The contract asks board members to specify contributions they would make in four areas: making a personal financial donation; arranging meetings, hosting parties, and other donor "cultivation" activities; helping to secure big gifts from others; participating in events; and "other" fund-raising activities that each board member can suggest on their own.

The brief article explains that there was some prep and follow up work involved, not only on behalf of this fundraising professional but also the executive director and chairman of the board. (This is a good reminder that success and organizational health are dependent upon more than one or a few people.)

So what does this have to do with church?

Your leadership should be in positions of leadership because they have pledged their allegiance to the staff and to the church. They should have more "invested" in seeing the ministry of the church multiply than the average person in the pew. These are your pace setters, and the ones everyone else in your church will observe.

Bottom line, it's critical that your leadership be willing to model every aspect of what it means to be a good steward - one who is faithful with their time, talent and treasures.

Accepting a position of leadership in any organization involves accepting the responsibility of the position. A contract or agreement merely outlines the expectations and assumptions of the relationship.

If you're looking for a way to inspire your leadership to lead and raise the level of expectation for your average pew sitter, maybe a convenant agreement (or contract) could be a tool to reinforce just how critical it is to have everyone working toward the same goal - fulfillment of the Great Commission through the ministry of the local church.

My guess is that the board members who signed the contract mentioned above were as successful or even more successful at raising money for the organization than in years past.

God has given every church all the resources it needs - the right people, the right talents and the right amount of money. Too often we settle for only a small percentage who choose to get involved and sacrifically invest themselves in the ministry of the church.

Raising the expectation will multiply your ministry.

The response was not surprising. Though, it's counterintuitive. Here are the most recent results:

61.15%
I will give as usual

30.14%
I will give less

8.695%
I will give more

Total Votes: 345

The most surprising one to me was that nearly 10% of LifeWay employees indicated that they plan to give MORE this holiday season because of the economy.

He outlines several areas for consideration. All are good reminders that an economic recession affects us all differently.

I would verify this. The churches I'm talking to have multiple feelings and opinions as to how the economy is or will affect their ministry and particularly their giving. One church told me a couple of weeks ago that their giving is up 30% while another is being forced to consider laying off personnel just to breakeven with last year.

Entering a capital campaign may or may not be the best decision right now for your church. Each church should consider the decision individually.

Perhaps the cost of holding your cards, hunkering down and hanging on until this "storm" passes might be greater in terms of ministry than any capital campaign you might consider.

Thanks, Patrick, for giving some of your time to be included in this project.

One church decided to think outside the box. The result? A story worth telling your friends about.

"Some people like to see where their money is going," said Semradek, 38, a former pastor at Willow Creek Community Church. "My dream is every time a person puts a dollar in the plate, something happens. When you give, you see a face on the other side that you're blessing."

Waterfront Community Church has sponsors that cover all the administrative overhead associated with running an organization. That means 100% of all giving goes directly to ministry. That's a powerful story for people who are looking to give yet being more cautious than ever about who they give their money to.

Read Christians want say where money goes.

The shift is indicative of what most NPOs (this includes churches) are doing. That is, they are expanding their giving options to allow more options/methods for people to give.

When was the last time you discussed e-giving at your church?

I recently sat down with Joe Sangl, pastor of financial counseling and planning with NewSpring Church, Patrick Johnson, VP of Strategic Partners and Church Services with National Christian Foundation, Bret Robbe, director of leadership and adult ministry publishing with LifeWay Church Resources, and Ashley Clayton, associate VP for stewardship with the Executive Committee of the SBC to answer the question: How can pastors lead their churches through tough economic times?

I'm pleased to announce that our first-ever podcast is now available for download.

I need your help. The only way this will help pastors is if they know that this podcast exists. Please distribute a link to this podcast to all the pastors you know. The quicker we can provide lifelines to our pastors burdened with the uncertainty of these tough economic times, the better equipped they will be to be the spritiual leader God has called them to be.

Download or get embed code for this podcast at eMedialink.

After you've listened, please leave your thoughts as a comment on the blog.

If you haven't already, you need to implement a planned giving solution for your church.

Read more about Planned Giving:

Planned giving for churches, Part 1
Planned giving for churches, Part 2
Planned giving for churches, Part 3
Planned giving for churches, Conclusion

Below is a collection of the top posts related to E-giving in no particular order.

