every penny placed in the girls or boys jaris one point towards them. Every dollar added to a boys' or girls' jar is anegative 100 points towards them. After a month of war, the winners will bedecided by who has the most points. The loser will then have to prepare dinner forthe winners.
This is easy to do and raises a few hundred dollars without alot of effort. This is a good balanced way to raise money in that every weekyou can promote it and even have a running total. Frankly, I do suggest thatthe money jars are emptied each week for two reasons: to announce the weeklyrunning totals to egg on each side and to not have money sitting around in ajar which can walk off.

Spirit Nights

I know that both Chik-Fil-A and Tropical Smoothie have spiritnights we can tap into where during a certain time period, receipts taken will yield apercentage (normally 10 to 15 percent) to the student ministry. TS willeven let us host a plinko game which raises a lot of funds.
The secret to working with local vendors (and some companies will sponsor car washes) is volume. The kids are going to have funat the store and that will build unity – that is certain. How much money israised is entirely dependent on getting people to come and/or buy tickets aheadof time. Kids need to be "in my face” about buyingtickets. This a good idea and it can be held multiple times between now and when you need the funds without getting old and stale.

Yard Sale

The church rents out parking spots in the parking lot where people can host their own yard sale on the church's property (the church makes money off the rent of parking spots). In another part of the parking lot, the church sells items that people donated for the yard sale (the church makes money off the sale of items). The church can sell concessions and make some money. There is always a fearof someone selling something offensive, but that can be addressed with the individual and you can let them know what we won't let them sell (like porn magazines or offensive t-shirts).
This requires a LOT of effort and extreme coordination. Advertising is the key, too - get the word out that there is a community yard sale and people will buy reasonably priced parking spots ($10 is suggested) if they know there will be crowds coming. This can be a huge unity event for the youth as they work ahead of time and spend the entire day helping. It will raise at least a couple of thousand dollars.

Auction

This is my favorite way to raise money for youth functions. People bringin items that are of good value – other items should go to the yard sale! Inone evening, there is a silent auction followed by a live auction (with a real,live auctioneer). Every year I've seen this done, the church raises over $12,000.The youth sell tickets beforehand and they drum up interest; the youth spendthe Sunday and Wednesday before moving items; a team of volunteers helpscoordinate the event; the youth work the auction by serving food andtelling their story from the stage while people mill around.

Scholarships

Asking people to sponsor a kid or part of a kid for a tripalways works. By this I mean informing people how much it will cost and thenflat out asking them to fund ¼, ½, or the whole cost of a trip. People will dothat. Afterwards, you can have the kid(s) that got the scholarship(s) to writea thank you and say how much the trip meant to him (them).

Sunday morning doughnuts

Krispy Kreme will sell doughnuts on the cheap for fundraisersand then you can re-sell them on a Sunday morning by the box.

What other successful ideas have you been a part of?

Lead On!

Steve

Leap of Faith

2011-10-15T08:15:00.000-04:00

For several years I have felt that my gifts and experiencein church and non-profit finance could be used to help numerous churches andother organizations. In the 6 ½ years I’ve been at my current church, I’veaccomplished a lot in getting the church's finances and facilities where theyneed to be. I’ve helped the church operate more efficiently, effectively, and use technology better; I want other churches to use their resources in the best ways possible. I want to be able to offer my "services" toother places, so I need to make myself available. I believe this will free upsome of the church's resources in order to hire a facilities manager and/orexecutive pastor--two positions which the church needs but doesn't currentlyhave.

Because of this, I am resigningmy position as Church Administrator of my church effective January 2,2012. From now on, I am actively seeking a different challenge--and we(my wife and I) hope that will be as a self-employed consultant where I can workwith multiple churches and non-profit organizations.

One of the joys I’ve had in thepast few years is authoring this blog on church finances, which has had over 2,000 hits (not bad for a site focused only on churchfinances). I know there is a need for my services, but it will be up to God andprayers for churches to be willing to accept some outside help with theirinternal finances.

So, in January 2012 I’m launching a career in financial coaching/counseling for churches who need sound financialadvice (how to save money, how to bring in more money, how to make the financesand offices more streamlined, efficient, and effective). I don’t know of anyoneelse doing this (maybe there’s a reason for that!) but it is a passion of mine. In today's economic strain, churches must become even better managers of the resources they have.

As you can imagine, this is a huge step of faithfor us as a family and for me as a professional. We ask for your prayers as we gothrough this change and for your creative ideas about places that might be ableto use my expertise. Please contact me (steveplaw@gmail.com) to discuss financial coaching/counseling for your church or organization.

Lead On!
Steve

Steve Jobs and Church Mission Creep

2011-10-06T16:09:00.001-04:00

Wow, everyone is writing something about Steve Jobs - I better join the parade before I get left behind. Well, sort of - I'm not a parade-kind-of-guy - more of a do-it-because-it-is-the-right-thing kind-of-guy. So, here's my angle on Steve's legacy and what the church can take away (the answer is "almost everything").

One of the things noted in several of Jobs' obits is the reference to his faith, Buddhism, and how he kept a very simple, if not spartan, lifestyle. Nothing on the walls of his house, a bare bed, little furniture, etc. He didn't accrue a lot of material things - even though his wealth afforded him that luxury. That same passion for keeping things simple transferred to his work ethic. Several months ago I read the story of the first iPad - the presenters explained how you could do something in about four or five steps. He handed it back to them and said, do in one step. They argued that the technology wasn't there yet but he refused to accept their response. A few months later they handed him the iPad that met his specifications - clean, simple, and easy to understand and use.

I have a passion for keeping things simple, too. Just ask my kids - "it must be in the recycle bin, I'm sure dad threw it away" is repeated often in our house (even when I'm not guilty!). Several years ago I worked for a community foundation where I got to manage $125 million (that was fun) and I learned about "style creep." Style creep is when you hire a fund manager to invest your money in a certain financial style (growth, value, mid-cap, small cap, etc.) and that manager begins to move the money away from how you directed into areas that are not of your choosing. If not watched, fund managers can really mess up your investments - read your investment statements.

Mission creep is when the church begins to lose focus on what it is supposed to do. The church starts out with good intentions and really plans well what it should do and how it should plan its resources (buildings, people, and finances) to meet that need. Then, somewhere along the way, someone comes up with a need and the church agrees to create a ministry to help with that need. Then, another need comes up and another one, and pretty soon there are dozens of needs and respective ministries. The church is now allocating closets, money, people, and scores of volunteers to take care of those needs. Guess what, you've been hit by MISSION CREEP.

You are no longer focused on the one (or two or three) things that caused you to come into being in the first place. The church decided to placate a few people by funding these extra missions. Now, I'm not saying these extra needs shouldn't be met, I just don't think that the church is the place to meet every need. I know there are other organizations out there that are meeting those needs. When a member comes requesting the church to create a ministry that will lead to Mission Creep, the church leadership needs to find a local ministry and then encourage that person to volunteer at that ministry. There is no need to duplicate things - it can only hurt the true mission of the church.

Be cautious about Mission Creep - keep an eye out for it at every turn because it is there. Help your membership understand why the church cannot do everything for everyone - that is the value of partnerships with local organizations/ministries. Keep your church laser-beam focused on keeping things simple and true to the original mission (see Matthew 28:19-20 for clarification). Do not succumb to Mission Creep (and RIP, Steve Jobs).

Lead On!
Steve

Safety Officers

2011-10-01T09:43:00.000-04:00

Just over three years ago I established the Safety Officer Team at my church. No one asked me to do this, I realized the need for this after reading an article about the number of shooting deaths in churches. From 1999 to 2007, 41 people died in churches from gunfire. This does not include violent deaths at church-related camps or other properties nor does it include violent deaths by means other than guns (such as the poisoning of the church coffee pot in a New Hampshire church that killed one person). This figure does not include the scores of people wounded in shootings such as the two pastors wounded in September 2011 in a church in Florida.

Churches used to be considered sanctuaries (in every sense of the word). Churches are no longer immune from violence. Instead, churches must be proactive in protecting their facilities when so many people are present. Churches can do this in several ways:

Volunteers - these are typically members of the church who have had or are currently police officers.

I discourage the use of members of the military. I greatly respect members of the armed forces, but typically they are trained to shoot first and ask questions later; police are trained to ask questions first and shoot only as a last resort.
Members who have neither police nor military training could be a risk the church should not take. My "risk-management hat" tells me that some untrained members may be either trigger-happy or trigger-reluctant and either situation can put people at risk.
Police (current or former officers) are probably the best way to go because of their training. This also gives police officer members of the church the opportunity to give back to their church using their professional training - something that many of them want to do but have never been asked to do.

Off-Duty Paid Officers - This is the best form of protection but it is also the most expensive. These officers can be either in uniform or in plain clothes or a combination.

Some churches use traffic officers to help with getting cars out of the parking lot; those officers are the first line of protection for a church. Someone bent on harm may see a traffic cop and choose another, less guarded, site and bypass your location.
High profile ministers usually have an officer that is assigned to be with the minister to ensure no one causes harm to him or his family while the minister is on the church's campus.
Paid plain clothes officers are usually used in large churches where an officer's presence is needed in a worship environment but where the church members do not need to be alarmed by the number of police.
Sometimes a church will learn of a threat against a minister or the church itself. You need to decide how you'll address that threat and there isn't an easy answer. Every threat needs to be addressed individually.

Do you ignore it? A foolish action (in my book)
Do you bring in only volunteers? A good move but not far enough
Do you bring in paid officers in uniform? That is a great move but it does have consequences. The person making the threat may see the officer and decide to postpone the attack nor even cancel it. It may also alarm church members who are not used to seeing a uniformed officer.
Do you bring in a paid undercover officer? That is also a great move. It will not alarm church members but it does have the drawback in that the person causing the threat may continue with his (or her) attack.

Combination of volunteers and paid officers - This is probably the most efficient and effective method.

It is an efficient use of church funds by using volunteers inside the church and a paid traffic officer. When (not if) there is a threat or there is a perceived need for increased vigilance, additional paid officers can be brought in.
It is effective in that the first line of defense is always the most visible officer - the traffic cop in the parking lot.
This is the way that I've gone to - I like and it works quite well. We've weathered 2 intentional threats and the heightened security around 9/11/2011.

Below are the Safety Officer Guidelines that I created for my volunteer officers. My regular paid officer sees these guidelines, too. By the way, as my way of thanking them for their service, I meet with them once a year (the only official meeting I have with them). I invite them all, volunteer and paid officers, to lunch and I pick up the tab. I want them to get to know each other so that all the good guys to know each other - some churches are so large that police from different jurisdictions have never met each other. Take your volunteer officers to lunch - they'll enjoy it, you can take the opportunity to acknowledge and express appreciation for their community service, everyone will get to know each other better and you can remind them of why they are so needed and vital to the church.

Lead On!

Steve

Safety Officer Guidelines

Overview

The purpose ofthe Safety Officers for our church is for passive not active threatassessments leading to actions only if absolutely necessary. Passive actionmeans observing individuals but not approaching or engaging the individualunless a specific threat is noticed.
Only trained lawenforcement (present, former, or retired) should be included as a SafetyOfficer of our church.
Safety Officersmay carry weapons on church grounds but that is typically not necessary.
Safety Officersmay wear uniforms but that is not typically necessary.
Safety Officersmust know who else is a member in order to assist or recognize another officerduring a crisis.

Responsibilities

Whenever a SafetyOfficer is present at the church, he/she must consider him/herself to be “onduty” and available to respond.
Safety Officersmust be aware of individuals who have the potential to harm others. If a SafetyOfficer notices an individual believed to be a threat to others, he/she shouldapproach the individual to determine the danger. If the danger is real, then theSafety Officer.

Should summonon-duty officers (call 911)
Maintain personalor visual contact of the individual until on-duty officers arrive
Attempt to getother Safety Officers to help with the situation
As a last resort,escort the individual out of the building if the person becomes disruptive

Safety Officersshould be aware that many times dangerous individuals want to gain a reputationor fame for themselves and their actions. The most prominent person in thechurch, and thus the most likely single target, is the senior pastor. If aSafety Officer notices an individual approaching the pastor during the worshipservice, the officer should walk forward to see if he/she can be of assistance.

During the music– pastor may be approached by staff trying to tell the pastor some emergency.Only rarely will anyone else approach him.
During the sermon– this is a high visibility time for an individual wanting to gain fame. Onlyrarely will anyone else be on the platform
During the “altarcall” – this time is when the pastor is most vulnerable since people areencouraged to come to him. Someone dangerous could get within inches of thepastor and not draw any attention.

Safety Officersshould not draw attention to themselves or their position unless a threat isimminent.
Safety Officersshould get to know each other and the church-hired traffic officer.
The work ofSafety Officers will go entirely unnoticed and unrecognized by the church. Butplease know that those people who are aware of your work greatly appreciateyour service. It helps the staff and church do its work with peace of mind –thank you!

Lead On!
Steve

Employer FICA is Illegal for Ordained Ministers

2011-09-26T12:13:00.002-04:00

Last week a colleague at another church and I had an email exchange that might be of value to you. The question was whether ordained ministers should have the employer's portion FICA paid by their church (NO!). The underlying issue is bigger than that - too many times church leaders tell their staff to do things which are illegal because those leaders are not familiar with tax laws. When the staff attempts to inform the pastor of the laws, the pastor instructs the administrator to do it his (the pastor's) way regardless of the law. This puts the administrator between a rock (his boss and paycheck) and a hard place (the IRS and the law).

Pastors, please listen to your administrators. That's why you hired them; that's what you pay them for. Ask them for information rather than telling them what they should do. You may not like their answer - remember, they are just the messenger. Take your frustration to Congress, please, not on your staff.

I do not know what my colleague will do but this person is in a very difficult position. Unfortunately, I hear about situations like this at least once a month.

Lead On!

Steve

Question:

It’s been a long time since I consulted you! I have a problem and need your expertise. One of our ordained staff was approved to designate part of her salary as her housing allowance yet wants to continue to be treated as an employee. Does that mean we pay our share of her FICA (Social Security and Medicare)? Any other things we need to know regarding this? How do I prepare the W-4 toward the end of the year when in the first eight months, her whole salary was treated as taxable income but beginning September, we exclude that housing allowance? I need help and guidance from you. Thanks!

Response:

Great question and I got an answer for you – I heard it this past summer at the church administrators’ annual meeting.

If a person is ordained, then that person cannot be treated like an employee for Social Security Administration purposes. That person is self-employed. Thus, the non-profit can never pay any employer FICA and Medicare for that person. The ordained minister bears the burden of both the employee and employer portions of FICA and Medicare.

Housing allowance can still be taken out of the salary. However, the housing allowance portion is only prospective from the time it was approved by the governing body. That means that if the minister was on staff on 1/1/2011 but that the housing allowance was approved by the board on August 1, 2011, the housing allowance is only effective from August 1 through December 12 – it is not retro-active to January 1.

One last thing this attorney said, if you are made to do something that you disagree with, then do not sign the W-3 – get someone higher up to sign it because if the IRS or SSA come to your office, you can direct them to the person who signed it, not you.

Thanks for contacting me and I hope I answered your questions. If not, I’ll try again. Let me know.

Question

Thanks once again for your prompt reply. My concern is that it’s my boss I’m dealing with. He wants me to treat one of our staff with a housing allowance but to continue to withhold and pay the necessary taxes and SS & Med tax for the employee. I’m confused as to what I should do.

Response

You’re in a very difficult place – you need an “outside expert” to explain the legal side to your boss. There are several ways to go about this.

1 * Gather data from reputable sources such as Richard Hammar’s Church & Clergy Tax Guide. It’s published annually and costs $40 – the whole book is over 700 pages long. It is the “Bible” for church administrators on legal and tax matters. If you don’t have it, please get it ASAP.

2 * Get a person to write up an opinion to give to your DOM. This person can be someone like me, a nationally-known expert (see http://nonprofit-tax.com/), or the best scenario is the firm that does your audit.

3 * Get someone to visit with your boss to explain the situation and the consequences – fines, penalties, loss of 501(c)(3) status, and, if it is bad enough, jail time.

What he is asking you to do is clearly illegal. He needs to be educated about this. The laws have been the same since 1984. I don’t know how old your boss is, but he may be thinking of pre-1984 laws or he may have heard of pre-1984 laws from some colleagues.

Let me know if I can help you in this situation.

Response

Thanks for the advice and I will pray which action to take. I’ll study the things you listed.

Lead On!
Steve

Budget Percentages

2011-09-12T07:30:00.000-04:00

Below is a recent email exchange with a friend of mine (names omitted).

Email Question:

I have a church that wants help examining their budget allocations by categories: missions, personnel, programs, etc. They want to look at similar size churches with similar size budgets. They want to know whether their allocations are in line for their type of church. Basically, they want to benchmark their distributions. They suspect that their personnel budget at 67% is high, but the church doesn't know any different. And they want to know why they do not have any money to do actual programs.

Do you have access to any sort of database like that from any of your connections?

My response:

No, I don’t know of anyauthoritative written source of ratios. Sorry.
My experience tells me thefollowing makes commons sense

a. Personnel

i. Range of 40-60% of undesignated receipts

ii. Ideally about 50%

iii. This includes the ministers and administrative assistants –people key to accomplishing the goals, mission and vision of the church

b. Facilities

i. Range of 15-25% of undesignated receipts

ii. Ideally about 20%

iii. This includes facilities staff costs

iv. The percentage will be higher if a church has debt; lower ifthere is no or low debt.

v. A church should spend annually about 2% of the cost of replacingthe building on maintenance. If you have a building worth $1 million, thenspend about $20,000 on maintenance. The rest of the percentage will be spent onsalaries, utilities, cleaning supplies, commercial property insurance, capitalreserve funds, etc.

c. Programming

i. Range of 20-35% of undesignated receipts

ii. Ideally about 30%

iii. This includes education, worship, missions, funds budgeted forallocation to outside organizations (Cooperative Program/Missions), etc.

Thatbeing said, these percentages go wild in various types of churches. New,emerging, highly growing churches have very high salary percentages and loadsof debt. Older, established churches have paid off their debt so their programmingis high and salaries have stabilized in the 50-60% range. While there is no“one size fits all” there are well-grounded rules that will help a church stayout of fiscal trouble. Hope this helps.

Lead On!
Steve

Church Insurance

2011-08-28T15:42:00.001-04:00

On 9/11/2001, the insurance industry took the largest hit ever - over $40 billion dollars in claims - as a result of the terrorist attacks on the twin towers, the Pentagon and the planes. The insurance industry raised their premiums in an effort to recoup their vast losses - commercial insurance prices rose a lot in 2002 and then stabilized. In an effort to help the insurance industry, Congress also permitted the industry to levy a terrorism fee on new insurance policies (this authorization for this fee expires in 2014). As a result, church's have been paying more for their commercial property insurance for ten years.

Actually, the price increases for churches are not entirely attributable to 9/11. There were two other series of incidents in the 1990s that exacerbated church insurance premium hikes. The Roman Catholic Church (and other church's, too) had a series of well publicized pedophilia scandals which then tainted all faith institutions and raised premiums. There were also a number of church vans that tipped over and killed several people. 9/11 was the third of unrelated incidents which affected church insurance.

Since 9/11/2001, every commercial property insurance has carried a terrorism clause and premium. The dollar amount isn't much and is rarely noted by the policy holder and not often mentioned by the insurance agent. This is a voluntary payment - churches can exempt themselves from paying this by simply stating they do not want this coverage. The coverage is automatic unless the church specifically states it doesn't want the coverage. Please call your insurance agent and have that coverage removed. In my opinion, churches don't need it because of the very limited coverage it offers: the terrorist attacks must be perpetrated by US citizens and acknowledged as terrorist acts by Congress are the only ones covered. Therefore, nothing on 9/11 would be covered but the Oklahoma City bombing would be covered.

In recent years I put my church's insurance contract out to bid. Here's what I learned. We paid over $42,000 for five consecutive years. In the year that the contract went to bid, the incumbent agent came back with a quote of just over $28,000 - a reduction of 35%. Two other bids came in at the same price so I knew that was a reasonable amount. In December 2010, a year after the initial bidding, I put the contract back out to bid and got back a quote of $24,500 - even more savings. We have shaved about 45% off our insurance contract.

