Blogs vrs Podcasts

I enjoy writing and reading blogs. I use Google's reader to keep up with a dozen or so blogs. Two or three times a week I'll open up my Google reader and plow through 50 - 100 blog posts. I follow most of the NewPointe bloggers, all of the Fellowship One blogs at 3cords.org and of course multiple financial blogs. My blog reading keeps me in the loop and I pick up some great tips now and then.

I love listening to podcasts. I'm addicted. So much so that my car radio is never on unless my kids are in the car with me. Other than that, I'm using my fm tuner and my mp3 player to play my favorite podcasts. Yes, the podcasts I listen to the most are financial in nature.

The one podcast I can't wait to listen to . . . . .

American Public Media (APM) A Prairie Home Companion's News from Lake Wobegon with Garrison Keilor. You've got to know him to love him.

Here's a list of my top 5 financial podcasts.

1. APM - Marketplace (Daily; on business and economics)
2. APM - Marketplace Money (Weekly; on things that effect your wallet.)
3. Dave Ramsey Show (Daily; Personal finance call in show and home of FPU)
4. Kiplinger's Personal Finance (Biweekly; Just like their magazine)
5. NPR: The Color of Money (Weekly; on personal finance)

Check out my top 5 financial podcasts. I really enjoy them and their free.

Exciting and Scary at the same time. . .

When I was bike riding down in N.C. with Kevin and Rod at Scott's house, I was doing some snooping through Scott's books. I was looking for a particular book that Scott had been talking to me about and agreed to let me borrow. I just finished it tonight. (Thanks Scott. I'll return it to you this weekend when your home.)

The book . . Epicenter by Joel Rosenberg. It was exciting and scary at the same time.

I can't begin do the book justice by trying to summarize it here as I like to keep my blogs short and to the point. What I can say if you have ever sensed in your being that we are living in the end times, read this book. Joel disects Ezekile chapters 37 - 38 and he believes Ezekile prophecy is being fulfilled now.

The book is a great read and after you read it, you'll have to make up you own mind or not. Either way, I know I've got eternal life in Heaven waiting for me.

Saff meeting Hot Seat

Here at NewPointe we start each week off with an all staff meeting. It's a time where we as a staff pray for each other, share stories of life change from the weened and occasionally, put a ministry and or staff person in the "Hot Seat".

Today was my turn, or the financial/administrative side of the church's turn in the hot seat. I was ready. We are making changes, like all of our ministries, since moving into this building. It's hard to believe we have been here for 4 months already.

Being in the "Hot Seat" gave me the opportunity to share with our staff, all 31 of us some hot topics as of late. Here's what I shared.

1. For Profit companies cannot conduct for profit activities on our campus. This question has come up twice in the past 30 days.
2. Our year to date giving and attendance vrs. budget. (Behind in giving up in attendance)
   
3. Check/Payment processing cutoff dates have been established for our once per week check run. We process somewhere between 30 - 50 checks per week.
4. Do NOT prop exterior doors open.
   
5. Fob's (keys) availability.
   
6. Doors will open 1/2 hour before a scheduled event unless instructed differently.
7. We have new written spending procedures in place.

To steal a line from Dave Ramsey, "This stuff is as much fun as a barrel full of fish hooks." It is however very important and a needed part of ministry of our church and I'm thankful to be leading in in this area.

Joy & Hope + 10 more Credit Cards

Just got home from another great Financial Peace University class and as usual I'm to pumped to go to get ready for bed. (Hey I get up at 5:15 a.m.)

I knew class was going to be great. Before we started the DVD, I gave the call to cut up your credit card! Guess what, we had another 3 people come up and we destroyed 10 more credit cards. That's close to 50 credit cards gone never to be used again out of this class.

Buyer Beware was tonight's topic and it's a great one. You'll have to take the class to find out for yourself. When the DVD was over, it was time for small group. This is were I believe life change really happens. Here was the quote of the night from one of the couples in one of the small groups, "Financial Peace has brought Joy and Hope back into our marriage."

