Do More Ministry: How to Be Rich Archives

August 14, 2009

How to Be Rich ... just in case you missed it

Just in case you missed Michael Harrison's Guest Post series, How to Be Rich, here is a quick list for you to reference.

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Love More ... Expect Less
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Good News & Bad News
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Meet Joe Sangl
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Winning with What You Have
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - The Lie of Riches
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Being a Rich Giver
Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Living on a budget changed my life

I have to admit that I'm bummed this series is over. Michael is a great writer, thinker, and pastor. God is using him in dynamic ways. Most importantly, Michael is courageous enough to balance the tension between money and ministry and lead his church to do the same. It's an important conversation, and I was glad to be able to host this series on the Do More Ministry blog.

Posted by bstroup at 7:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 12, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Living on a budget changed my life

Ok. It is really Jesus who changed my life. Fact is that May 10, 1986, I understood that my life was empty, without hope, and headed in the wrong direction without Jesus. Something had to change and it did. Jesus moved into my life just as He said he would.

Wait just a minute there. I was raised in church. Actually I was in church 9 months before I was born. Mom taught Sunday School. Dad was a deacon. We had it all together, or so it seemed. For years I remember that we went to church, but it was a schedule thing most of the time. Faith was an extra and not a central piece. But I heard the truth.

In those early years my life was modeled by some incredible people: Libby my baby sitter and mom's best friend, Pastor Robert Bayles (who years later on his retirement gave me a huge part of his library), a Sunday School teacher who was missing a couple fingers (I can't remember his name) who taught me that I was "somebody," Dick Porter who taught my 4th grade Sunday School, Danny Stockton (who was there the day I got saved and poured his life out for a group of boys), Phil Dietz (my youth pastor who now has more than 10 of us in full time ministry), and the list goes on. I am in debt to these great people who taught me.

Back to where I STARTED. Yes, living on a budget changed my life. When Julie and I began to live with what we have and on a budget, some things changed in our lives and in our home. We began to live without creating more debt and to be better givers. In putting our budget together, we had to become more strategic and use what we had.

The process began by simply listening to someone who learned and had been where we were. One of the things we are beginning to offer at The Community Fellowship is some people who can lead you through this process of living on a budget. They have been there and won. There are no catches. You don't have to tithe more. You don't have to put the church in your will. You just have to be ready to live different and want to see that God will help you live with more victory than you have ever had.

I meet people every week who are at the end of their financial rope. Bankruptcy. Huge debt. And lots of other issues as it relates to money. What I hear in those conversations is the simple fact is that people need hope and they need help.

Last night I saw a message from Casey Graham where he said that people respond best with friends and when real people challenge them to be givers or to change. That is a fact.

God called the church to be people who share the truth. We must quit leaving the hard subjects for the locker rooms and courtrooms, for social services and the paid counselors. It is time to address issues. And one of the biggest issues taking place among the families who attend our churches and others is the issue of not knowing how to deal with our money.

The series How to Be Rich gave me the opportunity to share what was going on with our family. Living on a budget changed our lives. It is allowing us to give more, to be free from some things that have hurt us and more. It has taught us to teach our children better. It has given us an opportunity to offer hope to other people who are in deep trouble as we were (and are still getting out of).

In the last 6 weeks, I've given you some things to think about when it comes to living different with the money God has given you. These are not some theory or philosophy on how to get rich. I'm not talking to you out of a textbook. Here you have my heart.

God wants you to win in life. Remember John 10:10? Satan's job is to take from you, but God is a giver. He is ready to give to you. But are we ready? Can we handle the blessings? Sadly, the answer is most often NO.

It is time to get real with the stuff God has blessed you with. It is time to live in victory with your money. Will you join me? Jesus changed my life and continues to change my life as I follow Him. One of those things is this: living on a budget changed my life. Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. (See 1 Timothy 6:17.)

So, there it is. The last piece of what I will share in this How to Be Rich series. If you don't mind I need to thank some people. My wife, Julie, has helped this process work, and we are still working it. My dad and mom have stuck by me big time and been our cheerleaders and advisors. Joe Sangl is a man on a mission to help people like you and me find victory with what we have. Check him out. Thanks to my brother, Steve, for believing in me. Thanks to Northpoint and to Lifechurch.tv for getting real with series they share. I learned much from them and shared much of what I learned in what I taught. Thanks Ben Stroup for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to share. Last, thank you Jesus for never ever giving up on your kids!