With that savings I paid for a current valuation of the church's property so that we have an accurate estimate of the worth of the church's buildings and furnishings. I also got a video inventory of every room, cabinet, closet and office in the church. We made several copies of that video inventory and placed the copies with different people in their homes (away from the church), including our insurance agent. I'm in favor of inventories but not paper ones - when it says "10 chairs" there is no knowing the worth of those chairs. An image of those chairs allows for better accuracy in getting an insurance settlement.

So, please do the following

Call your insurance agent today and delete the terrorism coverage on your church.
Put your church's insurance contract out to bid as soon as possible. Get at least three quotes and chose the low bidder.
Get a current valuation of your church's PP&E (property, plant & equipment)
Make a video inventory of your tangible assets and have copies made for several people

Lead On!
Steve

9/11 - 10 Years Later is on a Sunday

2011-08-23T11:36:00.006-04:00

This year the anniversary of 9/11/2001 is on a Sunday. Churches will be filled with people as on every Sunday and many churches will make note of the sacrifices of the people working in the Trade Center Towers, the Pentagon, and the four airplanes. Hopefully they will also recognize the first responders (fire and police personnel) who rushed into the burning buildings only to have the towers collapse and kill them.

While it would not be appropriate to either trivialize the significance of 9/11 in American history, it is also not right to make it a jingoistic or nationalistic event. That day was one of the worst terrorist attacks but it was preceded and followed by scores of other terrorist attacks across the world (Nairobi, Madrid, London, Oklahoma City, Bali, Beslan, Mumbai, etc. to name but a few of the most infamous and deadly). The attacks are the feeble attempt by a few to disrupt lives and impose their ideology on others.

For 9/11, I’m asking our members of the church's Safety Officer Team who are active duty police officers to come in uniform (with weapons) and with a marked car. Ostensibly this is to remind people that on 9/11/2001 it was the first responders who voluntarily went into the burning towers and to their deaths. The other reason for very visible officers is to deter someone from attacking the church. Of course, our regular traffic officer will be on the street with his marked car, too. There has been much speculation that Al-Qaida or some other organization or person wanting to make a name will attempt a terrorist event on this upcoming anniversary.

Inside the church's lobby, I've suggested that we have a poster for people to sign and write notes on. Actually, we need four of them because Sunday afternoon, we can take each of these four posters to the three fire stations and one police station who take care of our church. This will be our way of thanking them for their service to us but also to say that we remember the day they lost so many of their brothers and sisters.

Let me encourage every church to have some acknowledgement on 9/11 of the first responders in their area - that is a great tribute to those who died 10 years ago. But let me also encourage you to take precautionary measures to discourage terrorists.

Lead On!
Steve

Capital Budgeting

2011-08-09T10:18:00.001-04:00

The List
Every church needs more money for it's capital projects. Oh, I presume that you have a list of capital needs which means you've already done a study of them. If not, here's what you need to do:

Itemize

Make a list of every thing you need to do in the next ten years. 10? Yes, because I guarantee you do not have the money do it all this year so you need to have a plan of what you're going to do over the next decade. Equipment will break down and need to be replaced. Keeping a list of your HVAC (heating, venting, and air conditioning) equipment and what needs to be replaced in the next few years will help you set money aside for those needs.
Also, there are things that you don't see now that you will need in the future. In 1990, no one had any idea of the power of the internet - now it is an indispensable part of every office. Who knows what the next 10 years will bring - be prepared to control the future rather than having the future take control of you.
The list needs to items that you know about but also what others see. No one person knows all in a church, consult with others (both staff and lay members) about what should be on the capital needs list.
Most capital needs lists are physical plant items: air conditioning units, roofs, paint, furniture, buildings, etc. There is nothing keeping a church from establishing a capital needs list with items related to non-physical needs - items that will help others outside the four walls of the church and/or will enable members to go farther and do more. I wish more capital needs lists had other items such as

Endowment or foundation funds: this would be a pool of funds to meet present and future needs of the church whether it is a physical plant need or a ministry need.
Mission fund for a specific trip coming up or to take care of a ministry need somewhere else.

Prioritize

After you've got a list, put them in some type of order. The best order is one which indicates their priority for being accomplished - the priority of need. This order is very fluid - some things will drop in priority while others will rise according to the needs of the church at any given time. For instance, new interior signage may drop in priority when people realize that the condition of the children's furniture warrants more attention and funding.
This does not mean that you'll do the items on the list in that order. Several things may interrupt such as

A donor sees something on the list that tickles his or her fancy and the donor decides to take care of that item(s). There are donors like this in every church - let members know about the list and you may be surprised by how many items are "just taken care of."
Some items are so big that you can't do them in one year; instead, items are taken care of in phases over several years. I'm doing that right now with several items: installing electric shades in the dining room and gym; replacing all copper gutters and downspouts with aluminum ones with gutter guards (so I never have to pay for the gutters to be cleaned again); putting in new windows throughout the church; etc.

Monetize

Put a dollar figure beside each one. The dollar figure is very much a guess, but an educated one. Do not spend the time now to get quotes for every item, just take a stab at how much each item will cost (aim a little high, too!). That way, when people see the list, they'll understand the scope of the needs. Also, if someone wants to "own" one of the items, they'll know how much to give to the church to cover that specific item.

Date-ize

Establish goals as to when items will be done. These dates can be fluid, of course. But if you don't put some type of date/goal, then it may never get done. Put it on the list with a desired "due by" time frame even it is done piece-meal over several years.

Publicize

Tell people what the list contains, why items are on the list, ask them for additional items for the capital needs list, be willing to alter the list as needed, and continue to tell people about the list. The more publicity you can create, the better. You're not "poor-mouthing" the church, just making people aware of items that they may not know about or may have over-looked. Help people be aware of the needs - then they'll support you in your efforts to meet these capital needs.
One of the ways that I make my list available is to put it in a rack just outside my office door. I totally believe in transparency so I make all financial info available to anyone who comes to my office (and a limited amount online at the church's website). That rack contains four items:

The latest audit by the independent audit firm
The most recent monthly financial statement
The current capital needs list
Give away books on stewardship and generosity (The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn and Fields of Gold by Andy Stanley)

When a project is underway, let people know what is being done and why it is being done. AND, thank them for their financial gifts which made that work possible. Acknowledge their generosity every way you can whether it is in print or from the platform.

Review-ize

Every few months (definitely once a year), go over the list. Move things around in priority, re-value items as you have new info about their cost, change the "due by" dates as needed, move items to the bottom "already done" category, etc. The capital needs list is organic - don't let it be static.

The Money
I tell my vendors that while I cannot afford a new piece of equipment this year, I can pay for it in five years by setting money aside. Where does this money come from? Lots of sources - and that is key: tap various areas of the church's finances in order to pay for the various projects. Finding different pools of money to do things will let you do more. Here are some examples:

Use the church's reserve funds for things that are needed. That's what the reserve funds are there for. Don't deplete the reserve funds, but also don't let those funds just sit there when they can be used for immediate and/or pressing needs. If necessary for a big project, tap the entire reserve fund with the understanding that the money will be put back if the church ends the fiscal year in the black.
If the church ends the fiscal year in the black AND it has fully funded the reserve accounts it needs, then use the excess to pay for capital needs. Make sure that the governing body of the church authorizes this expenditure and as often as possible, let the congregants know about this project and how it was paid for out of their generous gifts to the budget.
The church's foundation was asked for money for the renovation (complete gutting) of the oldest bathrooms in the church. The foundation was informed that the total need is $100,000 and they would be approached five years in a row for $20,000 each year to do this work. The foundation agreed to fund this.
The gym needed new equipment. The need was made known to parents during Upward Basketball games and over the course of about 9 months, over $12,000 was received for this need. This money came from people outside the church so these gifts didn't affect the church's budget receipts - this was "gravy money" which we would not have received otherwise.
Talk about specific needs with various members of the church who you know have the gift of generosity. Twenty years ago a family donated funds to enhance a room in memory of a loved one. The room is increasingly out of date and needs some re-touching. I approached the family and they are more than willing to underwrite the cost of renovations to this room. In fact, I gave the family a ballpark of how much this would cost and they said that money is not a hinderance. They are a wonderful family and example of generosity.

In summary, keep a list (with lots of input), check it twice and thrice, find the money from lots of different pockets, spend the money while you tell people what you're doing and why, and say "thank you" lots of different ways.

Lead On!
Steve

The Shadow

2011-08-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

Going to conferences is fun – you get to travel, stay in nice hotels (with comfy beds, hopefully), eat out, and meet old and new friends. I like going to conferences – I plan to continue to go to conferences. However, conferences lack something – that personal touch.

Many times a year I’m asked, “Can you tell me in the next few minutes what a church administrator does?” I appreciate their interest so I figure that if they are really interested, they will want to learn. I make them an offer – come spend a day (in whole or part) with me: follow me around, sit in on my meetings, watch me answer email and handle personnel matters, read my financial statements, etc. In short, be my shadow and learn from the inside out what it is like to be an administrator. A few people respond positively, others say, “No thanks.” Those who shadow me leave at the end of the day with eyes wide open and a new appreciation. I’ve even had my finance committee chair shadow me – and come back for a repeat!

Church staff/leaders have a lot to offer and I wish we’d share more of this knowledge with each other. Sharing material in conferences is great but there is nothing like visiting a colleague’s church and shadowing someone for a day and seeing “what it’s really like.”

I’d like to propose that church leaders be intentional about being both a shadow and a shadow-caster:

· Shadow-casters: these would be leaders who are willing to give a day or two a year to being shadowed. There is no agenda – they just meet the shadow at the agreed upon date and time and then let the person sit in on all that happens. If there is a confidential situation, the shadow can be excused.

· Shadows: these are leaders, both staff and lay members, who want to shadow other church leaders. These church staff leaders may want to learn the “best practices” at another church. It could be someone interested in this field as a career opportunity and wants to learn about this career from the inside before embarking on it. It may be a lay member who wants (and needs) to learn more about what the professional minister does each day. We can all learn from each other - more than we think we can!

This year I’m taking some conference time and shadowing some counterparts in different cities. As long as I’ve been doing this, I know that I can learn from others especially if I am sitting as close to their shoes as possible. I'm looking forward to being a shadow; I've been a shadow-caster almost a dozen times so it's time for me to be a shadow.

Lead On!
Steve

Training and Conferences

2011-07-31T07:42:00.000-04:00

Training is underrated in most church office venues. I think that most churches don't want to spend the money on doing the training when it is incredibly beneficial. Every year I attend a national conference of my peers and I learn so much at each one even though I've been doing this work for over 15 years. Sometimes what I learn re-enforces what I already know, but that is a good feeling, too.

Ministers and other management staff need to go to at least one training conference a year. If for nothing else, it is good for their morale to get out of the office and to hang around peers. Usually money is budgeted for these positions so the people can go if they'll only make it a priority. It is up to the supervisor to make the subordinate attend a conference - too many say they can't fit it into their schedule. Everyone has excuses, just find the time to go!

Administrative Assistants (Admins) are on the low end of the totem pole and rarely are they included in a training budget. That is wrong. I work with about a dozen ladies - all of whom are very committed to their work and to the church. They are consummate professionals - very skilled at what they do and anxious to do it right, the first time.

When I came to my current church, I was told that the church database was insufficient for the church's needs and that one of my priorities was to get new software. I had used that software for over 10 years so I knew what it could and couldn't do. What I soon learned is that the Admins were not knowledgeable about the software. I began to remedy that immediately.

First, I brought in an expert to lead all-day classes for the ladies. We set aside time and they brought in questions. It cost me about $1,000 for the consultant and for the lunches. I probably recouped that money within three months - what the Admins learned they implemented immediately and they became more productive and efficient.

The second year, I brought in the same consultant for a half-day training session. After lunch, the consultant spent about 30 minutes in the cubicle of each person addressing her needs and concerns. The third year, I brought the consultant again. By now the ladies were pretty knowledgeable about the software and the complaints from the ministers and managers had diminished but I knew the ladies wanted to know more. This time, the consultant spent 45-60 minutes with each person - there weren't classes for everyone, just individual sessions. After the consultant left, I met with the Admins and they drafted a series of documents to help new Admins and as "cheat-sheets" for the current Admins.

Finally, for the past several years I've sent at least two Admins to a national conference. These two get to spend a week out of the office in a nice hotel with company-paid meals and travel (that is a huge morale booster for them). They hang around other Admins for the week and get to know the software developers and technicians - now when the Admins call for help, they can put a face with the name. It does cost about $3,000 to do this each year but that money is recouped within six months in efficiency, effectiveness, shared knowledge with the other Admins, and morale.

A side benefit to all this is that the turnover of the Admins has been pretty low (less than the ministerial staff turnover). Every year they talk about who is going and they pretty much self-select - I don't have to make the choices. They are a wonderful group of Admins who can now do just about anything on the software - there are no complaints about what the software can or cannot do. The Admins know it all!

Lead On!
Steve

Telling Stories

2011-07-24T21:06:00.001-04:00

Here are two secrets - people that give money to churches and other non-profit organizations really, really want to know what their money was used for. AND, if you tell them and it is a compelling and life-changing story, they'll give you more money.

Most churches do a poor job of telling stories to their constituents. Churches just presume that people will continue to give "because that's what the Bible teaches." Sorry, that doesn't cut it any more. Our society has trained people, especially the under-40 crowd, to ask questions about "what happened to my money." They want to know - they expect and demand to know. There are two consequences:

Tell people where their money went

Once people see the good things that happened as a result of their money, they will tell others about it and, very often, give you more money. Telling stories is a game-changer: people will step up to the plate like they've not done before and they'll tell others the stories they are hearing. Telling stories is huge!

Don't tell people where their money went

If you do not prioritize telling people about how their money was used and you just presume that money will continue to come in, then you continue to operate as you are now. You may not see a decline in giving but you will probably not have an increase either.

How do you tell people? That's easy. Every way you possibly can. Use every medium possible from print to social media to illustrations in sermons to my favorite, completely altering the offering time.

Telling stories during offering time
The offering time has changed in the past couple of decades. It used to be a time for special music to show off some piece the choir or a soloist worked on and wanted to fit in the worship service. Not any more. Offerings need to be interactive and here's how.

Every Sunday of the year, have a story about how the offerings have been used. You'll need to coordinate the stories - don't just insert stories - make them relevant to the message and/or to something going on in the life of the church at that time.
If you don't have 52 stories, you've got serious problems and they're not financial - your church is dying because you're not aware of how at least 52 lives have been affected by your church.
Take 3 or 4 minutes each week during the offering to tell a story in different formats

Use videos of different things, slide shows, live interviews on stage, narratives, songs by children, conversion and baptism stories, etc.
Alter the format each week to keep the story-telling time fresh and interesting
Give each ministry of the church (missions, education, worship, fellowship, care, and administration) two or three times during the year for them to tell an interesting story about their ministry and how people's contributions made all the difference.
If you're doing a live interview, rehearse with the people you're interviewing so that you'll know their story and can help them get over their nerves about standing in front of "the whole church."
When planning a story, think about the end first. What do you want people in the pew to hear and take home? Then backtrack till you come to an appropriate place to start the story. But always, always think about the end of the story first and then decide how to start the story.

Tell stories about

The youth mission trip that you're raising money for, that is going out next week, and that just came back. That's three times to tell the same story with different angles each time.
The Vacation Bible School that is coming next week and that happened last week. Two times for stories.
People!!! Every story is about people - every story must be centered around a person or group of people. Stories should have names (first name is enough) of lives that have been changed because of what people gave. I can't emphasize this enough - even if the story is about how members gave money for a building, then talk about who will use that building and why!

Critical Elements
There are two things that need to be in every story-telling time. These two things need to be used every week and they need to be said in different ways so that these words are honest and genuine, not a refrain that everyone tunes out. Here they are:

Thank you

Say thank you every time you can. People like to be thanked, even if they only gave a couple of bucks. If people are shown appreciation and not taken for granted, they're more like to give next time. Say thank you as often as you can and be innovative in the ways that you use those words.

Generosity

Use the words generous and/or generosity as often as possible. Generosity has replaced "stewardship." There are no negative connotations to generosity while stewardship can have some minor misunderstandings. Use these words - generous is a more accurate depiction of what God has done for each of us in opening his hand to share with us his wealth of love and in spreading his arms out to die for us and in holding us close to him in times of our distress.

We need to encourage our constituents to be generous, like God, and thank them for their generosity. Tell them stories about how generous God has been with us and how their own generosity has changed the lives of so many people. So please, TELL STORIES!!

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Statements - Balance Sheet

2011-07-20T13:23:00.000-04:00

This is a pure accounting post - fair warning.

The balance sheet is a snapshot of your organization's financial status at one specific moment in time, usually the end of the month for public purposes but it can be produced for any date of the month or year. The balance sheet is divided into three main sections: assets, liabilities, and equity. For non-profits, I have specific guidelines for each of these three areas; these guidelines differ from what you may see in other balance sheets but it has passed muster on decades of audits and reviews by Big Four audit firm audit partners.

Assets

Assets should only be cash assets. Cash assets means "money in the bank" - what you can actually spent as of the Balance Sheet date. My balance sheet has three lines for assets:

Checking account - I have one and only checking account. It is easier to reconcile and saves lots of time of transferring between banks. Having more money in one bank gives me more clout with that one bank - clout is good!
Endowment Fund or Foundation - this is a one-line summary of the endowment funds. The line item detail of the various sub-accounts is spelled out in the liabilities section of the balance sheet.
Petty Cash - if you have a petty cash bag somewhere in the church, that amount needs to show up in the assets. It's not going to be much, between $50 and $250, but for good accounting records, you need to show that money.

What is not in the assets category?

Property, plant & equipment or PP&E (sometimes known as furnishings, fixtures and equipment) is one of the biggies not in there. Why? Because my experience is that someone will see that you have several million dollars of PP&E and say that the church already has millions of dollars in the bank. Trying to explain to Mr. or Mrs. Smith that PP&E is bricks and mortar and not dollars in a bank can be difficult. I just avoid the conversation altogether by omitting PP&E. I don't ignore PP&E - one of the notes of the audited financial statements shows the insured value of the church's PP&E. That should be based off of a valuation done within the past five years but it can be taken from the commercial property insurance contract for the church.
Depreciation is the other thing that is not in the assets. Depreciation is done purely for tax purposes. Since a non-profit does not file income taxes and thus does not take a deduction for depreciation, there is no need to record all the inventory and track all their depreciation. FYI, I track inventory differently - every few years I get a video inventory of the entire church, inside and out, so that if there is a disaster, the insurance company can value things from a picture and not from a written document. I make several copies of the video inventory and these copies are placed in several locations, onsite and offsite including with the insurance agent.
Accounts Receivable - I use the cash basis of accounting which means that I only record cash when it is received and when it is spent. Thus, I do not record receivables such as member pledges. People may pledge to give your non-profit some money, but there is no legal binding to require them to give you the money, only their conscience. Because I do not know if I will get their pledge or not, I do not record money until I receive it in the office. It keeps things neat and clean.

Liabilities

Liabilities are monies that are due to other organizations or are designated for a specific cause. I divide the liabilities section of a church's balance sheet into several sections.

Payables are monies that are due to others. Typically the payables I have are for taxes, retirement, and other payroll withholding items.These are monies that were withheld from paychecks and the organization is holding them only until it is time to file with the proper authorities.
Donor Restricted Ministry Funds are funds that were given by people for a specific purpose such as the benevolent fund, the youth mission trip, a building campaign, etc. Legally, the non-profit can only spend the money on the cause to which the donor gave the money. If you spend the money on anything else without the permission of the donor, you're in legal hot water (close to the boiling point!). I have this category because all of the funds in the donor restriction ministry fund section will be spent by church members or committees of the church. Members of the church will determine where and how the money will be spent.
Donor Restricted Missions Funds are funds that were given by people for a specific organization that is not located at the church. These funds will not be spent by church members or committees. Instead the monies are forwarded on several times a year to the appropriate organization who in turn will spend the money on their mission. Examples of these funds are national or international mission offerings and organizations with whom the church has an affinity but does not exercise control such as Habitat or a campground.
Church Designated Funds are funds the church set aside out of its budget and/or out of any funds leftover at the end of each budget year. Forward-thinking churches will establish reserve funds for major building maintenance items (think A/C units costing $30,000 each), office equipment (new computers), etc. The church is in complete control of these funds and can change when and how it spends these monies because these monies came from undesignated gifts.