I love being part of this life changing class. Quotes like this are priceless and will stay with me forever.

I want to publicly than the other leaders here for bringing about life change. A big thanks and eternal rewards to:

• K
• Larry
• Mike
• Ron
  

Can you guess what this picture is?

My right hand accounting person Anita works very hard and I'm a much better staff member because of her. I'm glad and grateful to be serving with her here at NewPointe.

One of Anita's greatest assets is her uncanny ability to find better deal on stuff we are going to purchase and by doing so saves the church lots of money. It's a true gift.

Well this time, I think she has taken things a little to far.

Can you guess what this is?



This is her cubical door. . . . (Stop laughing.) See it's we are still working on month end and this is her lame attempt at asking people to, well, stay out.

I was laughing so hard, on the inside, I told her to go ahead and get a door for her cube if there is such a thing. Within three minutes she found one on line for less than $40. I said go for it.

Thanks Anita for all your hard work and this blog material.

Background Checks!

Here at NewPointe, We take the safety of your children very seriously. We have a team of security volunteers who's role is the safety of your children during your time with us at weekend service. This group does a great job and I'm very thankful for them. (Keep up the great work guys!)

There's a lot of "stuff" that goes on behind the scenes as it relates to the security and safety of your children and it all starts with background checks for our children and youth volunteers.

Yesterday, we changed background screening providers to SecureSearch and we processed our fist screening through them. I was very impressed with the whole process.

Here are the benefits of using SecureSearch.

1. Fellowship One integration. (This is a big deal.)
2. Multi State Criminal check
3. National Sex Offenders check
4. Social Security Number trace
5. Address verification
   
6. It's all done on line.
7. We are reminded annually to rescreen volunteers.
   
8. Soon, volunteers can input their information online for screening.
9. The results of the screening are attached to the individuals record as a pdf file.
10. Peace of mind.
    

This is part of our comprehensive process in providing a safe environment for you and your family.

New High

I hope you were able to attend one of the two Easter services we had here at NewPointe. It was a great day. Make sure you check out Danny's blog to get a recap.

If you weren't able to attend, you can download or listen on line to Dwight's message by going to NewPointe's web site.

Since I'm the numbers guy here at the church, I wanted to share Easter's attendance number with you as that's a question we get a lot, "What was the attendance Sunday?". Well, no need to wait until next week for the attendance in the worship guide.

Easter attendance. . . . . 2,790

Beyond the new high, there was story after story shared at our all staff meeting today about people coming to NewPointe for the first time.

I can't wait for next week as we continue our series on forgiveness. It's called no strings attached. You can check out a quick summary here. Hope you can join us next week.

Two if by Sea

Just a little bit ago, I was checking out Google Analytics on my blog. As you might imagine, I find numbers and statistic fascinating and Google Analytics provides all that and graphs as well. As I was checking out the different stats, I noticed two recent visitors were from England. (Brighton and Droylsden to be exact.) (Get it, Two if by Sea? This is my sense of humor)

This makes me wonder how someone from so far away ends up on my blog? Then I got to thinking how cool it would be to have a conversation with them to find out the how and why behind stopping at my blog.

When I started blogging I really had no expectation or predictions of readership. As it continues to grow I'm feeling a sense of responsibility of weekly posts and relevant topics. I hope I'm doing both.

Online tickets & payment come to NewPointe

One of the new ministries we are launching at NewPointe in 2007 is something called Married Life Live. My buddy John Bunn does a great job describing Married Life Live over at his blog Thinking outside the Bunn. Please click on this MLL link for details. My wife and I are really looking forward to taking part of that Saturday night in April.

MLL is where online tickets and payment comes into play. K Greenwalt and I are implementing the weblink module in Fellowship One. Fellowship One is our church management software system. It and the people who work there are at the top of their game. Most recently, Maggie at F1 played a big roll in our online purchasing process. Thanks Maggie!

