Giving – Part 2

In this series of posts, I am sharing:

Today's Focus

  • How we decided the amount to give

For Jenn and me, this is extremely relevant right now.  Our church is taking a HUGE STEP to reach more people with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.  By HUGE, I mean $20,000,000.  Yes, that is a "20" with SIX zeros behind it!

Let me put this in perspective.  Jenn and I were part of the original group of 15 who launched NewSpring.  That is "15" with NO zeros behind it! 🙂  That was only 7 years ago!  Now, we are in a great facility that has allowed us to grow to over 8,000 in attendance and fill up four services per Sunday!  BUT, our children's area is overloaded.  The Youth have met in multiple off-campus locations for seven years.  It is time that they had a state-of-the-art facility on campus.  It is time to grow to Greenville.

God is moving, and it is TIME to act.  It only takes $20,000,000 to make the vision a reality.  It takes a BIG GOD to make this happen, and we are confident that HE will make it happen!

So Jenn and I are convinced that we must STEP UP and give above and beyond our normal giving of tithes and offering.

This is the first time that we will be a part of such a thing.  It has been a very interesting conversation for Jenn and me!

Let me share some thoughts that I have had as we went through the process of determining our gift to this effort (NOTE:  SOME of these thoughts are extremely selfish!)

  • I LOVE being a part of a church with HUGE vision and a passion 100% directed toward Jesus Christ.
  • I already tithe, why should I have to give even more?!
  • I want to pay off my house NOW.  Not tomorrow and not in three years and not in five years.  NOW!
  • My daughter will grow up in the new children's facility and youth building!  How awesome it will be to see her grow up in these facilities!  She will have a church that she will LOVE to invite friends to.  I never invited friends to my church when I was growing up!
  • God is in control.  I am not.  He is the owner.  I am the manager.  A good manager seeks to reap a profit for his manager!  I want to reap a record crop!
  • There are people who do not even give one dime to our church.  If they all gave as the Bible commands Christ-followers to, there would be no need for a capital campaign.
  • I want my gift to make a difference.
  • My gift will be a very small percentage of the $20,000,000.  I pray that some day I will have the ability to give a large percentage gift toward God's vision.

At the end of the day, here is how we decided how much to give to NewSpring's GameTime.

  1. We sought God through much prayer.  In Exodus 25:2, it says that the offering is to be given by each man whose heart prompts him to give.
  2. Jenn and I had countless conversations about the gift.  I believe that this discussion helped cement our commitment to the vision God has given to NewSpring.  It also involved discussions with our daughter.  She understands clearly that we are making a financial gift to this ministry!
  3. We both have a peace about the financial gift we are making.  Now, I am a finance guy.  I love seeing how numbers fit in the budget.  This number does NOT fit into the budget!  INCOME – OUTGO does NOT equal EXACTLY ZERO if we make this a monthly contribution!  That might scare you to death, but it does not scare me.  Why?  I know that God will provide the money.  He has in the past, and He will now.  Do you know why I know this?  Because if HE gave me the number to commit to, He will provide the necessary resources for my to fulfill my commitment.

So, this coming Sunday, Jenn and I will make our commitment.  We can't wait to see the entire church come forward (by the thousands) and commit TOGETHER as a unified body of Christ to be a part of God's vision for NewSpring.

This Sunday …    LIVES    WILL    BE    CHANGED.

Read the series

2 Comments

  1. Julie on October 4, 2007 at 1:06 pm

    The plans sound awesome. Our church (Palm Valley Church in AZ) did a building campaign this summer. We have been portable for 7 years, purchased land a couple years ago and our now looking to build next year.

    Paying off our house early (next month) has allowed us to give to that campaign in a way that we wouldn’t have otherwise. It is awesome being out of debt!



  2. plonkee on October 5, 2007 at 1:06 pm

    Its nice that you have a passion for your cause. I’d caution against relying on God without working on it yourselves as well but I’m sure you realise this.



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