USGN Article -
October 2000
Terry & Barbi Franklin
Written by Terry Franklin
The USA Today I picked up in the hotel lobby this morning in Salem, Oregon had an interesting statistic. You've seen how the paper has those little boxes at the bottom of the page describing everything from how much dog food is consumed in America, to what people think of airline food ( as I munch on my "Summer Harvest Brand Snack mix" Nice move, Delta. Sure beats peanuts....)
I digress. Anyway, the "Facts You Should Know" box said that churchgoers only give 3% of their income to the church. Most pastors I know would say this is optimistically high!
We SAY we believe that everything we have comes from the Lord, and that we believe in giving to His kingdom through our church and related missions, but we don't seem to follow that up with action.
Now here's the kicker: Amazon.com, the Internet bookseller lost 2 billion dollars last year. The investors are banking on a return somewhere down the road. They are optimistic about the future so much so that they have put millions on the line. Could it be that the Bill Gate's of this world have more faith than you and me????
God had to deal with me last year on this issue. I had developed a "fortress mentality." In my zeal to prepare for Y2K (OK, I was wrong!) I was death on any kind of debt. "NO DEBT!" was my daily cry. And I still believe we should try to be debt-free, but what I really wanted was no risk... No faith. My theme song was, "Hold On Till Jesus Comes!"
Gang, let's not let the entrepreneurs of this world out faith us! We have EVERYTHING to look forward to. Take some GOD-LED risks (now there's an oxymoron!). The place to start is in our giving to our local churches. Think about it: our "corporation" is the biggest and strongest there is. And the return on investment is unequalled.
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©2000 Terry & Barbi Franklin.