Make a Christmas Wish List for Your Church

Posted on November 30, 2017
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We’ve talked a lot about increasing generosity at the end of the year. As weโ€™ve posted elsewhere, the end of the year brings challenges. Youโ€™ve got this yearโ€™s budget gaps, next yearโ€™s budget planning, end-of-the-year appeal lettersโ€”itโ€™s a lot. On top of that, Christmas is fast approaching. There are two temptations during seasons like this…

House Calls: A Pastor’s Guide to Talking to Donors

Posted on November 16, 2017
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It’s the time of year when church leaders start to see lots of redโ€”and it isn’t always early Christmas decorations! Many churches have deficits they need to close by year’s end. I have been there many (MANY) times. Sometimes, these gaps are relatively small. All you need is to remember to ‘double December’ and take…

Is Fundraising Really That Hard? #GivingTuesday

Posted on November 15, 2017
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In 2012, in response to the so-called consumer holidays “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday,” New York’s 92nd Street Y and the United Nations Foundation partnered to create Giving Tuesday. This November 28, organizations, influencers, and individuals will reach out across their platforms to encourage people to give generously to worthy causes. As I wrote inย Giving…

Giving Up Excerpt in Christianity Today

Posted on October 10, 2017
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You can see the latest sneak peek at Giving Up: How Giving to God Renews Hearts, Changes Minds, and Empowers Ministry on CT Pastors. This excerpt reveals five big ideas that church leaders can use to jumpstart generosity in your church. Check out the whole book on Amazon.

Giving Up: More than Money

Posted on October 3, 2017
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David Roseberryโ€™s book, Giving Up, provides concrete ways to jumpstart financial giving in churches. His wisdom, gleaned from decades in ministry, gives church leaders applicable tools to do the work they need to do, which requires members of churches to be generous with their resources. So, yes, the book is about money, much as Jesusโ€™…

Sneak Peek: An Excerpt from Giving Up

Posted on September 27, 2017
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Here’s another sneak peek at my new book, Giving Up: How Giving to God Renews Hearts, Changes Minds, and Empowers Ministry, available now. This excerpt is from the second chapter, titled “The Hidden Virtue of the Early Church.” I want to give the church corrective lenses to see that the ministry of Jesus, Paul, and the very…

Announcement: Giving Up is Coming Soon!

Posted on August 24, 2017
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Itโ€™s Ready After years of gathering ideas, studying Scripture, preaching โ€œThe Money Talkโ€, collecting three decades worth of wisdom…and months of writing and re-writing, the book is finished.  We took our final pass at it with our red pens and now it lives with the publisher and then onto the printer…and then I hope…to you!…

How to Write A Year End Appeal Letter

Posted on November 17, 2016
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As a ‘lame duck’ rector of the church I’d pastored for decades, I had an unusual experience writing my last year-end appeal letter. I had announced my resignation six months earlier. The entire congregation was waiting for some good news from the Search Committee. And we had a significant financial need. HUGE! We needed to…

Should you Write an Appeal Letter

Posted on November 15, 2016
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It is starting to happen on most afternoons now. I innocently walk to my mailbox hoping for a few letters or a favorite magazine.  I open the mailbox door, and it all starts to overflow into my arms and onto the street. Catalogs. More catalogs. Credit card offers. Direct mail solicitations. And of course, daily…