A special mention to one fund. I am a strong proponent of establishing the "Unspent Ministry Fund" which is the church's rainy day fund or emergency fund equivalent to 30, 60 or 90 days worth of revenues (whatever the church's finance committee establishes). The source of these funds is the money that is "left over" at the end of each budget year. Instead of leaving it in the equity section of the church balance sheet, I clear out that figure to Unspent Ministry Funds. This helps in a several ways:

I can look at the equity line and see immediately how well (or not) the church is doing this year and
It clears out all profits and losses from prior years into this one fund

Endowment Fund or Foundation is the detail for all the various sub-accounts of the endowment fund or foundation.

My first presumption is that your church has a foundation - that will be a subject for a future post. If you don't have a foundation or endowment fund, you need to get one this year - do not wait!!
Secondly, these sub-accounts show what the church and its members value by establishing a separate fund for a specific cause. These are the only permanently restricted accounts (for purposes of FASB 116 and 117). I work with donors to establish funds and then spend money from the fund according to their wishes. The church has ultimate control over these funds but they should spend them according to the donor's desires. If you do that, you'll get more money, guaranteed!

Equity

Church's don't have equity, right? Actually, they do. All the cash and all the bricks and mortar belong to the church members. If the church were to close its doors, they would have to figure out what to do with all the money and mortar. Before you think you can cash in on this, IRS regulations regarding 51(c)(3)s stipulate that the bylaws of the organization must name a successor non-profit to receive all the equity of a church should it fold.
The way that I use the equity section is not unique, just different. I don't have any PP&E (see assets for that discussion) so several million dollars is missing from the equity. Instead, I have one line which shows the net surplus or deficit for the year. That one figure shows me at a glance how well or poorly we're doing for this fiscal year - I don't need to dig any further. The bottom line is truly the bottom line!
At the end of the year, I use the equity to fund several things if there is a surplus. Use the leftovers to pay for long-term things that you would otherwise not be able to afford. As I tell people, I can't find $100,000 this year but I can find it in the next five years. Plan for the future by taking a little money each year so that at the end of several years you've got what you need.

The first thing I do is to ensure that the Unspent Ministry Fund is fully funded to the level stipulated by the finance committee.
The next this is to fund any reserve accounts or upcoming projects that need funding. Sometimes there are projects that need some extra money that wasn't in the budget. Some times you need to set aside extra money for computers or a mission trip in a few years. Take a little each year and after three or four years, you'll have the money for new children's furniture or a youth trip to Scotland.
The last thing is to use the leftovers to pay for capital improvement projects in the following fiscal year. Every organization needs to spend money on its facilities but often the problem is they don't know where to get the money. The annual "leftovers" is a great place to get them. Use that money, given by members for their church, to improve the church facilities. That will help you from needing a capital campaign to fix up the church buildings and you can tell members regularly during the year how you are spending their money to fix up their building.

Lead On!
Steve

Thermo-Wars

2011-07-09T07:02:00.000-04:00

I maintain my HVAC (heating, venting, and air conditioning) equipment in as good an operating condition as I possibly can, but that doesn't stop thermo-wars: people sitting next to each other where one is wrapped in a sweater and the other person is fanning himself because of the heat. I use a laser thermometer in these thermo-wars. Actually, my main weapon is education and the laser thermometer is a tool in the education process.

The laser thermometer looks like a small gun that shoots a laser beam. Within a few seconds after pulling the trigger, the device displays the temperature of what the beam. The closer the laser thermometer is to the target, the more accurate the reading because longer "throws" allow for more dispersal of the feedback to the sensor. I use this device in several ways:

When staff or members tell me something is wrong, I get a laser thermometer reading and show it to the person.

If the temp is off, I thank the person and begin working on the problem. That lets the person know I'm not ignoring them. That makes for good public relations with parishioners.
If the temp is fine, I show the screen to the person. Sometimes people trust technology more than other people and the laser thermometer can help convince them that the temperature is "normal."

I've also bought several laser thermometers for various staff persons. This empowers them to check the temp themselves. Then they can decide whether or not to call me. Giving laser thermometers to others has cut down on the number of "false alarm" calls to me.
When I do call my HVAC company to report a problem, I can tell them what the real temp is rather than give a vague response about what the temp is. It helps me to have better communications with the HVAC technician and so my relationship with him is improved.

As I said, it is a neat "toy" but it really does help members see what the real temp is and helps me respond to the members and to the HVAC company. The laser thermometer helps members know the real temp; but the real savings is in controlling the temperature in the building.

Lead On!
Steve

HVAC

2011-07-08T19:40:00.001-04:00

Heating and air conditioning are HUGE consumers of a church's budget - somewhere in the 5% to 10% range depending on the energy efficiencies of the buildings. There are direct costs to buy and install the equipment, to pay the electric and gas bills, and to pay for ongoing maintenance of the equipment itself including regular PM (preventive maintenance). There are also indirect costs of taking staff time to oversee this equipment and to handle the distraction of members who become obsessed with the temperature.

To save money in this area you need to know and control several things:

What the temperature is when it comes into the room
How long the conditioned air is on
Where conditioned air leaves the room

To control the temperature for the air coming into a room, I set all the thermostats at

Occupied Heat (people using the room during heating season), 68 Fahrenheit
Unoccupied Heat (the room not used during the heating season), 60
Occupied Air Conditioning, 74
Unoccupied Air Conditioning, 80
You don't want to set the unoccupied temperature too high or low - that will cause the unit to have to work extra hard to get to the occupied temperature when it is called for. The occupied temps are just inside the "uncomfortable" zone - the temps are still comfortable but because they are at the limit, they save large amounts of money than if they were right in the middle of the comfort zone. Frankly, there is no comfort zone that meets everyone's needs - I hit the edges of the range and then rely on people to dress accordingly, but they still complain. Keeping your building temps within these ranges will save your budget thousands of dollars - I highly encourage you to do this.

To control how long the conditioned air comes into the room, there are several cool pieces of technology

Programable thermostats

These are great because they can turn a unit on and off when the room is being used according to the program that is keyed into it. This ensures that the units are running only when someone has told the unit to run. Most programmable units have some sort of temporary override button or control. The override is to ensure that when there is an unscheduled meeting, the unit can be turned on in order to get the room to the occupied temp (whether heat or A/C).
The bad news about programmable thermostats is that they rely on humans. Humans have a tendency to want to mess around with thermostats. I've found thermostats with the date and time changed (which plays havoc with the schedule that was originally programmed). I've also seen thermostats with the programmed temp and run times completely changed. And it doesn't matter if the thermostat is behind a locked casing or a locked screen, that is just a challenge to some people to figure out how. The human factor is pretty frustrating.

The latest piece of technology which I plan to try in a few places pretty soon is a thermostat with a motion sensor. The idea is that when the motion sensor comes on due to movement, it turns on the thermostat which in turn may (or may not) call for the unit to bring the room to an occupied temp.

There are several good things about this:

You only need to program the thermostat (these motion sensor stats are also programmable) for the times of the week when people will definitely be in the room. The rest of the week the unit will turn itself on when it senses motion in the room.
The thermostat will keep the unit on so long as movement is sensed and when it comes on, it will stay on for 15-20 minutes (whatever is programmed when it is setup).
This device completely eliminates the human error element and that is a huge relief.
You will see immediate savings because the unit is running only when it needs to run - not when the room is empty (even though a meeting was scheduled).

There are several bad things (or perhaps I should say, "unknown things"):

The unit will turn on whenever a custodian comes into the room to get one chair or when kids are playing "hide and seek" in the room.
If the unit turns on and off several times a day, it can shorten the life of the unit by several months or even years. That can be mitigated by lengthening the "on" time for the unit to 20-30 minutes but that will also decrease the savings.
These thermostats are not cheap. And, if the thermostat controls temps in several rooms, you'll need to install a sensor in each major room controlled by the stat so that if someone enters a room, that sensor will "see" the person and turn on the unit (even though the actual motion sensor thermostat is a couple of rooms away). Installing the extra sensors is not cheap either.

There are only just so many places conditioned air can leave a room

Ceiling - most commercial buildings have drop ceilings for the convenience of accessing equipment and running wires without destroying a hard ceiling. However, some amount of conditioned air is lost above the drop ceiling. The good news is that it is not that much and it is usually is a layer of hot air (because hot air rises)
Doors - every time a door is opened, air rushes out (or in). If the room's thermostat is in occupied mode, then it is a great idea to keep doors closed. Hallways may or may not have conditioned air but hallways, by definition, lead to doors that go to the outside.
Walls - yes, walls leak air. If you can, insulate them in order to keep conditioned air inside the room. Insulating a wall after it is built is not cheap and it is very messy. But it can lead to energy savings.
Windows - this is probably the place in a room where conditioned air is lost the fastest. Windows leak like a sieve. I highly encourage you to get double-paned, energy efficient windows in all your openings.

That is a huge expense to most churches - let me suggest that you begin phasing in the windows over a 5 or 10 year time period. Divide the church up into 5 or 10 sections and begin replacing windows one section at at time. Doing it in phases will not consume your maintenance budget in one year but spread the cost over several years.
The best time to do all energy efficiencies, is at the beginning of your budget year. If you don't have a capital budget (and most churches don't), then spend the money in the first month of your fiscal year. Charge some of the expense to your maintenance budget and the other part to your utility budget (because your utility budget will decrease that year due to energy savings).
One way to fund capital needs, is to take any "leftover" budget money at the end of the fiscal year and put that money into a fund to pay for capital items. I'll explain this concept in another post - it's one of my favorite ways to get things paid for without hurting the budget.

There are significant and real savings is in controlling the temperature in the building.

Lead On!
Steve

10 Ways for a Church to Have More Money, Guaranteed (part 2 - getting money)

2011-06-24T08:54:00.205-04:00

There are two different ways for a church (or any organization) to have more money: spend less and receive more. I want to give five ideas in each category that every church should implement so they can have more money to spend on their God-given mission.

5 Ways to Make Money

Tell stories of how money is being used

The offering time is the most worst used time in a worship service. I rarely use absolutes - but this one is true. Offerings are usually filled with a prayer and special music. Boring!
People in the pew are dying to know how their money is being used - they have no idea what is being done with it. They're not going to read a financial statement nor should they have to. Instead, it is your obligation to tell people how their offerings are being used.
Find 52 compelling stories and insert those in the offertory time. If you don't have 52 stories, then you have really big problems. Work with the worship leader to coordinate where in the worship the offering time will fall so that the offertory and its accompanying story add synergy to the service. Insert stories that relate to the sermon, to the liturgical calendar, to the school year, to seasons of the life of a church, etc. Make the story/offering time a key element of worship, not just a way to kill three minutes.
Give every ministry a chance to be on the platform telling one (and only ONE) story. Tell the story about real people, real events. Give your ministries the face time with the congregation that they've been wanting to announce about an upcoming youth event, a mission trip, Vacation Bible School, small groups, Christmas and Easter activities, etc. This time is a "thank you" time (not an announcement time).

Thank you for your gifts which will enable us to send three kids to summer camp from our inner city ministry. Your money will let Sam, Sarah, and Julie spend a week in the mountains - they've never seen a mountain! Thank you so much for your gifts.
I'd like for you to see what our youth did on their summer mission trip to Boston. Because of your gifts, 23 of our kids spent a week that will change the next 60 years of their lives. Thanks! Roll it. (then comes slide show with cool music)
In two weeks, we're going to launch several new small groups. We want you to be in one of these groups. If you can't afford the book for the group, the church's offerings will buy you a book - we feel it is that important for you to get in a group that we're not putting up with any excuses. Heck, we'll even pay for babysitting so you can be there. And yes, thanks to everyone's contributions who are making this possible.

Is this different and will you get some flak, probably. But if you make each story compelling and have each presentation polished, you'll begin to see results very, very quickly. Soon, the offering time will be something that people look forward to, not dread.

Send out statements of contribution five times a year

I send out statements of contribution five times: the first week after each quarter ends plus an extra one the first week of December.

Some churches send out statements only in January for tax purposes. Those churches see statements of contribution purely for purposes of helping members report their taxes.
Most churches send out statements four times a year after each quarter. Those churches are reminding people four times a year and this is a good approach.
A better way, without being accused of hammering the issue, is to add a fifth time the first week of December. People already feel the end of the year coming and they realize they should be more generous with their church. A first of December reminds people of how much they've given (or not given) to the church and provides a reminder to make a contribution. Yes, it will cost you a few hundred dollars to snail mail and email out the statements, but I guarantee you'll get thousands of dollars you weren't expecting.

As I explained in the previous post, email your statements of contribution each time so you don't spend any money you don't have to.
One other idea: ask your offering envelope service to mail envelopes once a quarter. Here's the math: 5 statements of contribution plus 4 mailings of offering envelopes = 9 times a year that you're subtly reminding people to give to their church. It works - try it for a year.

Have special offerings for specific issues a few times a year

Here's a way for special offerings not to affect your undesignated gifts. During the offering time, tell the church that "On Sunday, May 16, there will be a special offering for the purpose of funding Vacation Bible School. While there is money in the budget for VBS, we need additional monies to pay for additional supplies and events that are planned. Let people know that the first $32,000 that is given will go to the regular budget but that all monies given over $32,000 will go for VBS. Thank you for your generosity for our little ones."
The $32,000 needs to be whatever the treasurer feels is a regular Sunday offering - the amount that would normally come in that Sunday for basic operations. Anything above that would be gravy as far as the treasurer is concerned.
Then, promote that special offering for about four Sundays before the date by using the offering time to show slides of last year's event, interviewing kids about their experience last year, etc. Take up the offering (while having kids promote this year's VBS).
Any money that you get over your threshold amount will help lower your budget. If you don't spend all you received, then you can set it aside for next year's VBS and take up a special offering for something else.
Caution: you can only do one or at most two special offerings a year before you hit donor fatigue. Alternate what you do each year so there is variety and so these offerings don't get old. Some key emotional draws are children and mission trips - these are always powerful.

List of capital needs - items that the budget cannot afford

Make a list of items that the church needs for its ministries. This should be a list that encompasses all ministry areas and which ranges from small amounts to very, very large amounts. Update that list every year by adding to it, subtracting from it, or changing items. Make the list dynamic and, very importantly, make sure this list supports the vision of the church so that no item on the list detracts from the focus on accomplishing the church's goals.
Publish this list and make it available to everyone. Let people know what you would do with the proverbial "lottery jackpot" should you ever receive it. People will talk about the list in the halls and every so often, someone will approach a minister to ask for more details about an item on the list. Then, there is a good chance that this person will write a check.
Sometimes people will surprise you by writing a check for something that you don't see (because you see it so often, you're blind to how bad it is) or that is lower in your priority list. That happened to me a few months ago - an anonymous donor gave $20,000 for a specific need that we didn't see. Fortunately, the donor also gave us the freedom to use it for something else - but we went with the donor's original intention. I expect that later this year, when this donor gets his/her bonus, we'll get another sizable gift because we followed the original instructions last year.
Another way to find money for this list is to use any left over funds at the end of a fiscal year. Sometimes churches have more money that is given than is spent. I use those funds, with the permission of the Finance Committee, to address some of the needs on the capital needs list. Since we don't know how much money we'll have, we select the items on the capital list after we have a figure. We tell the church how we're going to invest their money back into God's building and needs.
Some items on the list are so expensive and/or extensive, that funding these is done over several years, in phases. The trick here is to continue to do them and not quit halfway.
Remember: itemize, monetize, prioritize, publicize, and thank you-ize!

Develop a relationship with wealthy individuals

I addressed this in a prior post, "Robbing the Rich." I'm not going to re-hash it here but please read it.
I cannot overemphasize that every church has wealthy attenders and members. The wealthy don't have a problem talking about money - the problem in having a conversation about money lies with us, not them.
I encourage every pastor to develop a list of the top 25 (pick a number) of donors to the church and once or twice a year, have coffee or a meal with them. Do NOT ask for money - just be their friend.
I can guarantee that if you befriend them, they will see and hear your heart just as you will know theirs. At some point, they will ask you about giving money long before you are ready to ask them for it!
Read the post for more details.

Now, go implement 2, 3, 4 or even 5 of these ideas. If you want more details about them, email me: steveplaw@gmail.com and we'll talk. I guarantee you'll get results!

Lead On!
Steve

10 Ways for a Church to Have More Money, Guaranteed (part 1 - saving money)

2011-06-22T17:54:00.003-04:00

Install Motion Detectors Everywhere!

Humans are quite imperfect especially when it comes to turning things off (or on). That's where motion sensors come in. I use motion sensors for everything: dispensers for paper towels and soap in bathrooms; for urinal flush valves on toilets and urinals; for lights in halls, bathrooms, classrooms, and offices; and soon for thermostats in classrooms and offices.
Motion sensors save money by ensuring that lights and thermostats are on only when a human is present; that toilets get flushed; that only a certain amount of paper towel and soap is dispensed; and that lights are on only when people are moving around. Yes, it costs money to install these, but they pay for themselves in both dollars and in public relations.
Motion sensors for lights have cut the electric bills in the church I work by 20% per year. Members think it is cool that their church is so progressive - they like to "show off" their church and talk about how "green" we are. It's a way cool thing!
Full disclosure - you'll need to buy batteries for the sensors but in the long run, you will save money with the sensors.

Invest in Energy efficient lighting and less inventory

Most of the building I administer has 4 foot fluorescent lamps. In the past two years I've been a multi-year process of changing all my T-12 lamps to T-8s (and in a few years, once the price has come down, to T-5s). I've removed my 2x2 fluorescent fixtures and replaced them with 2x4 fixtures and put in T-8s.
T-8s are 30% brighter and are 30% more energy efficient than T-12s. I'm saving money, I'm helping the environment, I'm reducing the different types of lamps I have around here so I can buy just 4 foot T-8 lamps. I love the KISS principle - keep it simple, stupid. That's what I'm doing!
Here's how I found the money to make this happen: at the end of one fiscal year, I explained to my electrician what I wanted to do and asked him to come the first couple of weeks of my fiscal year. I gave him a budget of what I could spend on the project. When he had spend the total amount allocated for that year, he stopped installing T-8s. When I got his bill, I paid half of it out of the maintenance budget and the other half out of the utilities budget. My rationale is that the efficient fixtures are going to save money that would have otherwise been spent on electricity. I'm repeating this as many years as I have to and my electrician loves getting the money that would have gone to to the utility company!

Pay bills by ACH and online

Use technology to pay your bills without paper. I calculate that every paper check costs about $1 between the check stock, ink, envelope, and postage. Every ACH costs less than 30 cents. After writing several hundred checks a year, you'll save hundreds of dollars.
Paying bills online also means you keep the money in your bank account longer. Keeping money in your account means more interest income during the year, too (well, that would be IF the banks were paying more interest than they are now at half a percent per year).
Paying bills online also means that you can track your payments and be assured that the money actually reached the vendor and didn't "get lost in the mail."
Work with your bank to make this happen. They'll be glad to help.

Use Email and Voicemail Heavily

Communication with members must evolve from beyond the Ben Franklin post office system. That's been around for 200 years, move on to something more efficient, effective and a whole lot cheaper!
I email statements of contribution to every person who gives money. Emailing statements of contribution saves me about $750 every time. I still snail mail 450 statements of contribution every time at a cost of $450 ($1 each for postage, envelope, paper, and ink). Believe it or not, I've not had any resistance to this method of getting statements of contribution - the business world has helped people become accustomed to email in all its forms.
Various ministries email or voicemail different groups (small groups, teachers, choir members, etc.) about upcoming meetings or opportunities. The ministers have learned which method is better to use with which group. Some age categories prefer a voicemail and we have PhoneTree to send out messages that way - it is slower than email but effective. Other ages like emails. Oh, I'm not (yet?) to tweeting or mass texting but I'm sure that will come along.
My administrative assistant also emails the weekly bulletin every Thursday or Friday to everyone in our database with an email (and give them the opportunity to "opt out") and she also emails the monthly news-magazine. We use Constant Contact for some of our communications, too.
Find ways of using mass communication methods that don't involve postage or paper. You can save some serious money by getting away from paper. It will save lots of paper and younger mindsets will appreciate the church helping the planet!

Bid out contracts regularly

Every 3 to 5 years put all of your regular contracts out to bid. This includes EVERYTHING from your food supplier, elevator contract, dumpster, commercial property insurance, copiers, postage meter, financial audit, custodian supplies, etc. I can't stress this enough.
In times like this, some companies are so hungry they'll really cut their prices just so they can get business to keep their employees (so they don't have to lay off anyone). They know they won't make a profit but they will also retain good talent.
Some companies gave you price when times were good and with a weak economy, they are willing to do anything just to keep you as a customer, even in the middle of a contract. They want you to stay with them and they're willing to void a current contract, reduce their fees, and renew you for several years at a cheaper rate.
Recently I cut our commercial property insurance by 42% saving the church $18,000 per year. I got a smaller postage meter because we don't have the same volume of letters as we did five years before. I upgraded to a color copier for less than what I was paying for a black & white copier. We talked with our bank and got a good rate on our fees. AND, I made sure that none of these savings affected the service we are getting.

