Church Admin & Finance

My budget app snobbery provided fresh perspective on the simplicity of a personal budget.

Faith Community CRC in Beaver Dam, WI has always found meaningful and creative ways to connect to their community in mission. Recently this required the church to decide whether their next pastor would be full-time.

No, my actual thoughts aren’t on fire. Instead, here are my thoughts on the FIRE (Financial Independence Retiring Early) movement that’s picking up steam and making headlines.

“Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” You know these words because you've felt them. Overwhelmed and without recourse, you've remained open to the possibilities of what only God can do.

Connect the dots is magical—at least for someone like me, who barely managed a passing grade in high school art class! In my work this past year, I've been connecting the dots between churches and Barnabas Foundation.

In the past year since becoming Barnabas Foundation’s church communications director, I’ve realized many churches miss something critical that other Christian not-for-profits get. Let me share the secret. 

Few church members will receive fame and accolades the way Aretha Franklin did during her lifetime. But every believer, no matter how meager their circumstances, can learn a valuable lesson from her about important conversations with fellow believers and loved ones. 

So share my paycheck. That's the idea. My work -- my paycheck -- is directly linked to sharing with those in need in Ephesians 4:28 (NIV). But my paycheck? Sharing? Why is this so difficult to hear and even more difficult to do?

The uncomfortable truth is that something is missing if our prayers and serving and witnessing aren’t coupled with generous giving.

Jesus' agenda is radical because it orients us to God in the first place so that our living is shaped by God's priorities, instead of our own.