On The Road Again
Greetings from Little Rock, Arkansas: home of humidity. Actually, I guess Houston, TX, could boast that claim. But Little Rock's not far behind.
I have something to get off my chest, so if you're not in the mood for a rant, you should probably move on to the next blog. If you have anything to do with your church's budgeting process, do the world a favor: make them give more money to the children's ministry. I mean it. Yell, stomp, stage a sit-in, refuse to leave the church building, refuse to come back to the church building. Do whatever it takes to increase the amount of money allocated to children's ministry.
Here's a secret from a guy who knows how this works: more money is spent on adult ministries -- particularly ministries aimed at people in their 40s and 50s -- than anywhere else in most churches. More than outreach, more than missions, more than social programs or benevolence, more than children and youth, sometimes more than any of those combined. Anyone wanna guess why?
IT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL THE MONEY!
That's why elders and deacons and pastors and preachers are so quick to cut the budgets for children's ministry and youth ministries -- those kids don't put any money in the plate.
Here's the problem: if we don't reach them now, they won't be around to put anything in the plate later.
And we wonder why so many churches are shutting their doors and going out of business. It's because they were stupid and shortsighted and never invested in the next generation. They failed to lead with the end in mind and -- as a result -- they aborted their future.
Ah, as my friend David Blackwell said the other day: Blogs are good places to rant.
Now that that's out of my system, remember to pray for us this weekend. I'm speaking all day tomorrow to a church here in Little Rock. Then, I'm flying to Dallas to meet Jill and Amelia (the two big girls are staying with some friends -- thanks Phil/Holly and Yuriy/Nadia). We're going to visit the folks at the Southlake Church to see if that's where God is leading us. I'll make sure to find out how much they're spending on family-based ministries and demand that they increase it before I make any decisions!
For those of you who requested a copy of the article Reggie Joiner and I wrote for Wineskins Magazine, I'll send it when I get home.
Oh, and about this other church...those of you who guessed were correct. I'll tell everyone more about it later.
I have something to get off my chest, so if you're not in the mood for a rant, you should probably move on to the next blog. If you have anything to do with your church's budgeting process, do the world a favor: make them give more money to the children's ministry. I mean it. Yell, stomp, stage a sit-in, refuse to leave the church building, refuse to come back to the church building. Do whatever it takes to increase the amount of money allocated to children's ministry.
Here's a secret from a guy who knows how this works: more money is spent on adult ministries -- particularly ministries aimed at people in their 40s and 50s -- than anywhere else in most churches. More than outreach, more than missions, more than social programs or benevolence, more than children and youth, sometimes more than any of those combined. Anyone wanna guess why?
IT'S BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALL THE MONEY!
That's why elders and deacons and pastors and preachers are so quick to cut the budgets for children's ministry and youth ministries -- those kids don't put any money in the plate.
Here's the problem: if we don't reach them now, they won't be around to put anything in the plate later.
And we wonder why so many churches are shutting their doors and going out of business. It's because they were stupid and shortsighted and never invested in the next generation. They failed to lead with the end in mind and -- as a result -- they aborted their future.
Ah, as my friend David Blackwell said the other day: Blogs are good places to rant.
Now that that's out of my system, remember to pray for us this weekend. I'm speaking all day tomorrow to a church here in Little Rock. Then, I'm flying to Dallas to meet Jill and Amelia (the two big girls are staying with some friends -- thanks Phil/Holly and Yuriy/Nadia). We're going to visit the folks at the Southlake Church to see if that's where God is leading us. I'll make sure to find out how much they're spending on family-based ministries and demand that they increase it before I make any decisions!
For those of you who requested a copy of the article Reggie Joiner and I wrote for Wineskins Magazine, I'll send it when I get home.
Oh, and about this other church...those of you who guessed were correct. I'll tell everyone more about it later.
posted by john alan turner at 5:39 PM
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