Lead On!
Steve

Next post: 5 Ways to Make Money

Safety and Security

2011-06-20T07:52:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I handled a credible death threat to one of our ministers - this was a first for me. The good news is that everything that I had put in place several years ago worked. The minister and family were well protected and all are safe. The minister and I will see if we need to continue the the protection and the alert or if the threat has dissipated enough. Some threats may never go away - they just diminish in intensity.

There are two factors to church safety and security: passive and active.

Passive measures are related to technology

Cameras:

I installed over 30 cameras throughout our facilities. All exit doors and hallways have a camera. The camera is facing toward the inside the building so as to capture the image of everyone leaving the building. The important thing is not who comes into our buildings but who leaves and what or with whom they are leaving, especially if it is a struggling child.
Recently our state police gave us a security check-up (free, by the way - ask for one from your police department). They made several good recommendations but when they saw the quality of image from our cameras, they were impressed. They commented that our images are better than Wal-Mart or Bass Pro Shops - that pleased me.
The cameras work. About every two years I catch early teens on camera doing something they shouldn't. Just last November, I caught two 13 year old who pulled a fire alarm. The kids left the church immediately but through the camera images, we identified the kids. Within 40 minutes the youth pastor called their homes asking them to "man up." Word got around the youth that the church has cameras everywhere.

Kid ID

Every church should use some check-in system for children so that to retrieve a child, you have to have a matching card. This is a very simple system and inexpensive to implement. It is not foolproof but it is an effort to ensure that a child leaves only with someone who has the correct documentation.
More advanced systems use technology. When a family arrives at church, the parents check-in and a document is printed for both the parents and another document is printed in the classroom where the children are going. Some check-in systems use biometrics (such as a fingerprint - because you can't forget and leave your fingers at home) to generate the documents for each child. These are very good systems - so long as the staff and volunteers are trained in using them and actually follow them. Training is the key!
Another technology is that of buzzer like in a restaurant. This is done in addition to the above systems. When a non-verbal child is checked in, the parents are given the option of receiving a buzzer. If the childcare workers need to get in touch with the parents for whatever reason, they can buzz the parents. The parents can be summoned quietly (without bothering anyone else) and they can be reached anywhere in the building (within a quarter mile). Buzzers are better than displays because it can reach a parent who is in a bathroom, a hallway, or anywhere.

Active systems involve personnel and there are several layers to the personnel.

Hall monitors

In children's areas, there should always be a hall monitor who knows the teachers and staff. This person's job description is to ensure that unauthorized people are not wandering the children's hall(s). This person can also be greeter or an additional set of hands to fetch things from the resource room but his or her primary job is to keep out unnecessary people.

Paid Uniformed Officer

Many churches have a Sunday morning cop to direct traffic. But this officer has another, unseen, and far more important role - being a deterrent. If someone bent on evil sees a police officer directing traffic, this person may decide to go to the next church instead of wreaking havoc on your church (sorry for the next church!).
The officer is directing traffic only about 30-45 minutes on a Sunday morning even though we pay for three hours (the minimum allowed by the police department). So, the rest of the time, I ask the officer to come inside the building to get coffee, get to know the greeters, let the greeters get to know him, and be seen by members of the church so they'll feel comfortable knowing they are in a safe place.

Safety Officer Team

This team consists of only current or former police. Military are excluded because their training is to shoot and then ask questions; police are trained to use words first and bullets only as a last resort.
My sole request for the team members is that when they come to church, they continue to be police officers and not let down their guard. None of them come armed except when I ask them to. Team members are in all of our services, both traditional and contemporary.
The team meets once a year when I invite them to lunch as a way of saying thanks - it is also a time for me to remind them of the seriousness of their volunteer jobs. An important function at the lunch is for the members to get to know each other so they all know who are the other good guys. At the first lunch, a state trooper of 40+ years met a city policeman of 36+ years for the first time even though they sit only five rows from each other.

So, what did I do this past weekend

I asked two members of my safety officer team to come armed to church.
I hired a plainclothes police officer whose job was to watch over the minister in all services
I alerted the local police department
I keep the minister and other key staff informed of what I was doing
I met with the paid officer and volunteer on Sunday morning to ensure everyone knew what to do
One of my safety officers tracked down the person who made the threat and got a photo of the guy so that he could identified (he was a marginal attender)
I authorized the police to forcibly remove him as a trespasser if he came to our church

All is well, for now, and that is a very, very good thing!

If you think I'm overreacting by implementing all that I've done, let me give you one statistic: from 1999 to 2007, 41 people died in churches (not including church-related facilities like camps) from gunshots alone (not including blades, poisoning, or other means). Gun violence in church is real. A church is no longer a safe sanctuary from the real world. Do a safety and security check on your church; consider implementing the systems listed above; and do not rely only on "God's protection" to take care of you.

Lead On!
Steve

Audacious Leadership

2011-05-25T09:33:00.000-04:00

I read this post Christmas 2010. It is an outstanding example of leading a church - the church didn't know where it was going but the pastor/leader pointed the way and the members got behind it. What David Platt did with his church is not just leadership, it’s audacious leadership. And history shows from Alexander the Great to Judas Maccabees to Jesus to Charlemagne to Napoleon to Hitler that people will follow audacious leaders (both good and bad). We just need more audacious leaders.

Why My Church Rebelled Against the American Dream by David Platt
David Platt, Ph.D., is the author of the New York Times bestseller Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream and is senior pastor of the 4,000-member Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, Alabama.

We American Christians have a way of taking the Jesus of the Bible and twisting him into a version of Jesus that we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn’t mind materialism and would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who for that matter wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings comfort and prosperity to us as we live out our Christian spin on the American Dream. But lately I’ve begun to have hope that the situation is changing.

The 20th-century historian who coined the term “American Dream,” James Truslow Adams, defined it as “a dream… in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are.” But many of us are realizing that Jesus has different priorities. Instead of congratulating us on our self-fulfillment, he confronts us with our inability to accomplish anything of value apart from God. Instead of wanting us to be recognized by others, he beckons us to die to ourselves and seek above all the glory of God.

In my own faith family, the Church at Brook Hills, we have tried to get out from under the American Dream mindset and start living and serving differently. Like many other large American churches, we had a multimillion-dollar campus and plans to make it even larger to house programs that would cater to our own desires. But then we started looking at the world we live in. It’s a world where 26,000 children die every day of starvation or a preventable disease. A world where billions live in situations of such grinding poverty that an American middle-class neighborhood looks like Beverly Hills by comparison. A world where more than a billion people have never even heard the name Jesus.

So we asked ourselves, “What are we spending our time and money on that is less important than meeting these needs?” And that’s when things started to change. First we gave away our entire surplus fund — $500,000 — through partnerships with churches in India, where 41 percent of the world’s poor live. Then we trimmed another $1.5 million from our budget and used the savings to build wells, improve education, provide medical care and share the gospel in impoverished places around the world. Literally hundreds of church members have gone overseas temporarily or permanently to serve in such places. And it’s not just distant needs we’re trying to meet. It’s also needs near at hand.

One day I called up the Department of Human Resources in Shelby County, Alabama, where our church is located, and asked, “How many families would you need in order to take care of all the foster and adoption needs that we have in our county?” The woman I was talking to laughed. I said, “No, really, if a miracle were to take place, how many families would be sufficient to cover all the different needs you have?” She replied, “It would be a miracle if we had 150 more families.” When I shared this conversation with our church, over 160 families signed up to help with foster care and adoption.

We don’t want even one child in our county to be without a loving home. It’s not the way of the American Dream. It doesn’t add to our comfort, prosperity, or ease. But we are discovering the indescribable joy of sacrificial love for others, and along the way we are learning more about the inexpressible wonder of God’s sacrificial love for us. Now, don’t get me wrong. I love my country and I couldn’t be more grateful for its hard-won freedoms. The challenge before we American Christians, as I see it, is to use the freedoms, resources, and opportunities at our disposal while making sure not to embrace values and assumptions that contradict what God has said in the Bible.

I believe God has a dream for people today. It’s just not the same as the American Dream. I believe God is saying to us that real success is found in radical sacrifice. That ultimate satisfaction is found not in making much of ourselves but in making much of him. That the purpose of our lives transcends the country and culture in which we live. That meaning is found in community, not individualism. That joy is found in generosity, not materialism. And that Jesus is a reward worth risking everything for. Indeed, the gospel compels us to live for the glory of God in a world of urgent spiritual and physical need, and this is a dream worth giving our lives to pursue.

Lead On!
Steve

Church Politics

2011-05-23T16:27:00.000-04:00

This is a personal soapbox - this issue troubles me more than anything else in church life because I feel it completely and utterly distracts the church from accomplishing it's God-given mission of sharing the Good News. This post will not be easy to write nor to read.

Jesus attacked only one group of people during his ministry on earth: Pharisees and Sadducees. Those men were the paid staff and lay leaders of the temple in Jerusalem. It was to them that all Jews looked to for guidance and wisdom. I have long wondered if I, as a paid church staff professional, will feel the same verbal assault on me that Jesus laid on those church staff of 2000 years ago.

Jesus' withering criticism of them is that they were caught up in the minutae of life. The Pharisees and Sadducees debated for endless hours about trivial matters while they completely ignored the important religious and physical needs of the people. They made up 613 laws which became an unbearable burden to commons Jews so that they hated to go to Temple but they did so out of obligation. Jesus went to Temple only to worship - he didn't debat the Pharisees and Sadducees in the Temple. They found him out among the people and they took their pettiness to him. How many times do the Gospels refer to Jesus as speaking with authority or speaking in a way at which the people marveled? Jesus focused not on the Temple politics of his day but on the big issues. Jesus instructed his disciples to keep their eyes on the God-things: disciple, baptize and teach (Matthew 28:19-20).

I've heard that many (if not most) young pastors prefer to start their own churches instead of stepping into an established church. Why? One answer may be the quantity of church politics. Established churches are hotbeds of politics, procedures, entrenched committee members, "but we've never done it that way before" mentality, and tradition. (So much of that is fear-based - fear of losing control, fear of not having enough, plain old fear. This is ironic since as Christians we are supposed to believe that God is in control and that God is generous beyond measure.)

I believe that church politics make people avoid church. They see the petty squabbles and decide that this is not for them - they want a God that is interested in big things such as people. Arguments and struggles over money, position, power, and decisions are so petty as to make God cry, especially when Christians do it.

I've been in too many meetings when an absurdly petty topic was raised: should we allow line dancing in the gym, what type of lettering should be on a sign, etc. I ask myself if this topic rises to the level of honoring Jesus and his sacrifice. Almost every time the answer is no, it doesn't. It is a small matter which should be dealt with by one or two people so that the big group can focus on the big issue: sharing the Good News.

Lead On!
Steve

Church Personnel Committees

2011-04-26T16:07:00.000-04:00

My experience with Personnel Committees is that they don't know their own job description. Too many times the committee acts more like a "Human Resources Department" than a personnel committee. Let me explain the difference.

A human resources department provides all the forms for new staff and departing staff, ensures those forms are complete, interprets the personnel manual for staff, works with vendors to get the approved benefits at the best possible price, and handles other routine personnel needs. Frankly, those are all functions that in a church should be handled by the staff and not by a committee.

A personnel committee of a church is vastly different. A personnel committee should do the following

Develop a personnel manual and review it at least once a year for updates
Develop a salary structure and salary range so that all employees are treated according to their "pay grade." Most churches have no concept of this much less how to go about creating salary ranges. However, it is essential that a church do this to help their staff.
Hire the senior pastor and give him an actual, honest job performance evaluation. This may include an annual 360 eval for the pastor; that is a good thing so that he can have a true sense of his leadership and his management.
Help the senior pastor with his direct reports. The senior pastor may need counsel on who should report directly to him and who should not. The pastor may need help with the job descriptions of those who report directly to him. Finally, the senior pastor may ask for help in recruiting the people who work most closely with him.

For the most part, I disagree with the notion that there should be a search committee for positions in the church below the senior pastor - the leaders should be able to hire those whom he feels will work best with him and not have a committee decide for him (after all, shouldn't those lay members be doing Kingdom work and not be the HR department?).
The senior pastor should have the freedom to select his lieutenants and craft their job descriptions with the advice and counsel of the personnel committee, but not their veto. Those leaders, in turn, should have the freedom to select the second level of leadership without having to jump through hoops of lay people. Some, but not many, lay people are qualified to help in recruitment; it's just that they could be doing something else for God instead of having meetings.

So, if you're in a personnel committee, ask the committee chair for a job description of what the committee is responsible for. If that JD needs to be updated because the church has grown and/or changed, then do it! If there is no JD, then help the pastor and committee chair develop an appropriate description of responsibilities for the personnel committee. A good one will save the committee members a lot of time and grief, it will help the pastor and staff know what everyone is charged with doing, and it will ensure that everyone is doing what is expected of them.

Lead On!
Steve

Aptitude and Attitude

2011-04-25T10:49:00.000-04:00

Whenever I hire someone, I look for two things: aptitude and attitude. I tell that to the interviewee pretty soon during the interview, too. That gives them an understanding of what I'm looking for. However, before you get to have a face-to-face with me, I've already had at least one phone interview with you - the in-person interview is just to confirm or change what I think I know about you.

Aptitude is the knowledge-base or skill-set that an employee brings with him or her. That is a compilation of that person's life experiences, education, work knowledge, training, books read, and everything else that this person has learned to this point in life. It is far too much to unpack in an interview but I try to get a glimpse into what the person knows.

Attitude is the mindset the person has about work, life, other people, etc. Attitude is BY FAR the most important of the two items I look for. I can train aptitude if you have the right attitude. Aptitude is easy and knowledge can be taught. Attitude can never be taught - it is who you are and tells me (the prospective employer) more about what kind of employee you'll be than any résumé ever will. Attitude comes through loud and clear usually within the first 60 seconds of a meeting, even an interview where you're doing all you can to impress someone.

This approach also works with both volunteers. Get vols who have the right attitude, and whatever program they're in will have a much better change of success. Having the right attitude to anything in life will infect and affect others around you. So, my suggestion is that when you interview for a staff position or a volunteer (or even when you interview somewhere) have the right attitude regardless of your aptitude. Eventually your attitude (and those whom you interview) will rise to surface - you might as well know it from the outset.

Lead On!
Steve

Robbing the Rich

2011-04-15T10:56:00.000-04:00

Every church steals from the rich and I wish they'd just get over it. Take money from the rich because, believe it or not, they are looking for ways to give their money away and when you don't give them a chance to give their money to the causes the church supports, then you are robbing the rich.

I've dealt with a lot of rich people over the years. One guy that took me under his wing (thanks, HG!) quoted about $15 million in various bank accounts; another guy wrote a check for $2.2 million to the Community Foundation I worked at because that's what his accountants told him he had to give away that year. A few years ago the magazine Town & Country (whose target audience has a gazillion dollars to their name) ran an entire issue on the subject of philanthropy. The rich are being asked for their money every day by their alma maters, hospitals and other charities. But churches don't want to approach them.

Here's a secret about the wealthy - many of them are very lonely because of their wealth. They've learned that people want to be around them so that they can get something out of their rich "friends." That has made the rich extremely cautious in who they'll talk to. However, the rich are people just like you and me and they need honest, true friends - not people who plan to use them.

Churches have two hang ups about the wealthy and we need to get over those hangs ups!

Some people misinterpret verses in the book of James and take them that we should pretty much ignore the rich. Actually, James talks about how to help the rich be better Christians - something we all can use. You don't need to overtly favor the rich - they don't want it anyway - but you don't need to ignore them either.
Most pastors have never been rich and so have no idea how to talk about money. I've learned that the rich have no problem talking about money, they do it every day. It is the church and its leaders that need face that they have a problem talking about money. Here's a solution: go to a rich person and get him or her to coach you in how to talk to the rich about money. I'm pretty sure they'd love to help you.

Some wealthy people have the gift of generosity. They know they have money and they want to use that money for God. When church leaders do not give the rich the opportunity to be generous, those leaders have robbed the rich and failed to be the leaders God wants them to be.

Suggestions

Every pastor should know the top 25 donors to his/her church
Every pastor should meet with those 25 donors at least once a year and better, twice a year. That means that once a week, the pastor will set aside two hours for a meeting. That way, every year the pastor will meet with the top 25 donors twice a year.
The meetings should NOT be about money. The meetings MUST be about the donor, his needs, his family, the vision the pastor has for the church, and what is currently going on in the church.
At a minimum, the pastor may gain business insights in how to run the church's business more efficiently and effectively
The pastor may gain some strong acquaintenances and perhaps even friends
The pastor will definitely gain the right to talk about money when the time comes for a capital campaign or other need
The donor will gain insight into what the pastor goes through in a week and have a better understanding of how churches work
The donor will learn of opportunities to fund specific needs where his money can make a real difference
The donor will feel like a person and not a pariah just because he has money

Please, please, please get to know your top donors and know them well. Treat them as people (not as ATMs) and meet their human and spiritual needs. Then, when you are in need financially, you'll be surprised by how generous they are even before you ask! And again, if you feel uncomfortable, ask them to teach you - I can promise you that most of them would jump at the chance to help their pastor and other church leaders!

Lead On!
Steve

Uncertainty, part 2

2011-04-04T07:10:00.000-04:00

Recently I came across a great example of cutting through uncertainty or how a leader can infuse his or her organization with clarity and commitment. Apple is the darling of corporate America - it is the company that analysts point to, that nice corporate gifts come from, and which is becoming a household name thanks to the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. But Apple used to be a niche company. It's computers were the mainstays of a few industries such as printing, publishing and other areas that used a lot of graphics.

Apple was created by Steve Jobs and a few friends in the late 1970s when personal computers began coming over the horizon in great numbers. (I remember going to work right out of college in 1983 and my very first personal computer was made by Xerox! It even had two external 5.25 floppy drives - it was amazing.) Apple developed its market but it was not as successful as Bill Gates who teamed up with Intel, IBM and other major manufacturers. Apple very quickly became a niche computer company and the board of Apple fired Jobs in 1985.

A dozen years later, Apple's board of directors (by now with completely new members) re-hired Jobs. He didn't like what he found. It was a company in disarray with no focus. Almost immediately Steve began cutting product lines and making changes that lead to great fear of him by the staff. In reality he didn't cut that much but what was cut was so visible that almost all areas of the company suffered from low morale. That didn't last long - Jobs began introducing ideas and innovations very quickly (BTW, he co-founded Pixar, the animated movie maker of great fame, during his "exile" from Apple). Soon, Apple became profitable and within ten years, by 2007 had introduced iTunes, iPods, and the iPhone and in 2010 the world was rocked by the iPad which sold 15 million units in less than one year.

Under Jobs, Apple has great clarity of purpose. All extraneous items are tossed overboard. Laser-beam focus is the order of the day. I heard that Apple's tag line is, "We use technology to make life easier and we just happen to make computers." Apple is no longer a niche company.

Question for you: does your church have laser-beam focus on its goals. Have you chunked overboard everything that is not helping your church achieve its vision. Or are you saddled with unnecessary programs and activities that really don't push you forward but you do them "because everyone else is doing them."

One of my favorite analogies is of a river with stones in it. First, are you crossing the right river? There are lots of rivers with stones but your vision must point to the river which you will cross and over which your members will follow. Select your vision (river) wisely and with God's help because once you start over, it is really, really tough to get everyone to back up. You will have some people that absolutely refuse to cross that river - that is fine; let them join another church and cross another river. You're responsible for your God-given vision and your river. As you cross the river, look for the next rock on which to step - don't look too far ahead, you won't be able to see through the mist. Just look one, two or maybe three rocks ahead to know which direction to go - have a sense of direction (of the path) but not necessarily of the ultimate course.

When Jobs re-joined Apple in 1987, much less when he created it in the 1970s, he had no idea of an iPhone or iPad - he just knew his company needed to focus on making computers. Same with you - focus on leading your church in the direction your vision is leading. Don't get too far in front of your people (don't let the river's mist fog their vision of you and the rocks they need to step on to follow you) but don't slow down waiting for everyone to join you. You may even have to let some staff go and/or terminate some beloved programs - but help your followers understand that while these things are good, they do not add value to your vision. Yes, there will be bottlenecks and rapids and slippery stones - handle them one at a time, but always move forward.

