Financial Counsel From a Banker!

My younger brother John and his wife Nancy along with our mother, Esther came over tonight for a visit through Sunday afternoon. Already had some great laughs!

Nancy is a banker and I thought a few tips from her would be good for all us. Here are some of her thoughts:
1. The media says there is no money to lend but that is not necessarily true. There are many banks that have money to lend!
2. It is a buyer's market right now which means if you can afford it, now is the time to buy a home or even a small business. You will get your best bang for your buck now.
3. Things are more realistic now because the ‘bubble has burst.’ You are not paying for the bubble any more. In other words homes and properties all over were just too high priced!
4. Pay down all consumer credit! Pay down your autos unless they are zero interest (so that would be last thing to pay off). Start with your highest interest card and work on that big time.
5. You need an emergency fund (slush fund). If you own a home you will have to repair stuff like water heaters, air conditioners and DO NOT BORROW FOR THAT! DO NOT PUT STUFF LIKE THIS ON CREDIT! This is the beginning of the end for people who begin to descend into debt.
6. After you pay stuff off then put that same amount away (ear mark that money!) so when you get ready for a new car (they do wear out!) you can pay for it in cash!
7. Buy end of season stuff and you get incredible deals (sometimes 75% off). NEVER SETTLE FOR FULL PRICE! For example if you have kids buy summer clothes at the end of summer and so on!
8. She thinks Americans will start swapping services more—she thinks we will be bartering & networking more with others. For example a mechanic may do some car work for a CPA who will prepare his taxes for free, etc.
9. With your employer set up a pre-tax flexible spending plan. Take advantage of this if you can. In other words, ask them if they will offer it and look at your out-of-pocket medical expenses including some over-the-counter medicines and then ear-mark that amount to be taken out of your payroll check. You will save some tax money and have more out-of-the pocket money returned. Let’s say it’s $600.00 a year you spend on medicine, etc. Have your employer deduct $50.00 per month pre-tax from payroll. Then they can reimburse you as your expenses come due.
10. Check out this excellent web page “Cheapskate.com”
11. If you need to speak to Nancy you can email her at ngrogan@farmersstate.com

As always, I want you to go farther than me. Love you tons, Papa G.

Easier to Gripe Than Give Thanks

I called several absentees today and told them I have been missing them in services, love them, and hope they will come back to services. With the way people travel these days, and miss church for so many entertainment reasons, it is hard to know when to call folks. I usually wait about 4 to 6 weeks.

Excuses for not being in church for over a month went all the way from "I am disappointed the church did not stand up for morals more before the Presidential elections" to "we are getting our house ready to sell and are too busy for services."

Rueven Ross, a dear friend who has ministered in Israel for years, said a long time ago that he thought American Christians were the least prepared for hard times than any other Christians on the planet. He has traveled extensively all over the world and would have a larger perspective than many church folks. I agree with him more now than ever.

It is shocking and amazing how quickly people drop out of fellowship--even members who have agreed to a covenant relationship. Is it any wonder why these types of Christians have little victory in their lives? There is little difference between the fickleness of these types of believers and those who do not attend church. They know little of faithfulness, perseverance, and endurance.

Regardless of these types of heart-aches, any pastor knows this is still a season to give thanks. Here's a quick list of things I am thankful for:

1. My wonderful wife--she is the most stable person I know.
2. My wonderful children and their spouses. I am so thankful they have healthy marriages and are in the ministry.
3. My wonderful, adorable, best in the world grandchildren. I am absolutely crazy about them, would do anything for them and want to be with them every day of my life!
4. A wonderful team of elders, deacons, pastors and staff I work with at Stone Creek Church.
5. The joy of living in a major college town full of world-class citizens.
6. The fact that my mother is still living and I get to see her about every single month. She use to live 14 hours away and now is just on the other side of the state.
7. The wonderful young men and women who call me Papa G, truly love me, and let me share in their lives and ministries.
8. Wayne and Kristi Northup who really got the Papa G. thing going so many years ago!
9. This coming Christmas -- my whole family will be together in Minnesota with my wife’s entire family!
10. For God's blessings and goodness upon my life--He has made me a minister of the Gospel and I have more blessings than I deserve in any life-time.

So my sons and daughters, please make a quick little Thanksgiving list and it will help you be a better person and gripe less!

Love you,

Papa G.

Church was fun this weekend!

I am a pastor and I still love church (at least most of the time)! We have five services now it was just flat out fun this last weekend!

One of my spiritual sons, Kevin Foster, was here, and I did a simple introduction to the message while he did a super message on "Staying Together." You can hear it on our website at www.stonecreekwired.com. We had 21 committments to the Lord. It is good to be reminded that church can be fun. Here's what I liked:

1. Good healthy attendance!
2. Worship was engergetic & awesome! I connected to God in wonderful times of praise of worship.
3. Listening to one of my spiritual sons minister with maturity and effectiveness brought me such incredible joy.
4. Being able to evaluate the whole meeting & message after the Saturday evening service with a great team is so healthy.
5. Good healthy offerings!
6. People were very responsive!
7. There was such a feeling of momentum toward spiritual growth and outreach!
8. Watching volunteers making healthy ministry decisions on the spot about who should serve where and what needed to be done! Oh, that is pure joy!
9. The content of the sermon was absolutely excellent!
10. We baptized a bunch of people after the last service, and the atmosphere was electric! Water baptism NEVER gets old--it is one of the most fun times of ministry as far as I'm concerned. Watching another one of my spiritual sons, Ricky Spindler, run the water baptism was pure joy too!

