Episode 88: The Most Important Giving Stats that No One Is Measuring
Jan 27, 2021
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Rob Dupree and Michael Baker are joined by Meagan Brown, former pastor of stewardship. During their conversation, they discuss important statistical trends in giving.
Best Quotes
“Numbers tell a story and they mean something to God.”
“Numbers help us look at things through a navigational lens of where have we been, where are we at, and where are we going.”
“More important than the numbers or the data are the people who are attached to them.”
“Those who gave more than $5,000 in a calendar year were the ones who stepped up and continued to give and even gave in bigger amounts.”
“New givers is at an all time low.”
“We all feel connected when we see a transformed life that we got to help.”
“Are we being funded by a few or are we being funded by the masses at a good pace? And is this healthy or unhealthy for where we are at currently and for where we are trying to head?”
“Giving pattern changes allow you to know how to communicate better with those givers.”
“A new giver really needs to be communicated with at least 8 times in that first year with stories and opportunities of what the church is doing to encourage them along in their giving journey.”
Meagan loves to help people discover biblical financial principles for success. She received her Bachelor of Business Administration from West Texas A&M University in 2004 and went on to obtain her licenses for practicing retirement and financial planning. After 7 years of financial planning in corporate America, Meagan accepted a position as the Pastor of Stewardship where she spent 7 years helping to develop a Stewardship Ministry across a multi-campus, 10,000 member church. Meagan’s passion is to develop a culture of generosity throughout the church.
Episode 87: Is Pastoring a Sustainable Ministry?
Jan 20, 2021
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Rob Dupree and Michael Baker are joined by Matt Henslee, Pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church in New Mexico. During their conversation, they discuss the sustainability of pastoring, especially in the church, for years to come.
Best Quotes
“Small churches care about the mission of God and care about cooperating with other churches.”
“Even in the middle of nowhere, if there is somebody there, there is somebody that Jesus died for, and so they matter.”
“There are times that it can feel like small church pastors are overlooked, but to be honest a lot of us are OK with that.”
“God is still doing some of His greatest work in small churches in small towns.”
“At some point you are going to leave, and if you’ve done everything and haven’t been equipping people along the way, the moment you are gone is the moment everything is done.”
“You are not going to sustain in ministry if you are doing it all on your own.”
Matt Henslee was called to serve as pastor of Mayhill Baptist Church on March 12, 2017, and began his preaching ministry there on April 2, 2017. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Christian Studies with an emphasis in Church Ministry from Dallas Baptist University in Dallas, Texas in August 2006, his Master of Divinity (MDiv) from the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas in May 2017, and is currently pursuing his Doctor of Ministry (DMin) in Church Revitalization from SWBTS. Before being called to MBC, Pastor Matt served in a variety of roles in a variety of contexts for over 20 years. Matt’s heartbeat is for his local church, everyday evangelism, and encouraging pastors in the trenches of ministry in forgotten places. He lives to see churches grow not just in width, but in depth, as they live out their calling to make disciples. He is married to Rebecca Henslee and they have four daughters they adopted in March 2015, four dogs, and a giant elk head on the wall they named, “Cletus.”
Episode 86: Guaranteed Facebook Strategies for Small Churches
Jan 06, 2021
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Chris Abbott, President of Church Growth Agency and former Marketing and Creative Director at Guts Church and Guts Church Network. During their conversation, they discuss using social media for outreach and impact.
Best Quotes
“Social media is meant to be social. It’s about having a conversation.”
“Remember, whenever you are writing your Facebook ad and talking to a potential visitor, it’s really important to put them at the center of the story.”
“Features are about you, benefits are about them.”
“If you want to stand out in the news feed and not add to the noise, then you have to answer questions people are actually asking.”
“Facebook is constantly changing the algorithm to be able to serve people better.”
“Your goal is some kind of hook that gets people to stop scrolling in their newsfeed.”
“Tell them the action you want them to take.”
“The best thing to do with your church is to drop a pin on your church, draw a radius out for whatever driving distance is for your church, and then write that ad to one person.”
“If you say more than one thing, you say nothing at all.”
Episode 66: How Financial Health Increases Future Generosity
Dec 23, 2020
Note: As we wrap up 2020, we will be revisiting our most popular podcasts of the year. This week we are revisiting our conversation with Michael Martin.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Michael Martin, the President of ECFA, Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability. During their conversation they help pastors understand how givers view financial accountability helping them become more generous.
Best Quotes
“What are some ways that you can actually demonstrate and communicate the ways that you are accountable, not just saying it?”
“As pastors and church leaders, it is important for us to think through the standards we are going to follow when it comes to being appropriately transparent.”
“Today’s generation really does care deeply about accountability and transparency, so those are two elements we can’t overlook.”
“Being willing to provide a copy of your latest annual financial statements to anyone on request is a great practice.”
“As people are generous, another foundational standard to consider, is honoring giver expectation and content.”
“Generosity is becoming like the new evangelism.”
“As we are in a less-churched world, as people are looking in from the outside, they are paying attention to if our church is making the world a better place, and generosity builds that credibility.”
“We will find a lot more openness to the gospel the more generous our church becomes.”
Michael Martin became ECFA’s president in 2020. Both an attorney and a CPA, he had previously served on ECFA staff for nine years, most recently as Executive Vice President.Michael is passionate about helping churches and Christ-centered ministries maintain high standards of financial integrity through ECFA membership, as well as through addressing legal and tax-related issues. He is a frequent speaker on ECFA’s webinars, videos, and podcasts, as well as a regular contributor to ECFA’s library of ebooks and other written publications.He has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops across the country, and he has served as guest on webinars, videos and podcasts for numerous Christ-centered ministries and churches.
Episode 54: How to Become a Personal Fundraiser
Dec 16, 2020
Note: As we wrap up 2020, we will be revisiting our most popular podcasts of the year. This week we are revisiting our conversation with Scott Morton.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Scott Morton, international funding coach for Navigators, author, trainer, and speaker. During their conversation they discuss the topic of personal fundraising.
Best Quotes
“God’s will done in God’s way never lacks God’s supplies—but it requires a wise Biblical fundraising plan!”
“Social media is not a good way to have sustained long term fundraising for a missionary or pastor.”
“Just because a fundraising tactic works doesn’t make it right.”
“If God has called you to ministry, why would He not put people around you?”
“The main obstacle around the world is fear. Fear of what people might think, of offending, of losing friends.”
“There’s plenty of money out there in any culture, it’s just a matter of how to present a dazzling vision so people want to give.”
“Visibility is important, but asking raises money.”
“You must speak about money and you must teach about money year round.”
Scott Morton serves as International Funding Coach for The Navigators. For fourteen years, he led Navigator campus and marketplace ministries, where he worked with students, business people, and missionaries both stateside and overseas. Then, for 13 years he served as Vice President of The Navigators US Development Ministry. Scott is committed to helping gospel-workers succeed at funding their ministries—whether pastors, overseas missionaries or stateside workers. He also enjoys helping people grow in their spiritual journeys through small-group Bible studies and one-on-one mentoring. He is author of Funding Your Ministry (Navpress.com), Down to Earth Discipling (Navpress.com) and Blindspots–leading your team and ministry to full funding (Cmmpress.org). His new book, What the Bible Actually Says About Money—31 Meditations (www.scottmorton.net), has recently been released. It is a 31-day devotional on the topic of money and includes some surprises. He and his wife, Alma, live in Colorado Springs, and have two married daughters, a son, and four grandchildren. Scott’s hobby is birdwatching.
Episode 56: How God Uses Business People to Fund Kingdom Vision
Dec 09, 2020
Note: As we wrap up 2020, we will be revisiting our most popular podcasts of the year. This week we are revisiting our conversation with John Rinehart.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by John Rinehart, the Founder and Team Leader of Gospel Patrons. During their conversation they discuss the practical fuel of vision.
Best Quotes
“A gospel patron is the business leader behind the move of God that nobody knows.”
“The way the Son of God’s ministry moved forward was through partnership with generous people who were gifted differently but had to go all in and that’s how your ministry is going to advance Jesus.”
“This is how God works. He is always going to raise someone up to proclaim the gospel, and to partner with them He is going to raise up someone who a patron of the gospel, and when they come together God does explosive things.”
“If you are raising money consistently for your ministry, it is easy to think of the pie as limited or small. There are a lot of people who could be gospel patrons or would be had they had the vision.”
“God has enough money for you to do everything He wants you to do, and the money is in the hands of believers.”
“American evangelical Christians have enough money to complete the Great Commission in our lifetime.”
“There are lots of people in the church who think they should give more, who know they should give more, but just don’t want to.”
JOHN RINEHART is an author, speaker, and the founder of Gospel Patrons. His first book Gospel Patrons tells three stories from history about business leaders who were behind the scenes fueling amazing movements of God. His second book Giving Together is about how we become those kinds of people. John speaks widely at conferences and churches, primarily to business and ministry leaders.John has a business degree from Biola University and a Masters of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology. He lives in Orange County, California with his wife and two children. To learn more or to contact John, visit: gospelpatrons.org
Episode 45: How Does a Pastor Grow as a Generosity Leader?
Dec 02, 2020
Note: As we wrap up 2020, we will be revisiting our most popular podcasts of the year. This week we are revisiting our conversation with Zach Terry.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Zach Terry, Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church Fernandino Beach, FL. During their conversation, they discuss how a pastor can grow his generosity leadership.
Best Quotes
“Watching how the church engaged with my father as a very poor man all the way through being wealthy was a front row seat in education for learning generosity ministry.”
“If you have someone who is wealthy and able to bring their influence to bear on the gospel and the church, let them give.”
“When we approach our ministry as pastors, we have to think like missionaries and look at the culture we are in and reverse engineer how we can best present the gospel to these people.”
“Within the church, I began to think about the church as the Affluent, the Burdened, and the Comfortable.”
“I began to study the affluent as a people group and I realized that they fit every dynamic of a mission field.”
“The people who leverage gospel patrons best are the parachurch organizations.”
“I believe that if the church is doing it right, the church will fund the parachurch organizations or they won’t be necessary.”
“If we don’t have a vision broad enough for their generosity, they will find somebody who does.”
Zach Terry is a generosity catalyst. He is known for his ability to develop strategies that engage, develop and leverage high capacity donors for Christ-centered ministries. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, from which he received the Westminster John Knox Press Award. In 2016, he was honored as one of the Connect Faith’s “Agents of Change”. He has led churches in Kentucky and Alabama prior to his current post as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, FL. Most importantly, Zach enjoys family life with his wife, Julie, son Cole, and two daughters, Carly and Caitlyn.
Episode 47: How Can a Pastor Fix His Own Finances, So He Can Lead With More Confidence?
Nov 25, 2020
Note: As we wrap up 2020, we will be revisiting our most popular podcasts of the year. This week we will start with our discussion with Gary Montgomery.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gary Montgomery, Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky. During their conversation, they discuss helping pastors move beyond their own financial issues.
Best Quotes
“The most common thing I hear is that no one ever taught me what it meant to handle money God’s way.”
“We are on a financial journey and we need someone to guide us along the way.”
“God’s Word is always right, it’s always relevant, and it never changes.”
“As we understand God’s way of handling money, we grow in spiritual maturity and we become more effective disciple makers.”
“If He is not Lord of all that I have, is He really Lord of my life?”
“In our Compass groups, while no one is ever asked to reveal their financial situation, there is way the course orchestrates great relationships.”
Gary Montgomery is the Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky, Inc. where he teaches people what the Bible says about handling money and how to apply it in their personal lives. Over the last 17 years, Gary has invested himself in full-time financial discipleship ministry working with individuals, churches and businesses across Kentucky and nearby states. He has a passion for helping churches and businesses develop a culture of financial discipleship and generosity.
Gary joined Crown Financial Ministries staff in 2002 as KY State Director and formed Compass-Kentucky as a 501(C)3 non-profit ministry in 2010, as an affiliate of Compass-finances God’s way. Gary holds a Business Management degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He and his wife, Teresa, have been married for 34 years, have two grown children and reside in London, KY.
Episode 85: Best-in-Class Generosity Research Revelations
Nov 18, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Rob Dupree and Michael Baker are joined by David King, the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving as well as Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. During their conversation they discuss what statistics say about giving in 2020.
Best Quotes
“Religious giving continues to be by-far the largest sector within the charitable giving landscape.”
“Many of the stalwart givers in your congregation may be giving not only to your congregation but to a variety of other nonprofits.”
“We found that about 41% of congregations experienced a decline in their giving, but that means 59% were sustaining their giving or even 21% were actually growing.”
“The sharpening of vision has been one great outcome of the pandemic we are facing.”
“I wouldn’t be shy about being clear with your community about why you are a great place for them to invest on mission together.”
“Make a clear ask of individuals, but I would do it in a very contextualized way.”
“People who are committed to giving to their congregation are not going to cut that out of their budget until they have to.”
“In our survey, over 30% of congregations were supporting other congregations or nonprofits as new gifts during this season of the pandemic.”
David P. King is the Karen Lake Buttrey Director of the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving as well as Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies within the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He is a graduate of Samford University and Duke Divinity School. His Ph.D. in Religion is from Emory University. Having served local churches and national faith-based organizations, he is also fueled by facilitating conversations with faith leaders, donors, and fundraisers (of all generations) around the intersections of faith and giving. Trained as an American religious historian, his research interests include investigating how the religious identity of faith-based nonprofits shapes their motivations, rhetoric, and practice.
Episode 84: GoFundMe, Facebook, and Giving Tuesday Giving Strategies
Nov 11, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Michael Baker, the lead digital fundraising strategist at iDonate. During their conversation they discuss peer-to-peer fundraising and how to navigate it.
Best Quotes
“The more we can make it easier for the donor, the more likely they are to convert and actually give a gift.”
“Crowd funding campaigns are for something very specific. Everybody is driving to one particular page and there is one overall goal.”
“In a peer-to-peer campaign I want it to be for a unique cause, but I am going to invite individual members of the church to create a page.”
“Both of these models succeed best when leadership gets involved.”
“In 2019, Giving Tuesday raised $511 million dollars online.”
“The thing that makes Giving Tuesday campaigns work for nonprofits and churches is a deadline, a specific goal, and a matching gift.”
“We can’t assume that anybody hears our message the first time. We have to say it again and again and we have to say it on a lot of different channels.”
Michael Baker has been in the fundraising business for 17 years. He has worked for several agencies serving faith-based non-profits and has worked for World Vision US. He is passionate about helping non-profits reach their potential and impacting the world around them. Michael lives in the Dallas area with his wife and 4 children.
Episode 83: Using Big Data to Inform Generosity Strategy
Nov 04, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Andrew Esparza, the founder of Kingdom Analytics. During their conversation they discuss the topic of big data and how it can be leveraged for kingdom good.
Best Quotes
“As humans we tend to fear the things we don’t understand.”
“When we are working with churches, the first thing we want to do is define who is our community.”
“We look at the demographics of the community and compare those to the congregation.”
“When someone is walking into our door for the first time, how can we give them the best guest experience?”
“A lot of church plants want to know what the community they are going into looks like and how they can prepare.”
“About 80% of the churches we work with, the congregation tends to have a higher income than the community.”
Voted a Top 100 Marketing and Advertising Leader for 2020, Andrew Esparza comes from a background in the Themed Entertainment Industry. After traveling to over 50 countries he has gained an “eye” on the world and is able to approach projects from a big picture perspective. Andrew founded a virtual tourism company that utilizes aerial photography to capture immersive video. He has worked for companies that have designed and built everything from “tiny houses” to theme parks. He also has experience in the church world working for the largest high school ministry in the country at North Point Community Church. Andrew previously worked on the Real Estate & Design side of Visioneering Studios working on projects with budgets from $60K – $160 million. Andrew is the founder Kingdom Analytics, a company that has had the opportunity to help well over 300 Churches, Schools, Non-Profits, and Businesses better connect and understand their community, congregation, student families, or customers using advanced demography research and their unique access to 1000s of data points on nearly every American household. Andrew’s focus is in using creative problem solving and data to produce unique and memorable guest experiences.
Episode 82: The Presence of God and Generosity
Oct 28, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Vance Pitman, the pastor at Hope Church in Las Vegas, Nevada. During their conversation they discuss the power of God’s presence and how His kingdom ushers in generous living.
Best Quotes
“We all know He is faithful in calling us, what we sometimes don’t have is the confidence that He is also faithful in bringing it to pass.”
“My job is to pursue Him and find out what He is doing and where He is at work.”
“A lack of clarity is always an invitation to deeper intimacy.”
“God will use every decision, even the wrong ones you make, to shape you and write your story.”
“The bigger arc of the story God was writing was more important than the detail of that particular decision.”
“God can do more with His manifest presence in 5 minutes than we can accomplish in 50 years.”
“For us as the church to capture the wind of the movement of the Holy Spirit of God, we must be people who pray, we must be people who are grounded in the Word, and when we do that we see God move in power to expand His kingdom to the ends of the earth.”
“The Christian life is not me living for Jesus, but Jesus living His life in and through me.”
“In the midst of the toughest year in the last 50 years in America, our church has experienced the greatest year of financial generosity in the history of our church.”
“If you are going to be a pastor who leads your church to have a culture of generosity, you personally must be someone who lives generously.”
“When you obey God in the principles of generosity, you will be overwhelmed at the provision and the faithfulness of God.”
“God has always required a portion, but then sometimes God calls us to radical sacrifice and that is how God fuels His mission.”
“The primary call on your life is not ministry. The primary call on your life is intimacy.”
Vance Pitman is the Senior Pastor of Hope Church, a family of believers in Las Vegas, NV, who are focused on the mission of connecting people to live the life of a Jesus follower. As a seasoned church planter who has commissioned more than 50 churches in the western United States, he is also a national mobilizer for NAMB, and a national resource leader for The 6:4 Fellowship. Vance speaks across the country and all over the world to inspire people to join in God’s eternal, redemptive mission of making disciples and multiplying the church among every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. Vance resides in Henderson, NV with his wife Kristie, has four children and two grandchildren, and is the author of UNBURDENED: Stop Living for Jesus So Jesus Can Live Through You.
