52 Books...52 Weeks Continued
15. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I need to go through a detox after finishing. Man, they drink a lot!
16. Freakonomics by Stephen Levitt
17. The Vanashing Man by Jeffrey Deaver Audible.com A Lincoln Rhyme mystery.
18. Rules of Prey By John Sandford The first 'Prey' starring super dop Alex Davenport.
19 Super Foods by Steven Matthews Ok, I've got a lot of time on my hands and my doctor said "READ IT!"

Purely Personal...
My lovely daughter presented us with a beautiful granddaughter yesterday. Jaclyn Marie weighs in at 6.4, 17 3/4, ten toes, ten fingers. Mother did a terrific job with natural childbirth. Both are doing good today. It is well with my soul tonight.

More Stewardship recommendations:

Don’t Shoot the Horse (‘Til You Know How to Drive the Tractor); Herb Mather; Discipleship Resources, Reprinted 1996—a classic, very practical and helpful. A good study for stewardship or finance committees.

Extraordinary Money! Understanding the Church Capital Campaign; a primer for church leaders considering a capital campaign; not a how-to for a self-directed campaign.

Faith & Money: Understanding Annual Giving in Church; Michael Reeves & Jennifer Tyler, Discipleship Resources, 2003. Identifies several challenges in funding ministry in the local church. Offers a theological foundation for giving, worthy goals and expectations and practical steps for stewardship emphasis and funding ministry.

Generous People: How to Encourage Vital Stewardship; Eugene Grimm, Abingdon Press, 1992. A practical study of the theology of stewardship. A must read for pastors and church leaders interested in Biblical and practical stewardship resource.

Generous Saints: Congregations Rethinking Ethics and Money; James Hudnut-Beumler, An Alban Publication, 1999. A fresh study of stewardship and giving in congregational life for pastors and church leaders.

52 Books in 52 Weeks...Continued
11. Consent to Kill
Audio Book...OK, this is a Mitch Rapp shoot-em-up, chase the bad guys book! I'll get to a more serious vien eventually!
12. Longitude
Audio Book...the story describing the 17th century search for a method to establish a consistient method for establishing longtitude. It's etter than you might expect.
13. SoulSalsa by Leonard Sweet
Print...Godly living in the 21st centry, a postmodern map for The Way.
14. Sons of Texas by Elmer Kelton
Print...This Historic novel is set within the creation of the Republic of Texas.

Miles and miles of Texas...
That's the title to an old Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys song from the 40s. Asleep at the Wheel, an Austin band, has revieved it on a salute to the Playboys. It is the first cut on my travel CD when heading out for a week of work in the Great State of Texas. Miles and Miles before I sleep!
Grace and peace,

Putting me in my place...
Last Friday my mentor and boss gave me Leonard Sweet's SoulSalsa as gift. He hooked me on the first paragraph! Then he humbled me when he announced that he read 30 books a week. Wow! I though reading and listening to 10 so far this year was good. I may go eat worms.

Some Stewardship Books and Resources
We have a list of resources that we use and recommend to churches that use TMF's services. No need to keep them a secret from the rest of the world!
A few to consider...
Afire With God: Spirited Stewardship for a New Century; Betsy Schwarzentraub; Discipleship Resources, 2000—a fresh look at stewardship emphasis in the church. A guide to a spiritual journey/exodus that sees God’s presence and work like a burning bush in the wilderness. (Out of print; worth looking for a used copy.)

Beyond the Stained Glass Windows: Money Dynamics in the Church; John and Sylvia Ronsvalle, Baker Books, 1996. A provocative study of the congregational dynamics that influence member’s giving in the church today. Also: an annual update: The State of Church Giving; emptytomb.org.

Creating a Climate for Giving; Donald W. Joiner; Discipleship Resources, 2001—a primer for transforming churches and church members into “Christian Philanthropists.” Contrasts old and new paradigms for funding ministry. Fresh insights for growing faithful disciples involved in partnership with God’s work in the world.

Creating Congregations of Generous People; Michael Durall, An Alban Publication, 1999. Excellent resource for pastor and church leaders. Has a chapter: “Implementing a 12-month Stewardship Plan.”

Creative Giving: Understanding Planned Giving and Endowments in Church, Reeves, Fairly, Coon, Discipleship Resources, 2005. The third volume in the Reeves trilogy of annual, capital and planned giving. A primer for the pastor and church leader interested in exploring positive dimensions of a neglected topic. Offers a Biblical perspective and practical insights for planned giving as Christian stewardship.

Take the Dollar Challenge - In an age when tithes and regular giving are often accomplished by electronic means, why not challenge members of your congregation to put an extra dollar in the collection plate each Sunday? Seeing adults give thanks to God by literally filling the offering plate teaches children about stewardship in a way they can easily understand. And if every member contributes an extra dollar a week, the sum can quickly add up to help support additional ministry. Not a bad notion.

Interestingly, this idea stemmed from my back page article appearing in a Methodist Money & Ministry newsletter feature. I wrote of how my young son loudly asked during a Sunday morning church service, “Why don’t you ever pay the church anything?” A Northwest Texas Conference pastor heard about this unexpected lesson on giving during one of my stewardship presentations and issued the Dollar Challenge to her church members in response. The Dollar Challenge continues to spread as Northwest Texas Conference Treasurer encouraged other pastors to challenge their members in the same generous way.

The pastor told me recently that the visual image of full offering plates has insired her congregation to find new and exciting uses for this new 'Found Money for Ministry."

Take the Dollar Challenge for a month and see what happens!