1. Is online giving a growing trend?
2. The results of online giving are in...
3. Electronic Giving Part 1: The Forbidden Conversation
4. Electronic Giving Part 2: Future or Fad?
5. Revisitng E-giving
6. Book Review: Digital Giving
7. Church increases use of onling giving
8. Concerns about E-giving
9. Study reveals that 50% will donate online this holiday season

Review the entire E-giving catagory.

Not Your Parents' Offering Plate
by J. Clif Christopher

This is a short, very direct book that will challenge many of us who have been involved in raising financial resources for our churches. The author takes the position that our biggest "competition" for our people's giving dollar in not other churches but other 501 (c) (3) organizations that do a much better job "targeting" those they hope to receive money from. He spends a whole chapter and many parts of other chapters suggesting that the Senior Pastor must be the primary fundraiser in our churches. He challenges the opinion of many by insisting that the Sr. Pastor must know and cultivate a relationship with those in the church that have the resources to support the mission of the church.

One of the features I found very helpful was at the end of each chapter he asked questions directed at the way we fundraise and gives actions steps. His final chapter deals with the first ten steps he believes we need to take to position our churches to beginning to receive the funding we need to fulfill our mission. This book helped our leadership and financial teams take a different look at and come up with a plan for our next year. We will approach our people in a different way because of the insights of Dr. Christopher.

Craig Zastrow is the Executive Pastor of Central Christian Church in Beloit , WI . Central Christian Church is a nondenominational church with a weekend attendance of over 1900. Central Christian Church was one of the churches featured in Dr. Thom Rainer's book Breakout Churches. He has been in this position for 15 years following 15 years as the director of a county wide paramedic system and 8 years as the executive director of a two county outpatient mental health clinic.

So if you're attending also, stop by booth #82 and say "Hi!"

I love the honesty and suspect it's in the DNA of this church and its leadership. While this exact style won't work in every church setting, communication is the key.

Silence is not an option. Ignoring the economy could prove to be a costly decision. So start talking. Chances are your people will respond more generously than you think. Churches and church leaders are often scared to make the ask, but I've never understood the hesitation.

Pastor, the people in your pew know that the economy is not good. Maybe it's time to take the lead and tell your people how its directly impacting your church. Use this as an opportunity to recast your vision and quantify the ministry impact of your church over the last 6-12 months.

People will always have discreationary income. While they might be more careful how they use it, they are going to give it to somebody. Why not the church?

As church leaders, it's our responsibility to ensure the long-term viability of the organizations we manage that ultimately faciliate the ministry we are called to do.

Fundraising is essentially providing the fuel for an organization or individual to accomplish some goal or task that they believe will make the world a better place. Because of it, organizations experience fully funded budgets and sustainable work efforts that ultimately ensure stable and lasting results. This knowledge alone provides enough strength in the weakest moments to keep pressing on, to make one more phone call, write one more letter and host one more dinner.

Great fundrasiers - those who are the most successful - are the ones who actually believe in the organization or cause they represent. There is a sparkle in their eye when they talk about. There is a "x" or "it" factor that translates on a gut, human level and tranfers an energy beyond words that generates a measurable response.

Fundraising and development work are comprehensive and holistic efforts. They require every skill imaginable, including a childlike belief that the impossible can take place.

Jason obviously has this. And he recognizes that changes - even small - are the catalyst of revolutions and total transformation both in individuals and cultures.

Fundraisers are just as important as the ones who carry out the work. In fact, they may be more important. There are more people ready to carry out the work than there are people who are equipped to fund the work.

Keep up the great work Jason!

The people in your pews and in your community need the church now more than ever.

People will always remember how the church treated them, provided for them and ministered to them in difficult times.

What will they tell their neighbors, peers at work, friends and family?

How will they remember your church?

So what are we "telling" the world through our church giving behavior.

• Americans spent nearly twice as much on first-day sales of the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV" as the Southern Baptist Convention and its International Mission Board would need to share the gospel with all the world's unreached people groups by 2010, according to a new report on church giving.
• Empty tomb estimated it would cost about $11 per Southern Baptist to fund those extra missionaries. Instead, the denomination's 2008 goal of $170 million to support existing missionaries is the equivalent of asking each Southern Baptist to donate just 31 cents more than last year.
• "The total portion of per capita income given to churches in 2006 was lower (in 2006) than in the worst year of the Great Depression," the authors found.

Read Report calls US church giving 'lukewarm'.