Commendation for tithing; clarification on 'church budget'

FYI #147 – 6.17.06
“Loving People toward Full Devotion to Jesus Christ”

Welcome! I am glad you are here today. If you are a visitor, I hope your experience here is a blessing, and want you to know that the message below is for the members and those who regularly attend this wonderful church.

Friends, I want to commend you! Tithe is up almost 25% over last year at this time…BUT our church budget is $22,000 behind! You might be asking yourself, How can this be? How can we be up 25% and down 22K? Did we over budget? NO!

Did you know that when you mark TITHE in the giving envelope (that you find in the back of the pew) that none of those dollars stay here to support the ministries of the Santa Rosa church? How much stays here? Zip. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. Nada. Those funds go to the Northern California Conference and to support the world church.

The giving that stays here are the funds you mark CHURCH BUDGET. CHURCH BUDGET is what funds ALL the ministries, activities, and expenses we incur at the Santa Rosa Adventist church.

Again, I want to commend you! Tithe is up almost 25% over last year at this time (Jan-May). This church has returned over $176,000 in tithe so far this year; ALL which has been sent on to the Northern California Conference. That is over $35,000 in tithe a month! They love us! And, it is evidence that God is blessing you.

On the other hand, we have fallen behind in our CHURCH BUDGET giving. We are $22,000 behind where we should be. So far this year (Jan-May), church budget giving is at around $47,000, or around $9,000 a month. We budget almost $14,000 in order to accomplish and support the ministries of this church.

So, why do I mention this? One, I believe that there may be some who do not realize the difference between marking the envelope TITHE (which does not stay here in our church) and CHURCH BUDGET (which does). Two, I wanted to highlight the importance of being faithful in giving a percentage of your giving to the CHURCH BUDGET. It is the only way we will be able to accomplish all God has called us to do here in this community. Remember, God honors us and blesses us when we honor Him by giving to his church.

If you any questions on how this works, please feel free to ask me, and if you want to read more on this topic, see my article in the July newsletter.

Thanks for your faithfulness. I am very glad to be your pastor.

Ron