@fbcknox giving keeps pace with 2010

One of my favorite books this year has been Tina Rosenberg’s Join the Club. She describes how peer pressure motivates social change in our lives. Through the power of groups coming together, people will do things that no institution or leader can compel them to do when they influence each other for good.

We have seen the evidence of that positive change in the lives of our young people. This quarter, our students traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa as ambassadors of the power of Christ’s love and character on their lives. In August, we heard their stories of abstinence, purity, and character that they shared with South African young people. They taught and demonstrated how the Christ life shapes every aspect of their lives. The impact they had on the South Africans continues to affect the group back home. Under Michael McEntyre’s leadership, this group of teenagers has taught each other the life transforming virtues of the gospel that they are taking into their schools and homes.

This kind of ministry would not be possible without the positive influence that you have exerted on each other to give generously. Your financial gifts to these students and many other ministries through the budget of First Baptist have provided staff, resources, materials, supplies, and care. Just imagine, to operate the youth ministry staff, programs, and ministries at First Baptist, it costs an estimated $275 each day.

This year, your giving continues to keep pace with last year. Thus far, we have received $1,265,589, compared to $1,269,042 last year at this same time. Our expenses are also less than last year. We have spent $1,286,466 this year compared to $1,292,518 this time last year.

To finish 2011, I am asking you to continue this generous pace. Last year during the fourth quarter, God abundantly poured out his blessings through you. I am asking you to do the same again this year. Let’s join the club of generosity and do for each other what God has already done for us. He has given us his son Jesus Christ, and that is really all we need.

(Pictured above: Kathryn Pickle with South African students)

Second quarter of generosity @fbcknox

From Niagara Falls to Wears Valley, from Columbus, Ohio, to South Knoxville, everywhere you look, you can see God’s work through First Baptist. Thank you for your faithful generous giving during the second quarter of 2011. Giving has increased over this same time last year, and the cost to do ministry has gone up as well. We have been able to keep pace because of your faithful generosity. In the process over the last year, we have cut our debt almost in half. Here is a year to date comparison summary of 2010 and 2011:

June 30, 2010
Budget Receipts $ 834,490
Budget Expenses $ 854,304
Debt $ 801,375


June 30, 2011
Budget Receipts $ 840,314
Budget Expenses $ 866,648
Debt $ 446,837

Pictured above are the people in which you have invested this season through the budget. Mentors celebrated our fifth school year at South Knoxville Elementary as part of the KidsHope USA mentoring initiative. Through your gifts, you have touched the lives of students and have helped turn this school from being an “at-risk” elementary school into a turnaround success. These mentors have tutored shared and loved on children for Christ. Many of these children frequent our worship services and Bible Studies, and several of them were a part of our Kids Camp in Wears Valley at Camp BaYoCa. In Columbus, Ohio, the Golden Notes performed at Knightsbridge Assisted Living Center on their way to Niagara Falls. They were the first church choir to perform at the facility.



We could not do this without your gifts to the budget. These resources provide the staff, transportation, supplies, and equipment to make these events possible. If you have any questions about your enclosed contribution statement or for more information about the church’s finances, be sure to contact Amy DePriest in the finance office. July-September promises to be just as active and fruitful. Please be praying for our youth mission trip to South Africa, the start of a new school year, and the beginning of Fall Bible Study and Wednesday evening programs.

Since July 1, 2010, God has poured out his blessings on First Baptist. Over the last 12 months, our budget giving has risen 8.4%, and our debt has decreased almost 50%. The growth over the past 12 months of giving positions us for a great season of planning for the 2012 budget. We have entered this summer with no budget reductions or freezes for the first time since 2008. Councils, staff, and committees are already dreaming about what is possible in 2012 now that this past year has been so successful. We welcome your input in this process and look forward to what God is going to continue to do in the coming weeks.


Pictured above:

Dena Metts visits with one of the residents in Columbus on the Golden Notes Tour

Glenna Atchley, Barbara Butler, and Mary Nelle Robbins enjoy lunch with their “little sisters” at South Knoxville Elementary.

