If you have followed my blog for a period of time you know that there is a small core of people who are uncomfortable with the direction of this conference. They have attempted to create telephone chains that make accusations of heresy and have distributed anti-Ginghamsburg literature at an area-wide event. The accusation is that we are operating with a subversive “leftist” agenda.

How can one tell truth from error? The Bible tells us to check the fruit. There are three clear tests of truth that are laid down in 1 John. Is a person committed to walk in godly integrity as Jesus walked? Love with sacrificial actions as Jesus loved? And do they profess that Jesus is the unique Son of God who has come in the flesh? Let’s not get caught up in the political-partisan frenzy that divides and separates, but let’s both listen and speak the truth to each other in love.

God bless...

1. Do the right first thing: planned giving to God. At the beginning of each year, determine that the first line item of your budget will be the amount you are going to give on a weekly basis. Write that amount down and stick to your plan. “On the first day of every week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income.” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Never offer God the leftovers; take the first right action!
2. Seek a wise mentor or an accountability group. I’ve done this in any area of my life that required serious change. When I was forty-nine my body fat was 38 percent. I don’t know how many times through the years I tried to change my lifestyle habits, without knowing how to proceed or sustain the effort. I needed a trainer, someone who was accomplished in the area that I wasn’t. I connected with a personal trainer and five years later at age fifty-four my body fat was between 14-15 percent. Seek a mentor, and provide mentors in financial accountability for your congregation! You can enable this strategy by offering “Get Out of Debt” classes.
3. Write a budget. The first step in developing a budget is to list all debt. Go through all set expenses and determine what you can do without. Do you really need all of those newspaper and magazine subscriptions? How many of us could take a smaller selection package on cable TV? Can you eat out less often? How about eliminating your land phone line and using only your cell phone? Can you do without lawn service? Take an honest look at what you can do without. Don’t forget to budget for entertainment, vacations, and gift-buying for the year.
4. Perform plastic surgery. Cut up your credit cards and assume no new debt. We do not honor God, other people, or our own children’s future when we continue to live beyond our means.
5. Set future goals. Give examples from your own life about this habit. For example, in Money Mattters: Financial Freedom For All God’s Children, I described my purchase of a new Harley Davidson Motorcycle with cash. It was the culmination of a ten-year dream for which I saved; the fruits of delayed gratification. It felt good to pay cash, not risking my children’s future education, and enabling our family to continue to give sacrificially to Christ’s mission of reaching the lost and setting oppressed people free.
6. Nurture an attitude of gratitude. List everything you already have for which you are thankful. The idols of greed and materialism will always tempt you to desire what belongs to another.
7. Pray! Pray! Pray! Those who prove faithful with a few things will be trusted with much!

(Proactive steps excerpted from MONEY MATTERS: financial freedom for all God's churches by Michael Slaughter, Abingdon Press, 2006.)

God bless...

"In 1 Kings 17 we find the story of a man named Elijah, a prophet of God, who became God’s means to respond to another person’s need. Often I hear the question from unbelievers as well as Christians, 'Why does God allow people to starve? Why does God allow all the suffering in the world?' God does not allow anyone to starve. You and I are the ones allowing the starvation because we do not understand God’s perspective on money. God uses the resources of people. That’s why it’s so important that we are good stewards of the resources that God has entrusted to us. Those resources become the means to answer somebody else’s need and somebody else’s prayer. God releases heaven’s resources to God’s children through God’s children.

"When considering God’s provision, do you use the formula of human computation or the power of divine math? The biblical principles for financial freedom challenge us to live within our means. That’s a given. There’s always more to what God wants to do in us and through us, however. Remember what God said to Moses, 'What is that in your hand?' Here’s what Elijah says to this widow: 'Use what’s in your hand.' God’s word to us is to live out of what we have, out of the resources God provides.

"Our problem is that we doubt God and see only what we have. We factor human computation instead of divine math. And what do we see? 'I only have a little. I don’t really have anything, just this little bit.' We habitually forget that a little in the hands of God is a lot.

"When we look at the miracles of Jesus we see that God never makes something from nothing. When five thousand people were hungry, Jesus didn’t snap his fingers and have Big Macs fall out of the sky. It was the same when Jesus’ friends needed wine at the wedding feast. Jesus didn’t snap his fingers and make wine appear. He took what they had – water – and turned it into wine. Jesus appreciated the two pennies that the widow had to give. The miracle comes from what you have, not from what you don’t have. In the same way, when we’ve got bills to pay we can’t think that God’s going to make money appear out of nothing and spontaneously pay off our bills. God always asks us to surrender and place in God’s hands what we already have – and then we trust. Jesus takes a few fish and a few pieces of bread as if to say, Give it to me. You haven’t done a good job with it. Give it to me. Surrender your finances to God, and watch what God will do. And remember that any time you use a charge card, you’re using something you don’t have. If you had it, you wouldn’t have to charge it! God will only bless what you have.

