The Woodmont Word

E-Newsletter

A Family of Faith on Mission

January 2016

Thompson's Text

I came across this article recently from Thom Rainer and I thought it was worthy passing on...

Five Ways Church Members Hold the Church as a Financial Hostage

Do you know any church members who have made demands based upon their financial giving to the church?

Okay, that's probably a rhetorical question because most of the readers certainly have experienced that discomfort. I asked a number of church leaders to share with me how this "hostage taking" usually takes place. Here are the five most common responses:

1. "If you don't do what I want, I will stop giving." In reality, this quote was not often verbalized. Members just stopped giving when things did not go their way. After I left a church, I found out that the chairman of the finance committee did not give a penny the entire time I was pastor. I don't think he liked me.

2. "You better be careful; I do pay your salary." I've heard this one a few times. And the leaders with whom I spoke heard it many times.

3. "I am going to give all my money to ____________." The blank is a designated fund in the church. The member does not want his or her funds to go the general budget needs, so the check is written with stipulations.

4. "Build what I want or you're not getting my money." One pastor shared the story of his church which was in dire need of more parking spaces. He attempted to lead the church to acquire adjacent land, but the biggest giver in the church led a counter move. She wanted a new worship center that the church did not need. She was willing to give significant dollars to the building fund, but only if it included her pet (and expensive) project.

5. "I am starting a designated fund for my project." This hostage attempt is similar to number three but, in this case, the member starts a new designated fund. One example shared with me was "The Caribbean Mission Fund." Basically, this fund paid for a trip to an exotic island where the group sang one time in a local church on the island. The other ten days were spent on fun and touristy events. The members of the group gave their money to the designated fund. It became a tax-deductible vacation, not to mention it was both unethical and illegal.

Hear me clearly. Most church members give to their local churches freely, joyously, and without stipulations. But almost every church has one or more members who attempt to use "their" funds for their own needs and preferences.

The biblical reality is that we do not possess these funds; we are stewards of what God has given us. They are never "our" funds.

Under His Grace!

Steve

Reese's Pieces

As each year draws to a close and just before we're catapulted into a brand new one, I always think about the account of the crossing of the Jordan in the Old Testament. Remember when Joshua led the Israelites over the miraculously dry riverbed? Men from each tribe were commanded to gather twelve stones and set them up as a monument to God's faithfulness. This was so that it would never be forgotten that God had delivered His people that day, that He had made a way for them.

About twelve years ago, give or take, I started a New Year's Day tradition with my family. Throughout the year I had kept a journal of all that happened: trophies and tragedies, vacations and visitors, love interests and limb injuries. Then when we sat down to our ham hock and greens and black-eyed peas (not really-the wife and kids are way too picky) I read it aloud. It was meant to be a way of commemorating what God had done in the past year and celebrating the fact that we'd made it through another 365 days, maybe a little scarred, but for the most part intact. I never expected it to catch on so well, but to this day, not a year goes by that our kids don't insist that I read aloud "The Reese Family Year In Review," and even though every January I'm tempted to abandon this progressively tedious journaling project, I know that twelve months later I would be severely reprimanded. (These days we're never all together on New Year's Day, so it has become a post-Christmas thing.)

The point is, Remember God's Faithfulness. Look back and trace His hand. We can see His fingerprints all over our lives. And as we look back, we are not only reminded that He has been there for us through every high and low, but we are reaffirmed in our faith that He will be there for us in the uncertain year to come. Let's face it, as of right now, 2016 is a deep, dark mystery. None of us knows what joys or sorrows are at this moment awaiting just out of sight, beyond the next curve in the path. (It's kind of terrifying if you allow yourself to dwell there.) But we do know this: our God has brought us this far; He has never failed us; He has never forsaken us. We can face the future with confidence and courage, knowing that, twelve months down the road, when it's time for another oral reading of our "Year In Review," that literary monument to God's faithfulness, we will find that He is still God, He is still on His throne, He is still making a way for His people, and all is well.

Happy New Year!

Kevin

Student Ministry

Jarod

Singles Ministry

Jail Ministry:

Awesome team effort!!

250 Christmas "Goody" bags were provided to the inmates at the Lauderdale Detention Center. Each bag contained some toiletry items, a book of God's promises, a pair of socks, and some candy.

Also, the 4th through 6th grade boys and girls classes baked Christmas cookies for the inmates to have on Christmas Eve.

Several adult classes were involved in collecting items for the bags. Many thanks to the following for all their help:

Singles classes
Allen/Moore class
Austin/Barger class
Harp/Hope/Woods/Mangum class
Mininger class
David and Sissy Carpenter

Christmas Cookies and Goody Bags delivered to the Inmates!

DivorceCare and DC4K for kids

13 week session begins January 25th

Monday nights 6-8 pm. in the B Building

Smoky Mountain Retreat

January 15-18 (MLK weekend)

The bus leaves on Friday at 4:00 pm and returns on Monday around 6:00 pm

Cost: $125 per person for lodging and transportation (food not included.)

Lodging: Beautiful condos in downtown Gatlinburg - 4 people per condo

Contact Belinda Green for more info or to sign up.

Belinda

55 and Older Join Us For These Upcoming Events...

Game Day - Thursday, January 7 and January 28 at 12:30 p.m. at East Campus. Plans are to have Game Day twice a month on the first and last Thursday of the Month. Bring a finger food and join us for lunch before we begin to play games.

Monthly luncheon on Thursday, January 21 at 11:30 a.m. in the Gym. Meal will be pot luck so bring a dish and join us. We will be entertained during our meal by students from Shoals Christian School performing some of the songs from the play they will be presenting at the school in February. Our speaker will be our own Keith Hudson discussing wildlife that he encountered in his work.

We hope you put the third Thursday of each month on your 2016 Calendar. We want you to be a part of the Primetimers' activities.

Thanks,

Frances Moore

Our Mission

Woodmont Baptist Church's MISSION STATEMENT is:

"To do the Lord's will through prayer, worship, discipleship, service, missions

and evangelism - In His name, by His spirit and for His glory."