Episode 81: Generosity Strategy of Propel Church
Oct 21, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Nick Newman, Lead Pastor at Propel Church in Mount Pleasant, NC. During their conversation they discuss generosity ministry in the different stages of a church plant and how to start something you can build upon year after year.
Best Quotes
“When it comes to generosity in a church plant, there are four things: training, networking, actual funding, and then team building.”
“What you have to figure out early on is what works for where you are, but build the process for a few stages ahead in the game.”
“How am I preparing for the church to be financially stable after the wedding day?”
“Outside support for a church plant should always be supplemental not the source of your sustainability.”
“You need to prep your church early for the future.”
“Every single time you open God’s word is the opportunity to share vision.”
“As pastors and leaders, we have to do a better job of not making money so hard to talk about.”
“I wanted to teach our church financial principles that were biblically sound, but helped them understand that increase in the right way is biblical and that you’ve been blessed to be a blessing.”
“God doesn’t mind when you have stuff, but He minds when stuff has you.”
“What we consistently teach is equal sacrifice not equal giving.”
“Money talks will only be as awkward as you make them.”
Nick Newman is the founder and Lead Pastor of Propel Church in Mount Pleasant, North Carolina. He is the author of Bridge the Gap, a book designed to help communicators deliver sermons that lead to conversion rather than confusion. Nick also serves numerous organizations and pastors by helping them live better and lead better through coaching.
Episode 80: Maximizing Your Virtual and Social Engagement
Oct 14, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Chris Martin, former social media manager. During their conversation they discuss creating a long-term strategy for social media.
Best Quotes
“The entire Internet is social, not just the social media apps that come to mind.”
“How we use the social Internet is revealing about who we are and what we’re like.”
“One of the pitfalls we fall into is seeing online church as a sort of replacement for incarnational in-person church.”
“I’ve seen churches use the social Internet to create community, even though it may be a full substitution right now, they understand it’s not the same.”
“Because a lot of people just don’t understand social media statistics and how they are counted, I saw a lot of folks in ministry playing up numbers, caring too much about how many people watched the video.”
“I think Facebook is the most important social media platform in the world. It is that way because a third of the world – at least a billion people a month – are using Facebook.”
“When it comes to a church staff connecting with people, Facebook is probably the most effective use of your time.”
“I like to think of the Facebook page as a front porch for your church.”
“Continue to see digital ministry as supplemental not substitutional.”
Chris Martin just finished a 7-year tenure with Lifeway, where he served in several roles, lastly as the Social Media Manager for Lifeway and the General Editor for Lifeway Voices. He now works for Moody Publishers, where he helps create products and content alongside the trade books that Moody Publishes.
Episode 79: Is Your Church Brand Generosity Friendly?
Oct 07, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Lee Ann Martin, the President of Design373, and Nathan Gaddis, the Ministry Strategist for Design373. During their conversation they discuss why a church brand matters.
Best Quotes
“When we partner with churches all over the country and we start with social media, everything that we do will fall into one of eight buckets.”
“Social media and digital outreach for churches was always seemingly a luxury item pre-COVID.”
“If you’ve built an authentic brand of who you are as a church in the community, then they will be drawn to that.”
“A brand is not a logo. A logo enhances a brand. The brand is basically who you are and how that is communicated.”
“The brand is the day-to-day and it is the discipleship that happens.”
“You can be very purpose-driven in your brand or it can be done for you by default.”
“You can have the coolest logo in town as a church, but if who you are as a church isn’t saturating the community as much as your logo, then your logo is useless.”
“Don’t be scared of going after the people that are not yet there.”
“Shift your language to include the people who don’t believe the same things you believe without sacrificing your theology and belief systems.”
Design373 is a Digital Outreach Company for churches. All of our lives have changed since the arrival of COVID19 in March. This is especially true with churches. What was once often a low priority has now been forced to move to front and center! D373 works with churches to provide social media, web and digital discipleship options. They are helping churches all over the country navigate the current climate and make decisions that will strengthen their digital outreach options into the future.
Episode 78: What Is Happening In Stewardship Ministry Around the Globe?
Sep 30, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Brandon Sieben, CEO of Compass Global. During their conversation they discuss global resources, trends, and movements.
Best Quotes
“We’ve got a huge amount of passion for leadership, and specifically Jesus being the prime example to follow there.”
“We need the church to be successful to advance the Kingdom, including handling finances God’s way.”
“Our ministry’s vision is to advance the Kingdom by making financial disciples so that they can become free to serve Him, come closer to Christ, and fulfill the Great Commission.”
“When you are on the ropes, dealing with the pandemic, and having money issues, there is really nothing else to do but give it to Christ.”
“What’s unique around the wold right now is that they are playing offense and we are playing defense in America.”
“They are extremely bold on faith. They are serious about obedience. And they are aggressive on financial discipleship.”
“Let’s get back on offense. How do we get back to the basics – the Bible, Jesus, and discipleship?”
“To the outside world, the church has been largely silent on where God is in all this and what we should be doing as Christians.”
“Stewardship is managing your time, your talent, your treasure, and improving your situation financially. In discipleship the focus is clearly on other people and helping other people grow. Financial Discipleship is the evolution of stewardship.”
Brandon Sieben graduated with a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He also studied International Business at the Universidad de Alicante in Alicante, Spain and Latin American business and culture at the Instituto de Idioma Espanol in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Brandon is the former President of Allsteel and officer of HNI Corporation, one of the largest manufacturers of office furniture in the world. During his tenure at HNI Corporation (1994-2019), Brandon held multiple senior leadership roles spanning a variety of global and domestic businesses, markets, and customers. His broad-based business background includes creating and executing vision and strategy for growth and turnaround companies. Brandon also serves on the board of directors of Central Banc, Inc. in Illinois. Brandon was raised in a committed Christian family and married his high school sweetheart, Deb. They have three daughters Kay, Nina, and Georgia, and currently reside in Iowa City, Iowa. They have been applying what the Bible says about handling money their entire marriage and are actively involved in ministry in their local church and community. After nearly three years in a mentoring relationship with Founder and Chairman Howard Dayton, Brandon joined Compass – finances God’s way as its President and CEO in September, 2019. Brandon is excited to serve Compass in pursuit of its global vision to see everyone, everywhere, faithfully living by God’s financial principles in every area of their lives.
Episode 77: Serving Generosity for Your City
Sep 23, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Dino Rizzo, the Executive Director of the Association of Related Churches, also known as ARC. During their conversation they discuss how every church regardless of size, age, or resource depth can serve its city to the highest level.
Best Quotes
“Every community has a vulnerability and you have to discover what that is.”
“Is there something that God almighty put on your heart?”
“You want to figure out what type of outreach can you sustain over the long haul.”
“I think that some of the greatest outreaches I am seeing around the country right now are by smaller churches because they are a little more agile.”
“Outreach grows a church. Outreach helps you build a brand that you have for Christ and you have for people.”
“There are so many people around us today that have reduced opportunities.”
“There are people in your community who are struggling or who are experiencing trauma or pain. That is a place to start.”
“I believe in outreach, but I also believe in the span of care for the people in my own church who are hurting.”
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Dino Rizzo serves as the Executive Director of ARC (Association of Related Churches), an organization he co-founded which has planted hundreds of churches across the country. He is also the author of the book Servolution. In 1992, Dino and his wife DeLynn founded Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a church they pastored for twenty years. Today, Dino also serves as an Associate Pastor at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham. Dino and DeLynn have three incredible children.
Episode 76: Leading the 5 Types of Givers in Your Church
Sep 16, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Jeff Crook, senior pastor of Christ Place Church in Flowery Branch, GA. During their conversation they discuss launching a strategic discipleship pathway for generosity by uniting clear vision language and the five types of givers.
Best Quotes
“Everything we do is flowing out of our mission and our vision.”
“Over the years of ministry, I have been addicted to capital campaigns.”
“When we began to embrace a culture of generosity, it was like an evergreen tree.”
“For so long I would attach vision to building buildings.”
“We believe that God owns everything and we are looking for opportunities to be conduits of His blessings.”
“Generosity is more about what God wants for you than from you.”
“Generous living is increasingly representing God’s heart to the world.”
“Generous living is not an act we do, it is a way we live.”
Jeff Crook and his wife Becky live in Buford, Georgia, with their two children, Macie and Josiah. He became the Lead Pastor of Christ Place Church in November 2003. God has blessed by adding over 4,000 new members, and today Christ Place Church has a membership of over 8,000. During that time, Christ Place has celebrated more than 3,000 baptisms. Jeff is a graduate of the Baptist College of Florida and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served as pastor of four SBC churches since 1993.
Episode 75: The Art of Processing Church Trends
Sep 09, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Warren Bird, Vice President of Research and Equipping at the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA). During their conversation they discuss facts and trends, how to sift through them, and lead with confidence.
Best Quotes
“My role with the research side is to help identify best practices and other keys to greater effectiveness.”
“There is a direct research link between trust and generosity.”
“What new opportunities for the gospel does this information open up for me and the church I serve?”
“Churches with a greater emphasis on missions see higher financial giving per household in the church.”
“In 2000, only 50% of large churches said that small groups are central to their strategy of Christian formation and discipleship. Today, in 2020, it’s 90%.”
“You get bigger by getting smaller, by people finding their identity in a group within the whole.”
“Some churches have moved far beyond just going online, but figured out new ways to mobilize the saints.”
“Churches that were economically fragile going into the pandemic – this issue of church mergers is going to become much bigger.”
“Merging is often triggered by a financial issue.”
“There is a direct relationship between the more people volunteer in church, the more they give. The more people are engaged in a small group in church, the more they give.”
Warren Bird, Ph.D., is ECFA’s vice president of research and equipping. He serves ECFA by increasing the scope, impact and depth of our knowledge base while equipping ECFA’s members to apply what ECFA is learning through research. Warren is widely recognized as among the nation’s leading students, researchers, and writers about megachurches. As @lensweet recently tweeted, “No one knows more about megachurches than @warrenbird.” An ordained minister with a big heart for the local church, Warren has led in various pastoral positions, taught at several seminaries, and served most recently for 13 years at Leadership Network, overseeing their research department where they’ve released several dozen groundbreaking reports on topics like multisite churches, large-church compensation, church planting, and church internships and residencies. An award-winning writer, he has also co-authored 30 books for church leaders on topics like breaking growth barriers, healthy mergers, and pastoral succession.
Episode 74: Why Every Church Needs a Partner Foundation
Sep 02, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Bill High, the President of The Signatry, a global Christian foundation. During their conversation they discuss why every church needs an actual relationship with an institution known as a Christian Foundation.
Best Quotes
“So many times we see people who grow in spiritual disciplines, but the last area of discipline is how they steward their money.”
“When people recognize that God is the owner of everything, that’s when their lives begin to radically transform.”
“The idea of a Christian foundation is really the idea of a partner organization.”
“We want to inspire, but we also want to nudge people to action.”
“When churches have a partner organization like us, we can come in and provide some of that inspiration but at the same time provide practical suggestions for members in the congregation to take action.”
“Whenever we see people who make gifts of something other than cash that’s where we see one of the great impetuses to generosity.”
“Too many times I see pastors who think of themselves as like a retail store. They are waiting for people to walk in the door and to hopefully leave a check in the offering plate or give an online gift.”
“In the next four months, people are going to be making giving decisions that the church and the pastor could be a fundamental part of that would unleash a new realm of generosity and a new realm of discipleship for so many people.”
Bill High practiced law for 12 years before becoming the CEO of the The Signatry. As CEO, he has spent over 18 years helping families live simply and give generously. He specializes in coaching families, individual givers, and financial advisers regarding biblical generosity and family legacy. He and his wife Brooke have four children and two grandchildren.
You can learn more about Bill’s ministry here: www.billhigh.com.
Episode 73: Resourcing a Multiplication Movement
Aug 26, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Adam Flynt, Multiplication Pastor for The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, FL area. During their conversation they discuss how one church can resource a multiplication movement both locally and globally.
Best Quotes
“We wanted to follow Jesus into the world on His mission, so we’ve embraced multisite and we’ve embraced church planting and longterm missionary sending.”
“You need some depth on the bench to be a multiplying church. We’ve learned that’s not always as fast as the rest of the growth of the church may be.”
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
“You have to care for, and train, and equip the people for the work of the ministry.”
“Having a theology that is not just a program or an add-on, but it is core to who you are, is what shapes a multiplying church.”
“If multiplication is about your glory, it is for the wrong motive.”
“You will find ways to multiply that are right around you, that come out of relationships that God has put into your life.”
Adam has been a pastor for over twenty years. He is married to Kristen. They have two teenage children, Gavin and Sophie. Adam planted a church in St Johns, FL, before coming to the Church of Eleven22 where he now serves as the Executive Pastor of Multiplication. He gives most of his time to global church planting, missionary sending, and preaching. Adam has a doctorate from Reformed Theological Seminary, a Masters of Divinity Degree from Columbia Theological Seminary, and a finance degree from the University of Florida. Adam loves anything outdoors: surfing, fly fishing, hunting, and Friday mornings at the beach with Kristen.
Episode 72: How Generosity Personally Affects Us
Aug 19, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Kevin Washburn, founder of Clerestory Learning. During their conversation they discuss powerful principles in unlocking personal generosity.
Best Quotes
“Clerestory Learning emerged from my passion for teaching and learning, specifically my interests in curriculum and instruction.”
“Stories not only engage and inform us. They provide reference points for us.”
“Enthusiasm is contagious. Be excited about what you have to share.”
“Experience is necessary for learning but it is not sufficient.”
“The sermon sparks the possibility of learning, but the human brain has to do more in order to construct new learning and process those ideas in some way.”
“Anything a pastor can do to prompt processing post-sermon is going to be beneficial for learning.”
“Anytime you are striving for intentional generosity, let people prepare for it.”
“Those prompts help me as a giver get to a point where I am giving freely, joyfully, eagerly instead of a place of resentment and guilt.”
“If you are trying to help me build a life of generosity, it has to be a consistent message.”
“As pastors interact with people in regard to generosity, keep in mind that you are helping this person extend their influence as salt and light in the world.”
More than 30 years ago Kevin’s passion for teaching and learning began with a classroom full of fourth grade students, and then remedial reading adult students, middle school classrooms, and grew to include professional development participants and instructional leaders. Since launching Clerestory Learning in 2006, he has distilled findings from diverse scientific research fields, including neuroscience, cognitive psychology, and brain development, to identify educational implications and equip teachers for more confident, effective teaching. Kevin extensively researches various topics—learning, creativity, critical thinking, curiosity, grit and resilience, instructional design, neuroscience, reading, and writing—discovering and sharing their implications for helping students fulfill their potential. As a certified running coach, Kevin also explores the influence of physical fitness on cognitive function. Kevin has created the Architecture of Learning instructional design model and its professional development courses, authored the book, The Architecture of Learning: Designing Instruction for the Learning Brain, led the development of the Foundations & Frameworks reading program, and created the Writer’s Stylus instructional writing program and its professional development course. He enjoys traveling and developing relationships with fellow educators as a professional development instructor, conference workshop leader, keynote speaker, graduate professor, curriculum project leader, and educational consultant. He is a marathon runner and never misses a chance to try out the nearest Rails-to-Trail pathways.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Dan Zimbardi, executive pastor of Sandals Church. During their conversation they discuss revitalization and church renewal.
Best Quotes
“We prayed for years, maybe decades, for a parking problem.”
“When God shows up and opens a door for a church, have the courage to go through that door.”
“I felt a deep burden for the work of ministry and I wanted to spend my remaining days helping people to know Jesus and have a real relationship with Him.”
“They donated the property to us and that became the seed money and the idea of the ROGO foundation.”
“The foundation takes donations in to fund our training programs and to fund our merger/replant/remodel process.”
“Inside of Christendom there is a lot of talk about church mergers, rightfully so.”
“Start by educating yourself and your team. There is a lot of information out there about church mergers.”
“You need the right person to lead the merger, it may not always be the senior pastor or the executive pastor.”
“If you have a giving problem, you may have a vision problem.”
Pastor Dan Zimbardi has been the Executive Pastor of Sandals Church, one of the largest and fastest growing churches in America, for the past 8 years. In his time since coming on board, the church has grown into a multisite organization serving over 13,000 people every weekend at 11 locations – including 7 replanted churches. Dan is a recovering entrepreneur and corporate executive who has worked with some of the most dynamic brands in the world; including Google, Nike, and Burton Snowboards. Dan’s passion is to train and develop the next generation of leaders both in ministry and the marketplace.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Mike Prior, president of Financial Planning Ministry. During their conversation they discuss legacy giving and turning non cash items into dollars that fuel ministries.
Best Quotes
“There is an opportunity for our believers to be generous through that other 90% pocket – those assets that only become available typically at our passing.”
“An Estate Plan can be designed to bless not only the heirs of a family, but also the ministries that they care about.”
“Sixty percent of us leave this world never getting a will or trust together.”
“Estate plan giving is a long-term proposition and a long-term relationship and we are very interested in the church giving thought to starting a program like this.”
“Among the 4-5,000 estates that we assist with every year, nearly a hundred of those are for special needs trusts.”
“The first thing that a church wants to do is decide that this is something that they value long term, it is not a current year fundraiser.”
“People typically in their estate plan are going to leave some percentage of the estate to charities that they care about, ministries that they want to move forward, we find that the average in dollar amount is $50-60,000 per family.”
“There is a tremendous amount of wealth that will move to the next generation and if you don’t do some planning the court will decide where the assets are going to go.”
