There are many reasons that our Christmas series, “Advent Conspiracy”, resonates with me, but the primary reason is the idea of foregoing the chaos and stress usually accompanied with Christmas and replacing it with hope, peace, and rest. According to the Advent Conspiracy website, over one trillion dollars ($1,000,000,000,000) is spent on globally each year at Christmas. [Read more…]

Halloween is over, but is it possible that Christmas has become an even more frightening holiday? According to a Magnify Money survey, last year consumers added an average of $1,230 in Holiday debt! But wait, it gets even more terrifying, [Read more…]

As the finance team puts the finishing touches on the 2018-19 fiscal year at Sunridge, it provides me with the opportunity to look back and reflect on what God has accomplished in and through Sunridge the past twelve months. Even though the actual giving did not meet budget, it did not prevent us from making huge strides forward this year. Here are just a few examples you may have missed: [Read more…]

Recently I attended an interactive workshop held by Thrivent Financial for church leaders on how to engage different generations through generosity. As with most interactive workshops, the speaker had to find ways to encourage participation with the attendees through various activities and questions. The first exercise was to use a lump of Play-Doh to sculpt something that reminded you of an experience with generosity. I was shocked [Read more…]

For a little over 17 years I have made it a priority to set aside Friday mornings to meet with friends to share our lives, keep each other accountable, and of course, pray for each other. While the location, time, and number of people in this group have changed over the years, there is one constant throughout, [Read more…]