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 ... cash. I'm delighted he agreed to share his thoughts. Be sure to check out his blog too.

Posted by bstroup at 8:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 5, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Being a Rich Giver

About a year ago I began to look at giving records to non-profits such as churches and parachurch organizations. The bulk of gifts don't come from the place you and I might think such as from the wealthy. The overwhelming truth is that people with less money give more often and give a greater percentage of what they have.

As I shared with our church in the How to Be Rich series we have to first come to understand that we are rich people. Even if we don't see ourselves as rich, we are. If we make over $20,000 per year, we are among the top 10% of wage earners on the planet. If the figure is $36,000, then you are in the top 4%. That seems crazy, yet God wants us to see that all we have really are blessings and gifts from Him.

So why is it that we act like and think that what we have belongs to us? Knowing that it all belongs to God makes us give differently. In our case, this began with getting our finances in order (and we are still in the process). Because we have for 15 years used money to serve us rather than serve God, some things had to change. Yeah, we have been tithing and giving for all these years, but we could have given more had we not had debt.

What happens when God's people get their house and their finances in order?

Big things can happen.
God will begin to work in ways we don't expect.
Check out 2 Corinthians 9:7,11.

I want to be the person that God loves. No, I'm not looking to earn God's love through using my money right, but I would like to honor God with all I have. We can't earn God love because we can't earn what we already have. Think about it this way: when we begin to use what we have in the way God intended it to be used, God will make our lives work as He intended them to work. That is less of me and more of Him. Right?

The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to put God first in your lives. Deuteronomy 14:23 (The Living Bible)

The purpose of life is to put God first, but that is hard and not very common. This process as well as this teaching series has brought more light to my life and more joy to my days than I thought possible.

One of the things that we did was to give our people a challenge. It is The "90 Day Giving Challenge" where we asked people who were giving to keep on and people who were not giving to begin. If at the end of 90 days they had not seen God work in their lives, we would refund all that they gave. That is a huge challenge, and about 10 families took us up on the challenge. None have asked for a refund.

I am convinced that what we as leaders do is what our people are going to begin doing. One of our gifted leaders reminded me often before last fall that until I was willing to live on a budget that I could not teach others to do the same. Now I understand that truth, and we are watching people begin to win with their money.

Next week I will close out this series with some final notes and a story or two. But I have to say a big thanks to Joe Sangl and to Lifechurch.tv for all that they shared with me to get ourselves on track to use what we have to give God more honor in our lives. Another great series that will get you thinking is the Lost series from Andy Stanley (get it by clicking here). See ya next week!

Posted by bstroup at 12:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 29, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - The Lie of Riches

I'm not a fan of liars. In fact, I'd rather have you be brutally honest with me - even if it hurts - than for you to lie to me. But the fact is we put up with lots of lies. Some of them we tell and get away with. Others are told to us and we believe. The facts are in: Satan is the biggest liar of them all. Don't you agree? Even Jesus said that was true. Check out John 8:44.

Let me get back on track as we talk about money. Most people don't want to talk about money because it hurts so much. Far too often we let the "bad" or the problems pile up, and it isn't until the pile is too big to handle that we deal with it through painful things like bankruptcy, bad credit, broken relationships, and much more. Call it what it is.To not deal well with your finances is to believe some lies.

Satan wants us to serve money. Take a look at Matthew 6:24 where we are told no one can serve two masters, God and money or God and anything else. Or look at 1 Timothy 6:10 where we learn that money can cause all kinds of bad things in our lives.

Answer this question: do you want money more than you want God?

Ok. You might have answered that question right. But stop and go look at your calendar and your checkbook. Who do those two record keepers say you serve?

Ouch! (Sorry.)

It's time to put Satan in his place, and that means we have to start living what we believe as well as using what God has given us in the right ways. We must confess that we are blessed people, and we must commit to use what we have in different ways.

Say out loud (or yell it if you want to) something like this, "I won't trust money; I will trust God."

Can you do that?

There are a couple things that are true of people who trust money more than God. You can tell or even hear them say that there is never enough. I want more, more, more! Another fact is that that money never provides peace. Look at wealthy people and celebrities who end up dealing with serious problems that their money couldn't get them out of. Another fact that might be hard to understand is that rich people have a harder time in giving big. Yeah, they might give some big numbers, but it is only a tiny piece of what they have. Check out Barna Researc for the facts.

So what will you and I do to make sure we are not serving money and that we are serving God? We need to be honest. Don't believe the lies. Deal with the issues. Get help, and love God with it all. Read what God says in 1 Timothy 6:17.