Lead On!
Steve

Q-Tips

2011-03-23T13:32:00.000-04:00

I've got two packs of Q-Tips (registered trademark, I'm sure) in my office. I got them a dozen years ago and I use them as illustrations to my staff and colleagues several times a year. I pull them out when someone comes into my office with lots of frustration over what is going on (or not happening). I listen and then, as it is warranted, I have the following conversation:

Me: do you know what Q-Tip means? What is stands for?
Friend: no idea (with a completely bewildered look as in, Where the heck is this headed?)
Me: Quit Taking It Personally - QTIP
Friend: oh, cute.
Me: no, really. You, me, we need to separate the personal from the professional. When junk hits the fan, just step back (out of the way) and not let any of it get to you personally. Keep the professional and the personal separate.

About 25 or 30 years ago I read an article in Fortune from which I remember one line: "Attack the problem, not the person." Too often in work (especially in church work), we merge our professional and personal lives and it often has bad consequences. Too often in work (especially in church work), we try to fix problems by fixing people - also often with bad consequenses.

Church professionals need to separate our personal lives from our professional lives - our spouses will appreciate it! But also realize that when we attack a problem, ensure the person on the other end fully understands this is not about him/her personally.

Buy a pack of Q-Tips. When things get tense in the office, hand out the Q-Tips and remind people that all this professional angst will go away and they don't need to let it affect their personal lives. It is not an attack on who they are as individuals; it is just a professional issue and should be dealt with professionally.

Oh, one more thing - I'm sure the inventor of Q-Tips never thought of the slogan but I like it nonetheless!

Lead On!
Steve

Truth to Power

2011-03-22T09:13:00.000-04:00

Many years ago I saw a documentary in which Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter spoke about how and who they surrounded themselves with. They readily acknowledged that everyone that works with the president of the United States is eager to say "yes" to every idea the president has. No one wants to question the president much less confront him (even in a nice way) - on anything.

That is the nature of leadership - the people around the leader want to please him or her. That is why they are there, especially in churches. Most staff members have no desire to become the senior pastor; we're pretty content being the second chair (see "Leading from the Second Chair," an excellent book by Bonem and Patterson). Pastors need not be threatened by their staff and most of them are not. However, pastors rarely get the unvarnished truth from their staff. Staff often go out of their way to avoid telling their bosses what is really going on with the staff and/or with the members whom they see. Staff don't want to tell bad news to their superior. Staff will do almost anything to shield their leader from reality. Why?

Several reasons:

they don't want to get punished as the messenger of the bad news.
they might be asked to dig deeper into this and that might cause them to find even more unpleasant things
they don't know how to tell their boss bad news

Presidents Ford and Carter gave a solution that is both simple but exceedingly hard. The answer, according to them, is to surround yourself with people of integrity AND to empower them to tell you the honest, sometimes brutal truth, even when it comes out harsh. The balancing act is to permit them to say it to you, the leader; to say it judiciously (not being a dark cloud all the time but using those rights in a wise way); and especially for the leader to receive it in a positive manner (constructive criticism). How the boss receives the information will completely determine how that person and others on staff respond the next time there is bad news to be shared or when a leader needs some excruciating honesty.

I can tell you it begins with the leader - as these two presidents stated. The leader must get the right people, give explicit rights to certain members of his/her inner circle to speak very frankly as needed, and then receive that info as info (not as criticism) in a way that will invite further honesty. After all, a leader must have people of integrity around him/her all the time - anything less hurts the organization and its purpose.

Lead On!
Steve

Uncertainty

2011-03-19T09:30:00.001-04:00

I follow the stock market. Doing fairly well but only about 15% of the way to what I need till I retire. There are two big things I know about the stock market:

Don't follow the herd
The market hates uncertainty

I might spend another blog post on the first one but let me speak to uncertainty here because church members hate uncertainty too and it will show up in their support of their church - in their generosity of their time and the money.

Church's must have goals - targets at which they're aiming. Unless a church has one thing that unites them, then everything will divide them. Church members want to be part of something larger - that's why they joined and participate in a church. They want their church to be on mission to do something, go somewhere, be leading in some way. If their church is not, then it quickly becomes a social club. Country clubs (I've never joined a country club and won't, either) have no function except to serve their members - at least from my perspective. Church's are not country clubs - they are churches.

Get rid of the uncertainty in your church. Find a mission/purpose and charge that vision with everything you've got. Plan for it strategically and tactically (notice, I said "plan"!) and then fulfill that plan of attack.

Your church is like a ship. There are places it cannot go easily like a ship cannot easily go on dry land. But two-thirds of the earth is water so your church/ship can go to more than half the world. The church are crew members, not passengers. If your church were passengers then you'd have a cruise ship which goes out to sea each Sunday morning and returns to the safe harbor before sundown. But your church members want to sail the high seas - they want a purpose in their church. They want to aim for the horizon and THEY WILL PAY GLADLY if their leader will take them to the far side of the world. Don't underestimate your church - give them the adventure of their lives - the adventure that God promised each of us when he asked us to be fishers of men and women.

If you rob people of the chance to sail into deep and scary waters, then you've created uncertainty. No one knows where the cruise ship will head this week, what are our goals (to have a better meal than last time, a better Sunday morning show?), where are we going together and why are people leaving our church/ship for other places or even leaving the faith altogether. Don't create uncertainty - create a vision. Clothe, feed, and nurture that vision every two or three weeks (Bill Hybels says that vision must be cast every 28 days or less). Be specific, be challenging, be big in your dreams, be willing to work with other organizations, be more God-sized in scope. Give your church a purpose and you'll be amazed at the number of people clamoring to get on board.

Lead On!
Steve

Laughter

2011-03-12T08:36:00.000-05:00

Several years ago one of my former bosses told me during the interview process that he doesn't get worried when he sees staff members talking in the halls of the church offices. He gets worried when he doesn't hear them laughing.

There is a LOT of wisdom to that statement. Laughter is medically proven to be good medicine. It helps in all kinds of ways that I don't understand and don't need to know except it is is very healthy for the body. And the mind and the soul.

One of the things about laughter is that it means the staff feels comfortable with each other enough to make jokes, share funny stories, and tell self-embarrassing moments. If your staff is engaged in laughing with each other then odds are your staff is not whispering behind your back.

Perhaps the opposite of staff laughter is gossip. Gossip can be serious and vicious and filled with innuendo. Gossip is not good for an organization. Don't get me wrong, I believe in the office grapevine and use it, but that is different than gossip, especially malicious gossip.

Encourage your staff to laugh. Find ways to make them laugh. Get them to tell stories on themselves (but never a story that embarrasses someone else). Listen to the halls of your office. If you don't hear laughter on a regular (several times a day) basis, you need to worry and find ways to get your staff to laugh - together.

Lead On!
Steve

Adults Have Wallets

2011-02-24T14:07:00.000-05:00

Several years ago my wife worked for a pastor in North Atlanta. The church grew incredibly fast: in a few years it went from a couple of hundred people to over a thousand. The growth was because it was the only Baptist church in an area of Atltanta that exploded in population. The church built buildings as fast as it could afford. They created a master-plan and communicated to everyone what the plans were for future expansion of the facilities. But the need for buildings meant that they had to rent some trailers for temporary housing of some Bible study classes.

The pastor and other leaders made the decision to put adults in those mobile home-like classrooms. He took some flak for that decision. Here was his response, "Adults have wallets, chidren don't." If the adults were uncomfortable with their trailer classrooms, then the adults should give more so the church can build more rooms. It worked. Within a dozen years the church had completely finished their master planned campus. It is really nice. I'm sure they still have debt, but everyone is in the same set of buildings all because the pastor was willing to challenge the people with wallets, adults, to give more.

Lead On!
Steve

Offerings

2011-02-19T09:51:00.000-05:00

Offerings are to many worship leaders one of the most awkward times of a service. So, they fill it with special music to distract people from the passing offering plate. I regret that. I'd like to offer a different way of viewing the offering time but one that will require some work and planning.

The offering takes about 90 to 120 seconds in the average church. I suggest that in that time, you tell a story. Tell stories about how the offerings have been used in the past week to tell how a missionary did some really cool work, how a family was fed, how a minister did some counseling, how a teen publicly said he was going to be a Christ-follower, how a mission team to Africa did some awesome things, what the youth trip this summer will be doing, how many kids were at Vacation Bible School and what they studied, etc. Find 52 stories in a year and tell the church how their money is being used.

Younger generations (under 40) want to hear stories about specific people being helped with the money they give to the church. That will motivate them to continue to give and give more money. Older generations like to hear the stories, too.

So, use the offering time to TELL STORIES. After all, that's what Jesus did!

Lead On!
Steve

Executive Leadership

2011-02-08T20:07:00.000-05:00

The adult Bible study class I lead is going through Joshua - we study a book of the Bible verse by verse and chapter by chapter. It's a lot of fun leading a very discussion oriented class. We just began Joshua.

In Joshua 2.1, "Then Joshua secretly sent out two spies from the Israelite camp..." Some points to consider:

He sent out two (2) spies - 40 years before, Moses sent out 12 spies and only two came back with a favorable report. The other 10 were so pessimistic that their majority report caused the nation of Israel to wander in the desert for 40 years until every person age 21 and over had died.
He sent them out - Joshua had probably selected these guys and trained them for a dozen years or maybe more. That reminds me of the quote of General of the Army, George C Marshall, Chief of Staff during World War II, "I want an officer for a secret and dangerous mission. I want a West Point football player." Joshua got exactly the person he wanted for this mission.
He sent them out secretly - Joshua did not ask for a vote of everyone; he didn't ask them to huddle for a church-wide prayer meeting; he just did it and knew that if things went wrong, he'd bear the blame. But he was willing to do that. He weighed the consequences of having everyone know what he was doing (and maybe word getting out to the wrong people) versus doing what he knew was right and getting the info he needed for his decision.

Leadership is tricky. In this case, Joshua decided executive leadership was necessary and that's what he did. In other circumstances, legislative authority (corporate buy-in) is necessary. Frankly, I feel that executive leadership is needed more often than it is used; executive leadership must always be tinged by the advice of clear-headed counselors. The decision can/must be explained to all later, but a leader must lead - that's why God made leadership and leaders.

Lead On!
Steve

IRS Baptist Church

2011-02-07T16:48:00.000-05:00

In August 2004, Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola, Florida and caused massive devastation. First Baptist Church of Pensacola suffered damage as did many other churches. At some point in the storm, the "F" and "T" of "First" fell off giving the church a new name: IRS Baptist Church!

Lead On!
Steve

A Bad Funeral

2011-01-13T08:54:00.000-05:00

This happened this week - there is no moral to the story. It's just one of the many things that happen in church life that are hard to believe.

As is their custom, the ministers drove their own car and led the hearse and other funeral procession cars from the church out to the cemetery. The ministers got out of their car at the gravesite and began walking to the hearse as all the other cars were parking and people walked to the gravesite. As the ministers approached the hearse, they heard the undertaker mutter, "Oh, sh**!" Since that is not normal language at a funeral, one of the ministers asked what happened.

"We locked the keys inside the hearse." And they didn't have a spare key with them. When they called the funeral home to get a spare, the funeral home said they didn't have a spare, either! After a quick huddle, the ministers and the family agreed to proceed with the funeral at the gravesite without the body since the casket was inside the locked hearse. The undertakers spent the funeral trying to get into the hearse. When the funeral was over, the ministers, family and friends left the undertakers standing outside their locked hearse in the bitter cold of a January day.

Lead On!
Steve

My Favorite Fundraiser

2011-01-13T08:46:00.000-05:00

This story happened in the mid-1980s somewhere in South Carolina. A friend whose parents witnessed the event told their son who told me. It is the most amazing church fundraising story I've ever heard.

It seems that a small church wanted to raise $1.5 million for a new building. The Finance Committee and Building Committee met, reviewed the options and potential and then came to a church business meeting to make their presentation. Everyone felt that the new building was very much needed and then it came time to vote on whether or not to do a fundraiser.

During the Q&A time before the vote, several pertinent questions were fielded. But then one of the older, most respected men of the congregration stood and began to speak. He spoke slowly and deliberately, "Well, let's see. I tell you what. I'll give half a million dollars if Fred over there gives half a million." All heads immediately turned to Fred to see if he would accept Sam's challenge. Fred stood up and spoke, "Hmmm, okay. I'll give half a million if Bob here gives half a million." Again, in unison, all heads turned to look at Bob who stood up. "Yeah, I'll give half a million." The congregation erupted in applause for these three men and the fundraiser was officially over!

I like this story for several reasons: its fun, funny, very true to life, shows the most church members can give more than they think, should help pastors realize that some church members have very deep pockets and will give if asked (but pastors are scared to talk about money), and finally it demonstrates the leadership of three respected older gentlemen. They had no problem talking about money (each knew what the other could afford) and when given the opportunity to give their money to something worthwhile, they stood up.

I encourage all ministers to cultivate wealthy members. Have lunch with them periodically. Ask them to teach you how to manage money but more importantly how to talk about money with others. These men and women will be glad to oblige - we've just got to ask.

Lead On!
Steve

Church Office Life Stories

2010-12-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

I've got a great idea for a sitcom - church office life. Problem is that I could collect all these stories and try to sell them to Hollywood but Hollywood would never believe these actually happened. So I'm going to share with my readers (all two, so far!) some funny and amazing stories of church office life. Here's the first one - I've got a bunch more. And if you're reading this, please contribute your own church office life stories.

Best story I heard this week:

A church changed its email and its URL. They had to. A church member (who is about 80 years old) owned the URL and would not release it to the church. In fact, when the church administrator went to Mrs. Smith's house to talk with her about this, Mrs. Smith very proudly showed the administrator her three computers. When one of the computers had a new entry on its screen, Mrs. Smith invited the administrator over. "Look, here's a new email. Let's open it." Mrs. Smith not only had hijacked the church's URL and the email but she was reading all church email!! The administrator quickly left the house and realized the church had to change its URL and email in order to protect itself from Mrs. Smith!

Lead On!
Steve

The Church At Play

2010-12-11T16:08:00.000-05:00

I really wanted to address two separate but related issues: church staff and the church itself.

What I mean by "at play" is very simple - how do church staff (and members) do fun things together on company time. Here's why: years ago I had a boss who said that the only time he gets worried about his staff is when he did not hear laughter in the halls of the church office. Laughter is an indication that the staff is having fun together and not taking life too seriously. If you don't hear laughter, you're going to hear gossip. Laughter is much better.

Most church staffs do church together. Nothing else. That is not healthy - they need intentional times when the church approves (and funds) the staff going out on the company clock to do something memorable together: bowling, watching a movie, painting pottery, playing golf (if you like chasing a little white ball) or frisbee golf, playing softball or flag football, going fishing or sailing, etc. You get the idea. Do something that does not involve church. That will the staff something to talk about for months (years?) to come that does not involve "talking shop." Give your staff something else to remember - not just last week's worship and Bible study. After all, church is very stressful - giving your staff permission to play will reduce the stress and give them good memories and a pleasant shared experience. You'll never regret it.

That leads to the church at play. I know a couple of churches that intentionally shut down their doors on Sundays for the entire church to go on a retreat over Labor Day or Easter. It's the same principle as above - give the church members something to remember, an experience to share that is out of the ordinary. Going through seminary I worked for a large hospital company - 7000 employees. Each year during the state fair, the company rented a large tent, provided free food (served by top management), and gave away free admission tickets to the state fair to all employees and their families. Many churches do a picnic once a year and that is very healthy.

Most churches know that fellowship is a key component of a healthy church. Most churches view fellowship as punch and cookies after a Sunday music function or the Wednesday supper. Sorry to burst your bubble, that is not fellowship - that is a church program (church programs are quickly becoming a "four-letter word" to me - more in another post). The best fellowship invovles getting away from the church buildings - do something out of the ordinary and out of the four walls of your church. Get out, go away, make memories, take pictures, and have FUN!

Lead On!
Steve

Churches as Businesses

2010-12-01T09:17:00.000-05:00

Every so often someone will tell me that "the church is not a business and shouldn't operate as such." Just as frequently, I get the comment, "the church really is a business." So, which one is correct? Well, let me say unequivocally, both are right. Here's why and why not.

Churches are businesses in that they have the same basic building blocks of a business - every church has:

operating budgets
staffs
"products" (in churches it is "intangible religious benefits" in IRS terms)

Churches are not businesses in that they have a different purpose

Their goal is to give to people, not get from people
Their goal is empower people to give away more to other people

The foundational structure of every church is business-like. The programming of churches is not necessarily business-like. However, I need to clarify one area there where churches should be more like a company: evaluation.

Churches shy away viscerally from evaluating their programming. They hide behind the phrase "but if it helps just one person, it was worth it." After 35 years in church work (I worked in a Christian bookstore as a teenager), I feel that churches must evaluate almost everything they do. They can't hide behind the trite phrase of helping just one person - I do not believe God honors that (or better said, God blesses even more those ministries that are regularly evaluated and improved). The church today must evaluate its staff, buildings, and programming.

Staff: many churches do an acceptable job of evaluating staff but it is frequently a look back and not setting goals for the future. Staff (from the pastor on down) need to be assessed on what they did in the past 6 or 12 months against goals that were established for those staff. Too infrequently bosses fail to set expectations for staff so that there is nothing against which to measure the staff. Then you have the hard part, staff that is not performing need to be encouraged/mentored if they have potential. But if there is no chance that a staff member is going to succeed in your church's environment, then that person needs to be terminated. Termination is very hard on everyone but in the long run it is beneficial to the rest of the staff and the church. In the words of Spock from Star Trek, "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." Pruning is hard, but it leads to greater growth in the next season.

Building: this represents sunk costs. A church has already built and paid for those bricks and mortar. But the evaluation should be, "is what this building was originally built for still a viable option or should we change the building to meet future needs?" Buildings can be retro-fitted (for a price, yes) for needs that the church leadership feels is coming up. Do not be wedded to the past "just because we've always done it that way." Years ago I learned how the new anti-termite pesticides work: the chemical inhibit the termites from shedding their old skin when they outgrow it. Thus, the termites strangle inside their old skins. Don't let your church do that - change your skin as often and necessary to keep the church from killing itself.

Programming: by far, this is the most politic- and emotion-laden area of church work. People have invested their own blood, sweat, and tears in their pet ministries and feel that any mention of cutting them is a threat to them personally. Evaluation is not acceptable and they play their trump card almost immediately - "God is using this ministry." My grandparents decided that a car was better than a horse and buggy; my parents decided that telephones are better than letters; my generation decided that computers are better than typewriters; the next generation is totally committed to the internet (which is replacing just about everything!). Change is painful but evaluation is an absolute necessity if a church wants to grow or not lose ground.

Evaluation is a matter of opinion - not everyone will evaluate the same program or person the same way. Church leadership needs to determine how the evaluation will occur and how the results will be implemented. That cannot be explained in a blog - every church has a unique culture and that culture must form part of the decision-making/evaluation process. But please heed this note of warning: to do nothing, to not evaluate things on a regular basis, is to ensure that the church will continue its present track with no heed to the future of the church. If you want a biblical example, read Acts 15 when the church in Jerusalem struggled with whether or not to permit Gentiles to be part of the church. Enough said.

Lead On!
Steve

Why Do Churches Continue to Exist?

2010-11-09T16:36:00.000-05:00

I can prove that God exists: Is there a church in your neighorhood? If so, then God exists.

Let me explain. Most churches (about 90% and maybe higher) are so poorly run that if they were a for-profit business, they'd go out of business within a matter of months.

churches don't have a business plan,
the leaders don't generally understand finances,
CEOs don't want to know who their major customers are,
the employees typically give things away rather than ask customers to pay for things,
even the customers expect to be given things just because they say they're a member,
and so on - you get the idea

Churches are bad businesses. They don't get the concept of running like a business and most don't want to even have the term "business" associated with them. Churches have all the trappings of a business: employees, customers, and transactions (tangible, intangible and financial) between the parties. But churches still don't want to operate like a business: market focus, strategic staffing, and ROI on physical assets.

See, if God did not exist, almost all churches would go belly up within six months. Because God exists, God keeps churches afloat despite all human endeavors to mess things up by operating "like a church." So, because churches continue to exist, God exists. Case closed.