Starting today, for the first time, you can register and purchase your tickets via our church web site. Here's the link. So if you haven't read John's blog yet on MLL here's a brief summary and I hope you decide to come. Cindy & I are planning on being there.

MLL is date night--NewPointe style. At MLL you'll experience incredible music, creative programming, and a message that's very relevant to your marriage. It's all specially designed to encourage and empower you as a couple.

Purchase your tickets on line. (Way cool)

Whats in a Password?

Passwords. It seems like these days we need one for everything. I get asked this question a lot. "What's a good password"?

Your password should be easy for you to remember but difficult for unauthorized parties to guess. here are a few suggestions.

1. Create acronyms from the words to your favorite song. For example, Mary Had A Little Lamb becomes mhall. Even consider adding numbers characters to it. For example, 8mhall4 where 84 was the year I graduated from High School. (whoops did I just give away my age?)
   
   
2. Deliberately misspell a word. (I do that when I'm not even trying.) Example, locomotive could be lokuhmotiv. ( Ok, that one is hard.)
   
   
3. Consider combining a number of facts, such as dates and events such as 12Christmas25day.
   
   
4. Mix cApiTaL letters into your password.
   
   
5. Use punctuation characters and/or numbers.
   
   

Anyway, theres are some of my thoughts. I know there are lots more you could chose from. Have fun with it and please change your password to something different than "password".

Insurance

Last night was another great Financial Peace University class here at NewPointe. We totally took apart insurance. Dave Ramsey does an outstanding job walking you through all the different insurances that are out there. In a nutshell, everyone should have the following coverage.

Remember, the idea of insurance is to transfer risk from you to the insurance company.

1. Life Insurance @ 8 - 10 times your annual income (Term ONLY! never cash value life insurance its a big rip off.)
   
   
2. Health Insurance. The best way is to get it through your employer if you can. If not, consider a individual Health Saving Account with a high deductible. There are some great tax saving advantages to a Health Saving s Account.
   
   
3. Long Term Disability Insurance. If its available to you through work, get it! It's very cheap this way. I've gone out an purchased it myself years ago.
   
   
4. Homeowners. You need 100% replacement cost coverage. This is getting harder and harder to find. Most major insurance companies only want to insure your home at it's current value when you first purchase the insurance +a 25% adder. Watch out for this.
   
   
5. Auto Insurance. If you have a fully funded emergency fund (3 to 6 months) then raise your deductible to $1,000.
   
   
6. Long-term Care Insurance. As you or a family member reach age 60, purchase a long-term care insurance policy. It will cover in home nursing care or a nursing home.
   
   
7. Identity Theft Insurance. This is becoming more popular. (I don't have it yet but am considering it.)
   

Stay away for the gimic insurances. cancer insurance: accidental death (your not double dead if you die in an accident), mortgage death insurance. You are much better off using these premium dollars to fully fund an emergency fund and then invest.

If your interest in shopping some of these insurances Dave Ramsey recommends Zander Insurance

Coming Soon

Here at NewPointe we are always looking for ways to be culturally relevant and the use technology plays a big role in relevancy. Soon, we will be rolling out gift/prepaid cards. Here's what they will look like.


The initial plan is for these gift / prepaid card are for use in the cafe and bookstore. They will make great gifts as well as provide a nice way for parents to manage their children's purchases at the cafe. My personal plan is to purchase a gift card for both of my kids and put $5 on each card. Then it will be up to them to manage how they redeem it at the cafe.

These cards can be used over and over again with dollars added to them at anytime. We are also planning on offering 3% added back to the card each time you use it.

One final thought. I think it's going to be real cool to carry this NewPointe card in my wallet. I'm hoping it will be a good conversation starter as I plan on showing it off.

7,000; 90+; 50+; 1,100 (What's with the numbers?)

