Notable Voices and the Week in Review: June 30, 2018
How to Put Financial Stress On Your Marriage Before You Even Say “I Do” — Art Rainer
Without question, these are exciting times for you and your fiancé. Each day, you seem to learn more and more about the one you are marrying. The conversations go deeper than before. You are no longer talking about “me” or “you.” You are talking about “us.” And while the conversations take many thrilling turns, the topic of money is often left out. Why ruin the mood? Unfortunately, the lack of financial communication before marriage can lead to financial stress during marriage. So let’s consider how you create a financially stressful marriage before you even say “I do.”
New Tax Law Could Cost Churches, Non-Profits a Billion Dollars — Facts & Trends
A new tax law could cost churches and other nonprofits a bundle. As in a billion dollars—just for offering free parking and other benefits to employees. Last year’s tax reform bill changed the law so for-profit businesses could no longer write off such benefits. Unfortunately, says Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA), that change affects churches and other nonprofits.
9 Ways to Get Outside the Christian Bubble — Chuck Lawless
I’m convinced that many Christians don’t do much evangelism because they don’t really know many non-believers in the first place. They live inside the Christian bubble and wait for lost persons to come their way. The gospel, though, is about a God who came to a non-believing world; He initiated the conversation. Here are some ways we can be more Christlike and get outside the bubble:
Food, Comfort, and the Gospel — Cam Hyde
It may be gluttony, it may be idolatry—and it is probably both—but I believe that this is one of the greatest unspoken sins facing the church in America today. We have exchanged the glory of God for cheap, temporary comfort readily available at the nearest convenience store or drive thru. We are so entrenched in it that it is rarely spoken of or preached from the pulpit. Our gods are our bellies and we’ve turned a blind eye.
This Week at ThomRainer.com:
How and Why I Could Fall
Leaders with hubris never think they are or will be leaders with hubris. It sure is easy to talk about others who are self-serving egotists. But it is incredibly difficult to accept that I can go down that very same path…READ MORE
Six Important Church Metrics We Often Ignore
Conversion trends
Ministry involvement trends
Small group attendance trends
Total giving trends
Budget giving trends
Weekly per capita giving
Six Ways the #MeToo Movement Has Affected Local Church Life
by Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe | Rainer on Leadership
http://media.blubrry.com/thomrainer/s3.amazonaws.com/TheExchange/Episode444.mp3
Four Steps for Dealing with a #MeToo Moment in Your Church
by Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe | Rainer on Leadership
http://media.blubrry.com/thomrainer/s3.amazonaws.com/TheExchange/Episode445.mp3
The Power of Celebrating in Church Revitalization
by Thom Rainer and Jonathan Howe | Revitalize & Replant
http://media.blubrry.com/revitalizereplant/s3.amazonaws.com/TheExchange/RevitalizeReplant/RR-Episode047.mp3