So let's keep living our dreams and having fun! If you know me, you know FUN is a big part of my life. I like to practice party theology! Jesus did this with Matthew after his conversion, so let's be like Jesus!

Papa G.

Hanging Out!

Hanging out with some staff at our house--eating, watching Amazing Race--Jamie Kemp, former Jr. High Youth Pastor @ Naperville, IL Calvary is here with us. Jamie & Tosha are itenerating for missionary ministry among youth and children in the great country of Indonesia.

I want to interview Jamie now and find out what life is like for a young couple trying to raise their funds to go into missions. Plus they are having a baby in February!

Let's see how this Q & A works:
1. Q: How long been on road now? A: Into 11th month.
2. Q: How much of your budget raised? A: About 75% got to get to 90% by Christmas so we can get out of here by April.
3. Q: About how many land miles have you driven? A: Over 35,000 miles and this morning we visited church #83!
4. Q: Got a baby named picked out yet? A: Keeping it a secret until the birth!
5. Q: Do pastors treat you pretty good? A: 99% of pastors treat us great. 1 or 2 have treated me like a begger.
6. Q: What are some things that have happened in these 11 months? A: Seeing how every church is so "different" (draw your own conclusions of that!). Most churches are seeker insensitive!
7. Q: Tell me a funny inteneration story (this is a set-up because I've heard it before)! A: In a service where a guy owned the front row & 'fell over' and cracked his head on the corner of a pew. It bled real bad & I went to help but I was rebuked & they said, 'When he's like this, let him be, so God can finish His work on in.' But I insisted they take him to the hospital--after a considerable amount of blood loss they finally agreed & he returned to the church after the service with four stitches! [You check Jamie's web site out at www.jamieandtasha.com

Well, let's end on that high note. I can hear my sons and daughters laughing right now. Enjoy the moment and remember I love you tons and want you to go farther than I ever have!

Papa G.

Serving Others Together!

Just finished our "Big Give" where we tried raising 5,000 coats for the needy in our communities and it was amazing! I don't know how many thousands of coats were donated and how many we gave away today but it was such a great demonstration that God's people are the best!

Here are my thoughts so far:
1. We can do so much more together than any of us can do alone! Developing a team takes more time but more can be done!
2. The joy was absolutely contagious among our workers!
3. One lady told me that just about her entire small group showed up to help! Oh, that makes a pastor very happy!
4. 80 volunteers last night and over 100 today! And they were such happy volunteers!
5. The recipients were so grateful and thankful.
6. All our staff did so great and our dear Pastor Kevin deserves a big thank you for a job well done.
7. We were trying to figure out who came up with this "Big Give" coat idea and no one seems to know. I love these type of God things that just seem to happen and have His blessing on them and only HE gets the credit for it.
8. Some workers drove 80 miles round trip just to come and help.
9. One worker was so excited last night she could hardly sleep. Serving others is like Christmas Eve for kids.
10. I had unsolicited opportunities to pray with people and it was just so great!

So, to my sons & daughters, my little word of wisdom is this--any time we can get God's people to serve others it is the big stuff of the Kingdom! It is worth the work, any hassles and brings great glory to our Lord.

Remember, the only way we can really serve God is by serving others. None of us can give Jesus Himself a refreshing drink, a meal or clothing. But, when we do it for others and when we do it with a Kingdom perspective, He said we were doing it to him!

I want you to go farther than I ever have.
Papa G

Handling Criticism

One of the costs of leadership is criticism. It is a price all leaders have to pay. Sometimes it is very helpful, but other times people are punitive and just reflecting the dysfunctional behavior they have never conquered. Most of the time the Lord has enabled me to handle criticism, but critical people who often lack spiritual depth are something I find hard to handle.

Here are some things that have helped me over the years:

1. Listen and delay your response.
2. Take the sting of criticism to the Lord in sincere prayer. The Apostle Paul prayed that he would be delivered from unreasonable men.
3. Never respond publicly. God has really helped me in this area. A few years ago, some folks became disgruntled and wrote very cruel emails and gossiped terribly--one lady even left notes in the leadership mailboxes of the church leadership team. It was so tempting to say something in a message, but God really helped me to bite my tongue. We have all learned to avoid using the pulpit as a bullying tool. This is great wisdom!
4. When people are cruel to you in emails, do not argue with them via the Internet. I tell my staff to write them back something like, "I received your email. Please call me at your convenience, and let's talk personally about this."
5. Collect articles on dealing with criticism, file them, and review them a couple times a year.
6. Preach/teach on this subject, as our preaching probably helps us the most!
7. The facts are, there are times when the devil uses criticism to overwhelm us--realize this is a spiritual attack--stand firm.

Rick Warren in his Ministry Tool Box Issue #343 has a great article entitled "How To Handle Opposition." It is from 1/9/08, and you can find it at Pastors.com/Ministry Toolbox.

Hope that helps you, my dear spiritual sons and daughters. I cherish our times together and hope as many of you as possible can be a part of Mardi Gras Outreach this year. It is always a great reunion! Love you tons, Papa G.