We talk a lot around our office and in our meetings about how it’s up to us to set the examples for the rest of the people who work for us, but also for the church at large. We take this stuff pretty seriously, not only because we answer to the people of Eagle Brook, but we also answer to God.
That’s why our senior level staff are among the most generous financial supporters of Eagle Brook, even though most of our salaries would not indicate it. That’s why we have high expectations about how we treat our families, lead our staffs, manage our money, etc… we’re far from perfect, and we make just as many mistakes as anyone else, but we’re all in. And by the way, we’re lovin’ it! Our staff are some of the happiest, most joy-filled people I know!
And we need our people to be ‘all-in’ too. This weekend, we will once again have the Adopt-a-Pledge cards out for people to consider. I picked up where someone left off this time, in part, because there was a campaign in the past where I didn’t finish my pledge. I remember it well. We committed $40/month for the expansion project that added the kids wing onto the White Bear Lake campus. We made the commitment, were excited about the project, gave the first two months, and then life got in the way.
Knowing what I know now, if we had cut back even to just $5/month, we would have still been part of the plan and given far more than we thought we could. Being ‘in’ is far more than amount, especially when people first start. After all, giving away money is hardly a natural response to just about anything! We give far more of our money away now (as a percentage of our income) than we did ten years ago, but we started somewhere.
If you’re reading this and have yet to establish a consistent habit of financial giving, this weekend is your chance. You can start a process of personal transformation by simply making a commitment of as little as $20 per month, set it up to be automatically deducted from your account, and on your way. From our end, I’ll commit that we will do our best to manage what is provided to get the largest impact in all the areas identified in the GAC fund.
Boy, this ended up being a rambling bit of confusion…sorry about that!