Did the title peak your interest? It's no surprise that I like number. So, on my bike adventure to Holly Springs N.C. (Real close to Raleigh) I wanted to keep an eye on the number.

Kevin B, Rod S, and myself took a road trip this weekend to visit my buddy Scott M. We brought the bikes and road Saturday & Sunday in beautiful 83 degree sunny N.C. (Thanks for the great weather Scott)

Here are the number.

• Calories burned by me during the rides - 7,000
• Miles peddled on my bike - 90+
• Number of riders for Sunday's ride - 50+
• Miles driven there & back - 1,100 (all worth it)

Scott, thanks for a great time and letting us stay at your house. This will be an annual event.

Count Team - Thank You

I'm blogging today and thanking the count team here at NPCC. We have a group of dedicated and very trustworthy ladies that come in each week and process the offering. Lot's of envelopes, checks and some cash with the occasional paper cut and computer problem. (We're working real hard to solve the computer problems.)

These ladies are part of our behind the scenes volunteers. They play a crucial role in the life of NPCC and I want to thank them publicly.

So ladies, THANK YOU for your time, dedication and service to NewPointe each and every week. I pray you are blesses as much as you are a blessing to me and the church.

How rich are you?

I know, we'd all like to be making more money. I'd like to suggest that most of the time, more money isn't the answer to our financial worries. (This is a discussion for another time.)

Anyway just how wealthy are you? If we're going to ask and answer that question, we need to look at it from a global / world perspective. I've come across a web site that shows you just how "rich" you are in comparison to the rest of the world. It's quite eye opening.

Here's the link to the web site. globalrichlist.com. Check it out. It sure made me think.

toddcolucy.com

Today I registered toddcolucy.com at Go Daddy. It was painless and the cost was very reasonable. Less than $10.00 per year.

Have you considered registering your name as a .com? You can visit various web sites including Go Daddy.com and search for free to see if your name or some variation of your name is available. It's a lot of fun to see what comes back when you search for yourname.com. I was very happy that toddcolucy.com was available and I purchased it right on the spot.

As for now, toddcolucy.com is pointing to my blog and in time I'll have a web site to go with it. I'm excited to see how having my own .com will play out in the future. I think I call my parents and try and explain this to them.

Thanks for stopping by today. Stay encouraged!

33 Credit Cards . . . . . (No More!)

Last night at Financial Peace Class we covered the lesson on dumping debt. In my opinion, it is one of the most powerful and life changing lessons of the entire class. My belief in this was strengthened last night as we had over 10 families destroy, cut up, and mutilate 33 credit cards.

Here's a picture of the 33 credit cards we cut up right there in class in front of all 80+ people. It was dare I say a religious experience.

I'm so very excited for the families that will be forever free from the bondage of credit card interest by saying no more to credit cards and credit card dept.

It's a honor to be part of life change. I'm so grateful I get to be part of the financial ministry here at NewPointe. We are making a difference in peoples lives and hopefully change family trees.

My best Email time saver

Like the rest of the computer world, e-mail is a way of life for me. I enjoy communicating and staying in touch this way but if you're not careful, e-mail can burn thought a lot of your time.

I've come up with a neat trick that saves me a lot of time and in some cases hassle in responding to e-mail by creating multiple signatures. I name each of these "standard" signatures so that I know which one to included in a particular email. Here's and one that I use and have titled "Thanks but no thanks".

Thank you for taking the time to e-mail me. At this time, we are not in the position to move forward on your request. I'll keep your email on file for three months and if the opportunity arises I'll contact you.

Sincerely,

Todd Colucy
Director of Business Operations


E-mail signatures do not have to appear at the bottom of your email. You can drag or cut and past them to any spot in your message that you want. This saves a lot of time.

Give it a try and create a few signatures. Have fun with it.

Just got a 21% return on. . . . .