Michael Prior is the President of Financial Planning Ministry (FPM), a national non-profit Christian stewardship organization located in Irvine, CA. FPM promotes biblical estate planning and generosity through the creation of Wills and Trusts and has assisted 30,000 families in establishing their Trust or Wills with gift designations to Christian ministries.
Michael earned a B.S. in Business from University of Phoenix and a J.D. in Law from the American College of Law. He previously served as the Executive Administrator for Central Christian Church, Arizona from 1985 to 1994 and makes his home in Anaheim, CA.
FPMs unique approach provides education through live seminars and on-line webinars and document completion at no out of pocket cost to the donor. Successful estate planning requires periodic updating which FPM provides. They have grown to a partnership of 100 ministries serving more than 30,000 member donors with gift designations exceeding $1.5 billion.
Episode 69: 2020 Generosity Trends and Important Factors
Jul 29, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Scott McConnell, director of Lifeway Research. During their conversation they discuss the latest trends in generosity for future planning purposes.
Best Quotes
“Lifeway Research is a team that works to understand what is going on in the church, what is going on in the culture, and that understanding is built on surveys and qualitative surveys among church leaders and those in the culture as well.”
“Since 2008, we’ve been asking pastors questions about giving in the church.”
“As late as last fall, more pastors were saying positive things about the economy than negative.”
“This last fall is almost as good as it gets in terms of economic help or hurting a church and it’s congregation and their finances, and yet we saw that 1 out of 5 churches was running behind their giving from the prior year.”
“As we turn the page to 2020, there’s always a group of churches struggling even in the best of times.”
“More churches are stepping back toward something more normal in terms of giving patterns, but there are still going to be churches that don’t recover from March, much less how they navigate some of the future things that arise.”
“The more we see an individual engaged in the life of the church is one of the best predictors we see of their generosity.”
“When a natural disaster occurs, Americans trust faith-based groups to be more responsible with their donations than secular groups by nearly a 2 to 1 margin.”
“As a church is thinking about how they foster generosity, know that is connected to the efforts they are also making to try to keep people connected relationally and to keep their groups ministry strong despite the fact we are socially distanced.”
Scott McConnell is Executive Director of Lifeway Research, a Nashville-based, evangelical research firm that specializes in surveys about faith in culture and matters that affect churches. Scott began his career in market research after receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Strategic Management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Scott has researched the church and culture with Lifeway Christian Resources for 24 years. For the last 14 years, Scott has led Lifeway Research’s national polling that regularly measures the views of Americans and Protestant pastors (see www.lifewayresearch.com). These findings regularly appear in numerous newspapers, magazines, and online media. Scott has also led numerous in-depth research studies designed to help church leaders. These range from core functions of the church such as pastoral ministry, discipleship, church planting, and evangelism to helping leaders understand the experiences and perceptions of the unchurched, church dropouts and church switchers. Studies have also addressed needs within the church such as divorce, domestic violence, mental illness, women who have had an abortion, young adults, and parenting.
Episode 68: Common Questions About Digital Giving
Jul 22, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Candace Cutlip and Kyle Blankenship, generosity specialists for Lifeway Generosity. During their conversation they answer many of the common questions churches have about Lifeway Generosity.
Best Quotes
“The secret is hidden inside of discipleship and you can do that. But when it comes to the technology there are some things that may make you nervous.”
“The app is an amazing tool that not everyone utilizes in the right way.”
“The Launch Module is the first step in training and coaching and it includes so many great resources.”
“One of the well-used features we have available is the opportunity for a church to setup a beautiful web page directly through the back office of our platform that tells a church member all about an event you have for your church.”
“Don’t think in terms of online desktop giving.”
“If you give us that opportunity to show you the platform, that is a great place to start.”
“I am here to help you uncover what the needs are for your particular church and situation and hopefully be able to provide you with the proper solutions that make sense for exactly what you need.”
Kyle Blankenship is the Sales Leader & Generosity Specialist for Generosity by Lifeway. He serves churches and nonprofits through their discovery process then supports their leadership to unleash giving with the Generosity by Lifeway Digital Giving System. He is passionate about customer service, client success, and helping churches resource vision. Kyle is the Worship Leader, Young Adult Sunday School Teacher, and Digital Giving Leader at his local church.
Candace Cutlip is the Head Onboarding and Support Specialist for Generosity by Lifeway. She helps churches by training their leadership team on the Generosity by Lifeway Digital Giving Platform. She loves teaching leaders how to use and develop the platform to fit their individual needs, helping them customize while developing new ways to begin their digital giving ministry. Candace has been teaching the K-1st classes at her church for six years and has been working with the High School students as a leadership mentor for five years. She has a passion for learning and helping people reach their goals.
Episode 67: Stewardship, Leadership, and Generosity
Jul 15, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Brandon Sieben, President of Compass Global, and Howard Dayton, noted author and Founder of Compass Global. During their conversation they discuss leadership, stewardship, and generosity.
Best Quotes
“We focus on the few, have them become equipped to handle their resources God’s way, and then encourage them to mentor others in a small group setting.”
“I think the biggest challenge is an overall lack of awareness about what the Bible actually says about money and how to apply it to church vision, strategy, or execution.”
“One of the best things we can do is increase awareness which is going to lead to confidence which will lead to pastors speaking about this topic just like they speak about faith and love.”
“What do I need to do today to position myself to finish well when I stand before the Lord?”
“In Europe and North America we are getting quite a bit of traction around financial discipleship, which is to connect what God says about money and how we apply those things to our life.”
“I believe there is positive trend happening in churches where the topic of stewardship is getting more visibility.”
“Do something for your congregation before you ask something from your congregation.”
Brandon Sieben graduated with a B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the University of Iowa. He also studied International Business at the Universidad de Alicante in Alicante, Spain and Latin American business and culture at the Instituto de Idioma Espanol in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Brandon is the former President of Allsteel and officer of HNI Corporation, one of the largest manufacturers of office furniture in the world. During his tenure at HNI Corporation (1994-2019), Brandon held multiple senior leadership roles spanning a variety of global and domestic businesses, markets, and customers. His broad-based business background includes creating and executing vision and strategy for growth and turnaround companies. Brandon also serves on the board of directors of Central Banc, Inc. in Illinois. Brandon was raised in a committed Christian family and married his high school sweetheart, Deb. They have three daughters Kay, Nina, and Georgia, and currently reside in Iowa City, Iowa. They have been applying what the Bible says about handling money their entire marriage and are actively involved in ministry in their local church and community. After nearly three years in a mentoring relationship with Founder and Chairman Howard Dayton, Brandon joined Compass – finances God’s way as its President and CEO in September, 2019. Brandon is excited to serve Compass in pursuit of its global vision to see everyone, everywhere, faithfully living by God’s financial principles in every area of their lives.
Howard Dayton graduated from Cornell University and served two and a half years as a naval officer. After developing a successful railroad-themed restaurant in Orlando, Florida, Howard began his commercial real estate development career in 1972, specializing in office development. After a business partner challenged him to study the Bible to discover what God teaches about handling money, Howard’s life was profoundly changed. The Lord gave him a passion to share these life-changing principles, resulting in the authorship of five books, Your Money: Frustration or Freedom, Your Money Counts, Free and Clear, Your Money Map and Money and Marriage God’s Way. He also has authored five popular small group studies and produced several video series.
Howard founded Crown Ministries in 1985 which merged with Larry Burkett’s Christian Financial Concepts in September 2000 to form Crown Financial Ministries. During his tenure as CEO, Crown became the world’s largest financial ministry teaching more than 50 million people in 80 countries. He served as host of the nationally syndicated radio programs, Money Matters, How to Manage Your Money and Ted and Tony.
Howard transitioned from the role of CEO at Crown and in 2009 founded Compass—Finances God’s Way. Compass’ primary focus is on teaching God’s financial principles through small group studies.
Howard married Beverly in 1971 and they have two children: Matthew (married to Michelle) and Danielle (married to Kyle Hasbrouck) and four grandchildren. Together they led 55 small groups. Beverly went home to be with the Lord she loved and served in 2017. Howard now resides in South Carolina and is married to Lynn.
Episode 66: How Financial Health Increases Future Generosity
Jul 08, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Michael Martin, the President of ECFA, Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability. During their conversation they help pastors understand how givers view financial accountability helping them become more generous.
Best Quotes
“What are some ways that you can actually demonstrate and communicate the ways that you are accountable, not just saying it?”
“As pastors and church leaders, it is important for us to think through the standards we are going to follow when it comes to being appropriately transparent.”
“Today’s generation really does care deeply about accountability and transparency, so those are two elements we can’t overlook.”
“Being willing to provide a copy of your latest annual financial statements to anyone on request is a great practice.”
“As people are generous, another foundational standard to consider, is honoring giver expectation and content.”
“Generosity is becoming like the new evangelism.”
“As we are in a less-churched world, as people are looking in from the outside, they are paying attention to if our church is making the world a better place, and generosity builds that credibility.”
“We will find a lot more openness to the gospel the more generous our church becomes.”
Michael Martin became ECFA’s president in 2020. Both an attorney and a CPA, he had previously served on ECFA staff for nine years, most recently as Executive Vice President.Michael is passionate about helping churches and Christ-centered ministries maintain high standards of financial integrity through ECFA membership, as well as through addressing legal and tax-related issues. He is a frequent speaker on ECFA’s webinars, videos, and podcasts, as well as a regular contributor to ECFA’s library of ebooks and other written publications.He has spoken at numerous conferences and workshops across the country, and he has served as guest on webinars, videos and podcasts for numerous Christ-centered ministries and churches.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Tim Cool, the Chief Solutions Officer at Smart Church Solutions and author of Why Church Buildings Matter and Plan 4 It. During their conversation they discuss how stewardship of physical resources actually increases generosity.
Best Quotes
“Stewardship means someone has entrusted something to you and you’ve been entrusted to steward it for the betterment of that person or entity.”
“If you have a building that is more than 20 years old, my guess is you are going to want to utilize it differently than what it was intended for when it was first built.”
“We are not entitled to those church buildings. They have been entrusted to us and what we’ve got existing we are responsible for making sure we are utilizing and taking care of it first before we ever think about adding anything new.”
“You cannot build a new church building today for $100 a square foot like you could in the 80s.”
“We recommend to churches that they have at least two contingencies in their preliminary budget. You need a design and construction contingency and an inflation contingency.”
“What have you done to your ministry capability because you haven’t been able to get the building built?”
“In the research we’ve done, we’ve been able to determine that the best run church facilities have one full-time equivalent person dedicated to church maintenance for every 35,000 square feet.”
“If you are moving into a brand new building today, I would tell you to at least save $1 per every square foot annually.”
“Deferred maintenance is the things you didn’t get around to because you either didn’t have manpower or budget to do it.”
“Deferred maintenance is the cancer that is killing many of our older churches right now.”
“We are helping churches close more regularly than I would like to admit because they can’t afford to maintain the building any longer.”
Tim Cool is the founder of Smart Church Solutions and has assisted nearly 1,000 churches, (equating to over 5 million square feet) throughout the United States with their facility needs. He has collaborated with churches in the areas of facility needs analysis, master planning, construction management as well as life cycle planning/facility management. Smart Church Solutions is also the developer of eSPACE software products including Event Management, Work Order Management, Life Cycle Calculator, and IoT Integrations. Tim is also the author of several books including Entrusted: A Guide to Intentional Church Facility Stewardship, Plan 4 It: The Essential Master Plans for Every Church, Successful Master Planning: More Than Pretty Pictures, Why Church Buildings Matter: The Story Of Your Space, and Church Locality, co-authored with Jim Tomberlin. Tim lives in Charlotte, North Carolina with his wife of 35 years, Lisa, and is the proud father of his triplets who have left the nest.
Episode 64: How Fasting and Prayer Fuel Ministry
Jun 24, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Kie Bowman, lead pastor of Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, TX, President of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, and author of City of Prayer. During their conversation they discuss fasting and prayer and how they can fuel your ministry.
Best Quotes
“If the pastor gets behind a more serious committed ministry of prayer and fasting in the church, the people will respond.”
“Nothing spiritual ever happens by accident, you have to be intentional about it and the pastor has the platform.”
“We are pressing in to see spiritual awakening and revival in one of America’s most unchurched cities, Austin, and we’re seeing God move in an incredible way.”
“This is what God has called us to do as local pastors: lead our churches in prayer and to lead this city in prayer.”
“Prayer is its own reward.”
“The greatest answer to prayer is more prayer.”
“Anytime you are praying, you are leading others to pray, you are giving more people an opportunity to pray, and you are advancing the kingdom of God through prayer in a city through multiple churches, that is a great fruit.”
“All of the examples of prayer in the book of Acts, was prayer with other people.”
“Look at the Book of Acts model. It is a congregational prayer meeting model and that will change your church and your personal life.”
Dr. J. Kie Bowman has been the Senior Pastor at Hyde Park Baptist Church in Austin, Texas since 1997. In his twenty-plus year he has seen some 4,500 come to Christ and be baptized. Dr. Bowman has served on numerous denomination boards in Georgia and Texas and is currently the President of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and a Trustee of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has author six books on the New Testament and prayer, most recently City of Prayer (PrayerShop, 2019). His passion is prayer and believes “it’s time to pray as the early Church prayed and expect our cities to be epicenters of awakening!” Dr. Bowman has been married to his wife Tina for thirty-nine years. They have three grown children.
Episode 63: What Does Extravagant Generosity Look Like for Your City?
Jun 17, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by David Dykes, lead pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, TX. During their conversation they discuss how the church should be known as the most generous organization in the city.
Best Quotes
“We challenge our members to go into the community and do, not random acts of kindness, but intentional acts of kindness in Jesus’ name.”
“Even though we do this every year, people are still just shocked when you do these acts of kindness and don’t want anything in return.”
“We are trying to show the community God’s love and not just be a fortress where Christians come and retreat and have a holy huddle.”
“It costs us about $45,000 to pay off $4.5 million dollars in medical debt.”
“The way we give now has changed. Way more than 50% of our offering comes in online now.”
“Your giving to God is an act of worship.”
David Orlo Dykes grew up in South Alabama where he came to know the Lord as a child and started preaching when he was 17. He is a graduate of Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama, having received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1975. He received his Master of Divinity degree and Doctor of Ministry degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His doctoral emphasis was on evangelism and church growth. He received post-doctoral training at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.
Dr. Dykes has been preaching since 1970 and pastored churches in Alabama before coming to pastor Green Acres Baptist Church in 1991. He has personally led mission teams to over thirty foreign countries. His passion is training leaders around the world using a healthy church series he has written. He has has published articles in Moody Monthly, Church Administration and Guideposts, and is the author of fourteen books.
Dr. Dykes has served as a trustee for The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, East Texas Baptist University, The University of Mobile, Baptist Child and Family Services, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. David enjoys leading educational tours to Israel and has visited the Holy Land over 25 times.
Episode 62: Millennials Radical Approach to Money and Generosity
Jun 10, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by John Cortines, co-author of God and Money and True Riches, and COO of Generous Giving. During their conversation they discuss how John’s life purpose was unexpectedly and radically changed.
Best Quotes
“God took a couple of knuckleheads with really bad theologies of money and made it unavoidable to get a new perspective.”
“If we approach our finances with an attitude of pride, anything we do from there is not going to be very helpful from a spiritual standpoint.”
“If we can connect the gospel to our perspective of generosity that’s a totally different place to come from.”
“Any of us can bring the hammer down about how we handle money, but when there is an opportunity to issue an invitation to greater freedom, that is the angle that I have seen resonate so deeply with people’s hearts.”
“You step into greater giving, and you do it in response to God’s call, and that is a journey. It is not a one-time decision.”
“Don’t forget about money in terms of a preaching schedule.”
“This is an important topic of discipleship that Jesus even held up as a primary competitor for our hearts affections – you can’t serve God and money.”
John Cortines is the COO of Generous Giving, an organization that invites people to experience the freedom, purpose, and joy of a transformed relationship with God and money. John began his career as a Petroleum Engineer. While at Harvard Business School, he experienced a radical transformation which culminated in a decision to leave behind a lucrative post-MBA job to work, speak, and write full-time on generosity.
John is coauthor of two books on biblical generosity which together have over 50,000 copies in circulation.
John’s greatest blessing is being married to his beautiful and gracious wife, Megan, and together raising their three children, Jack, Anna, and Lydia, as well as their flock of egg-laying hens. John holds a MBA, MS in Geophysics, and BS in Chemical Engineering.
Episode 61: The #1 Money Issue for Couples
Jun 03, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Shaunti Feldhahn, a social researcher, best-selling author, and speaker. During their conversation they discuss the #1 challenges couples face when it comes to money.
Best Quotes
“The biggest obstacle is the absolute inability of most husbands and wives to sit down at the kitchen table and talk about money.”
“77% of couples cannot talk about money without awkwardness or avoidance.”
“When a couple is avoiding talking about money, or having conflict about money, it’s not about the money.”
“One of the biggest issues we found is that we are resisting being one in marriage in general and it is coming out in how we handle money.”
“The greatest hinderance to generosity – inside or outside the church – is the inability of the husband and wife to sit around the table and talk about money.”
“We found that the people who had more cushion but couldn’t talk about it, their relationship was worse off than people who didn’t have the cushion but could come together to have a conversation.”
“Once you understand what is going on in your own heart and your spouse’s suddenly money becomes an opportunity for connection instead of conflict.”
Shaunti Feldhahn received her graduate degree from Harvard University and was an analyst on Wall Street before unexpectedly becoming a social researcher, best-selling author, and popular speaker.Today, she applies her analytical skills to investigating eye-opening, life-changing truths about relationships, both at home and in the workplace. Her groundbreaking research-based books, such as For Women Only, have sold more than 2 million copies in 23 languages; her books and DVD studies are popular in homes, counseling centers, and corporations worldwide.Shaunti (often with her husband, Jeff) speaks at 50+ events each year around the world, sharing her findings with a wide range of audiences such as churches, corporate conventions, women’s conferences, universities, arena events, marriage seminars, youth camps and cruises (yes, those are particularly painful…). Her research and commentary are regularly featured in media as diverse as The Today Show, Focus on the Family, The New York Timesand MomLife Today. Shaunti, Jeff, and their two children live in Atlanta and enjoy every minute of living life at warp speed.