Making Room at the Table @fbcknox #generosity #tithe #stewardship

By now you've heard from everyone who expects a commitment from you in 2011. Already this year, I’ve been contacted by Parker's school, my alumni association, and the nonprofits I support. I’ve renewed magazine subscriptions and memberships. All of these are important, but all pale in comparison to the annual commitment I make to our church.

Last year people demonstrated their commitment to First Baptist in historic ways. Through God’s generous blessings, we set a record in budget giving, paid down our debts to the lowest they have been in 10 years, and repaid all the money we borrowed from our designated funds to get through the budget crunches from 2006-2009. At a time when we thought that we were desperate, you became dependent, sought direction from the Lord, and began a process called “Because I Have Been Given Much.” We acknowledged that as James 1:7 suggests, “Every good and perfect gift comes from above”; and we’ve been blessed with incredible gifts.

The generosity season is here again. Our goal is to “Make Room at the Table” for every person that is touched by First Baptist in 2011. I believe that there is plenty of room for everyone at God’s abundant table. We need your help to provide the meals, staff, camps, materials, mission, air conditioning, fuel, building repairs, and so much more to make that happen.

Our budget goal is $1,876,000. Our remaining debt is $465,750. You saw what we were able to do this year: repay designated funds and pay down the debt. After we meet our financial obligations and provide for appropriate cash in the bank, any excess to the budget will go toward the debt. A gift to the budget is a gift toward getting out of debt. That would create plenty of new seats at the table.

This year our students will take a very active role in the budget. Through Michael McEntyre and Susan Tatum’s leadership, our youth are adopting the Mission Friends as their budget goal. Our children are adopting the ESOL ministry as their budget goal. They will be receiving offering envelopes and a program tailored just for them.

On April 10, we will demonstrate that love for the Lord and our church by turning in commitment cards for 2011. We do not sign pledge cards at First Baptist. We ask people to commit toward a 2020 vision of tithing. By taking one step at a time, you will become a generous tither within 9 years. Last year, many of you took the first step and will take another small step of sacrifice again this year. If you've never experienced the joy of tithing, or had to organize your finances last year, now is the time to take the first step.

You can begin today. Please fill out the online commitment card. Once you press "submit," the information will go straight to the financial office and will be handled confidentially. You may also print the card and bring it with you to worship April 10. The deadline for commitment cards is April 24. We will conclude our season of generosity with the “Step Up” offering May 15. This offering kicks off a summer of ministry and celebration.

I will have to admit to you that last year we did this on a bit of blind faith. Since all faith is blind, now we obey on lots of evidence of what God can do through you. So let’s enjoy the bountiful blessing of his table.

2010 Record Set for Budget Giving, Surpasses budget for 1st time in 9 years, Receipts rise 12%. Praise the Lord. Thanks @allenwalworth & Generis

“How Can I Say Thanks for Things You Have Done for Me?” Andrae Crouch’s lyrics begin hymn 153 in the Baptist Hymnal. These words capture the spirit of your generosity in 2010. This was truly a record year of giving and sacrifice.

In 2010, First Baptist exceeded budget for the first time in 9 years. We gave the most to the budget in the history of First Baptist, and our giving exceeded last year’s receipts by over 12%.

Here is a quick summary, as of this writing:
2009 Total Receipts 2010 Budget Need 2010 Budget Given
$1,678,236 $1,776,048 Over $1,880,000

You will hear more about this in our business meeting February 2, but I could not wait to thank you.

I am so grateful for a group of courageous laity on the Generosity Task Force who saw an opportunity when the need was so great. Jim Decker and Betty Coley chaired the group. Mark Moeller, our Associate Pastor, provided direction and leadership. Allen Walworth from Generis provided hands on counsel and advice at key points along the way. The church stepped forward, gave generously, and God provided.


“Because you have given much,” you touched people like Connie and Kim (pictured below) with the love of Christ. They spent a week with us in February as part of our partnership with Family Promise of Knoxville. Volunteers served meals and spent the night with them. Your budget gifts supported the program, staff and utility costs to serve this homeless mother and teenage daughter. By November, Connie and Kim found an apartment and were back on their feet. They wrote, “Thank you for giving Kimberly and I an environment where we could just breathe, a place that was and still is full of support and patience. Kimberly and I received so much support and caring from each or our host churches and their volunteers, sometimes it was very overwhelming. I didn’t think it was possible for people who didn’t know us could care so much. I now have my own apartment full of furnishings that someone gave to Family Promise. When I sit at the kitchen table and have morning coffee I look around and say to myself, ‘I am Home. Kim and I are Home! Thank you everyone!”
“I am Home.”

