Temecula Church Blog

On January 19, 2020, I had the privilege of speaking in front of our church on a Sunday morning. Normally, I prefer the behind the scenes aspects of ministry, but because this opportunity allowed me to share two things I’m most passionate about, Jesus and eliminating debt, I thought it might be worth the risk to step out of my comfort zone. In the message, I shared my testimony, which is Christian-speak for my story of how I came to know Jesus. Then a little later, I think I coined a new word and shared my “debtimony,” which is [Read more…]

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…]