Episode 60: How a Financial Planner Can Help a Pastor
May 27, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Harry Pearson, the founder of OneAscent. During their conversation they discuss how financial planning ministry can help a staff team and church ministry.
Best Quotes
“Do you know if your current investments are aligned with what you said was important?”
“God has walked us through this process to identify that less than 1% of faith-based families are actually aligning their investments with their values and the number one reason is because they are unaware.”
“I’ve never met someone who was giving that wasn’t content with life.”
“God gives us the gift to get our eyes off of ourselves and on to His creation.”
“God, if You are the owner of all things, how do You want me to deploy Your income back into this world?”
“OneAscent exists to empower those advisors to build the Kingdom and serve families in a way that is intimate, that is excellent, that is grounded in truth.”
“Most clients are unaware that they are investing in, profiting from, and helping promote and propel companies forward that do not align with their deepest core values.”
Harry Pearson, is the CEO and co-founder of OneAscent. He’s held many leadership positions in the financial services industry but is most passionate about empowering advisors to build the Kingdom. With 24 years’ experience, Harry incorporates his big firm experience with the freedom and solutions needed to help families integrate their values with their Investments, Planning, stewardship, and generosity. He leads a Kingdom Advisor monthly study group and has been a longtime Champion and advocate for growing Kingdom Advisors and helping others do the same.
After obtaining a B.A. in Finance from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1996, Harry joined Ameriprise in early 1997. In 2002, he opened his own Ameriprise franchise, which has expanded to include five advisors and five support staff. He left Ameriprise February 2016 to launch OneAscent which is built to serve advisors and now has 16 advisors in 7 states. Additionally, Harry has both Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) designations.
Harry is an active member of Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church, where he has served in a variety of leadership roles, including that of an ordained ruling elder since 2007 . Harry and his wife, Laura have been married for 26 years and have four children and 3 grandchildren.
Episode 59: How a Pastoral Team Can Raise a Generous Church
May 20, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Jeff Kahler, the Director of Stewardship and Advancement at LCBC, a multi-campus church across central Pennsylvania. During their conversation they discuss the critical role of a pastor and his team to create a lasting generous culture.
Best Quotes
“I had direct feedback from senior leadership and direct access to senior leadership right away and that was very important.”
“Before we even think about going out to our local church body and the congregation, we have church staff who really need some education and have their own work to do in their personal finances.”
“It was eye-opening for God to reveal to us and really holding us back from doing a lot until our staff was bought in.”
“Instead of trying to create another silo within the church that is fighting for time and announcements, we started coming along ministries and saying how we could add value to them as a stewardship ministry.”
“Find somebody you know and trust that will have the big picture in mind of what you are trying to accomplish in the area of stewardship.”
“A thoughtful, slower approach is better than diving into the deep end of the pool.”
“It’s important to find another church who is similar in how you deliver ministry and how you “do church” so to speak.”
“As a senior leader, don’t just say this is what we are going to do and push it down stream. Own it. You have to be authentic.”
“When you preach on generosity, the larger church body will know if you are living it out.”
Jeff and his family have attended LCBC Church for the last ten years, and Jeff joined the staff in April 2016. Jeff serves on the LCBC Senior Leadership Team as the Director of Stewardship & Advancement. Jeff’s previous ‘work’ history includes public accounting, private equity, a partner in a commercial printing company and humanitarian work with orphans in Kenya. Jeff and his wife Holly have three beautiful daughters.Jeff enjoys strategic organizational leadership topics, spending time outdoors with friends and family, triathlons, hunting and fishing. He loves adding value to people’s lives and being part of a team working towards a common goal that is bigger than ourselves.
Episode 58: Turning Stewardship Into Outreach
May 13, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by George Thompson, the Pastor of Finance and Stewardship at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, CA. During their conversation they discuss the stewardship ministry God has built at Faithful Central Bible.
Best Quotes
“There is a 90% chance that the people who are most successful do not work in the financial industry at all.”
“Every person has a spiritual gift and they may not be operating in it.”
“Every person has stewardship over three areas of their life: time, talent, and treasure.”
“When you serve, you tithe your time.”
“There are so many people that God has put a business on their heart, but they don’t know how to run it.”
“Even the classes that we teach here at the church, 30% of the people who come do not go to our church.”
“If there was a time to do something, it is right now.”
“When things go down, the first place they are going to go is the church, so we need to already have everything prepared.”
George B. Thompson is a pastor, a nationally recognized financial expert, and a motivational speaker. He is the author of several books: Millionaires In Training, Set-4-Life, The Wealth Cycle, and co-author of The Total Package. With passion, charisma, and infectious energy, George delivers practical content in his publications that all expound on easy-to-learn biblical principles on how to achieve your goals, build and maintain wealth, while having fun in the process. His main goal is to inspire readers and participants to achieve immediate results. George has been a pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church for 14 years and in ministry for over 20. He is an asset to the body of Christ and the financial industry preaching biblical truths and believes that for one to be successful, achieve financial freedom, and realize dreams, needed are two critical tools: a Godly plan to guide you and a strategic biblical system to navigate the plan. George also leads Faithful Centrals Development Corporation Champions for Progress. His ministry affiliations include ministerial licensing from West Angeles Church of God in Christ, licensing and ordination from Faithful Central Bible Church. He currently serves as a Champion for the Christian Stewardship Network (CSN) and hosts the CSN Podcasts. He also serves on staff as the Pastor of Stewardship and Finance at Faithful Central Bible Church under the direction of Bishop Kenneth C. Ulmer in Inglewood California. Pastor George is a graduate of Pepperdine University, holds a B.A. in Business Communications, is a Certified Estate Planner (CEP), and holds Professional Designation in Personal Financial Planning (PFP) from U.C.L.A. He currently resides in Inglewood, California with his wife Kimberley and three lovely children: twin boys George III, Alexander and daughter Grace.
Episode 57: A Fresh New Resource to Help Today’s Stewards
May 06, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Michael Blue, the Executive Director and General Counsel for the Ron Blue Institute. During their conversation they discuss financial hope for a stressful steward.
Best Quotes
“We need financial literacy, but what we need behind it is an understanding of why we do this and God’s Word speaks to that.”
“Prioritizing family and time with God above everything else is key, and it will minister to your congregation and your family.”
“In law you are always moving to the next deal, but God’s pace is often slower and that keeps us dependent on Him and waiting.”
“A caution for pastors is that when you look at the marketplace and the professionalism and pace that it holds, people end up exhausted and burnt out, so I don’t know if it is the best thing to mimic.”
“If God gives me every breath that I have, then I am turning everything I have — my money, my time, my talents — back to His glory.”
“My giving decisions are just as spiritual as my spending decisions and my saving decisions, because each of them have a tendency to point toward what I believe about God and how I want to relate to God.”
“The pie has simplified all of our uses of money into five broad categories – live, give, owe debt, owe taxes, grow.”
“The future of stewardship and generosity in churches are people that are actually doing what they say they believe.”
Michael Blue serves as the Executive Director and General Counsel for the Ron Blue Institute for Financial Planning. Prior to his role with the Ron Blue Institute, Michael worked as a financial planner and as an attorney. Michael also holds a Master’s degree in theological studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary which comes in handy while serving on the teaching team at his local church. Michael lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and three boys.
Episode 56: How God Uses Business People to Fund Kingdom Vision
Mar 25, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by John Rinehart, the Founder and Team Leader of Gospel Patrons. During their conversation they discuss the practical fuel of vision.
Best Quotes
“A gospel patron is the business leader behind the move of God that nobody knows.”
“The way the Son of God’s ministry moved forward was through partnership with generous people who were gifted differently but had to go all in and that’s how your ministry is going to advance Jesus.”
“This is how God works. He is always going to raise someone up to proclaim the gospel, and to partner with them He is going to raise up someone who a patron of the gospel, and when they come together God does explosive things.”
“If you are raising money consistently for your ministry, it is easy to think of the pie as limited or small. There are a lot of people who could be gospel patrons or would be had they had the vision.”
“God has enough money for you to do everything He wants you to do, and the money is in the hands of believers.”
“American evangelical Christians have enough money to complete the Great Commission in our lifetime.”
“There are lots of people in the church who think they should give more, who know they should give more, but just don’t want to.”
JOHN RINEHART is an author, speaker, and the founder of Gospel Patrons. His first book Gospel Patrons tells three stories from history about business leaders who were behind the scenes fueling amazing movements of God. His second book Giving Together is about how we become those kinds of people. John speaks widely at conferences and churches, primarily to business and ministry leaders.John has a business degree from Biola University and a Masters of Divinity from Talbot School of Theology. He lives in Orange County, California with his wife and two children. To learn more or to contact John, visit: gospelpatrons.org
Episode 54: How to Become a Personal Fundraiser
Mar 11, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Scott Morton, international funding coach for Navigators, author, trainer, and speake.. During their conversation they discuss the topic of personal fundraising.
Best Quotes
“God’s will done in God’s way never lacks God’s supplies—but it requires a wise Biblical fundraising plan!”
“Social media is not a good way to have sustained long term fundraising for a missionary or pastor.”
“Just because a fundraising tactic works doesn’t make it right.”
“If God has called you to ministry, why would He not put people around you?”
“The main obstacle around the world is fear. Fear of what people might think, of offending, of losing friends.”
“There’s plenty of money out there in any culture, it’s just a matter of how to present a dazzling vision so people want to give.”
“Visibility is important, but asking raises money.”
“You must speak about money and you must teach about money year round.”
Scott Morton serves as International Funding Coach for The Navigators. For fourteen years, he led Navigator campus and marketplace ministries, where he worked with students, business people, and missionaries both stateside and overseas. Then, for 13 years he served as Vice President of The Navigators US Development Ministry. Scott is committed to helping gospel-workers succeed at funding their ministries—whether pastors, overseas missionaries or stateside workers. He also enjoys helping people grow in their spiritual journeys through small-group Bible studies and one-on-one mentoring. He is author of Funding Your Ministry (Navpress.com), Down to Earth Discipling (Navpress.com) and Blindspots–leading your team and ministry to full funding (Cmmpress.org). His new book, What the Bible Actually Says About Money—31 Meditations (www.scottmorton.net), has recently been released. It is a 31-day devotional on the topic of money and includes some surprises. He and his wife, Alma, live in Colorado Springs, and have two married daughters, a son, and four grandchildren. Scott’s hobby is birdwatching.
Episode 53: What is a Generosity Overflow Experience?
Mar 04, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Patrick Johnson, founder and president of Generous Church. During their conversation they discuss how a generosity retreat can affect your church.
Best Quotes
“Sustained transformational generosity happens when leaders go first.”
“We created an overflow experience to be a unique experience for leaders in a church to experience a new way to look at and practice generosity to get them inspired to go out and lead as leaders.”
“We are enslaved to our surplus and don’t even realize it.”
“Anytime Christian renewal happens it starts with prayer and fasting.”
“When you get people in the room and there is no ask, and you lay generosity on the table in a non-threatening way, we’ve seen some tremendous life change.”
“We want to multiply through community and do things that are transferable.”
Patrick is the founder of GenerousChurch and has a passion to see a revolution of whole-life generosity flourish in churches. Over the last 15 years, he’s partnered with Leadership Network, the Wesleyan Denomination, Converge and other church networks to equip leaders to unleash generous disciples. Leveraging the power of Scripture and story, the products and experiences that he’s created have been used by over 2,000 churches to transform the hearts and minds of Jesus-followers toward generosity as a way of living versus an act of giving.
Currently, Patrick directs the vision of GenerousChurch and lives in Prairie Village, KS with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.
Episode 52: Talking About Money Without Wearing Out Your Welcome
Feb 26, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gary Montgomery, Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky. During their conversation, they discuss the tension of needing resources to accomplish vision and the fear of wearing out the conversation.
Best Quotes
“On the surface, the tension is there because we don’t want to raise funds.”
“The church may feel it’s not very spiritual to talk about money, but it is something that needs to be talked about.”
“Whether it is real or perceived, fear can paralyze the church.”
“We can’t be a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ if we aren’t handling money God’s way.”
“Sixteen of the 38 parables were about money and possessions and Jesus talked about it more than He talked about any topic other than the kingdom of God.”
“Develop a culture of financial discipleship and generosity and that looks like weaving it in to everything you are already doing.”
“We need to be able to celebrate our gratitude in celebration when people give.”
Gary Montgomery is the Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky, Inc. where he teaches people what the Bible says about handling money and how to apply it in their personal lives. Over the last 17 years, Gary has invested himself in full-time financial discipleship ministry working with individuals, churches and businesses across Kentucky and nearby states. He has a passion for helping churches and businesses develop a culture of financial discipleship and generosity.
Gary joined Crown Financial Ministries staff in 2002 as KY State Director and formed Compass-Kentucky as a 501(C)3 non-profit ministry in 2010, as an affiliate of Compass-finances God’s way. Gary holds a Business Management degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He and his wife, Teresa, have been married for 34 years, have two grown children and reside in London, KY.
Episode 51: Naming Easily Overlooked Generosity Fails
Feb 19, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, founder of Learn Generosity. During their conversation, they discuss the most common missteps church leaders unknowingly make when it comes to generosity.
Best Quotes
“The most effective way to preach on money is to sprinkle it in just like Jesus did.”
“Another failure I see is only mentioning generosity around capital campaigns.”
“There is so much we can do for the upcoming generation with current year planned giving.”
“Find a mentor in your church and stick with that one source to help you get going in generosity.”
“When we throw out a panic alert, our people aren’t growing in a full expression of biblical generosity they are just putting out fires.”
“You don’t have to know exactly what an individual person gives, but pull back some of the layers and don’t just look at the top number.”
“In America, there are $50 Billion in unused giftcards, at Generosity by Lifeway we liquidate unusual things like that.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at the The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
Podcast Episode 50: Uncovering the Hidden Treasure of Generosity Events
Feb 12, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Ray Gary, founder and CEO of iDonate. During their conversation, they uncover the hidden power that events hold to unleash giving in the local church.
Best Quotes
“When we think about the church we understand the value of corporate fellowship probably better than anyone and the need to do life together.”
“Events can reinforce and illustrate the value of your tithe.”
“I think we take for granted what the members really know happens in the operating budget.”
“The church could be involved in hundreds of activities that people don’t really have any context for understanding.”
“People are inspired when they hear how other people are generous.”
“There is a community aspect to events where you are getting face-to-face with people who share a passion for the cause.”
“You get to hear from people who not only have a passion for something, but whose lives have been changed.”
“An event is an easy way for a beginning giver to give their first gift to the local church.”
“Regular consistent giving starts with a biblical understanding and it’s reinforced with discipleship in the church.”
“There’s a massive opportunity for the church to tap into the unique gifting and passions of its members to serve things that traditionally may not have been part of their operating budget.”
Ray is the CEO of iDonate, a company that provides nonprofits with technology solutions to do more good in the world. Ray’s experience in launching, building and helping businesses succeed spans nearly three decades, including various leadership positions in technology companies. Previously, he served as President of the Venture Capital group of Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies, where he oversaw numerous technology investments. Ray currently serves as a Board member of the Highland Park chapter of KLIFE – a faith-based ministry for students and also sits on the Board of the greater Baton Rouge/LSU area Young Life ministry.
Podcast Episode 49: What Does a Stewardship Pastor Do?
Feb 05, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Rob Taylor, former offensive tackle with the Tampa Bay Bucs and current Stewardship Pastor at Idlewild Baptist Church just outside of Tampa, FL. During their conversation, they discuss what a Stewardship Pastor does all week long.
Best Quotes
“We don’t want our people to think of stewardship as just treasure or money, but it’s obviously time and money and the stewardship of the truth.”
“As the pastor is looking for someone, it may be someone who has some education in the area of money, but is for sure someone who is practicing it in their own life.”
“When it comes to my unique role as Stewardship Pastor, I have key ministry areas which are the detail of what I do with my time on a daily basis.”
“If we are going to establish this culture of Stewardship and Generosity, it should start with kids and students and young adults.”
“I am not a fundraiser. My role is discipleship and teaching people what God says in His Word about handling money.”
“If the stewardship ministry becomes a vehicle designed to raise more money for the church, that’s going to hurt the success of the stewardship ministry.”
“If the only time a pastor talks about giving and stewardship is when the budget is down it gives a bad image to the congregation.”
Rob was saved at the age of 6 through the influence of his parents and the children’s ministry at the local church he attended in Dayton, Ohio. Rob currently serves as the Pastor of Financial Stewardship and Men’s ministry at Idlewild Baptist Church and also serves as the Executive Director of The Idlewild Foundation. His goal is to equip God’s people to learn and apply God’s financial principles and to create a culture of generosity within the Idlewild family. Rob teaches a variety of financial classes to all age groups and also coordinates the Budget Coaching and Benevolence Ministries at Idlewild. Prior to serving at Idlewild, Rob owned and operated Taylor and Williams, Inc., along with his business partner, a practice that specializes in financial planning and investment management. He also played football professionally for 11 years as an offensive tackle where he spent his last 8 years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rob also attended Northwestern University where he received his BS degree in electrical engineering. The titles that Rob cherishes the most are Christ-Follower, Susan’s husband and Kelby, Kelley, Kent and Kyle’s dad.
Podcast Episode 48: Generosity Resources Pastors Need on the Ready
Jan 29, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, noted stewardship expert, author, consultant, and founder of LearnGenerosity.com. During their conversation, they discuss the most effective generosity and stewardship resources.