As a pastor, I could not lead the people I love to do what I was not doing. This road is NOT easy, but this road is right. No longer could my family live on credit and increase our debt. We had to get honest and love God more. Did I just say that having debt means I don't love God? For me the debt showed that I didn't trust God the way that I want to and must.

One of the biggest pieces of getting honest and not believing the lies about money is becoming a bigger giver. And I love to give. Here is a quote that blew me away:

If you can't be generous when it's hard, you won't be when it's easy. Zig Ziglar

Yep, I have preached this stuff to our people at The Community Fellowship, and I also made it a piece of the life my family lives. It is a daily process of not serving a budget but of serving God who has big time blessed us and wants to use me and what I have to serve Him through serving others.

Stop believing the lies. Honor God. Show Him that you trust Him by dealing with your finances in ways that honors Him.

Posted by bstroup at 7:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 22, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Winning with What You Have

Maybe you've been reading the articles I've written the last few weeks and asked yourself about the series I preached, How to Be Rich, and had some of the same questions I've had. Am I telling people that God wants them to have lots of money? Am I saying that if people follow God they will be rich? The answer is ... NO WAY. That is not the point at all.

The truth is it is not how to GET rich. It literally is how to BE rich. God led me to talk about (and share with you about) how to use what God has already given you. Remember, you are already rich. You are blessed with more than most people on the planet have. Just a fact.

But God is testing us. Can He trust you with more? Are you using what you have been given in the best way possible? Jesus said to us in Luke 16:10 that for us to be trusted with much, we have to be faithful with the small amount. That is the test.

Hey. I've been there. Feel like I am still there. Fact is I have failed and fail often. When we think that life is about us or making us more comfortable, we fail big time. Life is not and my stuff is not just for me and my family. It is all about serving His much bigger purpose than me. Yes, I'm part of that purpose, and God loves you and me very much. But we have got to change how we look at what we have and how we use it.

Here is what God says to you and me about what we have in 1 Timothy 6:17-19:

Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.

Placing our trust in anything other than God is wrong. That is when failure is certain. On the other side, success is sure when we are "generous" because we have vision for what God has for the future.

In this message I preached, I asked our church family to take the 90 DAY GIVING CHALLENGE which is a big deal. We asked people who have never given to give for 90 days, and if they were unsatisfied with the outcome and that God didn't bless them, that they could have a full refund of what they gave during those 90 days. We had a few people who were already giving get honest and begin to give more in this time. We also had a few people begin giving. You should have heard their stories. God blessed them in huge ways. More about that next time.

I believe that God calls us to create margin in our lives. That is margin with our money so we will have more money than we have month. Create margin in your calendar where you have more time to spend with God and the things that matter (things like family and serving others). As you and I create that margin we will see that we are blessed in big ways, and because we are blessed, we can give more and do more with what we have. That is the secret to success and building real margin into our lives.

Let me use this last few sentences to invite you back next week. The next article will talk about how our money lies to us. We will examine how we give to the church and the ministries that we believe in. My point in the How to Be Rich series is to have you walk away knowing that God will use us and what we have in bigger ways if we will trust Him with it all.

Posted by bstroup at 8:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 15, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Meet Joe Sangl

Some of the people we meet just stick with us. Oh, I have some memories from decades ago of some cool people I have met. People like Billy Sims and Barry Switzer, Ed Young Sr. and Jerry Vines, Louise Mandrel and The Oakridge Boys, Mark Batterson and Perry Noble. The list can go on, but I want to introduce you to a guy named Joe.

We met face to face in a crowded arena last October during The Catalyst Conference. We had talked before. I'd known about his church, NewSpring in Anderson, SC and even been there. But this short meeting right before a session at Catalyst began a journey that we will be on for a long time. And it's all good.

Meet Joe Sangl. He shares his vision, story, and pursues God's call via seminars, counseling and even his blog at www.josephsangl.com. CNN even shared this article about Joe and his family's path to be debt free. I was inspired by Joe's book I Was Broke. Now I'm Not and by the relationship that started with that first meeting.

This man believes God's call and is living it out. Julie and I began meeting with Joe via phone last November helping us learn about and live on a budget. With God's help and Joe's direction, this thing is working for us, and it can work for you. Go look around Joe's blog and you will find tools for finding financial freedom, becoming debt free and so much more. The tools are free, and they are awesome.