"Think of the incredible assets that God gives us in Christ Jesus. Many have received the gift of Jesus Christ and experienced eternal life as our own. We have the Holy Spirit and all of the assets of heaven, but God will not release those assets until we surrender to the Spirit that is in us. As long as we keep acting out of our wishes and our appetites and what we want to do with our money, God’s not going to bless it. God’s not going to release the resources of the Holy Spirit. But as we surrender to the Spirit that’s in us, we are converted to the mind of Christ. Remember, there is one new birth but many conversions. There are areas of our life in which we’ve been “born again” but we’ve not been converted. We don’t know the blessing of God until we’re converted. When we are converted in our finances, we have the mind of Christ about our finances. What an incredible asset! With all of the creativity of Christ, think of the unlimited possibilities and potential." (Excerpted from MONEY MATTERS: financial freedom for all God's children by Michael Slaughter, Abingdon Press, 2006.)

In my next blog update, I will challenge us to look at the life practices and disciplines essential for living within our means and achieving true financial freedom.

God bless...

"As we’re building a platform of financial freedom into our lives, the amazing truth is that we not only have a powerful parent, we have a powerful parent who has given us the promise of provision. 'And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus' (Philippians 4:19).

"The Bible offers one narrative after another that illustrates how no need is too great for God to meet. When the Israelites were out in the middle of the desert without anything to eat, God provided manna and quail. When there was nothing to drink, God pulled water out of a rock. When the only available resources to feed 5,000 people were a few dry fish and five loaves of bread, Jesus multiplied them to feed the multitudes. "He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) If God was willing to give Jesus to die for you, does not everything else pale in comparison to God’s ability to provide for your every need?

"Financial freedom is based in trust; that is, in building a trusting relationship between you and God. Life is not about frantically pursuing money and possessions, because God’s already promised all we need. Life is about pursuing a relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ. We begin to build a lifetime of financial freedom by readjusting our priorities. Jesus put it this way: "But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." – Matthew 6:33 NRSV. I don’t have to worry about multiplying wealth because God has promised that to me. All I need to worry about is staying in a right relationship with God, making sure that God is first.

"Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father, who art in heaven, because Jesus is in the position of power and authority, which means that he can back his promises. We have a father in heaven who has promised to provide us everything we need. In Jesus Christ we have all of the resources needed for financial freedom. In Jesus every promise of God for our success is 'yes!' "

(Excerpted from MONEY MATTERS: financial freedom for all God's children by Michael Slaughter, published by Abingdon Press, 2006.)

God bless...

• The Cruise Ship is an experience of refined excellence. Truly entertaining. Service with a smile. Someone to wait on you at your beck and call, turn down the bed and leave a chocolate on your pillow. Five Star!
• The Mission Outpost is messy. Many of the teams who have worked in the Gulf region or Cedar Rapids have slept on floors and forgotten the meaning of air conditioning. (Click on the picture to view a news report on one of Ginghamsburg’s Gulf teams.)
• The Cruise Ship is centered in excess. How much food can you eat in a day before you hit the midnight buffet?
• The Mission Outpost is stretched to the limits, lives by the “seat of its pants,” depending on Jesus to multiply the loaves and fish. Embodies a commitment to live simply so that others may simply live.
• The Cruise Ship is literally a self-contained fortress. Programming, classes, restaurants, movies, clubs, gyms, gift shops. You never need to leave the confines of the ship.
• The Mission Outpost is an externally focused network of partnerships for the sake of better meeting the needs of the communities it serves. Ginghamsburg is in partnerships with public schools, international relief organizations, businesses, theological seminaries, social organizations as well as county jails, to name just a few.
• The Cruise Ship is a place of retreat.
• The Mission Outpost is all about engagement at the greatest places of need.
• Participation on the Cruise Ship is based on self-interest. I show up at the things I want to do.
• Participation for the disciple in mission is based on others’ needs--a servant rather than a volunteer.

I desperately hope I am wrong, but I fear that many folk in the church have signed up for a cruise rather than a life mission.

God bless...