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July 1, 2009
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Love More ... Expect Less
Michael Harrison has impressed me with his commitment to building the Kingdom through the ministry of the local church. And he has struggled through what that means as it related to personal finances as well as church financial development. He preached a series recently called How to Be Rich. I've asked him to share some commentary on what happened both in and out of the pulpit as he bravely dealt with what some pastors believe to be a four-letter word...money. I'm delighted he agreed to share his thoughts. Be sure to check out his blog too.
I love what I get to do. Is this a dream? I even ask myself that sometimes. Being a pastor is a cool job especially when you add church planter into the mix. God has shown up and given us some cool blessings and much to share.
My name is Michael Harrison, and I get to serve as lead pastor of The Community Fellowship in Collinsville, Virginia. (That is near Martinsville, VA where NASCAR racing began over 60 years ago on the best short track in the world.) The Community is just less than 3 years old. We began from a split (being honest is one of our core values) with about 50 people. The last 12 months have brought us many news friends allowing us to double in size. Each week we are averaging about 175 in worship. Our purpose is to demonstrate the love of God to our community, and we do this through serving, giving, and sharing with those we meet. It all began with a simple clothes closet outreach and has grown into all kinds of ARK's (acts of random kindness) to touch people for Jesus.
So, here is some of my story. This is why you might be here. It was just after summer last year that my wife, Julie, and I began to experience some pretty big financial problems in our personal lives. We've had God come through before, and we were again in one of those places that a miracle needed to happen. It did. But it was not a miracle from the lottery or a rich relative giving us some money. This came through the process of learning how to use what God has given us.
I met a man named Joe Sangl, and we began to talk about Joe's mission which is to see people "win with their money" by becoming financially free and living the way God intended. In November of 2008 we started living on a budget. It has not been easy all the time. But it has changed the way we live. We argue less. We have more money left at the end of the money, and life is full of much more joy. Then it hit me. Actually on our leaders at church had been to a seminar that Joe Sangl did at NewSping Church that helped them. Joe and I talked some more, and we planned for him to come to The Community to lead our people to see what Julie and I have seen.
So that is where it started. I preached a series called How to Be Rich that talked about how to build margin into your life through using what God has blessed you with. In the next few weeks I will be sharing right here some of the stuff from the series along with ideas about how you can "win with your money". We will talk about some really good news and some not so good news that relates to money. If Julie and I can find freedom and joy, you can too, and God has that prepared for you.
A little bit more about us ... we've been married for almost 16 years and have 3 awesome kids. Julie is from Vidalia, Georgia. I'm from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and now we live in Virginia. Kind of strange. But it is all good.
Posted by bstroup at July 1, 2009 3:12 AM
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