Episode 73: Resourcing a Multiplication Movement
Aug 26, 2020
Show notes
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
Show notes
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.
Episode 71: Revitalize to Multiply
Aug 12, 2020
Show notes
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.
Episode 70: Turnkey Legacy Ministry
Aug 05, 2020
Show notes
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
Show notes
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
Show notes
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
Show notes
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
Show notes
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
Show notes
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.
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