In This Issue:
Dick's Column | Transforming Truths | News You Can Use | Your Point of View
Spotlight | Market Indicators | Ministry Builders | Resources

Dick's Column

Dear G$ Friends and Colleagues,

I heard something on the radio the other day that reaffirmed the importance of positive goals related to our Spending Plan. During a major battle in WWII, a doctor on the front lines was running low on morphine. So rather than automatically administering it to badly wounded soldiers, he asked them how much pain they were in. To his great surprise, 75% of them said the pain wasn't that great and they didn't need morphine.

Before the war he had been a doctor in the emergency room of a large city hospital. When patients came there with similar injuries to those of the soldiers they were almost always in great pain. Why the difference?

Years of investigation of the phenomena convinced the doctor that the difference in felt pain was a result of the person's thoughts immediately after the injury.

For the soldier who was shot, the thoughts might be, "I'm hurt but I'm still alive! Soon I'll be evacuated to a hospital. I'll be safe there – there will even be nurses! I will get a medal and get to go home!" Their thoughts were not focused on the pain of their injury but on the results that were forthcoming.

In contrast, a person the doctor treated in the civilian hospital who had been shot in an attempted holdup, for instance, was probably thinking, "I'm hurt but I'm still alive. How will I pay for my injuries? How much work will I miss? What will be the impact on my family? Contrary to the soldier, their injury wasn't going to remove them from a difficult situation but would create difficulties. Those were painful thoughts (literally!)

The point for us in stewardship ministry is to help keep participants in our workshops and counseling focused on the goals they're trying to achieve, not upon the "sacrifices" they are making as they move away from their prior spending behaviors. Goals are positive, motivating. Sacrifice? Well who wants to do that!

A stewardship friend, Ken Schnell, put it this way, "Every 'no' must be accompanied by a compelling 'yes' or the 'no' becomes simply deprivation." Continually remind your students and counselees to focus on the goals they are moving toward and on the freedom they will experience when those goals are met.

And for you, faithful leaders and teachers, be reminded of the joy and freedom your sometimes difficult efforts are producing in the lives of those to whom you minister.

Your partner in ministry,

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Transforming Truths

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. – James 1:19 (NLT)

Every time my wife and I spend time with our friends Rob and Amy we can't help but notice how much we enjoy talking with them. Eventually I started trying to figure out what it is about their communication skills that's so unique. And I soon realized it has a lot to do with how well they listen.

Instead of looking like they're eager for the chance to make a point, they look like they're interested in what we're saying, leaning toward us as we talk and nodding to indicate that they understand. They ask really good questions and then reflect back some of our answers by rephrasing them to make they were tracking with us. We always feel very heard and very understood when we're with Rob and Amy.

While it is important to be skilled in the use of numbers if we are to be effective in counseling people toward wise, God-honoring money management, it is every bit as important to be skilled in the fine are of listening. And the good news is that listening is a skill we can work on virtually anywhere, as long as at least one other person is in our midst.

Two great resources to help further develop our listening skills are the book "Listening for Heaven's Sake" and the small group study by the same name. In fact, it would be a great idea to go through the study as a stewardship team or to use it as a continuing education vehicle for your budget counselors. You can learn more or order these resources HERE.

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News You Can Use

Profiting From Poverty

A lengthy article in BusinessWeek looked at the ways in which companies are targeting the working poor, luring "unsophisticated shoppers by the hundreds of thousands into a thicket of debt from which many never emerge."

It highlighted the J.D. Byrider Systems national chain of used car dealerships. Offering "financing for all," at interest rates often topping 20 percent, Byrider does not disclose the price of its cars until it assesses what it thinks prospective buyers can afford for a monthly payment. Critics call it "opportunity pricing."

The article also singled out tax preparation service provider Jackson Hewitt, which focuses on lower-income neighborhoods and profits by "loaning money to taxpayers too impatient or too desperate to wait for the government to send them their checks." Other companies that the article said are profiting from the poor include BlueHippo, which finances computers and other electronics at high interest rates; and CompuCredit, which aggressively markets high-interest credit cards to low-income people.

Matt's View: Here too, it seems there's an opportunity for those of us involved in stewardship ministry to help. Many churches serve the poor in their communities via service days, food pantries, and such. What if our stewardship ministries put together a list of legitimate, low- or no-cost financial resources for the poor in our communities, like tax preparation services? And what if we partnered with non-profits in our communities to teach the Budget Course to those they serve? Is your ministry already involved in any of this? If so, please send me a note at matt@financially-speaking.com. I'll pass along any examples in future issues of this eNewsletter.

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Prosperity Gospel Spreads

In a recent cover story, Christianity Today detailed the rapid spread of the prosperity gospel in Africa. The article stated that throughout sub-Saharan Africa, "prosperity-tinged Pentecostalism is growing faster not just than other strands of Christianity, but than all religious groups, including Islam."

There are several reasons why the message that faith leads to material prosperity is resonating, according to the article. One factor is the hope it offers to the many Africans who live in poverty. Another is increased ownership of TVs. One of the most popular broadcasters among limited options in many African countries is the U.S.-based Trinity Broadcasting Network, which the article said fills its African programming with "wall-to-wall peddlers of plenty."

Matt's View: Last year, a Time magazine article attributed the rapid spread of the prosperity gospel here in the U.S. to the absence of a "robust theology of money" within the evangelical church. It called the relative lack of teaching about money from the pulpit "one of the more stunning omissions in American religion." Ouch.

What's your take on the prosperity gospel? What can we do about its growing popularity in the U.S.? And is there anything we can or should do about it's growth overseas?

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One Perfectly Expensive Day

While couples are united on their wedding day, a new book describes how the wedding industry skillfully separates them from their money. "One Perfect Day" author Rebecca Mead told Newsweek that in our consumerist society, "you're not a bride, you're a consumer of bridal products." The book takes an often-humorous, eye-opening look at today's weddings.