Did the title get your attention? I guess it did as your reading this. Well, I did get a 21% return on my latest investment. Here's what I invested in, are you ready? Braces for my 13 year old son. Stay with me and I'll explain.

Based on my adjusted gross income, my federal tax bracket is 15% and my stage is 5%. I'm participating in our church's flexible spending account program (FSA). An FSA allows you to set aside dollars on a pre-tax basis (Federal & State) for qualified medical, dental, and vision costs. Braces are qualified dental cost. When I pay the dentist, I'm using my debit card and that give me 1% back on purchase.

Cost of braces $4,100 (OUCH!)

Flex Spending & Debit card % of 21% = $861 still in my pocket.

Hey, if you have to pay for stuff like this, it's called life, take advantage of the opportunities available to you. Looking at saving $861 putt's me in a better frame of mind then looking at paying $4,100.

Deal or No Deal?

Last night at our First Wednesday service, we did a spoof on the game show Deal or No Deal. The powers that be suggested I play the role of "the banker" for the game show. I agreed.

I spent all of 10 minutes sitting in a chair talking on my cell phone and twirling a pencil (pencil twirling is one of my many talents.) while our video guru, Dave Mast, rolled the camera. Dave is extraordinarily gifted in so many areas. I'm glad he's on our team. He make my on screen antics look great. Thanks Dave.

I must admit I kind of enjoyed some time out front in the service. . . . . but that small roll was enough. I'm very happy to go back to the things I do best and being on stage/on screen is not one of them.

DST & my 101's post

I've received two phone calls and an email from Fellowship One warning me about Daylight Saving Time coming three weeks early this year. (This Saturday) By the way, it's "Daylight Saving Time" not Savings time.

I didn't realize that moving DST would have an effect on all this stuff. Fellowship One has everything handled as it relates to check-in and contributions. I had to do nothing. Yet another big + for using F1.

I was required to schedule a billable service call for our door system. I've got to pay a service tech to come in and install a patch on their software. When I asked why we had to pay for the patch, I was told the government changed DST not the software company. We've got no choice here. I'll have to pay for this.

Microsoft even has something to say about DST. Here's the link. click here.

What do I like most about DST? More time after work to ride my bike! (Like my new picture of me and my bike?)

You might think I'm crazy

I took my camera with me on our bike ride last weekend. I wanted to share a few pictures of our adventure with you. I hope you enjoy them.

Getting ready for the ride. There were 4 of us. (Bill, Kevin, Rick and me)

Bill's on his mountain bike. (Snow, what snow)

We're off.

Speed! 25.7 mph on this down hill. It's hard going this fast with only one hand on the bars and one taking the picture. (Let's not tell my wife about this shot.) I maxed out at 32 mph on this down hill.

Total ride mileage 26.2. Temp. 37. Can't wait for spring!

Fresh Brew

I love coffee. . . . You don't understand, I'm passionate about the stuff. So much so, I started roasting my own beans about two months ago. You have never experienced coffee until you've tasted fresh roasted coffee brewed in a press pot.

The picture to the right is one of the batches I roasted less than 30 minutes ago. Tommorrow, it will be in my burr grinder as soon as I get up in the morning. I'll enjoy a few cups (at least 3) with the Saturday newspaper.

I was very surprised how simple and fun it is to roast green coffee beans. I stumbled on to a web site that explains how to do it. sweetmarias.com A few hours on this site, one $19 eBay purchase later and I was roasting coffee in my kitchen. (I use a hot are popcorn popper. No kidding.)

One of the side benefits of roasting coffee beans in the house is the wonderful coffee smell for days. But be warned, roasting coffee beans causes smoke. I set both smoke detectors off almost every time I roast. A very small price to pay and besides I know our detectors are working properly.

Coffee is best within a few days of roasting up to about 10 days. It's only good for a few hours after grinding. This is why I don't purchase roasted coffee anymore. Is there really that big of a difference? You bet. Everyone I've given some of my home roast to has said it's the best coffee they have ever had and I agree. Give it a try.

