Transparency In Ministry

NACBA and S&O are partnering together to provide a regional training seminar in San Antonio. This seminar invites NACBA members and guests (Texas/Louisiana/New Mexico) to attend a 2- day seminar exploring ways that churches and ministries can "Create Accountability". The seminar begins on May 29th with a kick-off luncheon led by Eric Bryan, Executive Pastor of Fellowship Bible Church, Tulsa.

First Baptist Church on the Riverwalk is hosting the seminar and it begins at noon at May 29th.

The following will be covered during the 2-day sessions:

May 29th, (noon - 5:00 p.m.)
Kick-off Luncheon - Eric Bryan - reviewing key concepts from Andy Stanley's book "Visioneering".

Session I - "Create Tone" - leadership
Session II - "Create Transparency" - financial reporting and responsibilities

May 30th, (8:00 a.m. to 12:00)
Session III - "Create Stability" - compensation and benefits
Session IV - "Create Compliance" - regulatory changes/perspectives/focus

Check out NACBA's website and join us.

Posted by Becky DaVee

The NRB national convention is scheduled for March 8-11, 2008, in Nashville, Tennessee. Significant educational workshops, networking with industry specialist and exhibitors, guest speakers and wonderful music are on the agenda. Today, President Bush will be a keynote speaker as he addresses issues affecting the broadcast industry. Stay tuned for a recap of his address...

For more information about the NRB, go to www.nrb.org.

According to an interview with co-authors Scott Thumma and Dave Travis, as viewed in the following link:

Mega Churches bring the message of the gospel and the truth of Christianity to a contemporary society. Mega churches have a strong appeal to the modern American people, not only thru the preaching sermons with modern examples, but by the music, style of ministry and mission activities of these large churches.

Scott Thumma and Dave Travis are the co-authors of the new book Beyond Megachurch Myths.

According to David Kinnaman and the MinistryToday magazine, every year, The Barna Group examines the state of the church, and most Americans align themselves with Christianity. The following are interesting elements of allegiance:

* More than 4 out of 5 adults identifies as a Christian, equating to about 185 million Americans.

* Vast majority of the nation's population has attended church regularly as some point during their life.

* 2/3s of the nation's adult population firmly embraces the idea that their most important purpose it to love God will all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

* Approximately seven out of 10 Americans claim to have a personal commitment to Jesus Christ (representing approximately 150 million adults).

* Approximately 90 million adults say they attend a worship service at a church at some point during the week.

How does this information affect your local congregation? Is the survey relative to your congregants?

For more information on this 2007 survey see the following link.

(The above information was included in the article by David Kinnaman, president of The Barna Group and included in the July/August issue of MinistryToday.)

This morning, I sat in on one of the Alpha/Omega sessions held at NACBA's 51st Conference in Grapevine, TX. Glenn Wood, Seacoast Church and Bill Gruenewald, FBC of Hendersonville facilitated this session. This session addressed issues that affect not only churches with membership > 3,000 but churches of all sizes. This is why I will share information from this session and I encourage "us all" to discuss the issues that significantly affect the operations of churches/ministries.

Large or "mega" churches can be defined as:
1. > 2,500 - 3,000 in worship attendance/weekend
2. > $4.0 million annual budget
3. > 40 paid staff members
4. > 150,000 square foot facility
5. Multiple services

We will begin this series of posts by identifying the following key issues facing churches:
1. Human Resources
a. Salary, including taxable and non-taxable benefits
b. Structure of staff (ministry and administrative support)
c. Recruiting, evaluating, training and transitioning employees
d. Volunteer support
e. Regulatory requirements
2. Management Systems
a. Donor/Membership Data Bases
b. General Ledger and Financial Reporting Systems
c. Web-site based Programs
3. Finance and Business Office Requirements
a. Record retention
b. Banking relationships
c. Multi-site issues
d. Facilities
e. Trends
4. Governance and Communication
a. Board Policies and Procedures
b. Plantinum or "Best Practices"
c. IRS Compliance
d. External Consultants and Independent Auditors
e. Communication with Executive Management; Staff; Congregation - what is required?
5. Capital Campaign & Stewardship Issues
a. Internally and Externally led - what is better and why?
6. Intellectual Property Issues
a. Products
b. Books
c. Other property

Stay "posted" as we work through these and other issues. If you have a specific question, please comment, as noted in the blog home page.

Grapevine Texas is hosting the 51st conference for the National Association of Church Business Administration. Record attendance of over 1,000 individuals representing churches, ministries and industry providers are expected.

Sandy Siegfried and I are representing Stanfield & O'Dell, P.C., as exhibitors, and we are meeting church leaders from across the U.S.

Improving Your Serve is the theme for the conference and Thursday - Sunday includes a variety of guest speakers on topics affecting churches and ministries of all sizes.

Go to the NACBA website for more information.

This past weekend over 200 churches sponsored Harvest 2007, at the RBC in Raleigh, North Carolina. This event was co-sponsored by Harvest Christian Fellowship and featured Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest.

At the invitation of several churches, I attended the youth night on Saturday night and I watched thousands of young people worship together, led by 3 great bands, including Toby Mac. I know that our society continues to talk about a generation gap. I understand that there are several "gaps" but I saw unity of believers worshipping together, without a "gap".

God was glorified and I truly had a feast at Harvest 2007. Thank you Dan and Ken for the personal invitation and Jon for more information about the event.