Mead said in our celebrity-obsessed culture, the wedding day has become the bride's "opportunity to be a movie star for a day." And one final quip about how the excesses of today's weddings have stripped them of their significance: "Matching your chair tie-backs to the lining of your Save the Date envelopes is not going to prepare you for marriage, unless you're going into the catering business."

Matt's View: Beyond the humor Mead brings to her analysis of the wedding industry, she also points to its role in fostering economic injustice—such as $1,000 wedding gowns stitched together by Chinese seamstresses who are paid 40 cents for their efforts. Anyone involved in teaching pre-marriage courses or providing pre-marriage counseling, and certainly anyone headed toward marriage, would benefit from reading "One Perfect Day."

Of course, anyone headed toward marriage would benefit from taking the Budget Course as well. In making the Budget Course part of your church's pre-marriage process, you'd be helping future brides and grooms avoid what counselors tell us is the source of many of the conflicts in marriage – money. Is the Budget Course part of your church's marriage preparation process?

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ATMs Giving Way to AGKs

What's an AGK, you wonder? No, it's not a new type of assault rifle. It's an Automated Giving Kiosk, an ATM-type device that enables churchgoers to make their donations with the swipe of a credit or debit card. They're now in place at a small but growing number of churches. According to an article in Time magazine, one factor driving interest in the devices is a new IRS regulation that all giving—even gifts under $250—need a receipt.

Matt's View: Whether ATM-like devices become staples in church lobbies or not, the fact is that more giving is taking place electronically. That's not necessarily a bad thing as long as churches find other ways to acknowledge the giving of tithes and offerings if the passing of the plate becomes obsolete. It's important that giving continue to be recognized and acknowledged as an act of worship.

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Spotlight

The Great Low Balance / High Rate Debate

Among personal finance writers and teachers who offer methods for getting out of debt, there's a debate as to whether it's best to focus on debts with the lowest balance first or those with the highest interest rates. Some even get pretty heated about their point of view. Those in favor of focusing first on debts with the lowest balance, regardless of interest rate (the process endorsed by Good $ense), say that approach enables people to completely pay off their first debt quickly and experience a valuable psychological boost in the process that is far more valuable than the what may be a few extra dollars in interest.

On the other side of the debate, advocates of focusing on the debt with the highest interest rate first, which includes most secular personal finance writers, say their process will enable people to pay off all of their debts the fastest and with the lowest overall interest costs. And they're usually correct. In most cases, going after the highest interest rate debts first enables all of a person's debts to be paid off a little more quickly than taking the lowest balance approach with slightly less in interest charges.

Good $ense believes that the vast majority of people will benefit from the psychological boost of getting one or more debts paid off quickly, versus potentially taking a long time to pay off a high balance debt that has a higher interest rate. In the case of a highly analytical person who insists on paying the absolute lowest amount in interest, it may be appropriate to recommend going after their highest interest rate debt first. They won't save much time or money, but they will save some.

Another great motivator is figuring out exactly how long it will take someone to get out of debt under different scenarios—fixing your payments on today's minimums, adding different amounts beyond the minimum required payments, and even comparing the impact of going after the lowest balance debt or the highest interest rate debt first. Everyone's situation is unique. A person may have one credit card debt or 10; they may be paying 2 percent interest or 18 percent.

There are a number of calculators available on the Internet that can help you analyze a counselee's situation, including one on the Good $ense site HERE. Another one to consider is Mary Hunt's Rapid-Debt Repayment Plan (RDRP) calculator HERE. You have to subscribe to her Debt-Proof Living newsletter for $24 per year to gain access to the calculator……but the money-saving ideas in the newsletter and access to the calculator make it a good investment!

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Market Indicators

Getting a Financial Education Before the School Year

Back-to-school shopping has become a big business. Among the roughly one-quarter of households with school-age children, each one plans to spend an average of over $560 getting their kids ready for the start of school this year, according to the National Retail Federation, stocking their kids with everything from crayons to computers—over $18 billion in total. The charts below show what percentage of households with school-age children plan to spend money in four key back-to-school categories and how much they plan to spend. With all that shopping comes a prime opportunity to help kids learn about money.

Some key tips for parents:

• Work with your kids to develop a budget for back-to-school spending
• Help your kids learn to make trade-offs ("You can buy one pair of those expensive jeans or four of more sanely-priced pants.")
• Talk about the distinction between needs and wants—you'll take care of the true needs; they're responsible for the wants
• Most importantly, stick to the budget you established. This is often the hardest rule for parents to follow.

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Ministry Builders

Reflection on Contentment

One of the roles of the stewardship leader is to help individual core team member's spiritual growth and reflective exercises can help do that. Beginning stewardship team meetings with a reflective exercise can help individual growth and prepare hearts to hear God and each other in the midst of ministry.

Contentment is a foundational condition that relates to Christian behavior as stewards and the culture does not encourage its development. This was true in the Apostle Paul's time as well. He tells us in Philippians 4:12, "I have learned the secret of being content....."

Even Paul was not inherently content and had to practice doing it, as must we.

Begin this reflective exercise by first revisiting the definition of contentment:

Content – to appease desires; to limit oneself in requirements, desires, actions.

Next, in addition to Philippians 4:12, study the scripture below.

I Tim.6:6-10 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

Then spend some time alone with the questions below before sharing your reflections with others on the stewardship team.

• In what area(s) of your life have you experienced the greatest contentment?
• In what area(s) of your life – money, health, children, ministry/business, relationships, etc. – do you need to learn to be content?

Then pray for each other that God will meet you in that place of need and provide what is required to learn contentment in that area.

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Resources