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Spare Change December 2017

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

Every year around this time we start talking about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.  If you have not been in a Southern Baptist church long, or didn’t grow up in one, you may not be familiar with what this is.  The simple answer is that this is an annual offering that SBC churches collect in the month of December to support our International Missionaries.  Last year SBC churches collected $153 million to support our almost 4,000 missionaries.  The funds collected from the Lottie Moon offering go directly to support these missionaries.

But who is Lottie Moon and why do we brand our big annual offering with her name?  Lottie Moon was appointed to Tengchow and Pingtu, China in 1873.  She served faithfully for 39 years.  She taught in girls’ schools and made many trips to rural farm communities to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Although initially the people rejected her, she pressed on.  She adopted traditional Chinese dress and learned the language and       customs of China.  She would win people over with her kindness and fresh-baked cookies.  Eventually people did accept her and some accepted her Savior.  Her work  continues today, much of it in secret, since the Chinese government controls the religious activities in their county.

This woman's sacrifice and perseverance reminds us that we need to be on mission wherever God has sent us.  We also need to be praying about giving to this amazing offering that supports missionaries like Lottie Moon.  Will you pray about giving to this special    offering?  Our national goal is $160 million, our church goal is $15,500.

 YES! Account

YES! stands for Youth Event Savings Account.  We established these accounts a couple of years ago to help parents save for student and children’s events including retreats and camps.  You can give by placing a check or cash in an envelope in either the offering plate or the drop box by the Welcome Center.  Make sure the envelope has your name and the name of your child.  You can also contribute to your child’s YES! Account through our online/mobile giving app Pushpay.  When you make a deposit make sure to put your child’s name in the “memo” line.  With Pushpay you can set up a recurring payment, so you don’t have worry about it.

One great thing about the YES! account is the money is always yours, it remains in your name until you withdraw it or pass it onto one of your other kids.  It is not a payment to the church until you use it for an event.  Kristi and I use the YES! account for our kids to save up for camp.  It is such a blessing when summer rolls around to not have to worry about paying for camp, which is usually about $300 per kid.

Over time the money really adds up.  If you give just $5 a week your child will build up $260 in a year.  With that amount you will almost have camp paid for, while $10 a week will accrue to $520 in a year; with that amount you will pay for camp and probably any other event that your child might want to participate in.  Don’t wait, start contributing this week!

The greatest thing about the YES! account is not the financial savings it will provide for your family but the fact that your child can participate in spiritually enriching programs and you don’t have to feel stressed trying to make it work or even worse, having to say no to them.  The next time your child comes to you about that church event just say YES!

Spare Change November 2017

As I sat at our annual food pantry training I looked around and realized that I was the youngest person in the room.  There were food pantry ministries from all over the tri-state area and many of them were run and staffed by senior adults.  That got me thinking about how much seniors serve.  I truly believe that without senior adults, retired adults, and disabled adults churches would not be able to offer the amount of ministry that we do and subsequently not help as many people in the community.  From this we can understand two important things:

1. Seniors Are Valuable
   Seniors (I am primarily thinking about those 60 years and above and in most cases retired or semi-retired) are not valued in our society.  Our culture values youth over experience.  There is so much talk now-a-days in church life about engaging millennials, which means the seniors can go quietly unnoticed.  Many people don’t care what seniors think or, at the very least, think they are outmoded.  However, seniors offer a unique life perspective.  They realize that life is a marathon. They realize what’s important in life. Young people have a lot to learn from them and need to value them.
2. You Never Retire from Ministry
   Many seniors also never retire.  Sure, they might retire professionally, but it is hard to go from working every day to all of a sudden doing nothing, so they naturally look for something to do.  You look at any volunteer organization, including the church, and what do you see…seniors.  Retirees are the ones working at the food banks, they are helping to fix things around the church, visiting shut-ins, spearheading mission’s offerings, and the list goes on and on.  Seniors that love God and love their church never retire, they continue to serve often until they just physically can’t.

Young People (I use this term loosely, anyone under 60) need to be challenged by the involvement of senior adults.  There are three ways in which we are challenged:

1. Are You Too Busy to Do Ministry?
   I know what it is like to have the stresses of life and the pressures of work and family.  We often feel like we are meeting ourselves coming and going.  Busyness seems to be a way of life, but is it the right way?  I think we need to step back and realize that we don’t have to schedule ourselves every hour of the day, especially to the exclusion of ministry.  If you’re too busy to serve the Lord, then you’re just too busy.  You need to cut some stuff out and find time to serve somewhere.
2. Serve Now and You’ll Serve Then
   I remember someone telling me that if you want to build a lifelong habit then start it when you're young.  Want to be a saver? Then start saving from the first time you get paid for mowing or babysitting.  Those habits will stick with you for the rest of your life.  The same is true with serving. If you don’t make it a habit now you will never do it, there will always be an excuse, or another thing that takes precedence.  If you want to serve the Lord then do it now, don’t wait.
3. Today’s Young People are Tomorrow’s Seniors
   Finally, I just want to remind all the young folks that today you are relevant, but tomorrow you may be feeling forgotten by our culture.  Realize that seniors are valuable: get to know some of them, listen to them, help them, and serve alongside of them.  You may just learn something new.