Book Reviews by Betsy
Written for the CA-NV United Methodist Conference Instant Connection, 7/30/2015 The 2012-2016 U.M. Guideline, Stewardship: Nurturing Generous Living, is now available. This nuts-and-bolts booklet, written by the Rev. Betsy Schwarzentraub, former California-Nevada Conference Director of Stewardship, is written for a local church stewardship team to build a generosity plan for the congregation. The forty-page booklet…
Read MoreWritten for “Live Free,” the 2015 issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, by the Ecumenical Stewardship Center Earth Trek: Celebrating and Sustaining God’s Creation, by Joanne Moyer (Herald Press, 2004), is a multifaceted gem that offers a variety of practices that care for the earth. Based on the seven days of creation…
Read MoreI was delighted to discover a brand new network of resources especially for young adults, called Compass: Navigating Faith and Finances, at https://www.stewardshipresources.org/COMPASS. It’s designed to engage young adults in conversations about the ways faith can inform their management of money. – Not that they’re the only ones who want help in money management; I’m…
Read MoreAs we enter Thanksgiving and the gift-buying days leading up to Christmas, now is a great time to talk about what is enough. According to the consumer version of this season (in the U.S., at least), excess becomes our expectation, even our norm: excess food, excess buying, excess entertainment and activity. “Enough” is a word…
Read MoreI was excited this week to meet with the Resource Editorial Team for the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (ESC), which provides outstanding materials for cultivating stewardship and generosity in the local church. As a pastor and then as a consultant over the years, I’ve used almost all of their material resources for annual financial commitment programs…
Read MoreWhat motivates affluent people to make major planned gifts to nonprofit organizations like your church? In The Seven Faces of Philanthropy: A New Approach to Cultivating Major Donors (Jossey-Bass, 1994), Russ Prince and Karen File lay out the results of a sophisticated sampling of wealthy givers across the United States. What did they learn? Plenty!…
Read MoreGod loves all creation. God delights in creation and cares for the well-being of all creatures (Gen. 1). Creation reveals God’s character. Through creation itself, God’s character can be seen (Rom. 1:19-20) and all things created give praise to God (Ps. 19:1-6; Ps. 148). Wilderness places facilitate close encounters with God (Exod. 3:1-2) and provide…
Read MoreGo and See – (Ecumenical Stewardship Center) Go and See is a Sunday morning mission fair inspired by the miracle of loaves and fishes. This festival approach encourages participants in a sense of discovery and wonder – discovering the gifts God has given us, and wondering at the joy and increase the Holy Spirit brings…
Read MoreMichael Reeves’ Extraordinary Money! (Discipleship Resources, 2002) could have been called “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Capital Campaigns But Were Afraid to Ask.” – because there is a lot of fear out there about capital campaigns. People ask questions such as: • “Can we do it ourselves?” Reeves says, “Don’t!” and gives seven…
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