Lead On!
Steve

Resources, Insources, and Outsources

2010-11-07T18:56:00.000-05:00

Several years ago, Dr. Al Sutton of the 6th Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, spoke to a group of church administrators. D. Sutton used the biblical text of Jesus feeding the 5,000 men (or about 25,000 men, women, and children). It was getting late and the people were hungry. The disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away. The disciples wanted to outsource the problem but Jesus insisted on "insourcing" the situation. Then the disciples said they didn't have any money and Jesus replied, "what resources do you have and lets see how we can use that." Dr. Sutton thanked us administrators for putting up with pastors who want to imitate Jesus by insourcing problems and by telling the finance people to just use whatever you've got (without fully knowing what there is to begin with). I'm not doing Dr. Sutton justice with this brief paragraph, but you get the idea.

Every day Christians (and non-Christians) ask God to make personal problems go away. If the issue will only disappear, then there won't be a problem, right? We even throw Jesus back at God, "If we have faith the size of a mustard seed, God will solve everything." God wants us to deal with issues - not run from them. God wants all of God's disciples to get involved, to get our hands dirty, and to "insource" problems. God doesn't outsource - God uses you and me. BTW, I'm not talking about medical, ethical, or legal problems - those have tangible consequences and are a matter of much prayer; sometimes God does intervene in human events in miraculous ways to cure diseases and take care of situations far beyond our powers and require divine resources. But what is within our control, God wants us to confront and deal with directly - not push aside.

Next, Jesus asked about the resources available. All too often we tell God that we don't have enough; that if he'd only provide more we could do more; that the problem is too big for our meager resources. Jesus isn't about what we have - he's about what God has. I don't like it one bit when God tells me to start out on a project when I know that I don't know the way or have the material goods to finish - I even tell God about the parable of the king who went to war without counting the cost. Invariably God tells me to keep going and trust him. I know it sounds corny and trite, but it is true (about trusting God for daily needs - not daily wants).

So here's my stewardship lesson for all who read this - all Christians must get involved using every bit we've got. Asking God to take the issue away won't solve anything. Problems are opportunities for God - stop telling God to take some issue away that you don't want to deal with. Next, use all the resources (time, energy, money) to address the opportunity at hand. As you're in the middle of the issue, you may be surprised to see God at work and multiplying resources more than you thought possible. Or it may be like the disciples, only after the event is over and some time (hours, days, or months) has passed, will you be able to reflect on that event and see how God was at work. But rest assured of this, God is always at work!

Lead On!
Steve

Legal Software on the Cheap

2010-11-02T15:50:00.000-04:00

I found a neat website the other day (actually, it wasn't me - my wife told me about it after she went to a class for grantwriters; if you're interested in her services, contact jenniferklaw@gmail.com).

Techsoup.org provides 501(c)(3) organizations with dirt cheap software. MS Office 2010 for $24 (Excel, Word, Outlook, etc). That's a lot cheaper than anywhere else I've seen. They have a whole host of other software products such as Blackbaud, Adobe, etc. (probably about 30 different titles).

Check them out and see if you can get some current software on the cheap for your organization. They'll think you're a hero (and you can thank me later).

Lead On!
Steve

Personnel as a Percentage of the Entire Budget

2010-10-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

Every year the question comes up, "Is the personnel budget too big?" Some people actually mean, "Are we paying the staff too much?" and that is a question that hurts. In reality, it shows the ignorance of the person asking the question more than anything - they have no idea what their staff does. But more often than not, the intent of the original question is concern over the size of the staff (number of employees) and is that cost appropriate for our church. Here are some figures that I gathered from my local colleagues regarding their church's 2011 personnel budgets:

40.00%
53.58% - does not include food service or custodial personnel
48.00% - does not include custodians; church also pays $400,000 in debt service
54.00%
47.80%
52.60%
55.76%

From this data, you can tell the personnel team, inquiring church members, and curious onlookers that a range of 40%-60% is within the "normal" range. Feel free to use this info and share it with others - it might help you from those who feel the staff is paid too much or the staff is too big.

BUT, the real question is, "How much staff do we need to do what we want to do?" That is a completely different question and it is too deep to unpack here. However, I do want to wade in ankle-deep.

Most church staffs grow organically - that is, stafff members are added progressively every year or two as the church grows. This is the normal and customary route. Oh, we need someone to help the youth minister, hire a part-time middle school coordinator; our seniors are feeling neglected, hire a retired minister (he can use the income) to take care of the seniors; our current custodians aren't cleaning the building well, hire another one.

Let me suggest a better method - strategic growth. Strategic growth is more painful in the short run but far more productive in the long run. Because of the time needed, cuts in staff that result from this, and the ensuing time needed to educate members and implement the new structure, I suggest that churches only do this at most every five years.

Strategic growth, in a nutshell, is when church leadership (ministry council, elders, etc.) looks at the "five-year plan" that every church should have. Simultaneously, the council gets a conservative estimate of income for each of the next five years. With those two pieces of info, the council decides what is the #1 goal for the next five years (that thing, without which, the church would cease to exist) and then funds that with staffing, programming, and building money. The council then decides what is #2 and funds it appropriately and so forth until the estimated money runs out.

When the council has run out of money to fund its strategic plan, all other items on the priority list are cut. That means that some staff will be cut, some buildings may not be built or may be renovated, and some programs and ministries will no longer be done. That is going to please some members and anger others - this is where the hurt and pain come in. You're not going to please everyone, but you will please God as the church uses its resources (staffing, building, and members' time for ministries) in a strategic method.

A lot more can be said about this but I think you get the idea of where to go from here. I do feel that if strategic staffing and programming is implemented, you'll be able to look back and be amazed at how far how fast the church went.

So, next time someone asks, "How big is our personnel budget?" return the question with one of your own, "Are we spending personnel dollars in the right way?"

Lead On!
Steve

Fishes & Loaves with Kiva.org

2010-07-26T11:56:00.000-04:00

Last Christmas the church staff did not give each other white elephant gifts. Instead, the money that we would have spent on buying knick-knacks for each other was pooled for a total of $450. We then went online at the Christmas party to Kiva.org which is an organization that makes micro-loans (loans of $1,000 or less per person) to people in third-world countries. These individuals have been screened by a local organization to determine the worthiness of what the individual plans to use money for - usually to fund a small business whose profits will repay the loan, provide income for the person's family and reinvest funds back into their business. The default rate on these loans is less than 2% which is far less than loan defaults in the US. At the party we selected some individuals to receive our gifts and sent the money on its way.

Periodically I get an email from Kiva.org informing me of the status of our loans: the person is now fully funded, the person has begun repaying the loan, or the person has completely repaid the loan. In the seven months that we've had money with Kiva.org, all of the money that we originally loaned has been repaid and we've loaned others some money. In the past seven months we've had money paid back to us which we then loaned to others so that we have now loaned a total of $875 - yes, that is a "fishes and loaves" story.

This is a neat way to appeal to younger generations to get them involved in specific generosity events. They can actually see a picture of a lady in Ghana or Paraguay who received the money and track how she is using it and repaying it. Kiva.org is not a church or religiously affiliated organization, but they are changing lives around the world. BTW, all of the recipients of our church staffs' money have some form of religious connection in either their name or in their bio - this is our small way of helping Christians around the world.

Lead On!
Steve

Business Books

2010-06-09T13:18:00.000-04:00

Why don't ministers read more business books? There are some classics out there by gurus such as Tom Peters, Peter Drucker, and Jim Collins. There are lesser known authors or newer authors such as the Heath brothers (right now I'm reading their book, Made to Stick - great stuff). Popular business books from the past few years are very readable and enjoyable.

If I could, I'd challenge every minister to read one business book for every two books he or she reads on theology or church life. Think outside the box! After all, a minister is the CEO of a corporation. An aside, a minister once told me that the church is the only organization in the world where the customers (who pay the bills) are also the stockholders (who control the company) which leaves the staff in the middle.

So, please read some business books. Here is a sample:

Me, Myself, and Bob by Phil Vischer (story of the rise and fall of Veggie Tales)
In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters (a management classic)
Made to Stick by Chip & Dan Heath (communicating your message)
Switch also by the Heath brothers (how to bring change to your organization)
Good to Great by Jim Collins (and the 30-page monograph dealing with non-profits)
How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins (how to detect and stop the decline of your organization)
Y-size Your Business by Jason Dorsey (not read it yet but gets rave reviews about including the next generation of 20-somethings)
and too many others to count but this list will get you started

Lead On!
Steve

Getting around the FDIC cap on insured bank balances

2010-06-09T13:01:00.000-04:00

About three years ago, a new financial service came available which addresses the issue of the FDIC cap of $250,000. This service, known as CDARS (pronounced like the tree), is explained in full at www.cdars.com. Some banks have purchased this service and some have not; check with your bank to see if it participates. In a nutshell, this is how it works:

• Your church buys a certificate of deposit (CD) for a little less than $250,000 (in order to have any interest earned included in the $250K cap).
• The CD you purchase is actually a CD in First National Bank of Peoria (for example). In turn, First National Bank of Peoria buys a CD from your bank for the same amount. These two banks are cooperating in the CDARS program and have just exchanged money that is fully insured through FDIC.
• You buy as many CDs as you want, all from different banks around the country, to cover your financial assets. The maximum amount you can invest in CDARS is $50 million (I don’t think that’s a problem for anyone).
• The CDARS program does several things:
   o It insures as much money as you want to have covered
   o It invests the church’s money through one financial institution so you get one bank statement (which means you don’t have to deal with a dozen banks and their statements)
   o You earn interest at the going CD rate (which is very low right now – about 1% per year – maybe it will go up soon?)

This is how my church puts this in practice
• My church has a cash balance of about $1.8 million (not unusual for a megachurch)
• We purchased 12 CDs for $100,000 each (that $1.2 million plus the $250K insured through our bank covers the bulk of our demand deposit balance)
• These CDs are laddered so that one comes due every month.
• All interest earned is put into the church’s checking account (which is added to the church’s financial statement and pays for the operations of the finance office)
• Each month our bank notifies me by email and I sign and email bank a document approving the next CD purchase – it is all handled electronically
• This church has a line of credit of $1 million. Because there are severe penalties (invasive of principal) for early withdrawal of a CD, the church will tap its line of credit should there ever been a financial need. Then, we’ll pay back the line of credit as CDs mature each month.
• My finance committee members were not aware of this program and several of them took it to their companies!

If you have questions or want someone to talk with me about this, I’ll be happy to help.

Lead On!
Steve

Change on the Ground

2010-05-17T10:04:00.000-04:00

In an earlier blog, I referenced that a predictor of the economy is the amount of loose change you can find on the ground. Good news - in the past two weeks I've found 36 cents! (a quarter, a dime, and a penny)

Does this indicate the economic turnaround is here? Does indicate I've got good eyes? Does this indicate people are careless with loose change? Does this indicate I've got good luck in looking down at the right time? All of the above is the answer - probably more dumb luck than anything!

Lead On!
Steve

Change

2010-05-17T10:01:00.000-04:00

I heard it last week from my financial assistant: of the reported revenues for the prior week (total of $56,000), around $29,000 came in the offering plate. That means that about $27,000 came to the church outside the offering plate: in stocks, online gifts, mailed in offerings, etc. This is a change: for years churches felt that the offering plate was their primary source of revenues. Well, I can document that as of last week, things are noticably changing - only 52% came in the offering plate.

That is huge for churches. Church financial leadership must understand that the way of giving and supporting church work has already changed. If churches are not on the "change bandwagon," then they are leaving some financial gifts "on the table" and not in their offering plates.

So, what are you doing to facilitate giving to your church? Are you making it easy for people to give in new ways? Or are you still relying on the offering plate to provide 100% of your revenues?

Lead On!
Steve

Book Review

2010-05-07T15:56:00.000-04:00

Just finished reading "The New Context for Ministry: Competing for the Charitable Dollar" by Lyle Schaller. He wrote this at the end of 2001 and it was published in early 2002. In the book, especially in the last handful of chapters he makes some predications about the future of church economics. It is uncanny how accurate he was and is.

Schaller gives all churches (and non-profits) a warning shot across the bow about the way they've always done church finances versus the new economy and how they need to re-shape their church's finances. It is also hard to acknowledge that the church is not prepared for the future. What is worse, is that no one seems concerned about the future enough to do anything about it.

About once a year someone pulls the fire alarm in my church. It is always a false alarm. Everyone knows it is a false alarm. So, no one moves the exit; no one gets the kids out of the building; no one runs to investigate the source of the alarm. In this book, Schaller is pulling the fire alarm for churches because there is a real fire. Unfortunately, churches believe that "God will provide" the financial resources they need. Well, God will but the church must actively work and search for it.

I recommend the book (even though it is not particularly readable) with an emphasis on his recommendations at the end of the book.

Lead On!
Steve

A Penny Saved ...

2010-04-28T14:38:00.000-04:00

I just filled up my gas tank (for future history, today gas was selling at $2.759 in Richmond, VA). Whenever I get gas, I look around the ground for pennies. I didn't find any today. I haven't found any pennies (dimes or nickels) for several months. This is one of my indicators of the economy.

A few years back, when the economy was doing quite well, I almost always found loose change when I filled up with gas. It seems that in those days, it wasn't worth the effort to pick up pennies or nickels and people just left them when they were dropped. Not any more.

About a two years ago I noticed that there were fewer and fewer coins on the ground. About 18 months ago I noticed they were almost all gone and officially, in spring 2009 there wasn't any more loose lying around. Here's my prediction, when you fill up with gas (or go through a fast food drive through) and you see coins on the ground, then you'll know that the economy is back and healthy. Here's my second prediction, you really won't see those coins on the ground until about six to nine months after the economy has turned the corner.

What I'm talking about in the context of churches is this question, "When will people feel generous again?" For church economics, two things have to change:

The economy has to turn around in a visible, tangible way. Actually, as of right now (barring a major economic or terrorist event), the global economy is making steady headway out of the mires of 2008-2009. In about 3 months (summer 2010), the US and other first world countries will be on the financially-healthy rebound. But just because things are better financially does not mean people will be charitable or generous.
The second thing is that people have to feel financially-healthy in order to be generous. The feeling of angst that people have right now (will I have a job tomorrow?, will I have enough to pay my bills?, etc.) must be eased a lot before they will respond to church pleas to give more. Churches need to help educate members to get in a more personally financially-healthy place (Crown Ministries and Financial Peace University). When churches do that, then their members will feel more generous. It takes people about 6-9 months after the economy has turned around for them to feel charitable.

Two questions for you:

Are you helping people get their financial house in line with God's plan for their financial house so they can be more generous faster?
Or are you waiting till you see pennies on the ground as your indicator of when people are feeling more generous?

Lead On!
Steve

Jewish Philosopher Maimonides' View of Charity

2010-03-27T09:06:00.000-04:00

This comes from Louis Jacobs' the Book of Jewish Belief, page 185. One of the most reknown Jewish philosophers, Maimonides, listed eight levels of charitable acts. It is interesting to see how these are borne out by individuals and by churches today.

A man gives, but is glum when he gives. This isthe lowest degree of all.
A man gives with a cheerful countenance, but gives less than he should.
A man gives, but only when asked by the poor.
A man gives without having to be asked, but gives directly to the poor who know therefore to whom they are indebted, and he, too, knows whom he has benefited.
A man places his donation in a certain place and then turns his back so that he does not know which of the poor he has benefited, but the poor man knows to whom he is indebted.
A man throws the money into the house of a poor man. The poor man does not know to whom he is indebted, but the donor knows whom he has benefited.
A man contributes anonymously to the charity fund that is then distributed to the poor. Here the poor man does not know to whom he is indebted, neither does the donor know whom he has benefited.
Highest of all is when money is given to proevent another from becoming poor, as by providing him with a job or by lending him money to tide him over a difficult period. There is no charity greater than this becasue it prevents poverty in the first instance.

So, how is your church not just helping the poor, but preventing poverty?

Lead On!
Steve

Retirement - how much

2010-02-26T19:51:00.000-05:00

How soon you are able to retire depends on how much you have invested in your retirement fund. Whether you want to retire depends on whether and when you want to retire.

Cut to the chase - how much do you need?

Take whatever you believe you need to live on and divide it by 5%. The thinking there is that if you have $2,000,000 saved up, you can tap 5% of that per year to get $100,000 to live on (presuming that is the figure you want/need). Figure out what the figure you need to live on, then divide by 5%.
Remember that the figure you need to retire is going to be different than what you need in 2010 dollars - both to the good and to the bad.

When you retire your taxes will be lower (if you retire at or after age 65).
When you retire, you will hopefully have paid off your house and not have a mortgage to pay.
When you retire, remember that inflation will increase the amount of 2010 dollars you've calculated you'll need - project that out at the annual average inflation rate of 3% for the number of years left till you retire.

Okay, how much should you sock away each year? I've heard three different figures:

10-15%
14-18%
15% of your own money plus whatever your employer puts in. This is what Dave Ramsey says. Dave also says that you shouldn't count on Social Security and I agree with him. And what is the downside, if Social Security really does happen for you, guess what, you got some extra money!
Bottom line, put in 15% of your gross annual wages each year plus whatever your employer chips in.

If you can afford to put in more, do it. Put in as much as you can. After all, when you get your statement from your retirement fund, at some point I hope you'll be able to go to your boss and tell him that you're retiring and he can find someone else for your job - you're new job is watching the waves come in on the beach!

If you can't get to the 15% this year, then start and work your way up every year. When you get your pay raise, go straight to the Human Resources office or officer and increase your personal contribution to your retirement fund by 1%. After several years of doing that you'll be at 15%. Yes, it will affect how much you can have now to spend but you will also not pay taxes on those monies you're investing.
What funds to invest in? I'm not going to tell you. I'm pretty aggressive in my personal investing and so far it's worked out well. I did bail on stocks at the early stages of the 2008 recession and got back in to equities in early 2009 so I dodged some (but not all) of that bullet. Rule of thumb, invest your age in fixed income and the rest in equities. I do about half my age but as I said, I'm fairly aggressive and I monitor it regularly.

Who to use? Any one of the big boys. I personally like Vanguard but that is a personal decision because years ago I was at a meeting in Philadelphia. During the lunch at a local church, I was served tea by the wife of the founder of Vanguard. I was so impressed that a woman worth hundreds of millions would willing serve tea and water to guests of her church - I just knew that said a lot about the company her husband founded. So, I use Vanguard but other companies such as Fidelity, T Rowe Price, and Tiaa-Cref are also very good.

As Dave Ramsay says, "Live now like no else so that later you can live like no one else" - meaning, you'll be able to retire while they are still working!

Lead On!
Steve

Group Decision-making

2010-02-15T09:53:00.000-05:00

I was asked to speak to our church's "Emerging Leaders" class about decision-making by groups. Specifically, there are three questions to answer:

Why teams or committees in the church make decisions?
How teams make decisions?
How and why decisions are made by teams or committees get passed on for further approval?

First, full-disclosure: I work in a Baptist church. Baptists believe in democracy - my mom said that the truest expression of democracy, warts and all, is in a Baptist church. Members (actually, only those present) get to voice their opinion regardless of how much they've contributed to the church financially, how informed they are on the subject, or how much the result of the decision will affect them and their family. Everyone gets a voice - and that is very good and very bad.

Rather than digress into an explanation of the very good and very bad (which pretty much everyone can figure out for themselves), let me speak to these three questions.

Why do churches have committees to make decisions?

The Baptist church is a democracy: as explained above, decision-making is shared by the church. Now, the entire church cannot decide everything so it delegates some decisions to committees. Some decisions are made by the committees and some are passed on (see question #3). Sharing the burden (or blame) helps unify the church.
"The Wisdom of the Crowds:" providing a venue for people with different life experiences to share their wisdom can help make decisions more informed and thus have better results. I frequently remind my committees that "right now we're operating from a basis of ignorance and getting more information will help us make a better decision." Decision-making from a base of ignorance is never good - get as much knowledge and wisdom as possible.
Corporate buy-in: having as many people as reasonably possible in the decision-making process will mean that later on, those decision-makers can be "emissaries" to others who question the decision. It also means those decision-makers will support the decision verbally and financially when the time comes for them to speak out (or else they'll be viewed as hypocrites and not trusted by other members).
CYA (cover your ass): this is not a polite term in church but it is exceedingly true. Smart leaders will use officially sanctioned committees to make decisions that might cause heartburn in a handful of individuals. Those individuals who have their own agendas will find it harder to fight the group. An individual decsion-maker can be hounded (sometimes mercilessly) by a person with an agenda. Individuals who question the group decision in a public arena can be asked why they did not go to the committee rather than air their grievance to the world.