I'm the first blogger. . .

My title is no lie. I am the first person on NewPointe's staff to blog. We currently have 7 staffers blogging. A few of them are linked here on my blog. I've need to update to include the rest.

I don't really remember why I started blogging but I'm sure glad I am. It's a way I keep myself accountable. I've been told by those how read my blog it's a way for them to keep up with what's going on in my life. I think that cool.

So, here's a quick run down of what's been going on.

• Road 26 miles Saturday. Yes there was snow on the ground.
• Door Access control training.
• Considered purchasing a new / used car. (Not going to at this time.)
• Some one-on-one financial counciling
  
• 5 individual tax returns. (5 more to go)
  
• FPU tonight - relating with money
• Walking our dogs every chance I get
  

Cash Flow Planning - FPU #2

Last night was another successful Financial Peace Class. The topic was Cash Flow Planning. OK Budgeting. Wait. . . Don't go, this budget really works. My wife and I have been using it for more than 4 year know.

In a nut shell, You write down your take home pay and assign every dollar a home. At the bottom of the budget it must equal zero.

We have a "blow" category in our budget. This is for things that we forget or in most cases for when the kids come home from school and say "I need $XX for school tomorrow." Without a blow category in our budget, the budget would never work.

If you'd like more information on the zero based budget, click here.

Remember all a budget is, is you telling your money where to go. Try it! It works

I would walk 500 mile and I would walk 500 more. .

At lunch time today in the staff break room was full of staff members. As is often the case, there was leftover food and our staff hates to see food go to waste. I addition to this, a local baker brought in sweets for the staff to sample.

As we were all munching away, the conversation turned to why we couldn't loose weight and what the exercise of choice was for each staff member. There was the typical answers. (YMCA, Basketball, Treadmill in the basement)

The coolest comment came from one of our facilities team members. He is averaging over 20 miles walked each week. Just from doing his job. He wares a pedometer at work to track his steps. Taking into account two weeks vacation, He'll walk 1,000 miles in 12 months. Now that's exercise.

The new $1 coins are here.

The new $1 coins are here. They are being issued in the order that the presidents served our country. Quick? Who are the fist 4 presidents of the US?

1George Washington 1789-1797
2 John Adams 1797-1801
3 Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809
4 James Madison 1809-1817

These 4 are going to be issued in 2007.

These coins are going for more than face value on ebay right now.

They do have a cool look to them but are they practical? I hate carrying change in my pockets and I don't like carrying cash for that matter.

I'm wondering if our coke machines in the church will know what to do with these $1 coins when they show up? The machine will have to wait until 2010 for $1 Abe Lincoln and 2015 for Jon F Kennedy.

Let me know the fist time one of these coins show up in your pocket.

Name this Blog

I've been told by numbers of people that I need a better name for my blog. Just a few minutes ago around the staff lunch room table was the most recent request to put a name to my blog. They told me "Tcolucy" is boring and dry.

So, what do you think would be a good name for my blog? I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks

FPU class #1

Last night was our fist FPU class here in the new building. I was pumped with the way things went. We had some no shows and some walk ins. (It all works out) I do have a few kits remaining waiting for next falls class.

In all, we have 5 facilitators. (K, Larry, Ron, Mike, and me) Everyone did a great job last night! Thanks guys. We are all in for a life changing adventure.

My group is a nice mix of life stages. The youngest is just two years married, a couple in there 30's a few of us in our 40's and a few just short of retirement. We all have a story to tell and we all have different reasons for taking this class.

If appropriate, I'll share some life change stories from our class here over the next 13 weeks. For now, I'm off to check out the new section of FPU's web page for class participants.

Another reason to love Direct Deposit

As I type this, I'm sitting at my home computer instead of being at work because I'm iced and snowed in from this winter storm. The ice on top of the snow has has allowed our smaller dog to to walk on top of the snow. He's not quite sure about that.

