Fifteen years ago, I found myself unexpectedly let go from a full-time youth ministry role. I didn’t see it coming, nor was I prepared for what to do to provide for my family. Typical of these sorts of traumas, I saw myself as the persecuted hero and my church as the insensitive villain. …
The note my middle-school daughter brought home from her Sunday school class asked parents to help out with a fund-raiser for the poor. They wanted a $20 donation along with two pairs of gloves for needy children living overseas, the focus of the ministry’s Christmas outreach program.…
Tight budgets are commonplace in ministry. That means that decisions about spending money are equally as common. Someone in our church recently asked me, “Why can’t the church do ‘x’ when it’s only thirty bucks a month?” “It’s a great idea,” I affirmed, “but there are so many other great ‘thirty dollar’ ideas people have proposed.…
You likely have an opinion about the poor. You may have even served the poor. Do you have an understanding of the poor, though? “When you are broke, you can’t plan ahead or shop sales or buy in bulk. Poor people wait to buy something until they absolutely need it, so they have to pay whatever the going price is at that moment.…