How do teams make decisions?

The best decisions made by groups are by consensus. Sometimes a vote necessary for an official record. However, shy away from official votes when possible. Ask the members of the group if everyone is in agreement. Then, when you do need to take a vote, those official votes will have that much more power because members are willing to put their opinions in the record.
Decision that are made by split or almost split decisions are not valid. Decisions should have a clear majority (at least 66-33) in order for them to have full support of the committee. Then, the committee must share and explain their decision with others so that there is further and continued buy-in.
Point of clarification: some decisions should be made by a person for one of several reasons

Expediency: there is not enough time to have an official meeting. In those cases, if the decision is minor then the leader can make the decision. Sometimes a leader may want or need to consult one or two others for their input but ultimately the decision will be made by that person.
Leadership: "follow we" is not what Jesus said. Leadership is given to us by God. Sometimes leaders just need to make a decision and get out there and lead. Leadership is not "finding a parade and jumping out in front of it." Leadership is realizing that sometimes people are following you and sometimes people are chasing you - sometimes at the same time! Leadership is a topic for another blog.

How and why decisions that are made by teams get passed on for further approval?

Authorization: some committees are not authorized to have the final say in an issue. A team will pass on their decision with a recommendation to the next group in line when they are required to do so. The next group may or may not follow the prior group's decision and/or recommendation.
Publicity: having a decision made by the entire congregation or a very large group provides the opportunity to "sell" or "market" the decision. That way, more people will be aware of the decision, can tell others about it, and when the time comes, can support it financially.
Tricky issues: matters which could affect a member or group of members might need to be dealt with in an official capacity (depending on the matter and the people it affects). Some people accept negative news better than others; those who do not accept bad news are well-known and when a decision involves them, a group decision can help (see CYA above).

All that being said, let me tell a story that happened in a church. A certain member had a major contract with the church which annually cost the church over $40,000. I wanted to put that contract out to bid and I was authorized to do so but I knew how news would be received. I asked the church's Finance Committee to "order me" to put this out to bid (see CYA). Four companies bid on it and that member's bid came down 35% even though it was the same contract and two other bids were almost identical. I was authorized to make the final decision but I asked some elders in the church to help with the decision. They realized this was a tricky issue and they asked the Finance Committee to make the decision. The Finance Committee wrestled with this for over an hour before giving it to the member. The result is that about a dozen church leaders felt that this member was taking advantage of his church and his influence waned. The right decision was made, the member was put on notice that his prior actions were unacceptable, and the church got a $14,000 discount on an annual contract.

I need to go now, the contractor for a small renovation project needs me to make a decision. I'll handle that one myself - no committee need get involved!

Lead On!
Steve

2010 Church Economic Recovery?

2010-01-15T11:37:00.000-05:00

All indications are that in spring 2010 the US economy will begin to show positive economic signs after almost two years of constant negative news. Of course, if there is a major event (terrorism, natural disaster, etc.) then all bets are off.

This news of a long-hoped for economic turnaround is good news for churches. But churches and other non-profits must be aware that their economic turnaround will not happen in spring 2010. It may not even happen in 2010.

When the US economy began going south in early 2008, people began to protect themselves financially. They paid off stupid debt (that's everything except mortgages, student loans, and reasonable car debt), cut up credit cards, began saving more, and gave less to charity, including churches. People have been in this financial belt-tightening mode for two years now. They've gotten used to eating Taco Bell and not Ruth's Chris (well, maybe they'll splurge once or twice a year for a special occasion). We've learned what we can cut out of our lives and still have a life. And those cut backs include giving to church and other charities.

So, when the US economy does begin to turn-around and people begin to feel a little more financially flush, will they be generous with charities. No, not immediately. I think we're dealing with a required change not only in the economy but also in the American psyche. It will take time for people to feel comfortable in donating to non-profits. People are going to have to feel secure in their jobs and in their financial well-being in order for them to feel generous.

I estimate that the church's economic turn-around will occur about six to nine months after the US economy. That means it probably won't happen until Christmas 2010. That means that churches are going to still struggle financially during 2010. That is a great reason for churches to tighten their own belts and cut out things they are not vital to their mission. You know, get rid of all those "sure would be nice" ministries that only use up financial and human resources and add to a church's "mission creep" (when you lose focus on your main thing and get sidetracked).

So, buckle up for a bumpy 2010. I hope I'm wrong. If I'm wrong and you did buckle up, guess what, you'll have some financial leftovers ready for 2011! Happy New Year, 2011!

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Resolutions 6

2010-01-04T09:02:00.000-05:00

The last set of financial resolutions for churches from Brad Leeper at Generis.com

9. Human need trumps brick and mortar

Pastors tend to like ministry and facilities large. People like church to feel small and relational. Pastors understand how facilities are tools to reach more people. Most people, however, are less concerned about the facility and more concerned about human need. It is the new normal now to include the human element in vision expansion projects. Church planting, multi-site, a clinic in Africa, homeless ministry in the community, and similar high human touch elements are increasingly expected in major projects. Human investment validates the construction.

A colleague worked with a client’s vision expansion project that had nothing to do with any construction undertaking. Every investment dollar flowed boldly to planting churches around the city. The multiple of annual income raised was incredible! A clear connection on how personal giving reduces human need throws gasoline on generosity.

10. Free yourself from the past. Your church members have

The recent Barna report on giving in 2007 repeated the same theme from prior years. Just 5% of American adults tithed. The most generous segment, evangelicals only topped the charts at 24%. The numbers have remained steady over the decade. We are anemic as a church in prompting generosity.

Trends in giving, however, are shifting more radically than ever before. For those of us passionate about the local church, Barna sends up a bright warning flare. People are changing how they relate with the church. No longer content with standard church interaction, they are “expanding their circle of Christian relationships beyond local church boundaries.” People increasingly give their money to organizations other than the church.

I served a client this past year that had small groups unofficially connected with their church in multiple states. This strategy was not intentional nor were these groups even supported by the church. The groups emerged from a meaningful interaction with the church podcast ministry. These groups gave generously to this church without a hint of request by the church.

There is an increasingly sophisticated donor in an ever increasing competition for the faith dollar. A challenging economy will accelerate the competition. Many donors fail to connect how their attendance at your church translates into giving practices to your church.

If inspired, motivated, and simply prompted, however, people would still rather give to their church. Our silence leaves them uninspired, unmotivated, and believing that we have no need of financial resources. The church that shifts generosity dialog and practices to better match the shifting patterns will receive substantial resources.

Conclusion

As we consider ministry plans for the new year in the midst of economic uncertainly, understand the urgency of making adaptations to your giving practices. You will find the process engaging, energizing, and incredibly meaningful to your people. They will be transformed with an amazing collaboration with their investments and God’s call on your church.

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Resolutions 5

2010-01-04T09:01:00.002-05:00

The next set of financial resolutions for churches from Brad Leeper at Generis.com

7. Potential larger gift donors need pinpoint coaching and encouragements

As leaders, we hear an outstanding vocalist and we encourage them to move into the music ministry. We find a young leader gifted as a communicator and we prompt them into ministry options. Yet, we find a person with financial capacity to give large sums and we go into silent mode. Churches that coach and elevate the gift of giving contribute vast resources for Kingdom work. Rather than showing the rich man favor, we actually raise the bar of discipleship for them and release enormous sums toward those things that stir the heart of God.

Most potentially larger gift donors are often paralyzed about their giving. They often are ill-equipped to know how to give, where to give, and the mechanics of making wise gifts. Appropriate financial guidance can multiple a gift to your church while legally minimizing tax liabilities. Our government tax code subsidizes our giving.

Although people can earn huge dollars, they are not automatically inclined to know how to give wisely. A wealthy person who understands how much is enough can substitute giving for lifestyle and release untold resources to valuable ministry needs. Churches that disciple high capacity donors multiple vast amounts of resources.

8. Leaders must model sacrificial giving

We cannot lead people where we ourselves are not going. Our people are hungry to view authentic leaders living and giving in the context of faith. Leading by example inspires. How we model and appropriately demonstrate generosity can be tricky. It is done with integrity and humility in generous churches.

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Resolutions 4

2010-01-04T09:01:00.001-05:00

The next set of financial resolutions from Brad Leeper of Generis.com

6. The church must intentionally build greater trust with its people

Most church giving, especially project-driven giving, is in direct correlation with the trust account balance with its people. How often and how creatively can you build the trust connection that gives people instant freedom to say yes to a spiritual investment? Your people might love the primary teaching pastor. They most certainly love the people of their church. Significant trust comes from neither of these sources. Shaping confidence is a neglected art.

· No bank account replenishes itself automatically after a withdraw. So too must church leadership constantly make trust deposits.

· How can we increase our trust account?

· Tell people frequently how their financial gifts are being used.

· Teach how they are building treasure in heaven.

· Celebrate generosity at each offering.

· Help people understand how financial accountability is a big deal in your church.

· Maintain an open atmosphere about your finances.

· Unapologetically spend money on an annual, independent audit and proclaim the results of the clear audit. Make audit copies available in your lobby.

· Leaders appropriately share how they give.

· Send a thank you note to a household after their first gift to the church.

As we swim in these economically turbulent waters, consider more radical moves to build trust.

· Stop ineffective ministry even though you will take hits. People are having to adjust their budgets by stopping spending that they would rather not stop. Model for them how to adjust spending patterns.

· Redeploy budget line items to more practical human needs. Food banks, justice ministries, fighting child slavery, mercy ministries and other such works are perceived as far more important than operating expenditures. If the economy worsens, you will need to support some in your church to ride out the storm. Consistently building trust accelerates generosity.

Lead On!

Steve

Financial Resolutions 3

2010-01-04T09:00:00.000-05:00

The next set of financial resolutions for churches from Brad Leeper of Generis.com

5. Churches can still raise financial resources for major projects if …

Churches that successfully raise additional funds for major projects make an audible from classic campaign approaches. Donors are eager to give to the right projects if we adapt our methods from past practices. People eager to give generously look for certain qualities in a project before giving. Their decision making grid is radically different than even just a few years ago.

· Generous people look for more specific benchmarks and ask much harder questions in search for validation of the project.

· Does the project make sense? Is the reason to give sacrificially clear and compelling?

· Has the leadership thought this project through? Has the leadership done due diligence? Just because the pastor loves this project has little bearing on my love for the project.

· Would my investment directly help people? Buildings do not inspire me.

· There are far more attractive projects outside the church that appear more meaningful to me. Just because I attend church here does not mean that I automatically buy into your project.

· Does this project help the poor?

Give a change of pace from predictable practices to foster generosity. Even though much of my work centers on capital campaigns, I fight hard to keep those two words from my interaction with clients. Most of my clients call their effort a “mission expansion project” or “vision expansion project”. Stewardship is replaced by generosity. Vision casting and telling gripping narratives begin months in advance not compressed into a five week package. Print media is replaced with moving video work that is viewed repeatedly on YouTube.

The traditional three-year giving period for a mission expansion project can be shortened. People are increasingly skeptical about long-term commitments. A fast growing church can actually be hindered with a long giving season. Churches that have made adjustments to converse with a new kind of donor still cultivate significant resources for their vision.

Financial Resolutions 2

2010-01-04T08:58:00.001-05:00

The next set of financial resoutions for churches from Brad Leeper of Generis.com

3. Conversations must move beyond stewardship to generosity

With all due respect to the biblical concept of stewardship, the term itself is passive, hard to understand, and boring. In the secret places of the heart, people do not long to be good stewards. They do long to make an impact. To be a difference maker. To be generous to the point of giving up something that is good in exchange for something that is better.

Churches that celebrate generosity become more generous. Churches that are silent about generosity become zealous about cutting expenses. I have lived in that cutting expenses season. Experiencing generosity is much more fun. Try a vocabulary shift in 2009. Replace stewardship with generosity and unpack the stories about how the generosity of your church changed lives. Watch your giving flourish.

4. Churches must speak more intentionally about finances

Economically tough times create intense static in the minds and hearts of your people. Consider that we have been accustomed to a consumer driven lifestyle accompanied by $3 cups of specialized coffee and the internal confusion hits decibel levels too loud for even 18 year old rockers. Where do your people stand in juggling financial realities? According to a USA Today article May 2008:

· 9 out of 10 consumers in their 30s are in debt.

· 45% of respondents in one survey said they had too much debt to think about saving. Do we think the answer is any different about their generosity?

· 20% of adult in their 30s are still paying college loans.

Another source reports that Americans now save, on average, less than 1% of their income. How can we expect people to give generously when their margin is already so razor thin? Be daring in your coaching. Teach people how to get out of debt. Teach them how to save. Inspire them to live above the roar of our consumer-driven machine.

When I perform a giving analysis for a client, it is very typical to receive a list of regular attending households (OK, relax. I do not ask for names) with over 50% of those households having giving nothing in the last year. I have had pastors tear up when they realize that they are the number 2 top donor in the church. Your people are not as up to speed about finances as you think they are. The church that preaches and teaches about sound, biblical financial practices will create a long-term culture that gives abundantly to match its compelling vision.

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Resolutions 1

2010-01-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

These financial resolutions are a great way to start the year. I didn't write these resolutions - Brad Leeper did in www.coop.org (Brad is Generis Senior Strategist and can be reached at brad@generis.com). Here are Brad's (and mine) financial resolutions for churches for any and every year.

Whether whispered silently in our heads or energetically wrestled through in leadership meetings, economic fears challenge churches. We offer hope and meaning to our communities and a world growing more restless in finding truth. What a terrible price to miss authentic ministry because we lacked financial resources, especially when our neighbors may be driven to their most open spiritual moments in years because of their personal financial stress.

As we move toward 2009, the financial uncertainties force us to ask the most penetrating questions about stewardship that we have asked in decades. Churches can be abundantly resourced during the most challenging times. How can your church position itself to maximize financial resources even in troubled fiscal climates? Growing and courageous churches should consider these 10 issues in preparation for the coming year.

1. A bold vision with meaningful results will rarely be underfunded

Now is not the time to shrink back from pursuing your neighbors in need. Even in the midst of personally challenging time, donors still want to make a meaningful mark on others. Internally, there is always that personal drive to live beyond ourselves and influence others. The church that vividly tells its story and challenges Christ-followers to live beyond themselves attracts financial resources.

Evidence shows that in down economic times, many church members do not treat giving as an expendable luxury item. They are inclined, however, to become far more selective in their giving outlets. The church that consistently and creatively articulates a compelling vision and celebrates the successes will attract giving in hard times.

2. Conversations about giving must move beyond stewardship toward spiritual formation

Generosity is a spiritual issue of the heart. A person cannot move toward spiritual maturity until he or she understands that “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Our culture works overtime to convince us that there is no correlation between our faith and our finances. A first-time reader of the New Testament could not miss the plentiful teaching about our faith directly impacting how we live not only now, but also how we build our treasure in heaven.

In conversations with pastors, I am constantly amazed at how fearful these leaders are in shepherding people in the area of finances. Spiritual leaders yield far too easily to the myth that is it inappropriate as a pastor to interact with people about their possessions. Certainly, we would not give preference to the rich man as admonished in James 2. But we must not be passive about teaching how the incorrect image of money can prompt wanderings from the faith. (I Timothy 6:10)

The last frontier in American Christianity is the conversation about money. Spiritual transformation’s last obstacle is our wallet. Asking for money without the backdrop of spiritual formation will hit minimal financial results. The church that aligns spiritual formation and money will never lack. One cannot help but to give generously if there is a vibrant connection with their faith and finances.

Lead On!
Steve

Copper Gutters

2009-12-21T06:10:00.000-05:00

Years ago there were only two kinds of gutters: steel and copper. Because steel rusts, everyone used copper. Copper does not rust - it gets a nice green patina (remember the Statue of Liberty - she's made out of copper).

My church has about 1540 linear feet of copper gutters plus another 1000 linear feet of copper downspouts installed over a fifty-year span. A few months ago I got the idea of saving money in the long run by installing a gutter helmet so that I don't have to pay for gutter cleaning. So I priced a copper gutter helmet - total cost for a copper helmet: $80,000! By the way, you can't install an aluminum helmet on a copper gutter because copper and aluminum have some sort of chemical reaction to each other.

After picking me off the floor, the sales rep said that he could install "lifetime warranty" aluminum gutters, downspouts, and helmets for the entire church for $55,000. So, for $25,000 less, I can get brand new stuff plus a warranty. I don't have $55,000 to install new gutters. I do have about $5,ooo to $10,000 each year that I can apply to the new gutter system. That's what I'm doing - over the course of about 5-7 years, I'm going to install new aluminum gutters starting with the areas that are in most need of the gutters due to the amount of leaves they collect.

We're off to a good start, too. I've already done one critical area and as soon as possible into my new budget year I'll do another critical part. The first part that is already done cost $6,000 but I got $612 dollars back when I sold the copper gutters and downspouts to a scrap metal dealer. I've got one more area that is critical to do and then the rest will be done as I am able - they are not critical but necessary. Here are several benefits to replacing the gutters:

We save on the cost of gutter cleaning
We get a new product with a lifetime warranty
We get a better product because of the helmet
We get rid of a theft hazard - eventually someone would steal our copper gutters
We get money back from the sale of the copper

Lead On!
Steve

Change the Future

2009-12-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

This morning I made a presentation to the church's strategy council. Actually, the church treasurer, church finance committee chair, and I made the presentation. I'm deeply grateful to them for making the time and having the passion for this presentation; I also appreciate the pastor inviting us to make the presentation.

What I said is that I view the three of us as the proverbial canaries in the coal mine - we're not shouting fire in a crowded theater but we are warning our colleagues and friends about the future of the church's finances.

My worst-case scenario is that in ten years we'll look back at 2006, 2007, and 2008 as the golden years. In ten years, at the present rate, we will have closed some of our ministries and laid off several staff. In ten years we'll begin survival mode.

Unless we increase the conversation about money things will get worse. We need to talk about tithing, stewardship and generosity on a regular basis from the pulpit, our website, and our written pieces. We also need to open up the ways that people who already want to give to us can give to us. We've put in barriers so that people can't give to us - shame!

Within two years we need to increase our revenues by $1 million (a 30% increase) in order just to sustain what we are currently doing. If we want to fund the dreams of the future, then we have to receive even more income. Let's talk about money - anytime you talk about something, two things will happen. Those who don't like what you're saying will leave and those who do like it will step up to the plate. If you don't talk about it, you're ignoring the gorilla in the room.

We have a very good church with very good leaders. But great dreams need great leadership. My request to my colleagues and fellow church members is that all of us need to step up our leadership. Yes, we will get shot at, but that is leadership - just ask the President of the US. We need to look beyond our past and gaze at our future. We need to set our sights on how we can lead (and fund) this church to greatness.

Lead On!
Steve

Advent Sundays

2009-12-03T08:50:00.000-05:00

From the list below (see "Christian Advent") there is a ready-made outline for the four Sundays of Advent.

On the first Sunday, the church can focus on the Christian concepts at the manger (peace, love, joy and hope) and what those mean to us in the form of Christian education and implementation of that knowledge.

On the second Sunday, the church can focus on the animals at the manger (donkey, cow, sheep, and camels) and their attitude of uncomplaining service and how we as Christians should imitate their humble service to God.

On the third Sunday, the church can focus on the people at the manger (shepherds, wise men, angels and Mary & Joseph) and how they worshipped a new-born baby and only Mary really, really knew the full story (Joseph had to trust Mary). How does the church today really, really worship God and is it worthy of Him?

On the fourth Sunday, the church can focus on the cities of the Christmas story (Nazareth, Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Babylon [where the Magi came from]) and how the church using evangelism and fellowship to reach out to those people who do not know the Christ story.

Each Sunday, one part of the mission of the church, one part of the Christmas story. There are so many aspects to this concept that ministers have a wealth of material. But please, keep it simple - God's revelation through Jesus is not complicated but it difficult. Don't try to make the Christ-story easy and complicated.

Lead On!
Steve

Christian Advent

2009-11-30T12:07:00.000-05:00

This blog is not financial in nature - just spiritual.

Advent is the time of the Christian calendar that is a time of mental and spiritual preparation ("waiting") for Christmas - the anniversary of the birth of Jesus the Christ. Many churches have the practice of lighting candles during the four Sundays before Christmas and then, on Christmas Eve, lighting a fifth candle at the center of the wreath holding the other four. The fifth candle is always the Christ candle.