Let me give you a warning of sorts. Joe is passionate about what he does. He could even be considered crazy. Catch a message he has preached, see him in person at a seminar, or just have a conversation with him and you will see what I mean. And he's contagious in a good way.

It is Joe Sangl's passion and mission "to help others accomplish far more than they ever thought possible with their personal finances so they can go do EXACTLY what they have been put on this earth to do" (copied from Joe's blog about page). Believe me on this one ... we needed help. I had no idea that we could find the freedom and a path toward being debt free. There was too much pain, heart ache, fussing, and more going on to see much light.
HOLD UP! I literally believe that anyone can find the peace and freedom that God has for you. Our finances is one place we often let slide cause it's just too hard. If you really want to know How to Be Rich, you got to take a hard look at what is going on in your life and start doing things in a different way.

God has a plan for your life (we've heard that forever...and it's true). He even has a plan for our money. God has blessed us with what we have, and He has a plan for how we are to use it. And you, like me, have to start somewhere. It may be with help from Dave Ramsey or Joe Sangl or someone else. But start today. God wants you to win with your money and for you and me to help others win with what they have.

Next week I'm gonna share with you how we can win with what we have. Again, it's an honor to partner with Ben Stroup right here on the Do More Ministry blog. See ya next week!

Posted by bstroup at 8:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 8, 2009

Guest Post: How to Be Rich - Good News & Bad News

Fact is most of us have been at a dead end with our money. I've come to the end of the month, and there is more month than money. I stop, scratch my head and wonder where it all went. Those are not easy times. But they can get easier. No, the process of moving to money left at the end of the month is not easy, but it is possible.

It was at that place where I had to understand the "good news & bad news" that goes along with finances. Man, I am blessed. God has given me a great job, a beautiful wife, a loving family and all kinds of blessings along the way. We make decent money, but my spending habits and debt have us in a corner or on the edge of a cliff. Did you hear that? "My spending habits.." I had to first own the issue before something could change in the situation.

The good news is that we are rich. In America we are among the highest money earners in the world. If you make $37,000 a year, you are in the top 4% of wage earners on the planet. We are blessed by God. Ecclesiastes 5:19 says that what we have is a gift from God. Claim that. Know that. Now, it is time to do something about it.

The bad news is not much different. The bad news is we are rich. Yep! Because we are blessed we see ourselves as being indestructible. We look at the extra we get (tax return, gifts and such) and say what can I buy, what trip can I take and things like that. Unhealthy for sure. The problem with being blessed and being rich is that we rarely see our need for God. The blessings can distract us from what really matters in life. That leads us to see that we have a responsibility to use these things that God has given us.

Julie and I sat down and began to work together last November after 15 years of just hoping each month would work out. Joe Sangl helped us get a budget in place and make it work. We heard him often say something like this: "you've got to do what you don't want to do for a while so you can do what you want to do for a long time." It has become an issue of self-discipline, and for those of you who know me, you know that is no easy task. But it is working.

We have got to admit the truth. Far too often we waste the things we have to make us feel good, and those wasted things and blessings we cannot get back. Paying off debt is hard. But it is right. As those debts disappear one by one, we are seeing more and more victory in our lives and finding more and more peace. We are also able to give more to the cause of Christ.

This is really a spiritual issue. Jesus reminded us that people with wealth have a tough time following God (see Luke 18:24-25), but I want God to have first place in my life. I also want to live the way that God intends me to live. Know the biggest part of that? That is being able to give the way I want to give. I love missions and missionaries. I love helping those who are in great need. I love coming behind a friend who is in a whole and lifting them out. Those things are not to make me look good, but to help others see and know that God is good.

My heart is to share with our people at The Community Fellowship and beyond that we can win in our finances and build margin into our lives (not just with our money). The series I taught grabbed my heart and many others. Some were already giving to the church. Some were not. Some were already winning with their money. Most were not. It is the job of the church to teach people how to follow God in all areas of life. Money is not a taboo subject. We've got to talk about it, see what God says and apply some basic principles that will put margin back into our lives.

I've got to give a shout out to Craig Groeschel of Lifechurch.tv and Andy Stanley of Northpoint Church for the series they taught that inspired our series. Some great stuff.

Next week we are going to talk about how we can be debt free and some of the pitfalls of debt. Thanks for letting me share with you.

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 ... cash. I'm delighted he agreed to share his thoughts. Be sure to check out his blog too.

Posted by bstroup at 4:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

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.

michael 8.png 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 3:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack