By Rickey LetsonCBF Congregational Stewardship Officer When I was pastoring, our church embarked on a significant capital campaign to fund much-needed improvements to our facility. In the process, our leadership felt that we should tithe on gifts to the campaign and thus trust that 90 percent of the funds received would be sufficient for our … Continue reading
Tag Archives: Generous Fellowship
Endowments ─ Blessing or Curse?
By Shauw Chin CappsCBF Foundation President Endowments ─ Blessing or Curse? The answer is it depends. I have heard a spectrum of answers from pastors and ministers on this topic. I have heard horror stories and hopeful stories. In both cases, there are common themes for when endowments are blessings and when they are curses. … Continue reading
Church Financial Health Starts with Having a Plan
By Rickey Letson A dear friend shared a box of books with me recently. He is at the end of his professional career and had been doing some cleaning and down-sizing. In the process, he had gathered some items from his library that he thought I might like to have. As I thumbed through the box, one … Continue reading
CBF Foundation Makes A Major Decision to Further Benefit Churches
By Shauw Chin Capps CBF Foundation began in 1994 with the goals of stewarding funds for CBF Global, CBF state and regional organizations, CBF partner churches and partner organizations. Presently, we are proud to have more than $62 million under management. Both CBF and CBF Foundation exist out of a deep desire to partner with … Continue reading
What is a Church Audit?
By James Jordan, CPA When it comes to church transparency, a needed practice for congregations to prioritize is a regular audit. An important first step for many ministers and churches when considering an audit is simply learning what is meant by the term as well as understanding how a proper audit is carried out. An … Continue reading
Not All Months Are Alike: Historic Giving Trends & Monthly Revenue Goals
By Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer When I was a pastor, I always dreaded seeing the January church financial report. The first month of the year was almost always our worst month from a giving perspective. In our church, only July rivaled January for the top spot in the list of low giving months. Each … Continue reading
The Employee Retention Credit: Another Payroll Credit for Churches?
By Rickey Letson, CBF Congregational Stewardship Officer The Payroll Protection Program (PPP) opened up a whole new world for many churches. For the first time in their existence, churches applied for and received forgivable government loans in the early days of COVID-19. Of course, there was a lot of debate about the ethics of congregations taking … Continue reading
How Deferred Giving Can Help My Church
By Shauw Chin Capps While most churches focus on tithing from members that brings in immediate cash, it is just as important to think about deferred giving in the form of bequests or planned gifts. The good thing about bequest gifts is that they do not impact the current cash flow of the donor. In … Continue reading
Giving Year End Stock and IRA Gifts: A Tax Beneficial Way to Support Your Church
As we near the end of 2021, members of your congregations are thinking about making charitable gifts to their churches and other charitable causes. While tax deductions are not the primary reason that people of faith give, it is a factor that most people do consider. We want to share two ways that members of … Continue reading
Providence Baptist Church: 25 Years of Learning the Story, Giving Generously
In 1996, a small group of believers began to meet in the living room of a home in Cookeville, Tennessee. 25 years later, that same core group and others who have joined along the way continue to worship and serve the Lord together through what today is known as Providence Baptist Church. The story of Providence … Continue reading