As I sat in worship yesterday and watched a couple light the first Advent Candle, I commented to my daughter, age 10, about the different symbolisms Christian worship has attached to these four candles. The most popular are the Christian Concepts:

Hope
Joy
Peace
Love

But we also have the people associated with Christmas:

Shepherds
Wise men
Angels
Mary and Joseph

Another version is for the animals present on Christmas Day:

Sheep
Donkeys
Cattle
Camels

Yesterday I thought of a variation I'd never heard before - the cities in the Christmas narrative:

Nazareth - where Mary & Joseph were living
Bethlehem - where Jesus was born
Jerusalem - where Mary, Joseph, and the Magi passed through
Babylon - where the Magi came from

The church has five main functions:

education (see in teaching the Christian concepts),
worship (seen in the actions of the people at the nativity),
service (seen in the humble but important work by the animals),
evangelism and fellowship (seen in the cities where so many people live).

Here is a direct link from the purpose of the church directly to the Christmas story. But too many times we focus only on one aspect when the story is so rich with other details. As Christians we need to dig deeper into this story - God's incredible story - to see the phenomenal nuances.

Lead On!
Steve

First Impressions - part three (and last)

2009-11-28T14:42:00.000-05:00

This is a list of physical first impressions. There are whole books devoted to the Sunday morning volunteers. Let me give a brief list of these “personal” first impressions:

Your website was created by people for people. Make sure it is saying the right things about your church. Most visits to church websites are by church members seeking information about church programs. But does your site give non-members what they need (including a positive first contact)?
You may have police directing traffic in the street near your main parking lot. Are they courteous or surly? Make sure they understand they, too, are part of the image of the church.
Some churches have greeters in parking lots helping drivers find spots and directing them to a door. That is an excellent way to impress people – especially if those greeters accompany young families all the way to the welcome desk.
The front door greeters should have assigned doors – they’ll get to know the people coming in their door and vice versa. Make sure the greeters have the latest church directory so they can call people by name – it will really impress guests who see people greeted by name.
The Welcome/Information Desk volunteers should be extroverts off the scale: warm, friendly, and anxious to go out of their way to help people. Don’t let these critical volunteers burn out. Heap praise on them but also let them know how much is riding on their actions.
Parents want to know their children are safe – volunteers need to explain the safety (a better word than “security”) measures in place. Print up a card explaining the details – what to do when you drop off your child and how to retrieve your child. The Welcome Desk volunteers can explain these details en route to the classroom.
The Welcome Desk volunteers also need to walk with guests to their Bible study (Sunday School) room or the worship center. But the volunteer also needs to explain to the guest how to find their way out of the building after worship (many church buildings resemble rat mazes) or perhaps the Welcome Desk volunteer can ask a member sitting nearby to “host” the guests.
Names are powerful - guests will notice as they walk with their Welcome Desk volunteer when she greets passing members by name. It says a lot that these volunteers learned members’ names and greets each one by name.

You get the idea. If you don’t, then ask a fellow administrator to visit your church as if for the first time and give you a report with this checklist. Don’t shoot the messenger – she’s trying to do your church a favor by giving guests a great first impression of your church. After all, you only get one chance to make a first impression – make it count.

Lead On!
Steve

First Impressions - part two

2009-11-28T14:40:00.000-05:00

Lawn care
o Is your grass cut and leaves raked on Thursday or Friday, especially during your growing season? Do your trees have mulch beds? Every three months, walk the entire church grounds with your lawn care provider – let him know your expectations clearly.
o Dead trees and dead branches are dangerous to people and cars – cut them down. It’s cheaper than a lawsuit.
o Trees are great – they help the church’s “green” image and provide shade. But, get trees with color (maples, cherries, crepe myrtles) instead of pines – people driving by will notice colorful trees. Avoid oak trees, they’ll tear up your pavement and sidewalks. Ask your city nursery for advice – you might even get trees for free (I did).
Flowers and color beds
o You need to have something in your color beds year-round (unless your winter flowerbeds are covered in snow). Flowers say a lot to guests – get flowers with lots of colors. I guarantee it will get attention.
o Get rid of bushes in islands because they block the driver’s view as she looks for an empty spot. If you want bushes, put them against the building (and use azaleas or hydrangeas).
Marked entrance doorso Are the doors you want guests to enter clearly marked? If you have multiple buildings, how do guests know what door to come in? Perhaps some clearly visible wording over the door like “Main Entrance” will cut through the confusion.
o Regular attendees may enter through “short-cut” doors. If a guest follows a member into one of those side doors, the guest is immediately lost – not a good first impression. Help guests know which doors to use (and which not to use).
Appearance of entrance areao The main guest entrance lobby should be busy with people and signs to convey an image of an active, on-mission church but not cluttered with “funeral parlor” furnishings. Make the first impression an attractive, warm, colorful visual experience.
o Word of caution – the furnishings in your lobby telegraph the demographic your church seeks to reach. Your grandmother’s furniture, while pretty, will appeal to, well, your grandmother and not 20-somethings. What does your lobby say about your target audience?
Welcome desk location
o Your Sunday morning welcome desk should be visible instantly and not crowded by workers talking to each other about Saturday’s ball game. Get the desk as close to the primary guest entrance door as you can – maybe even out on the sidewalk! If guests don’t know where to go, they’ll go somewhere else or go home.
Interior church signage
o Is your interior signage coordinated? Is it in clear and large print? Is it visible down hallways? Some churches have color signage for different buildings or different age levels such as green carpet and green signs for elementary school classes. Just don’t make the mistake of changing your signage style with every new building.
o New signage is expensive – but it can have a “wow” effective both on members and guests. Use color – it is very effective in all areas of your church buildings.

Lead On!
Steve

First Impressions - part one

2009-11-28T14:32:00.000-05:00

Years ago a survey said the number one thing church guests remember about their first visit was (drum roll, please), the landscaping. That’s right – the church lawn. Not the sermon or the greeters but something most members take for granted (until the weeds take over). Guests speculate that if a church takes care of its grass, it is probably doing a good job on other things such as worship, childcare, etc. So, use this list to help ensure you are giving a good first impression.

Street signs o Make sure there are street signs on the corner(s) nearest your building. If not, ask the city or county to install signs on your corner (not one of the other three). Make sure people can clearly see your church is at the corner of Elm and Main St. and not the other church at Elm and Second St.
Exterior church signs
o Ensure that the road-side signs with the church’s name are uniform. Some churches have signs of different architectural styles (Gothic, Baroque, Mission) reflecting the committee in charge at the time. Nice lighting is critical.
o “Keep it simple, stupid” works for church signs, too. The signs should have “just the facts” – after all, there’s only so much fine print you can read at 35 mph. Somewhere the church’s website should be on the sign.
o Signs with changeable lettering are not bulletin boards but are marketing tools – the messages must be a positive reflection on God and your church. Pithy messages are cute but what are you communicating?
Parking lot entrance signs
o Can drivers see quickly (at 35 mph) where and how to get into your driveway?
o What about coming in at night, in snow, or rain – is the driveway marked with reflectors, poles, or other visual aids?
Parking lot maintenanceo Every other year get your parking lot re-striped. Well-marked lines help people park cars properly. It also cuts down on “creative parking.”
o “Creative parking” can lead to fewer actual parking spaces and to a bad impression to guests. It is also a hazard if it blocks access to emergency vehicles.
o Some first-timers come to an evening performance. Light the parking lot so they can see how to get back to their car and continue their positive experience after the special event. Of course, residential churches need to consider the impact of lighting on neighboring houses and turn off parking lots at a reasonable hour.
Guest parking
o Ensure your guest parking (not “visitor parking”) is near the main entrance doors. Label these clearly so members don’t park there.
o Some churches replaced “handicap parking” with “Special Needs/Sr. Adult Parking” so police cannot ticket non-handicap vehicles. It serves the same function but gives more flexibility.

Lead On!
Steve

Photos on Websites

2009-11-03T18:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'm not a Web guru - far, far from it. But I keep getting asked this question, "What is a policy or guideline for churches regarding posting pics on their Websites and other communications materials?"

Here's my answer: I don’t have a policy on this matter but I do have some guidelines. To be completely clean and clear, you should have a permission slip from every person in every picture. In reality, that is impractical at best and impossible at worst. I use judgment – use pictures of your members only for in-house slide shows and publicity. Any publicity on the Website or mass-distributed materials (postcards, brochures, etc.) has purchased stock photos. Those pics are better quality and you don’t have to remember every person in every pic on your site in case a person dies or moves away.

I want to believe that difference is sufficient to ward off any problems yet is a reasonable solution. What do you think?

Lead On!
Steve

Financial Leadership Mistakes Churches Make

2009-10-26T13:21:00.000-04:00

Low Expectations of members - Are people living up to our low expectations? How high do churches set the bar or are we just too scared that people will go away? In reality, people are more willing to live up to higher standards if they know what they are.
o Set the bar as high as God sets the bar. To do less is to undermine God.
Low Teaching by leadership of biblical financial principles - Many church leaders are scared to talk about money because they don't know how to. They don't know how to talk about money because they're scared to talk about it. They've got to get off the merry-go-round. Find a God-model for your talk on biblical financial principles – “just because the church needs it” or “because tithing is biblical” is not sufficient.
o Make biblical financial teaching a regular practice. As with all habits, once you do it enough, you’ll get used to it and do it regularly. However, get a God-model to challenge your members.
Low Accountability of church leaders (both paid and volunteer) - Who holds church leaders accountable for what they spend and how they spend it? Do those expenses advance the Kingdom or are they just frivolous spending?
o Can church members get a copy of the church's monthly financial statements without hassles? If your church's checkbook were posted online, would you be embarrassed at any expenses? Did they spend church money wisely? I have a saying that church money should work hard twice - once when the donor earns it and again when the church spends that money.
Low Transparency of church finances - Do churches have fuzzy numbers? A church’s monthly financial statements should be in a readily accessible place and questions should be answered clearly and completely.
o Make your financial statement accessible. Answer all financial questions to the satisfaction of the person asking the questions.
Low Leadership and Management – Leadership is guiding the church toward a vision that captures most people’s imagination and gets them on board the ship. Management is ensuring that you have the right people in the right places on the ship and rowing in the same direction. Leadership is about positions; management is about people.
o Every five years do strategic planning so that you know what positions your church needs in order to accomplish its mission and vision.
o Then, find the right people to put into those positions even if it means letting go of some great staff. If they can’t lead the church in its strategic plan, then help them move on so that your church can move forward.
o This means that every few years you’re going to kill some neat programs that no longer fit into the church’s mission and vision and you’re going to let go of some fine friends and colleagues. But you’re the leader of the church – decide what is most critical to the future of the church – its mission or keeping people and programs that distract from the main thing.

Lead On!
Steve

Email to a Colleague at my Church

2009-10-23T17:31:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd share an email to a fellow minister. My goal is to get ministers and members to think "outside the financial box" and think if new ways to get money for church needs, especially capital needs.

For a couple months I’ve heard you all getting info about new drop down backboards for the gym. The latest figures I have are costs in the $24K range which is way out of anyone’s budget and designated funds. That got me to thinking about asking the Upwards parents if they would be willing to make a gift or contribution to this project.

In my years as a church administrator, there have been countless times when people wanted to make a gift and asked me what are some pressing needs. My experience is that people want to give back to a ministry or the church that has blessed them or helped them. Unfortunately, the church too often feels that “we can only do it if we pay for it” or “that’s rude to ask people for money.” Both of those concepts are wrong – we shortchange people when we don’t give them the opportunity to give. People want to return the favor, we just need to be open to it, especially to be open to new ways of paying for the church’s needs. Having been in church business for my entire life, I can see a distinct pattern downward in the typical way of funding church – the offering plate is drying up.

I’ve been in multiple conversations with members of the church’s financial leadership team, Ministry Coordination Council members, and the senior pastor on the subject of developing new streams of revenue for the church. The senior pastor asked an MCC member and me to make a presentation to MCC in November on the why and how of new revenue streams. This is a subject that is gaining importance and visibility within our own church.

The Minister of Recreation and I partnered recently on a basketball camp that was a tremendous success and we split the revenue – some for the Rec Ministry and some for the building maintenance (to fix holes in the walls from “stray” basketballs). This is a great model for how we can move forward to fund needs of various ministries and the buildings. I would like to propose that you consider yet another stream of revenue to help meet a need of the Rec Ministry – the backboards.

The idea is that for two of your eight Saturdays during the Upward games, you will distribute a half sheet of paper with the message below. The message is not threatening or guilt-inducing. Instead is makes known a need and gives people the opportunity to respond if they want to. It tells them how they can help a ministry of the church and thanks them for letting us be a part of their life. This is not a solicitation (which our church’s by-laws won’t let you do), it gives people an chance to respond. I truly believe that it is right, ethical, and scriptural to give people the chance to express their gratitude without any form of compulsion. To not give people a chance to give is to limit people and God.

In future years (or even this year), I can easily see the gift request during Upward to be for ministry opportunities in a church in Richmond, or with one of our foreign mission partners, or another recreation oriented need beyond our walls. Perhaps alternating years (between our church and another need) or even doing a split offering in the same year for two separate needs? There are many opportunities and tremendous needs out there – the real question is how can we think creatively to help meet these needs.

Will the Rec Ministry be willing to distribute this message below to its parents? Who knows what God will do through this. Thank you.

New Basketball BackboardsThe Recreation Ministry would like to install four new basketball backboard so that future Upward Basketball seasons can have better equipment. These goals will hang from the ceiling and replace our aging and hard to move floor level goals. Each new backboard costs about $6,000 or $24,000 for the entire project.

Gifts to this project are being accepted by Recreation Ministry if you would like to help. Checks can be made payable to the church and write “basketball backboards” in the memo line and given to a staff member. These tax-deductible donations are not required – it is our joy and privilege to have your child in the Upward program. Thank you for entrusting us with your most precious gift. We hope you and your family have enjoyed it and we hope to see you next year.

Lead On!
Steve

Six Generations In Church - Part 2

2009-10-15T13:15:00.000-04:00

The trend is for each successive generation to want to be more actively involved and see tangible results. They want control over when, where, and how each dollar is spent. Younger generations want to know, see and touch where their monies are go AND they want their monies to go to causes that change lives in direct, tangible ways. Several secular non-profits are successfully reaching younger generations who feel they can (and must) “save the world.” The questions for today’s church are:

Remove Roadblocks
o How does the church change its governance, bylaws, and policies to facilitate giving?
o How does the church develop new channels and methods of giving that are in line with younger generations’ patterns?
Tell Your Story
o How does the church communicate (using Websites, social networking, and even printed media) its programming opportunities and building needs in ways that appeal to younger adults?
o How does the church encourage financial support from non-members and non-attendees who believe in our causes?
Be Creative
o How does the church (ministers and members) change its mindset from funding programs and activities through the annual budget to each one being self-funding?
o How does the church expand the types of revenue streams so that we have a diversified portfolio and are less vulnerable to risk? See “The Baker’s Dozen.

The Baker’s Dozen – Ways to Increase Church Income
1. Undesignated Gifts
2. Wills, bequests and planned giving
3. Grants and foundations
4. Endowments, reserves, investments, and interest income
5. Fees for service
6. Rental income
7. Event registration
8. Cost recovery
9. Special offerings
10. Capital campaigns
11. Designated gifts
12. Sale of materials or resources
13. In-kind services

Lead On!
Steve

Six Generations in Church - part 1

2009-10-14T07:30:00.000-04:00

Due to increased longevity of our populations, churches have six generations alive at the same time and actively involved. Churches must deal with six different attitudes toward architecture, furniture, expectations of staff, worship styles, what to wear to church, giving, going “green” at church, etc. All churches face this logistical nightmare. As this generational shift relates to giving, there is a chasm between the mindsets of younger and older generations. Whereas the oldest generation is known for giving to appeals, Generation Y prefers to give to causes.

GI Generation (1901-1924)
o They are trying not to outlive their money
o They prefer to give to institutions
o They have very high trust levels of institutions and organizations
o They are the Greatest Generation that fought World War II
Silent Generation (1925-1945)
o They are trying not to outlive their money
o They like to give to institutions
o They have high trust levels of institutions
o They grew up in the shadow of World War II and the prosperity of the 1950s
Baby Boomers (1946-1964)
o They are in their peak giving years
o The like giving to designated funds and causes
o They trust organizations moderately
o They grew up during the 1960s and Watergate
Baby Busters (1965-1983)
o They are beginning to be major givers
o They really like designated giving
o They have low trust levels of government and organizations
o They grew up during Iran-Contra, Jim Bakker and PTL, and plenty of other scandals
Gen Y or Millennials (1984-2002)
o They are just beginning to give
o They prefer to give designated gifts
o They have low or no trust levels of organizations
o They grew up with the Web and know they have access to anything and everything
Gen Z or iGeneration (2003- )
o They are too young to have a view on giving right now
o They will probably give significantly to designated causes

Lead On!
Steve

Money-Saving Tips

2009-10-08T13:52:00.000-04:00

Flourescent Lights

Change your incandescent lights to compact flourscent bulbs and remove all incandescent lights (except those you need for formal rooms with lamps).
Change your flourescent tubes from T-12 to T-8. T-8 tubes use 30% less power but put out as much or more light as T-12 tubes.

Motion Sensors

Install motion sensors which turn on lights when people walk into a room or down a hallway. While these motion sensors do cost to install, they will pay for themselves within a year or two.
If you need to phase in the motion sensors due to the cost of installation, start with hallways, then go to closets and bathroooms (where people frequently forget to turn off lights), and then go to classrooms and offices.

Lead On!
Steve

Strategic Budgeting

2009-09-29T09:19:00.000-04:00

It's that time of the year - church finances committees racing against the clock and sometimes against the staff and members to present to the church a balanced budget. In most cases, the budget looks similar to last year's budget with a few changes.

There are many ways to create a budget for the next year

Last year plus budget - take last year's numbers and add or subtract a certain amount or percentage in order to get a figure for this year's budget. This is simple, quick, and easy. That can be good but you've got to realize going into the process that you're taking the easy way out.
Zero base budget - this is more complicated and eventually more satisfying. Start with a clean slate for each ministry area (music, education, administration, missions, etc.). Then, plan and put a price tag on every event and activity you'll do next year. Don't leave out anything.
Strategic budget - this type requires a lot of financial and leadership backbone. Don't go here unless you're ready to lead. Like the zero base budget, start with a clean slate. Then, decide what part of your church's mission is "that which you cannot live without" - what part of your church's purpose is so integral to your critical path that should you not do that, your church will cease to exist. After deciding what is number one, then determine number two, and number three, etc.
Put everything on the table - remove from the equation all positions and people. Think rationally and not emotionally about what it takes to accomplish your church's mission and vision. Ask questions such as, "Do you need a senior pastor (or can you show videos from a mega church)?," and, "How many administrative assistants and ministers do you need to carry out each long-term strategic mission goal."
When you have settled on your number one priority, then determine how much money you need to fund the programs and personnel for that mission. Okay, now set money aside from your anticipated next year's revenues for that goal. Move on to the second goal, determine what it is and fund it appropriately with personnel and programs. Go to number three, four, etc. Do this until you run out of money (most finance committees can tell you how much money the church will recieve next year).
There, you've created a strategic budget. The nitty-gritty details of how the budget line items will come about are done through the zero-base budgeting process. That is the second step to creating a strategic budget. Zero-base budgets can be done alone but in the long run it will help the church more if they are done in conjunction with a strategic budget.

Here's the bad news. The financial leadership teams of most churches and the senior pastors are unwilling to develop a full-blown strategic budget. It requires a lot of time and effort. It may require terminating staff and programs that are loved by members. It can be very painful.
Here's the good news. A strategic budget of this magnitude only needs to be done every 3-5 years. That is about how often corporate America re-structures its management. Business wants to ensure they are going in the rigth direction for their organization and that they have the right staff to make it all happen. For the in-between years' budgets, you can rely on a zero-base budgeting process.
After all the behind the scenes work is done, church members will see what are the church's primary goals, how they are funded, how they are staffed and what programs will be done to make them happen. Members can talk about what their church is doing (and not just "being") and they can buy into the vision, both as volunteers and as donors.
Oh, how many goals should a church have? Probably no more than a handful (3 or 4) and each goal should have no more than handful of programs. Keep it simple, keep it focused.

Lead On!
Steve