Blogs and Articles
To encourage worshipful, generous-hearted living
For the most recent blog or to see articles by dates, look down the list on the right.
L. Roger Owens’ book What We Need Is Here (Upper Room Books, 2015) is not what my longtime-pastor side might call a “spiritual self-help” book. Its subtitle points to this: Practicing the Heart of Christian Spirituality. Not content to settle for surface religious “how-to”s, Owens seeks to reach the heart of Christian spiritual life, by…
Read MoreLenten Study on Spiritual Disciplines Text: Growing Generous Souls by Betsy Schwarzentraub Growing Generous Souls can offer an excellent small-group study and themes for the six weeks of Lent. This Lenten study focuses on five basic spiritual disciplines while encouraging six core attitudes in our Christian journey of faith. It can fit various formats…
Read MoreUsing the Growing Generous Souls Study With a Financial Commitment Program The Growing Generous Souls study can offer a substantive exploration of stewardship within which to place your church’s financial commitment program this year. Instead of isolating and emphasizing financial giving by itself, church members can explore generosity as a way of living with their…
Read MoreThere’s no more stark realization than hearing cancer has attacked your body and you must defeat it to live. That happened to me four years and five months ago. So it’s a very moving experience every year when I attend the Relay for Life, celebrating that I’m a survivor/thriver, and joining hundreds of people from…
Read MoreFreedom from fear is not an esoteric neverland. Some of us – maybe most of us – have seen it in a person’s action or life at some time. A rescuer saves a child from a fire or flood. A wartime buddy aids a soldier, or a stranger helps someone stranded by the road. A…
Read MoreIt was thrilling to see the new version of the movie The Lion King! It was a whole, new experience with real animals (and evidently very sophisticated computer work): a you-are-there experience. I don’t know if it’s because this version was based on the screenplay, but it contained several have-to-reflect-on-it adult one-liners. I mean “adult”…
Read MoreManaging the money and things we have can get complicated, but the basics don’t have to be. At a workshop on “The Whys and Hows of Money Leadership,” stewardship leader Mark L. Vincent1 shared three points we can take care of, as our financial health checklist:2 1. I have a spending plan or budget that…
Read MoreWhat we inwardly tell ourselves is important. Although it’s not the only factor in physical performance, researchers and practitioners have seen positive results for a long time. We act on our perceptions and beliefs, whether we are aware of them or not. For example, those who believe it’s a dog-eat-dog world will see only one-upmanship…
Read MoreI hadn’t thought about it before, but the traditional church term “outreach” can connote an old-school view of “us versus them” mission. If delivered or heard in the wrong way, it implies that givers have all that is worth giving, and receivers have nothing to contribute to the equation. It’s as if we do outreach…
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