What great words to be said of First Baptist and the love you have given this year.

Welcome home!

Life rolls along until a surgery challenges faith and obedience. The Generosity Effect @fbcknox

By her own admission, Jennifer Mabe says that her Christian life was pretty easy. But when a surgery challenged her faith and obedience, her church family in Winchester, Kentucky, surrounded her family with love. She uses life lessons to explain her perspective on generosity and love for the Church.

Generosity Testimony by Jennifer Mabe from First Baptist Church, Knoxville on Vimeo.

Giving to Starbucks more than to God... the Generosity Effect

What happens when you realize your Starbucks receipts total more than your offerings? Enjoy this great personal story about the Generosity Effect from Daniel Headrick.

Generosity Testimony by Daniel Headrick from First Baptist Church, Knoxville on Vimeo.

The Generosity Effect

Some call it the Ripple Effect, others the Butterfly Effect. We know
it as the Generosity Effect. It's the sense that the smallest of
actions affect others. One small act of kindness leads to another.
Sometimes we have the privilege and reward of seeing how our actions
touch others. In most ways, however, we use the eyes of faith to
recognize that "we'll never know" how one gift can make a difference.

Unfortunately, the opposite is true as well. Small acts of hoarding,
greed, and fear lead to even greater challenges. Selfishness is just
as contagious as love, and we only need to read the newspaper or watch
the news to see its tangled web of suffering across the globe.

The early Christians and the 21st century church have known this to be
true. Whether a little boy with 5 loaves and two fish, or 1 child
sharing $1 from a $10 allowance, little things mean a great deal to a
very generous God. Church has always been the place where we
counteract greed, corruption, and financial hardship with generosity.
We share with the world demonstrate to one another what this obedience
to Christ looks like. In the month of April, we as a First Baptist
family chart a new course through the Generosity Effect. We will not
arrive there overnight, but it will take all of us doing our parts to
effect others.

Here is how our plan works. Over the next 10 years, we are seeking to
become a more generous congregation. By 2020, we want to be 10% more
generous than we are today by living obediently to the command of
Christ that "whomever much is given, much is required." I don't know
what your plan for generosity is for 2020, but I am asking you to
commit to taking one step this year of giving 1% more than you did
last year; in 2011, another 1%, until by 2020 all of us can claim
lifestyles of generous living.

To do this requires leaving behind a couple of other things. As a
church, we leave behind special capital campaigns for now. For the
last 10 years, we have asked you to dig deeper "over and above the
budget," to help us pay off debt, repair organs, renovate buildings,
and do ministry. These campaigns have been a financial lifeline, but a
new commitment requires new discipline. Because of your commitments
over the years, we want to honor your past gifts by not asking for
another special fund drive this year. We want to unite together around
our unified giving to the budgeted resources of the church. By doing
so, we can accomplish together what we've been doing separately for 10
years. We can complete our indebtedness, extend the ministry of the
church, maintain our staff, continue television uninterrupted, and
reach people with the good news of Jesus Christ. We can do as our
strategic plan calls us to do: to improve our church, increase our
ministries, and invite others into Christ's life.

To accomplish the generosity effect requires heart work on your part
as well. Just as the church leaves behind old practices, so each one
of us must reexamine what holds us back from generosity. Each one of
us takes inventory so we can give back to God what is already His.

Join me as we take step one. On April 25, we will have a public
display of our commitment through our combined service and our mission
trip to the border. While we worship gathered and scattered, together
we will show each other that we're in this together, no matter how
large or small our wallets and investments, For 2,000 years, Christ
has been taking our offerings and multiplying. I trust that once
again, he will be faithful to do the same for First Baptist.

--
William D. Shiell, Ph.D.
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Church of Knoxville
510 West Main Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

shiell@fbcknox.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/william.shiell
Blog: www.firsthoughts.blogspot.com
Twitter: @Williamshiell
Church: www.fbcknox.org