Best Quotes
“Howard Dayton’s book Your Money Counts is like reading a commentary on money in the Bible.”
“The Generous Life Journey was specifically written to help pastors get a feel for where to start teaching the Bible on money.”
“If you begin to see money, possessions, and generosity in the Word of God, it will become a conviction no one can talk you out of.”
“The real revolution is leading the transformation, not focused on the transaction.”
“Every age group does not need the same content. You do need to have a multi-age approach.”
“I wrote The Generous Life Journey to give people the steps it takes to grow into becoming a generous giver.”
“You can teach all you want on financial practical stuff, but if they don’t get the Lordship issue in their life right then they won’t grow into all the Lord wants them to be.”
“Our culture does not teach Biblical principles of money management.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at the The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
Podcast Episode 47: How Can a Pastor Fix His Own Finances, So He Can Lead With More Confidence?
Jan 22, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gary Montgomery, Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky. During their conversation, they discuss helping pastors move beyond their own financial issues.
Best Quotes
“The most common thing I hear is that no one ever taught me what it meant to handle money God’s way.”
“We are on a financial journey and we need someone to guide us along the way.”
“God’s Word is always right, it’s always relevant, and it never changes.”
“As we understand God’s way of handling money, we grow in spiritual maturity and we become more effective disciple makers.”
“If He is not Lord of all that I have, is He really Lord of my life?”
“In our Compass groups, while no one is ever asked to reveal their financial situation, there is way the course orchestrates great relationships.”
Gary Montgomery is the Executive Director of Compass-Kentucky, Inc. where he teaches people what the Bible says about handling money and how to apply it in their personal lives. Over the last 17 years, Gary has invested himself in full-time financial discipleship ministry working with individuals, churches and businesses across Kentucky and nearby states. He has a passion for helping churches and businesses develop a culture of financial discipleship and generosity.
Gary joined Crown Financial Ministries staff in 2002 as KY State Director and formed Compass-Kentucky as a 501(C)3 non-profit ministry in 2010, as an affiliate of Compass-finances God’s way. Gary holds a Business Management degree from West Virginia Wesleyan College. He and his wife, Teresa, have been married for 34 years, have two grown children and reside in London, KY.
Podcast Episode 46: When the People Split and So Does Everything Else
Jan 15, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Kevin Brimner, Lead Pastor at First Christian Church in Newbergh, Indiana. During their conversation, they discuss leading the church and its finances as they recover from a split.
Best Quotes
“We were running 1300 on an average week with a budget of $45,000. Within a year there was a new church established on our old church campus site. Our attendance bottomed out in the mid-500s and giving on the worst days was $11,000.”
“The church family was ripped apart in very profound ways.”
“I recognized that about a third of the people at our leadership gathering were not familiar with our church hurt and God was bringing new people in.”
“In this little corner of the world, God keeps bringing people to us.”
“Numerically, from an invitational standpoint and an evangelistic standpoint we are hitting some good targets.”
“We went through a season where we reassessed our partnerships with mission agencies. We pulled out for a season, but we still set aside 10% of all the offerings so we could engage as God opened doors for us to do that.”
“From a leadership principle, God has designed each of our congregations so that all that we need to grow is there, that just like raising kids it is wise to have outside voices who are moving in the right direction to come alongside.”
“Strategically put yourself in learning partnerships where the expertise that others have can guide you through things that you may not be an expert at.”
Kevin loves the Church and has been in ministry for 30+ years, serving local churches in Illinois, Kentucky, and Indiana. He has served as a Family Minister, Small Groups Pastor, Executive Pastor, and since 2015 as a Lead Pastor. Kevin met his wife, Julianne, while attending Lincoln Christian University. Together they have raised 3 children and recently became grandparents. Aside from serving the church, you will find him riding motorcycles, coaching middle school girls in basketball, and eating out with family and friends.
Podcast Episode 45: How Does a Pastor Grow as a Generosity Leader?
Jan 08, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Zach Terry, Lead Pastor at First Baptist Church Fernandino Beach, FL. During their conversation, they discuss how a pastor can grow his generosity leadership.
Best Quotes
“Watching how the church engaged with my father as a very poor man all the way through being wealthy was a front row seat in education for learning generosity ministry.”
“If you have someone who is wealthy and able to bring their influence to bear on the gospel and the church, let them give.”
“When we approach our ministry as pastors, we have to think like missionaries and look at the culture we are in and reverse engineer how we can best present the gospel to these people.”
“Within the church, I began to think about the church as the Affluent, the Burdened, and the Comfortable.”
“I began to study the affluent as a people group and I realized that they fit every dynamic of a mission field.”
“The people who leverage gospel patrons best are the parachurch organizations.”
“I believe that if the church is doing it right, the church will fund the parachurch organizations or they won’t be necessary.”
“If we don’t have a vision broad enough for their generosity, they will find somebody who does.”
Zach Terry is a generosity catalyst. He is known for his ability to develop strategies that engage, develop and leverage high capacity donors for Christ-centered ministries. He holds a Master’s Degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, from which he received the Westminster John Knox Press Award. In 2016, he was honored as one of the Connect Faith’s “Agents of Change”. He has led churches in Kentucky and Alabama prior to his current post as Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church, Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, FL. Most importantly, Zach enjoys family life with his wife, Julie, son Cole, and two daughters, Carly and Caitlyn.
Podcast Episode 44: Helping Pastors Minister to Successful Business Leaders
Jan 01, 2020
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Bill High, founder and CEO of The Signatry, a Global Christian Foundation. During their conversation, they discuss shepherding and leading the most successful business leaders in your church.
Best Quotes
“A business leader is trying to lead and grow a business. He’s trying to move a group of people along around a particular mission and vision.”
“While the endgame for a pastor and business owner is different, the process to move it along is similar.”
“Pastors, you have a platform that business leaders need in their lives.”
“When a business owner grabs hold of the idea that God owns their business, there is only one response, which is ultimately the outflow of generosity.”
“Sit down with a business owner and ask them some basic questions about how their business works.”
“God called business people before they were prophets.”
“When you read your Bible, try to find business leaders in it and you will start to get some strength in this area to speak to business leaders like you never have before.”
Bill High practiced law for 12 years before becoming the CEO of the The Signatry. As CEO, he has spent over 18 years helping families live simply and give generously. He specializes in coaching families, individual givers, and financial advisers regarding biblical generosity and family legacy. He and his wife Brooke have four children and two grandchildren.
You can learn more about Bill’s ministry here: www.billhigh.com.
Podcast Episode 43: How Do You Build a Generosity Ministry for a Small/Medium Size Church?
Dec 25, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, former Stewardship Pastor, author, and President of Learn Generosity. During their conversation, they discuss how pastors leading a small or medium size church can start a generosity ministry.
Best Quotes
“The very first thing every pastor has to do is they have to have a conviction from the Lord on why they are going to teach on money.”
“Everyone realizes the church needs money to operate, so you are dealing with a touchy subject to begin with.”
“I would recommend you do not touch this subject until you are walking it out.”
“People that love money, you are going to insult their god, and they are going to get offended.”
“Talk about worshiping the Lord with the use of your resources and generosity.”
“Don’t go at this alone. You don’t need to. There are a lot of people who will support you.”
“Don’t just make this about giving. There are so many other topics in the Scriptures about money.”
“A lot of your top givers give a lot of money outside the church because they don’t feel like your vision is big enough for their investment.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at the The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast Episode 42: How Financial Freedom Empowers Ministry
Dec 18, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, former Stewardship Pastor, author, and President of Learn Generosity. During their conversation, they discuss the power of freedom affecting church ministry.
Best Quotes
“The ideal position for someone is out of debt, living with margin, having a good savings, but also holding possessions lightly and being willing to do what the Lord asks them to do.”
“Financial freedom has given me a lot of empowerment to chase after whatever the Lord has told me to do.”
“I’ve watched people be tangled up in financial bondage and not able to do what God puts on their heart.”
“The person who dies with the most stuff doesn’t win, they just accumulated the most junk.”
“There is so much more of an adventure in Christ waiting for them if they just created some margin.”
“You can’t be a generous giver if you walk in unforgiveness.”
“If you have a congregation that is personally starting to walk in generosity, they are going to attract more people to the congregation.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at the The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast Episode 41: Helping Your Staff Grow in Giving
Dec 11, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen and George Thompson, Stewardship Pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, CA, are joined by Leo Sabo, President of the Christian Stewardship Network. During their conversation, they discuss being a passionate leader in the stewardship area and how to have the whole team succeed.
Best Quotes
“If you know anyone in stewardship, you realize that they did not take the traditional route to ministry.”
“The beauty of being connected with other people that are solving these same problems is that you can learn from somebody who has already solved the problem.”
“You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, just preach what the Word already says.”
“Unfortunately, many pastors don’t have their finances in order either, so it’s hard to speak on it when you yourself don’t have that foundation.”
“Knowing what God says and applying it to your life in today’s culture isn’t easy.”
“Preaching has to come down to motivating people to change the way they are using their money.”
“As you take baby steps forward, invite them to take steps forward as well.”
Leo loves to see people experience their own financial awakening. He’s spent the last 17 years working with couples, individuals and church leaders; helping them understand and manage finances conforming to Biblical principles. His life mission is, “Helping people become financially free, thereby enabling them to pursue their true life’s purpose.”
He’s served as a Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas for 11 years, where he enjoyed building volunteer teams, teaching, coaching, and developing curriculum. In his current role as president of CSN, he gets to share the incredible impact financial stewardship and generosity can have in the Church.
Leo and his wife Natalie have been married 30 years. They have two daughters, two sons-in-law, and two grandchildren, and they’re all amazing!
Podcast Episode 40: How Pastors Can Unlock the Genius of Generosity
Dec 04, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Chip Ingram, pastor, author, speaker, and leader of the Living on the Edge movement. During their conversation, they discuss personal growth in generosity,
Best Quotes
“Whenever you see a need that you think I would want to fill, then I want you to write them a check.”
“Generous people are happy. Generous people are fulfilled. Generosity breeds deep connections and relationships.”
“To be a pastor that genuinely cares and speaks the truth is a gift that you give a businessperson.”
“You can’t get comfortable talking about money until you come to grips with your own life here.”
“You can’t speak with confidence unless you’re modeling what you are going to say to other people.”
“If you never teach on money, why are you shocked that you don’t have the resources?”
“People aren’t motivated to be generous because they think that they already are.”
“God really wanted to grow my generosity, and it’s way beyond money.”
“God doesn’t measure generosity by how much you give. God measures generosity by how much you sacrifice.”
Chip Ingram’s passion is helping Christians really live like Christians. As a pastor, author, and teacher for more than three decades, Chip has helped believers around the world move from spiritual spectators to healthy, authentic disciples of Jesus by living out God’s truth in their lives and relationships in transformational ways.
Podcast Episode 39: Legacy Tools Every Pastor Needs to Know
Nov 27, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Bill High, CEO of The Signatry, a Global Christian Foundation, and
the author of several books including Giving It All Away
with David Green, CEO of Hobby Lobby. During their conversation, they discuss
the financial vehicles and professionals that pastors need to know in leading a
legacy ministry.
Best Quotes
“Systematic giving is the first step to generosity.”
“The Donor Advised Fund is one of the simplest tools for
being able to get people to give systematically.”
“From the donor-advised fund I can direct my money to go where I want it to go to a legitimate charitable cause that is vetted by your organization.”
“When you give to multiple charitable causes throughout the
year, one of the immediate benefits is you only have to worry about getting one
charitable giving statement at the end of the year.”
“You’re prepared in advance to be generous to the next
cause.”
“The offering plate is facilitating prepared giving in a
split second on a given day. The Donor Advised Fund is preparing somebody to be
prepared 24/7 for the moment when they can contribute.”
“A Donor Advised Fund is a great place to start a
conversation with your family about the things that you care about in regard to
generosity.”
“I would encourage every pastor to have an estate plan and a financial plan and provide those services to your staff.”
Bill High practiced law for 12 years before becoming the CEO of The Signatry. As CEO, he has spent over 18 years helping families live simply and give generously. He specializes in coaching families, individual givers, and financial advisers regarding biblical generosity and family legacy. He and his wife Brooke have four children and two grandchildren.
You can learn more about Bill’s ministry here: www.billhigh.com.
Podcast Episode 38: Multiplying Your Capital Campaign Fruit
Nov 20, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Willy Rice, Lead Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater,
Florida. During their conversation, they discuss how to turn your capital
campaign into a fruitful experience outside the dollar amount.
Best Quotes
“When you go into a campaign and you have a lot of things
happening, you realize the campaign can’t be about just one thing.”
“As we approach campaigns, we didn’t want it to be about a
single building. We needed a vision that was bigger than that.”
“If we were going to have a Kingdom impact, we needed to
turn a decade of addition into a decade of multiplication.”
“Sometimes you have to name a dream and then back up from
there to figure out how you are going to do it.”
“Whatever God gives us, we are going to celebrate and move
forward!”
“This campaign changed our culture.”
“You can’t plant churches ultimately if you aren’t raising
leaders.”
“The crisis in North America is a crisis of discipleship.”
“The best initiatives change the culture of your church.
They give you something bigger and larger to run after.”
“Part of spiritual leadership is challenging people.”
William (Willy) Rice is the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Clearwater, Florida. In 2004 he returned to the Tampa Bay area where he was born and raised to lead the church he considered his home church. Willy spent his High School years at Calvary, responded to God’s call to ministry there, and met and married his wife Cheryl at Calvary.
Since that time the church has completed a complete relocation from its historic campus in downtown Clearwater to a new campus in east Clearwater. The church has experienced renewed health and significant growth in every area. Calvary averages more than 3500 people attending multiple services on three campuses. Calvary is annually recognized as one of the leader’s in missions giving and baptisms in the state of Florida. Outreach magazine has twice listed Calvary as one of the 100 fastest growing churches in America.
Dr. Rice has been active in denominational leadership roles. He served as President of the Florida Baptist Convention from 2006-2008 and he served as the President of the Southern Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference in 2015. He has also served as Chairman of the SBC Committee on Committees (2010), Chairman of the SBC Committee on Nominations (2016), President of the Florida Baptist Convention Pastors’ Conference (2004) along with other local, state, and national positions. He is the author of two books Discover Dynamic Life and Before You Go: What Every Parent Needs to Say and Every Kid Needs to Hear.
Before coming to Calvary Dr. Rice pastored the Hillcrest Baptist Church in Pensacola for seven years. During that time the church experienced great growth and more than doubled in size. The church built a new 2000 seat worship center in 2002.
Prior to pastoring Hillcrest Dr. Rice had pastored the Gladeview Baptist Church in Anniston, Alabama (1992-1997), the Cypress Lake Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida (1987-1992) and the Bethel Baptist Church in Dora, Alabama (1984-1987).
Dr. Rice is a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama with a B.A. degree (1985) and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity degree (1990) and a Doctor of Ministry degree (1996).
Willy is married to Cheryl (Baker). She is a graduate of Samford University and they have three children and four grandchildren.
Podcast Episode 37: Topics to Teach Beyond Stewardship 101
Nov 13, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen and
co-host George Thompson, Pastor of Stewardship at Faithful Central Bible Church
in Inglewood, are joined by Dave Briggs, Stewardship Pastor at Central
Christian Church, in Phoenix, AZ. During their conversation, they discuss going
beyond the basics of stewardship training.
Best Quotes
“God impressed on me very early on in the process that the
Bible is filled with all kinds of very specific teaching on stewardship and
yet, for the most part, most churches have not taken advantage of that.”
“Always start with what God wants us to know in His Word
about how to relate to money, how to manage money, and how money can be a
positive in your spiritual life and not a negative.”
“I do believe we have a responsibility to make sure that we
clearly define what stewardship is and what it isn’t.”
“It isn’t that God needs our money, or even that churches
need our money, but we need to develop a biblically-centered view of what it’s
like to live as a steward.”
“From a biblical standpoint, your relationship to money will
always impact your relationship to God.”
“We are constantly looking for and creating new classes
around specific felt needs.”
“There is so much emotion associated with money that that
emotion often keeps people from engaging because they are scared or
embarrassed.”
“Our biggest issue is overcoming the emotion about money
that keeps people from engaging in the first place.”
“Generous people will give, but you can give without being generous.”
Dave Briggs spent the first 27 years of his career working for General Electric as a Financial Manager. In his early twenties, he became passionate about learning and teaching what the Bible says about money.
In 2002, Dave left the business world and joined the staff of Willow Creek Community Church, near Chicago, to lead their Financial Stewardship Ministry. During that time he developed various seminars and classes to equip God’s people in biblical principles of handling money.
In 2009, Dave joined the staff at Central Christian Church of Arizona to develop a full-time stewardship ministry and in 2010, he published a financial parenting seminar in DVD form called “Raising Financially Freed-up Kids.”
Dave currently serves on the board of the Christian Stewardship Network and is past Chairman of the Board of Financial Planning Ministry. Dave regularly speaks at churches and conferences around the country.
Dave is married to Debbie and they live in the greater Phoenix area. They have two grown sons, who are both currently serving in full-time ministry. Dave is passionate about spreading God’s message of biblical stewardship and never tires of seeing how gaining a biblical perspective on stewardship changes lives.
Podcast Episode 36: Generosity Passages You Can Preach
Nov 06, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, founder of Learn Generosity. During their conversation, they discuss turning generosity passages of the Bible into teaching opportunities.
Best Quotes
“Pastors, get your pen and paper ready. We might just give
you your sermon for this Sunday today.”
“Anytime you are going to change the culture you have to
preach on this stuff.”
“There is a lot of great material in the Bible to preach on
generosity.”
“All generosity that is devoid of manipulation comes from a
heart that wants to give.”
“Our job in helping someone grow generosity is to help them
have a heart that listens better to God.”
“God will tell us to give more than our pastor will ever
ask.”
“Cultivating that heart that’s listening to what God is
telling us to do will go far beyond guilting someone into tithing.”
“How do you try to lead a church in extravagant generosity
when none of you give?”
“The enemy’s tactic with giving is to tell us either you don’t give enough or don’t give at all.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry, he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits, and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
Podcast Episode 35: How Your Data Can Drive Increased Engagement
Oct 30, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Bill Newman, president of Servant PC. During their conversation, they
discuss how to turn your data into a successful engagement strategy.
Best Quotes
“Why track any of this information at all if you aren’t
going to use it to grow the ministry?”
“There is no point in collecting data just to have it sit in
a system somewhere.”
“We want to put all of that at the pastor’s and ministry
leaders’ fingertips so they can access and use that data to make good
decisions.”
“Analytical data about our donors is going to tell us things
like how engaged people are in our ministry and where our ministry is heading.”
“If someone is a first-time give the system can be setup so
that it automates a thank you letter going to them.”
“You can have different members on your team have different
levels of access to the granular contribution information.”
“We want a cheerful giver and sometimes just encouraging
them goes a long way.”
“It’s more than just software, we really are trying to grow your ministry.”
Bill Newman is the President of Servant PC Resources, maker of Servant Keeper one of the most popular church software systems on the market. Bill has over 25 years of experience in local church ministry in everything from full-time pastoral ministry to volunteering in the nursery, so he has a pretty good idea of what churches do. His passion is to help more churches reach more people with the Gospel.
Podcast Episode 34: Is It Stewardship or Generosity?
Oct 23, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen and George Thompson, Stewardship Pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, CA, are joined by Steve Carter, Stewardship Pastor at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. During their conversation, they discuss if the ministry should be called stewardship or a generosity ministry.
As a listener to The Generosity Podcast we invite you to use the discount code, Lifeway for the 2020 CSN Forum. This code can be entered on the registration page and it will take an additional $25 off for any ticket purchase.
Best Quotes
“Most people in the church associated the word stewardship
with church fundraising campaigns.”
“We all know stewardship is essential to the life of a Christ-follower.”
“When people understand true biblical stewardship, it
changes everything.”
“We chose the generous living brand for our stewardship ministry
because it would cast the vision for what a life of faithful stewardship would
look like.”
“If I had to do it all again, I would have delegated more
and used other people’s material a lot more.”
“Allow your passion for stewardship and generosity to help
get your team fired up for it as much as you are.”
“Look at what the mission is of the church and how stewardship can help.”
Steve leads the Stewardship Ministry of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, KY. His passion is helping people take the next step on their stewardship journey. The mission of the ministry team he leads is to encourage and equip people to implement Biblical principles for managing their time, talent and treasure. He wants to see people live the generous life, to which God has called us.
Before stepping into the role of Stewardship Pastor, Steve served as an Elder of Southeast Christian. During those 12 years, he oversaw several ministries and led multiple building projects including the launch of 2 new campuses. In 2015, Steve left a 24-year career in the safety and fire protection industries to pursue God’s calling to full-time vocational ministry.
Steve and his wife, Shelley, have been married for 25 years and have two sons, ages 19 and 14.
Generosity Podcast Episode 33: How Social Media, Crowdfunding, and Events are Impacting Giving
Oct 16, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Ray Gary, CEO of iDonate. During their conversation, they discuss the
expectations of a giver, particularly in the next generation, with a focus on
crowdfunding, social media, and events integration.
Best Quotes
“Whether we like it or not, we have short attention spans
and we process a lot of information.”
“Every time you make a supporter take an extra step, you are
creating friction in the process.”
“One of the first things you can do is put a big give button
at the top of your website.”
“Take the friction away and make it simple for somebody to
give.”
“At the end of the day, the message still matters. Make sure
the message is clear and concise and the reader understands what the impact is
of what they are giving to.”
“The money can still go to your budget, but let the person
see the face of what they’re giving so that it inspires their heart to give
versus just writing a blank check to an operating budget which does nothing for
them from a heart standpoint.”
“Turn your spreadsheet of a budget into a descriptive word
and a picture.”
“Think about how you can put together some events for passionate causes your church is about, because the next generation wants to gather together and see the difference you are making in a certain area.”
Ray is the CEO of iDonate, a company that provides nonprofits with technology solutions to do more good in the world. Ray’s experience in launching, building and helping businesses succeed spans nearly three decades, including various leadership positions in technology companies. Previously, he served as President of the Venture Capital group of Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies, where he oversaw numerous technology investments. Ray currently serves as a Board member of the Highland Park chapter of KLIFE – a faith-based ministry for students and also sits on the Board of the greater Baton Rouge/LSU area Young Life ministry.
Podcast Episode 32: My Favorite Sermon Series Ever
Oct 09, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Eric Koehler, Lead Pastor at ValleyPoint Church in Glen Mills, PA.
During their conversation, they discuss why Eric’s sermon series “Life Verse”
is so impactful.
Best Quotes
“What started as a way to fill a few weeks so that we could
get on to something serious, has become something we have done for seven
straight years and has helped our church fall in love with Scripture.”
“If you want this to be your best year, pursue having your
best spiritual year.”
“One of the ways you can potentially have your best
spiritual year is to start it by anchoring your soul with some words of God
that you memorize and hang on to through all the ups and downs you go through.”
“This simple exercise challenges and encourages people to
see God and plant some of His words in their hearts.”
“I encourage families to use this as a time to have great
spiritual conversations centered on God’s Word.”
“When you encourage people to try and pursue God this way,
they do it!”
“People are more generous the more engaged they become.”
“I’m amazed at how many times the verses they chose in
January are exactly what they need for what they are coming to see me for.”
“People are looking for anchor points in their lives. And spiritual disciplines like time in God’s Word have the ability to provide those anchor points.”
Eric serves as the lead pastor of ValleyPoint Church in Glen Mills, PA. Glen Mills is a beautiful community located twenty minutes southwest of Philadelphia. ValleyPoint is passionate about serving the communities within its reach. ValleyPoint’s short story is to accelerate into its surrounding communities at the speed of real relationships and surprise them with the love of Jesus and the joyous impact of his church.
Eric and his wife Tonia recently celebrated twenty-five years of marriage and have six children – three boys and three girls ranging in age from twenty-three to eight.
Podcast Episode 31: Next Generation Giving Is Coming
Oct 02, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson. Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits, and businesses. During their conversation, they discuss why next generation giving is a big deal for the church.
Best Quotes
“The biggest challenge the church is facing is the decline
in church attendance and the decline in generosity.”
“There are less people giving today than we saw 15 years
ago.”
“More money is coming into the charitable sector, and yet the church is on a 40-year decline in generosity.”
“Giving in the church is largely driven by the Boomer and Greater generations. God isn’t making any more of that generation.”
“These generations are really interested in doing something
that makes a difference.”
“If we can increase their engagement from first to second
time giving, they will stay long term and the church will grow.”
“When a person leaves a church, they stop giving six weeks
prior to actually leaving and walking out the door. That’s a great ministry
opportunity.”
“If you are afraid to talk about the money and what it does
positively, it’s going to be assumed by this generation that the church is an
inward and self-focused institution.”
“Studies have shown that both Millennials and Gen Z long for and desire mentors in their lives.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies and co-founding Financial Freedom International, Gunnar Johnson was a local church Pastor and business owner. He had the privilege of serving as an Executive Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Southlake Texas for 11 years. Prior to Gateway Church, Gunnar served for 2 years as a Stewardship Minister at The Hills Church in North Richland Hills, Texas. Prior to 13 years of vocational ministry, he owned a Drywall business in Florida, and a Chem-Dry carpet cleaning company in Texas while serving on staff with Howard Dayton and Larry Burkett at Crown Financial Ministry.
Gunnar has a passion for teaching Biblical Generosity and Financial Stewardship to individuals, churches, non-profits, and businesses. He loves watching how they grow through the power of God’s Word.
Podcast Episode 30: What do you do when your economy falls apart?
Sep 25, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Mike Walker, Lead Pastor, and Sean Walker, Executive Pastor, from
Bayou Church in Lafayette, LA. During their conversation, they discuss what to
do when people and giving are down.
Best Quotes
“You want to have a great ministry in the community and it
takes money to fund that. All of a sudden you have no money, that doesn’t
change your need for ministry, it changes your approach to do the ministry.”
“I like living outside of the Bible belt because people are
fresh and hungry for what the Scripture teaches.”
“Once you are sure about what your why is, it helps answer
the other questions.”
“Clear vision leads to increased generosity.”
“We took up an offering in the midst of a difficult time in
our church and our people responded and they gave above and beyond.”
“You don’t have to have a lot of resources to be generous.”
“I try to disciple people to become obedient to the voice of
God.”
“In those crisis moments, we felt compelled to do what God
has called us to do – be the hands and feet.”
“You don’t measure your effectiveness in the kingdom of God by the size of your budget.”
“We’ve done more with a million dollars less this year than
we were doing 5 years ago with a million dollars more.”
“God’s economy surpasses anything else that is going on in the country.”
Mike Walker has faithfully served The Bayou Church over 30 years as Senior Pastor. Through his courageous leadership, the church has grown exponentially. His passion and vision are to see lives transformed in Acadiana and beyond through Christ-centered relationships. When not working, Padre enjoys time with his wife, Paula, children, and grandchildren.
Sean Walker serves as the Executive Pastor at The Bayou Church. He officially joined the staff in 2008 as the Student Pastor and led 6th-12th-grade students until 2015. Sean loves having a front-row seat to see God’s miracles in people’s lives every day. When not preaching, leading staff or spending time with people in the church, you can find this Saints fan watching football, training for marathons, or spending time with his wife, Tory, and their two kids.
Podcast Episode: 29 Learn Where Generous Churches Are Trending
Sep 18, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Patrick Johnson, the director of Generous Church. During their
conversation, they discuss statistical trends from generous churches.
Best Quotes
“We get called in if they want to grow generosity apart from
fundraising.”
“There’s a growing trend among churches who are getting
serious about discipleship and are looking for a way to disciple people in
generosity within an affluent western context.”
“If you are truly trying to grow people to be disciples and
true followers of Jesus this is a topic you can’t leave off the table.”
“We can’t be true followers of Jesus if we don’t get this
right.”
“Only 10 to 20 percent of people live in the good soil of
generosity.”
“In most churches, 80 percent of people say they have a
fully integrated faith or a growing faith, but when we compare that to what
they practice and what Jesus says about generosity there is a huge gap.”
“I see a correlation between a church’s gospel focus and the
generosity health of the congregation.”
“Those motivated by the gospel give significantly higher
percentages of income than the other motivations.”
“We don’t fully grasp how enslavement of surplus has captured those we shepherd.”
Patrick is the founder of GenerousChurch and has a passion to see a revolution of whole-life generosity flourish in churches. Over the last 15 years, he’s partnered with Leadership Network, the Wesleyan Denomination, Converge and other church networks to equip leaders to unleash generous disciples. Leveraging the power of Scripture and story, the products and experiences that he’s created have been used by over 2,000 churches to transform the hearts and minds of Jesus-followers toward generosity as a way of living versus an act of giving.
Currently, Patrick directs the vision of GenerousChurch and lives in Prairie Village, KS with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Art Rainer, author of The Money
Challenge, The Marriage Challenge,
and The Secret Slide Money Club
series for kids. During their conversation, they discuss how parents can
encourage generosity in their children.
Best Quotes
“Money is often a significant competitor for our heart.”
“The earlier we can teach children about God’s design for
them and their money, the better they will be able to live out God’s design.”
“When you read God’s Word, you see that giving is to be a
priority.”
“You are going to be able to talk to your child about
giving, saving, and spending your money wisely.”
“I answer listener questions in light of God’s design for us and our finances.”
Art Rainer is the author of the best-selling book The Money Challenge. He is a renowned expert in personal finance, stewardship, and generosity.
Learn more about personal stewardship by visiting Art’s website: www.artrainer.com.
Podcast Episode 27: Big Vision Creates Big Generosity
Sep 04, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Will Mancini, founder of Auxano, author, speaker, and thought leader. During their conversation, they discuss how a big vision creates big generosity.
We have some copies of Will Mancini’s book, God Dreams to giveaway all you have to do is leave a review on iTunes and then email in a screenshot to LWgenerosity@lifeway.com for a chance to win!
Best Quotes
“I felt that God was calling me to do something about the
problem of photocopied vision.”
“When we are really paying attention and following Him, we
probably aren’t going to be as apt to cut and paste somebody else’s ministry
model.”
“The whole clarity universe has two big components: clarity
of your identity and clarity of direction.”
“I describe vision as a living language that illustrates and
anticipates God’s better future.”
“The breadth and scope of what Jesus has asked the church to
do is so enormous.”
“Being a forward-looking person is so seminal to being a
believer.”
“Generosity is in some ways the ability to tap into this
bigger real world of everything God is up to.”
“Clarify what world-changing value you bring to your community.”
“There’s no such thing as a church vision that’s not a discipleship vision first.”
Will Mancini is the founder of Auxano, a non-profit church consulting group, and Younique, a training and certification company for personal calling and life planning through the church. As a recognized thought leader, he leads a team of “navigators” who work with over 400 church teams a year to create break-thru clarity and execute their vision.
Will’s previous work experience includes more than 20 years in ministry that grew out of his earlier career as a chemical engineer and ad agency executive. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, Will served as pastor of spiritual formation and leadership development at Clear Creek Community Church and FaithBridge, both in Houston.
Will is the author/co-author of multiple books, including God Dreams: 12 Vision Templates for Finding and Focusing Your Church’s Future, Church Unique: How Missional Leaders Cast Vision, Capture Culture and Create Movement, Innovating Discipleship: Four Paths to Real Discipleship Results and Building Leaders: Blueprints for Developing Leadership at Every Level of Your Church, among others.
Will lives in Houston with his wife, Romy, and his four children, Jacob, Joel, Abigail and Poema. Learn more about Will and his work at willmancini.com. Connect with him on Twitter at @willmancini and Instagram at will_be_clear.
Podcast Episode 26: Who wants a trillion dollars?
Aug 28, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, former stewardship pastor and Executive Vice President at MortarStone. During their conversation, they discuss the 30 trillion-dollar wealth transfer.
Best Quotes
“Those dollars represent the accumulated assets of all the
families over this economic boom that we have had in the United States for all
these years, and it has to go somewhere.”
“With the right training and a little bit of insight,
pastors can do this well in the church.”
“Look up passages in the Bible that give you confidence in
biblical inheritance and how well that can be handled.”
“You can encourage your families to create their own family
foundation if they have the assets.”
“Become biblically aware of the principal of inheritance and
get a vision for your future that’s really, really big.”
“Because this area is vast and there are a lot of different
ways to do it, it is good to get an outside perspective on what makes the most
sense for the objectives the church has.”
“Don’t miss out on your opportunity to receive a portion of this gigantic wealth transfer.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies in 2017 and co-founding Financial Freedom International in 2015, Gunnar Johnson was a local church pastor and business owner. He serves as Executive Vice President of MortarStone. Gunnar has a passion for teaching biblical generosity and financial stewardship to individuals, churches, nonprofits, and businesses. You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast Episode 25: The Yearly Stewardship Plan of Saddleback
Aug 21, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by a special co-host, George Thompson, Stewardship Pastor at Faithful Central Bible Church and board member of Christian Stewardship Network. Their guest today is Chris Goulard, Pastor of Strategic Advancement at Saddleback Church. During their conversation, they discuss what a churchwide stewardship plan looks like.
Best Quotes
“The idea that everything I have was given to me by God and
still belongs to Him and I am just managing it, has profound spiritual
implications.”
“In America today, do Christians truly live as though God
owns everything they have?”
“Money will always impact your relationship with God.”
“If the people don’t see the senior leader being generous,
they can’t learn from that.”
“It’s not just understanding how to do something, it’s being
challenged with why you want to do it and what it’s going to do for you.”
“Stewardship ministry is a developing field so there is less
information to tap into. You have to be more proactive to go outside the church
and see what else is out there.”
“Stewardship is difficult ministry and is an area that the
enemy is really going to come against.”
“If the leader is not feeling passionate about stewardship
it is not going to get the oxygen that it needs.”
“The way we manage our resources can have an impact on the Kingdom.”
In 2004, Chris left a successful career in the financial services industry and joined the staff of Saddleback Church as the Pastor of Financial Stewardship. Over the past 17 years, Chris has started and led Saddleback’s ministries focusing on discipling people in biblical financial stewardship, including the Financial Freedom Workshop, Estate Planning, Financial Coaching, Compass, Financial Peace University, and all other financial workshops and curriculum.
Now, Chris is focusing his efforts on discipling those to whom God has given a surplus and have the spiritual gift of giving. He runs the Estate Planning Ministry and Kingdom Builders and loves to talk with people about growing in generosity.
Chris is also passionate about helping other churches start and build healthy stewardship ministries and serves as the Chairman of the Christian Stewardship Network, a network of Stewardship Pastors and leaders who serve in congregations around the world.
Chris and his wife, Jenifer have been married for 28 years and have two sons, 21 and 18. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1989 with a BA in Economics, received his CFP designation in 1992, and completed seminary in 2006.
Podcast Episode 24: Not Your Grandma’s Capital Campaign
Aug 14, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Greg Gibbs, Director of Strategic Planning at Kensington Church and Lead Navigator with Auxano. During their conversation, they discuss leading a successful capital campaign.
Best Quotes
“If you have high values around clarity and discipleship,
that means you are really caregiving to your people as you are walking them
through what otherwise could be a scary thing.”
“If a capital campaign is done well, it becomes a spiritual
emphasis time in the church, by which people often mark time.”
“You cannot raise extra dollars easily if you are not
connecting people with how that money will impact the community for Christ.”
“A capital campaign is a catalyst for waking people up to
the vision.”
“The work ahead of the campaign is way more important than
the public phase.”
“If you have any trepidation about a capital campaign, but
you have built up levels of trust in your people, you are so far down the road
already to having a successful campaign.”
“The conditions that are ripe for an effective capital
campaign are when there is trust in leadership, there is clear and compelling
vision, and there is a sense that God is already at work.”
“Don’t microwave the process. Make sure that you soak in this for as long as you need to, to make sure that it is a spiritually encouraging process for your people as well as financially successful.”
Jill DeVries Photography
Greg Gibbs was raised in the Philadelphia area but set down roots in the suburbs of Detroit. As the son of an IBM executive, his instincts for leadership were shaped early. He studied Organizational Communication as an undergrad and holds a master’s degree in Theology. After years of pastoral leadership in the church, Greg turned his attention to consulting and has spent time traveling the country working with church leaders.
After twelve years of pastoral ministry and fifteen years as a consultant, Greg joined the Auxano team in 2016 as a Lead Navigator. He coaches senior leadership with Vision Clarity, Long-Range Planning, and Resourcing through Capital Campaigns and Generosity Development. He is the author of Capital Campaign Playbook: An Insider Look at a Church Consultant’s Game Plan.
Greg is both a practitioner and consultant. He holds an adjunct position as Director of Organizational Advancement for Kensington Church – serving his home church by leading Church Planting and Leadership Development initiatives. Kensington is a multi-site church and has helped fund and coach over 70 church plants around the country.
Greg has been married to Andrea for 29 years and they have four children, one daughter-in-law, two dogs named Walter and Gustavo, and like to roast their own coffee with beans they purchase at the Eastern Market in downtown Detroit.
Podcast Episode 23: Curing Random Teaching and Preaching
Aug 07, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is
joined by Michael Kelley, the Director of the Small Group Team at Lifeway.
During their conversation, they discuss how to turn random messages into a
powerful discipleship ministry.
Best Quotes
“If you want to raise generosity levels, more preaching on
the topic is not the way to go.”
“The general principles of discipleship are not that
complicated, but there are unique cultural attributes to how those principles
are exercised that vary a lot from congregation to congregation.”
“Is there a way I can help someone who learns in a different
way process this truth other than just reading the words on the page?”
“Anytime that you communicate in a spiritual way, you are
walking a tightrope between the truth that needs to be communicated and the
manner in which it is communicated.”
“Money is the key to understanding a person’s heart.”
“Money becomes a revelation of the level of our
discipleship.”
“You can preach expositionally through most books of the
Bible and there is going to come a moment where you talk about money.”
“You don’t just need to preach a sermon about money every
six months, you need to have an understanding of generosity as a cultural
attribute of your congregation.”
“The 3 a.m. statement is a short, easy-to-remember, one-sentence summary of your entire message.”
Michael Kelley lives in Nashville, TN, with his wife, Jana, and three children: Joshua (14), Andi (12), and Christian (9). He serves as the Director of Discipleship and Groups Ministry for Lifeway Christian Resources and is the author of Transformational Discipleship; Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal: A Boy, Cancer, and God; Boring: Finding an Extraordinary God in an Ordinary Life; and Growing Down: Unlearning the Patterns of Adulthood that Keep Us from Jesus.
Podcast Episode 22: The Power of Ease and Simplicity
Jul 31, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Jon VerLee, the founder of Breeze. During their conversation, they discuss how to make giving easy for members of your church.
Best Quotes
“We see ourselves as the technical support arm for the
churches we serve.”
“At the church, our vision was to help people know Jesus and follow Him, and at Breeze, our vision statement is to help people find and follow Jesus.”
“As leaders in a ministry space, we need to be able to articulate that in a clear way that inspires others and rallies other people around it.”
“In order to scale and reach more people, you need to bring
a team around you that shares those same values and vision.”
“When you ask everybody, you ask no one. The principle
applies not only for a simple volunteer ask on a Sunday morning, but also in
the business world.”
“Breeze is built to help small and mid-size churches as the
operating system for their church.”
“Functionality is only as good as usability.”
“Whatever the context is, making something super simple
drastically increases the usability of that system.”
“Ask yourself two questions: What are the core values you
align yourself around? and What am I doing that somebody else could do?”
“As strategic and systematic as we can be, at the end of the
day, if you don’t have a culture that is in line with who you are and where you
are going, the strategy doesn’t matter.”
Jon is the founder and CEO of Breeze ChMS – a SaaS company that focuses on serving churches with web-based software. When Jon isn’t working on Breeze, he can be found trying to be a mountain biker, surviving Michigan winters, going on dates with his wife, and being tackled by his three small children.
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Ray Gary, the co-founder and CEO of iDonate. During their conversation, they discuss non-cash giving.
Best Quotes
“There are billions of dollars given each year in noncash.”
“I wanted to find a way and be part of a movement to unleash noncash donations to churches.”
“If we really want to unleash generosity, we have to find a
way to unlock wealth and make it easy and possible for people to give out of
their wealth and not just their income.”
“Americans will spend 22 billion dollars a year on renting
self-storage space.”
“You can save capital gains and be more generous by giving
out of stocks instead of cash.”
“People have to get their head around that they can make noncash gifts and how they can do it.”
“It doesn’t take many noncash gifts to make a difference.”
Ray is the CEO of iDonate, a company that provides nonprofits with technology solutions to do more good in the world. Ray’s experience in launching, building and helping businesses succeed spans nearly three decades, including various leadership positions in technology companies. Previously, he served as President of the Venture Capital group of Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies, where he oversaw numerous technology investments. Ray currently serves as a Board member of the Highland Park chapter of KLIFE – a faith-based ministry for students and also sits on the Board of the Greater Baton Rouge/LSU area Young Life ministry.
Podcast Episode 20: Why Holistic Generosity Matters to Church, Patrick Johnson
Jul 17, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Patrick Johnson, the director of Generous Church. During their conversation, they discuss how the Overflow resource fits into a larger discipleship strategy.
Best Quotes
“The difference in this study is that it is framed around
stories of generous givers from all walks of life.”
“We came up with 16 characteristics of whole life generosity
in the life of Jesus.”
“There are other people who have different expressions of
generosity, and we call those currencies of generosity.”
“When I wake up in the morning and my feet hit the floor,
how can I be a generous blessing to those around me today?”
“We want to be compassionate and hospitable and forgiving
and intentional with the poor and needy.”
“People change when they see a better story.”
“Generosity is more than an act, it’s a way of living.”
“We’ve confused this biblical generosity with fundraising
today.”
“When we put God first in our giving, that’s acknowledging
that God owns it all.”
“You can’t do a generosity series every three years and
expect to win against culture.”
Patrick Johnson, President and Chief Architect Patrick is the founder of GenerousChurch and has a passion to see a revolution of whole-life generosity flourish in churches. Over the last 15 years, he’s partnered with Leadership Network, the Wesleyan Denomination, Converge and other church networks to equip leaders to unleash generous disciples. Leveraging the power of Scripture and story, the products and experiences that he’s created have been used by over 2,000 churches to transform the hearts and minds of Jesus-followers toward generosity as a way of living versus an act of giving. Currently, Patrick directs the vision of GenerousChurch and lives in Prairie Village, KS with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.
Podcast Episode 19: Generosity Begins in the Parking Lot
Jul 10, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Bryan Rose, a lead navigator with Auxano. During their conversation, they discuss how generosity and hospitality are not two separate things.
Best Quotes
“The word generospitality comes from the question, ‘How do we connect generosity and hospitality?’”
“What was really attractive about the early church was how they loved each other and how they loved the strangers.”
“We can’t really separate welcoming well from the disciple-making process.”
“People know quickly if you are in it for them or if you are in it for yourself.”
“Most of the times we have a guest because something is missing, something is broken, or something is changing.”
“God uses us from the parking lot to the pew to help them understand and feel comfortable and experience our space well.”
“The goal of a first-time guest is to get them to come back a second time.”
“Most of the time, our people and leaders don’t even know what it’s like to be a guest.”
“Creating a great guest experience influences every area of your ministry.”
“Take a look at your website. If your service times aren’t clear, if the location isn’t right up front, that’s an easy tweak you can make before this Sunday.”
As a Lead Navigator and multi-site specialist for Auxano, Bryan’s vision facilitation weaves a strong strategic style with an engaging creativity. With experience in virtually every church ministry role, Bryan enjoys connecting with the diverse staff and lay leader perspectives on the teams he serves.
Prior to Auxano, Bryan served in a pastoral capacity for 12 years in three churches, in contexts ranging from a church “replant” to a growing megachurch. His most recent role was leading the multisite initiative as campus pastor of a 3500 attendance church in Metro Houston. Bryan and his wife Kelly now live in the Nashville area with their two children.
Bryan has a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a B.A. in Architecture from Mississippi State University.
Podcast: Episode 18- Easy Ways to Be Generous to Your City
Jul 03, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Eric Koehler, pastor of ValleyPoint Church in Glen Mills, PA. During their conversation, they discuss leading the church to be generous in the city.
Best Quotes
“Love days are simply our opportunity as a church to think about others by loving and serving them.”
“We try to make it possible for everyone possible in the church to participate in love days.”
“We run our love days throughout the school year. One month is a Saturday serve day where we get our hands dirty and go out into the community, and then the other month is a collection day where we ask people to bring stuff to church with them.”
“You don’t have to go too far from our church to find significant poverty. There are really good organizations that are doing work in these areas and we started to partner with them.”
“We can’t get too consumed with us and with what happens on our property that we lose sight of all of these wonderful partnerships we’ve established.”
“People know that we are the church that goes out and does things.”
“The consistency in participating in these love days has demonstrated goodwill to our neighbors.”
“I believe unleashing generosity on a city flows from a deep love for the city.”
“Give yourself permission to continually fall in love with the uniqueness of your context.”
Eric serves as the lead pastor of ValleyPoint Church in Glen Mills, PA. Glen Mills is a beautiful community located twenty minutes southwest of Philadelphia. ValleyPoint is passionate about serving the communities within its reach. ValleyPoint’s short story is to accelerate into its surrounding communities at the speed of real relationships and surprise them with the love of Jesus and the joyous impact of his church.
Eric and his wife Tonia recently celebrated twenty-five years of marriage and have six children – three boys and three girls ranging in age from twenty-three to eight.
Podcast: Episode 17 How to Grow a Generous Team
Jun 26, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, the Executive VP at MortarStone and former Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas. During their conversation, they discuss how to get paid staff support and volunteer lay-led support.
Best Quotes
“If you get the whole staff involved in your volunteer leadership team, you are going to have a lot more inertia in building the momentum for this churchwide generosity push.”
“God won’t bless a church that mishandles money.”
“Every dollar should equal souls in the Kingdom and waste of the widow’s mite is not acceptable.”
“Most pastors don’t come into the ministry with a deep understanding of God’s Word on money.”
“If a staff member isn’t properly equipped then it is unfair to hold them to the standard to be a giver.”
“The more engaged someone becomes in living out the vision of the local church the more generous they become.”
“As the heart is engaged, the pocketbook follows.”
“Always start with heart transformation with your staff.”
“Lead with your own story and your own transformation and you will have passionate staff member that follow your lead because of your transparency.”
“I have never ministered in a church where there wasn’t at least one person who said they felt called to this ministry as a lay person.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies in 2017 and co-founding Financial Freedom International in 2015, Gunnar Johnson was a local church pastor and business owner. He serves as Executive Vice President of MortarStone. Gunnar has a passion for teaching biblical generosity and financial stewardship to individuals, churches, nonprofits, and businesses. You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast: Episode 16- Fasting, Scarcity, and Overflow Part 2
Jun 19, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Skye Jethani, author of What’s Wrong With Religion, podcast host, speaker, and consultant. During their conversation, they discuss how media fasts lead to generosity and contrasting scarcity and overflow.
Best Quotes
“A lot of Christians engage in generosity either out of a sense obligation or out of a sense of transaction.”
“It is through media that we have marinated in this consumeristic idea that we are defined by our desires.”
“When we disconnect from media we can detox from that message and say we are not defined by our desires.”
“A media fast creates deep connection with God, deep connection with His Word, from which the overflow of generosity comes, but it also detoxifies the lies that we’ve inherited from our consumeristic culture that are a huge barrier to generosity.”
“When we are silent on a topic, that doesn’t mean people aren’t being shaped or formed, it just means they are being shaped or formed by voices other than the Scriptures.”
“Not talking regularly about generosity is pastoral malpractice because we are abandoning that area of formation to the voices of culture.”
“People are driven by scarcity – the fear that there isn’t enough.”
“The idea of being joyful in generosity is possible if we have a vision of an abundant God.”
“Money does have a unique role in Scripture because it has the power to be a false god.”
Skye Jethani is an award-winning author, speaker, consultant, and ordained pastor. He also serves as the co-host of the popular Holy Post Podcast, a weekly show than blends astute cultural and theological insights with comical conversation. Skye is the president of Measure the Clouds, a non-profit organization helping a post-Christian generation discover a ravishing vision of life with God. He also leads SkyPilot Media which develops multimedia resources for use by churches, colleges, and community groups navigating the intersection of faith and culture.
You can learn more about Skye’s ministry at his website:
Podcast Episode 15 : The Power of Culture, Communication, and Generosity Part 1
Jun 12, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Skye Jethani, author of What’s Wrong With Religion, podcast host, speaker, and consultant. During their conversation, they discuss the power of culture, communication, and generosity.
Best Quotes
“What would it look like to take a step backward and talk about where generosity fits in with our whole life with God?”
“We are trying to take the conversation of generosity and move it from an act of giving to a way of living.”
“I’ve seen more churches go on God adventures by focusing on the root issues of what drives generosity in a disciple’s life.”
“We get intimidated to talk about money and giving because we don’t talk about it enough.”
“In the context of generosity we need to take a step back and start with stories about who God is and then transition to stories about who we are as His people.”
“We need to demonstrate stories of generosity that are not just about money.”
“We framed 6 weeks around the idea of whole life generosity using stories of generous givers from every walk of life.”
“Even if you don’t start with your whole church, who are the leaders that you need to help lead into this journey?”
Skye Jethani is an award-winning author, speaker, consultant, and ordained pastor. He also serves as the co-host of the popular Holy Post Podcast, a weekly show than blends astute cultural and theological insights with comical conversation. Skye is the president of Measure the Clouds, a non-profit organization helping a post-Christian generation discover a ravishing vision of life with God. He also leads SkyPilot Media which develops multimedia resources for use by churches, colleges, and community groups navigating the intersection of faith and culture.
You can learn more about Skye’s ministry at his website:
Podcast: Episode 14- Plastic Donuts: Discover How Our Giving Makes God Feel
Jun 05, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Jeff Anderson, founder of Acceptable Gift and author of Plastic Donuts and Divine Applause. During their conversation, they discuss how God feels about our generosity.
Best Quotes
“When I learned that the Bible had things to say about money, I was very intrigued.”
“Our offerings we give are like plastic toys to God, but they have the power to connect us to the Father.”
“When we give, He is watching, He reacts, and when we see His reaction it encourages our reaction.”
“We get caught up a lot in the horizontal dimension of giving.”
“When we give gifts that don’t have any value to us, they don’t mean anything to God.”
“The book Plastic Donuts really centers around the idea of what is an acceptable gift.”
“Your gift, like a plastic donut, can still please God.”
“We see in Scripture that just because you tithe doesn’t mean your gift is pleasing to God.”
“I would encourage pastors to double or triple your regularity on the teaching of giving.”
After a roller coaster trading career, followed by a seven-year season with an international ministry, Jeff started a nonprofit organization called Acceptable Gift. This is where he writes about things like Plastic Donuts and Divine Applause. You can learn more about Jeff’s ministry at his website: www.jeffandersonauthor.com.
Podcast: Episode 13- Making Giving Easy and Fun for Givers
May 29, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Ray Gary, co-founder and CEO of iDonate. During their conversation, they discuss how to personalize the generosity program in your organization.
Best Quotes
“After pursuing success for 30 years, I became convicted that I should be using the gifts and talents God had given me to really make an impact, not just a profit.”
“I was really struck by the statistic that we only gave two percent of personal disposable income.”
“We have to get to where we are focused on the donor or supporter in the organization and how we make that experience easy, secure, and personalized to them.”
“In the non-profit world, the ask is made based on what the person cares about, not necessarily a blanket ask.”
“You always want to simplify the friction out of the process, because the benefit has to outweigh the number of steps the person has to take to actually give a gift.”
“People are six times more likely to abandon a transaction if they are led off the webpage.”
“To the extent that you can make it real and connect the giver to the actual impact they are making, you will appeal to their heart.”
“Take the time to connect the ask to the impact.”
Ray is the CEO of iDonate, a company that provides nonprofits with technology solutions to do more good in the world. Ray’s experience in launching, building and helping businesses succeed spans nearly three decades, including various leadership positions in technology companies. Previously, he served as President of the Venture Capital group of Koch Industries, one of the nation’s largest private companies, where he oversaw numerous technology investments. Ray currently serves as a Board member of the Highland Park chapter of KLIFE – a faith-based ministry for students and also sits on the Board of the greater Baton Rouge/LSU area Young Life ministry.
Podcast: Episode 12: Launch a Generosity Ministry with Clear Goals, Gunnar Johnson
May 22, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, executive vice president at MortarStone. During their conversation, they discuss what you need to do when God puts it on your heart to start a generosity ministry.
Best Quotes
“If God puts it on your heart to start a generosity ministry, you really have to think and pray through, ‘Lord, what do I want for the people that you’ve asked me to serve in my congregation?’”
“Most families, regardless of income level, are in some kind of financial challenge.”
“Begin to anchor all of the things you want to see in the lives of these families in Scripture.”
“If your motivation is purely organizational fundraising, they are going to know that.”
“The proper motivation is to teach on money and management of money for the benefit of the individual.”
“Raise the money for the organization, but do it because it’s the best thing for the individuals.”
“Less people are going to church but there are still a big percentage of people trying church for the first time.”
“Your wealthy family who is dealing with the spiritual challenge of having an abundance has a different spiritual need for discipleship.”
“Don’t be shy to create new things that fit your people group.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies in 2017 and co-founding Financial Freedom International in 2015, Gunnar Johnson was a local church pastor and business owner. He serves as Executive Vice President of MortarStone. Gunnar has a passion for teaching biblical generosity and financial stewardship to individuals, churches, nonprofits, and businesses. You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast: Episode 11-Winning in Marriage and Money, Art Rainer
May 15, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Art Rainer, author of The Marriage Challenge, and former executive pastor. During their conversation, they discuss why it is important for married couples to be on the same page financially.
Best Quotes
“70% of married couples say they argue about finances.”
“57% of divorced couples say that finances were the reason for their divorce.”
“Getting couples on the same page financially can really benefit their marriage as they work to advance God’s kingdom.”
“God designed us not to be hoarders, but conduits through which His generosity flows.”
“Financially healthy people are better able to say ‘yes’ instead of ‘not yet.’”
“God didn’t give us money to destroy our marriage.”
“You are going to bring certain expectations to the marriage about how finances work, and it’s important to deconstruct those expectations.”
“Pastor, it’s OK that you aren’t the money expert. God is.”
Art Rainer is the author of the best-selling book The Money Challenge. He is a renowned expert in personal finance, stewardship, and generosity.
Learn more about personal stewardship by visiting Art’s website: www.artrainer.com.
Podcast: Episode 10- Increasing Engagement with Absentees Increases Generosity, Gordon Daily
May 08, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gordon Daily, founder and president of Boxcast. During their conversation, they discuss using video streaming to keep church members engaged even when they can’t physically attend church.
As promised here is a link to a free one on one consultation from Boxcast:
“We live in a video world. That’s how everyone is consuming their content. Of all things, the church needs to be equipped to play that same game and to play it well.”
“At Boxcast, we want video streaming to be easy for everyone.”
“Maintaining that regular worship rhythm on Sundays is a wonderful thing for those who intend to be there, but just can’t for whatever reason.”
“When you aren’t streaming, nobody can see it.”
“Our pastors that use Boxcast tell us that 9 out of 10 people that come to their church watched online first.”
“Start by sharing with one camera in the back of the room. It’s great start.”
Gordon has always been a big dreamer and big thinker.
Although he failed to achieve his childhood goal of starting in center field for the Cleveland Indians, Gordon has never lost his capacity for dreaming big and working tirelessly to achieve whatever he sets his mind to.
His really big dream: To create a technology company that changes the way people communicate – through live HD video streaming.
After receiving his BS and MS in computer engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, a 12-year-career at Rockwell Automation followed. It literally took him around the world, including a stint in Singapore. It also gave him the opportunity to manage mission-critical projects early in his career. In Gordon’s Rockwell years, he tackled tough technical problems, crafted international business deals and came up with creative marketing solutions. He also managed to be awarded a half-dozen patents.
Gordon lives with his wife Cara and their young children Quentin, Serena, and Lincoln in a renovated convent on Cleveland’s West Side. When he isn’t with his family or working, he’s most often demonstrating his competitive side whether it’s skiing, kayaking or playing ping pong.
Podcast: Episode 9- Raising Generous Kids in a Selfie World
May 01, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Drew Formsma, author of Everyday Generosity. During their conversation, they discuss how and why parents should teach their kids about generosity.
Best Quotes
“We really worked this together to help define and discover and demonstrate the ins and outs of generosity.”
“It is so important for generosity to start when the kids are at home.”
“It starts with opening up opportunities, showing your kids where they can give and how they can step into everyday giving experiences.”
“I think all those excuses go out the window because God calls us to step into someone else’s need without asking for anything in return.”
“It’s all about rethinking the whole definition of giving.”
“Giving is not about us. It is not about our own good.”
“Remember that we can step into this daily, weekly, monthly.”
“If we block someone’s generosity, we could be blocking them from ever giving again.”
Drew Formsma is widely known as a voice to his generation and a peer who can communicate with them, unlike any adult. He began speaking with his dad in 2016 at the age of fourteen to audiences of tens of thousands of people around the world on the simple idea that generosity is the key to a better life. Drew lives in Southern California with his family and has set his sights on playing the top 100 golf courses in America by the age of forty.
Podcast: Episode 8- What a Legacy Ministry Is and Is Not, Bill High
Apr 24, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Bill High, CEO of The Signatry: A Global Christian Foundation. He is the co-author with David Green, founder, and CEO of Hobby Lobby, of Giving It All Away … And Getting It Back Again. During their conversation, they discuss legacy ministry and discipling business owners in the church.
Best Quotes
“The background of growing up poor gave me the passion to teach people about generosity and stewardship.”
“As a result of our work, we’ve seen people dramatically increase their giving.”
“The number one gamechanger that people can teach is that God is the owner and what are the implications of God’s ownership.”
“It’s a simple way to raise more significant money to fund and fuel the mission of the church.”
“They can gather their kids around, treat it as a family foundation, and have discussions around where they want to give and the values that they hold in their giving.”
“Legacy is not just about a planned gift. It is also the idea of what is going to go forward with your life and your values.”
“We don’t have a lot of ministry going on to the business owner.”
Bill High practiced law for 12 years before becoming the CEO of The Signatry. As CEO, he has spent over 18 years helping families live simply and give generously. He specializes in coaching families, individual givers, and financial advisers regarding biblical generosity and family legacy. He and his wife Brooke have four children and two grandchildren. You can learn more about Bill’s ministry here: www.billhigh.com.
The Generosity Bet by Bill High (https://www.amazon.com/Generosity-Bet-Secrets-Risk-Reward/dp/076840701X/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?keywords=bill+high+generosity+bet&qid=1555361557&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull)
God Owns My Business by Stanley Tam (https://www.amazon.com/God-Owns-My-Business-Formally/dp/1600663400/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2Y0LMYU26QK91&keywords=god+owns+my+business&qid=1555361594&s=gateway&sprefix=god+owns+my+b%2Caps%2C239&sr=8-1)
Podcast: Episode 7- What Does a Generosity Ministry Look Like?
Apr 17, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, stewardship pastor at Gateway Church in Dallas, Texas, founder of Learn Generosity, and executive vice president at MortarStone. During their conversation, they discuss what a thriving generosity ministry looks like.
Best Quotes
“We’ve got to define exactly what we mean and exactly what we are trying to accomplish.”
“Generosity ministry is a discipleship ministry it is not a fundraising ministry.”
“What does God want for the particular season your church is in for the lives of the individuals that are sitting in the pews looking back at you?”
“A generosity culture trumps strategy every single time.”
“One common obstacle is the concern that people will reject the message and therefore feel like the pastor shouldn’t be meddling by teaching on money.”
“Spend some of that influence capital by telling them why you are teaching on money.”
“70% of people live paycheck to paycheck regardless of income level.”
“They are not our principles, they are God’s way. And God’s way works.”
“No matter who is in your congregation, if they interact with money in any way, shape, or form, there are biblical principles for them to learn and apply in their life.”
“God has people in your congregation who need this area of discipleship.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies in 2017 and co-founding Financial Freedom International in 2015, Gunnar Johnson was a local church pastor and business owner. He serves as Executive Vice President of MortarStone. Gunnar has a passion for teaching biblical generosity and financial stewardship to individuals, churches, nonprofits, and businesses. You can learn more about Gunnar’s ministry here: www.learngenerosity.com.
Podcast: Episode 6- Divine Applause: Giving and Fasting Go Hand in Hand with Jeff Anderson
Apr 10, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Jeff Anderson, author, and founder of Acceptable Gift. During their conversation, they discuss how giving and fasting go hand in hand.
Best Quotes
“When we do certain things, the God of the universe is paying attention and He wants to reward us.”
“Giving involves sacrifice of personal possessions. Prayer involves sacrifice of time and focus. Fasting involves sacrificing food.”
“God is interested in our sacrifice. Sacrifice matters.”
“These are standard spiritual disciplines that engage our heart in a way that gets God’s attention.”
“Fasting is prayer on steroids.”
“It’s important we see that fasting is not something that is separate from prayer. It enhances our prayer power.”
“Remember you are teaching sheep that need to be led and shown what to do.”
After a roller coaster trading career, followed by a seven-year season with an international ministry, Jeff started a nonprofit organization called Acceptable Gift. This is where he writes about things like Plastic Donuts and Divine Applause.
Podcast: Episode 5- Resets That Can Raise Your Financial Trajectory
Apr 03, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Patrick Johnson, the director of Generous Church. During their conversation, they discuss moving from microwave generosity to enjoying a feast.
Best Quotes
“I tried to discover, ‘what’s the core to creating a generous culture?’”
“One of the key things I’ve learned is that we’ve confused biblical generosity with fundraising in churches today.”
“How do we move this conversation of biblical generosity from fundraising to disciple-making?”
“The felt need was if we are truly serious about our discipleship, how do we have 50 percent of our people who give nothing? And how do we break through that in a cultural way?”
“If you are truly going to infuse culture, it’s a 3 to 5 year process.”
“Most pastors want a microwave approach, but you are teaching me how to cook a feast.”
“If we get the right leaders with the right vision we can sustain this past the short term.”
“We have an opportunity as a church to usher in Jesus, help them find meaning, and then help them grow as generous disciples.”
“Teach on generosity without an ask.”
“For people to grow, it has to be about relationship, experience, and information.”
Patrick Johnson, President and Chief Architect
Patrick is the founder of GenerousChurch and has a passion to see a revolution of whole-life generosity flourish in churches. Over the last 15 years, he’s partnered with Leadership Network, the Wesleyan Denomination, Converge and other church networks to equip leaders to unleash generous disciples. Leveraging the power of Scripture and story, the products and experiences that he’s created have been used by over 2,000 churches to transform the hearts and minds of Jesus-followers toward generosity as a way of living versus an act of giving. Currently, Patrick directs the vision of GenerousChurch and lives in Prairie Village, KS with his wife, Jennifer, and their children.
Podcast: Episode 4- 30 Easy Money Challenges That Can Turn Your Finances Around
Mar 27, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Art Rainer, the author of The Money Challenge and former executive pastor. During their conversation, they discuss how getting financially healthy benefits God’s Kingdom.
Best Quotes
“We get financially healthy so that we can then use our resources to advance God’s Kingdom.”
“Don’t be afraid to challenge business leaders to step out.”
“Most people have no desire to pick up a book on personal finances.”
“If a church decides to leverage that material for a month, they can get four different messages that align with the content.”
“Right now, 78% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.”
“If the only help a person receives on money comes from your pulpit, how much help are they getting?”
“Financially healthy people are better able to say ‘yes’ as opposed to ‘not yet.’”
“We are getting out of debt so we can reach our community for the sake of Christ.”
Art Rainer is the author of the best-selling book The Money Challenge. He is a renowned expert in personal finance, stewardship, and generosity.
Learn more about personal stewardship by visiting Art’s website: www.artrainer.com.
Podcast: Episode 3- The Power of Telling a Great Generosity Story, Brad Formsma
Mar 20, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Brad Formsma, author and founder of I Like Giving. During their conversation, they discuss how to inspire generosity.
Best Quotes
“We started with capturing short giving stories that showed the generous life from so many different perspectives, and the world responded.”
“We know people have trouble sometimes hearing about generosity from their pastors because of past situations, so we come in as a fresh resource.”
“When we become aware that opportunities to give generously are all around us, it flips how we look at the world.”
“Everyday we have opportunities to do something for someone else.”
“When I think about the generous life and the power of story, I think about becoming the main character.”
“We encourage churches and pastors to look for stories within their church.”
“If a church can embrace the idea of consistently bringing in story, it makes a difference.”
“If we want a joy-filled culture, we have to lead with story and joy.”
Brad is the author of the best-selling book “I Like Giving: The Transforming Power of a Generous Life” and the Founder & President of I Like Giving, a movement which has inspired more than 100 million people in 170 countries to live generously. Brad is a speaker and teacher on generosity, he has studied this topic for nearly 15 years. Brad and the I Like Giving team partner alongside businesses and churches to bring a refreshing message of generosity, impacting people across the United States. His message equips leaders improving the health of their teams and churches around the country. Brad also facilitates custom family meetings to help families discuss generosity with every generation so that their values and story live on. He has been invited to speak to groups all over the country, including Johns Hopkins University, PBS, Kaiser Institute for Health and Fox News. I Like Giving has been featured by organizations including National Geographic and The Today Show. Brad and his wife, Laura, have three children and live in Southern California.
Podcast: Episode 1- Unpacking the Generosity Ministry at Summit Church, Blair Graham
Mar 20, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Blair Graham, pastor of stewardship and generosity at Summit Church in Raleigh, N.C. During their conversation, they discuss looking for business leaders in your church to serve on the generosity team and small steps you can take to start a generosity ministry in your church.
Best Quotes
“We heard the gospel preached for the very first time to us and it radically changed our lives.”
“An elder started to disciple me and that was my entry point into being a volunteer in the generosity ministry back in 2008.”
“God actually trains people in finance and money and gives them a passion for stewardship and brings them to your church.”
“Our vision is that we would plant 1,000 churches over the next 40 years.”
“How do we respond to someone that gives a gift to the church?”
“How do you disciple those who have a high capacity with generosity at your church?”
“We believe that stewardship and generosity are a discipleship issue.”
“My role is not to do all the ministry, it is to equip the saints to do the ministry.”
“Start with something you can do consistently and do it well repeatedly and it will bear fruit.”
“I just brought on a leadership team three years ago and it has completely changed the shape of our ministry.”
“You don’t have to be the expert on Day 1, just get on the journey.”
Blair Graham came to faith in Christ at The Summit Church in Durham, NC in 2008 and God has taken him through a very unexpected career transition from the legal profession, to running a commercial real estate brokerage business, to now serving as the Pastor of Stewardship and Generosity at the Summit since 2012. Blair and his wife, Aubrey, reside in Cary, NC, and are committed to disciple-making, exercise, and shepherding their four active kids (ages 3 to 9 years old). Blair and Aubrey continually feel inadequate for the task that the Lord has called them to and would love your prayers for faithfulness and dependence on the Lord.
Recommended Resources
The Summit Church (https://www.summitrdu.com)
Crown Financial Resources (https://www.crown.org)
Financial Peace University (https://www.daveramsey.com/fpu)
Maximize by Nelson Pearcy (https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/maximize-P005316477)
Christian Stewardship Network (http://christianstewardshipnetwork.com)
Podcast: Episode 2- Is It Generosity, Stewardship, Fund Raising or Discipleship?
Mar 20, 2019
In this episode of the Generosity Podcast, Todd McMichen is joined by Gunnar Johnson, longtime Stewardship Pastor at Gateway Church in Dallas, TX, author, and speaker. Gunnar is the founder of Learn Generosity and currently serves as the Executive VP at MortarStone. During their conversation, they discuss when churches should consider starting a stewardship ministry.
Best Quotes
“Stewardship pastors are usually people who have a natural bent toward money and would never, ever see themselves teaching in this area, but deep down inside they know they are called.”
“Those that are passionate about generosity ministry today began somewhere else.”
“That generosity message in Scripture, coupled with the financial management side of things, changes their life.”
“When I first started in 1999, churches weren’t challenged economically as they are today.”
“The challenge financially makes this ministry more valuable and more applicable to the local church.”
“We want to develop a heart that loves the Lord and wants to give and advance the things that are going on in the Kingdom.”
“Ultimately the giving is between the individual and the Lord, it’s not between the finance committee, the pastor, and the individual.”
“What’s the initiative that is accurate for the season that you are in as a congregation?”
“If your motive really is just raising money, and you are going to manipulate people through a process of discipleship, you should stay away from this subject, because you will do a lot of damage.”
Before founding Generosity and Stewardship Strategies in 2017 and co-founding Financial Freedom International in 2015, Gunnar Johnson was a local church pastor and business owner. He serves as Executive Vice President of MortarStone. Gunnar has a passion for teaching biblical generosity and financial stewardship to individuals, churches, nonprofits, and businesses.
Pastors we are pumped to bring you a brand new free resource. It will move the dial forward for you and your team quickly. “The Generosity Podcast” is launching weekly and here is what it will deliver to you.
A quick hitting 20-25 minutes of practical discussion from leading experts, authors, and pastors each week completely focused on a specific generosity topic to grow your ministry.
We will format 4-6 questions to help you get to know the guest’s passion for generosity, unpack the specific topic, provide experienced wisdom on the issue, and conclude with a few practical tips you can take directly into your next meeting.
There are literally hundreds and hundreds of resources by potential generosity partners. Each episode we will introduce you to people, training, and tools we think are the best of the best.
We would encourage you to have your staff and leadership subscribe to the podcast. Often times, the biggest challenge is getting the conversation started. We want to help you create real synergy.
We believe that every church can experience a thriving generosity ministry resulting in a continual overflow of resources toward your vision. Generosity is a team sport that should not be left to the pastor and finance office alone. Fundraising is not the goal, but discipleship.
In the first few episodes, you will learn…
What the Stewardship Ministry is like at Summit Church in Raleigh, NC
How the next generation of adults are learning about stewardship from one of the newest authors in the space
The difference between stewardship, generosity, fundraising, and discipleship
You can’t get this stuff anywhere else! So subscribe to “The Generosity Podcast” in the iTunes Store or your favorite podcast player. Encourage your team and leaders to do the same. You might want to even set a monthly 30-minute meeting to share what you are learning and how it can make a difference in your church. It will really be that easy and helpful.
We’d love it if you gave us a great rating and review. Help us unleash giving today in churches across our country for the sake of kingdom advancement!
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