This weather got me thinking about how great it is to have our staff using direct deposit for our paychecks. At midnight tonight, payroll will magically hit 30 employees bank account. (We still have 1 direct deposit hold out.) The winter storm has allowed me the time to schedule all of my bill payments (free from my bank) to be sent out on Friday. No stamps no hassle.

Jason asked me in through a previous comment if Direct Deposit was cost effective for the church. Jason, I've got to admit, I've never looked at it from a cost standpoint. In our case, we use Quickbooks and they charge the church for direct deposit. It's free to our employees. You can check with your church's bank as most banks now offer this service for free.

I look at the cost of direct deposit as an employee cost. Its now expected by employees more than being seen as a benefit. I love it and consider it a condition of employment myself. With the combination of direct deposit and online bill payment, I haven't set foot in my bank in years.

So, the snow and ice can keep coming. My check is in the bank. We'll as of midnight. . .

85 People signed up for FPU

85 People have committed to taking Financial Peace University at NewPointe. There are no words to describe what I'm feeling.

If you've read my blog before I'm sure you've seen some FPU references and posts before. According to Dave Ramsey and his team, the average person or couple pays off $5,300 in debt and puts $1,200 in savings during the 13 weeks of this class. That's one very large return on a $99 investment.

The 85 people taking the class make up 50 families. 50 x $6,500 in debt reduction and savings is $$325,000. Talk about life change. . . I can't wait. I know from prior FPU graduates, the class not only changes their lives but graduates help their family and friends make changes.

Say a prayer for our five table leaders. This is by far the largest group we've taken through at one time.

$15 Free to you from PayPal

If you use PayPal for any of your shopping including eBay, then this post is for you! Keep reading.

PayPal is offering a $15 rebate on a single purchase of $30 or more made after February 8, 2007 and before March 31, 2007 at any qualifying retailer that accepts PayPal including eBay. All you have to do to get the rebate is:

Register your email here
Make a single purchase of $30 or more
Make it at an eligible website
That’s it. Once finished, the $15.00 rebate will be deposited into your PayPal account by May 28, 2007.

I've signed up. How about you?

Invest your tax refund in your IRA the easy way

This year, in an effort to encourage you to save, the IRS is allowing taxpayers to have their refunds deposited in up to three accounts including IRAs. If this sounds appealing, you'll want to pay close attention to the rules that apply. As Forbes reports, while the government’s intent is good, there are a few kinks that could cause you some headaches:

• "The IRS must deposit your refund into your IRA by April 17, 2007--the tax-filing deadline this year--for it to count as a 2006 contribution. If the money doesn't get into the account by April 17 it will become a 2007 contribution instead...and you’ll miss out on the 2006 break"
  
  
• "Some people are eligible to deduct their IRA contributions for 2006 even though you make your IRA deposit in 2007. If you're one of them and the money gets into the account late, than you'll have to go back and amend your 2006 return.
  
  
• "You have to make sure you get the routing and account numbers correct. And you have to check off the appropriate box on the IRS form indicating whether the money is going into a checking or savings account. So which is an IRA? That depends. IRA accounts held at Fidelity are checking accounts, but other custodians consider their IRAs to be savings accounts. So you must call your bank, mutual fund, brokerage house or credit union and ask."
  
  
• "You as the taxpayer must tell the custodian by April 17 that you want that money counted as a 2006 contribution. Otherwise, the custodian will assume direct deposit is for the current (2007) tax year.
  
  
• "If your refund is changed because you made a math error or the government grabbed part of it (say to pay child support) that could change the amount going into your IRA."

It's Review Time

I know its the beginning of February and I should be looking ahead to spring. We'll not quite yet. I'm firmly focused on 2006. The year that just ended.

Tomorrow, our outside accounting firm will be in to conduct a review of our 2006 financial records. I very much look forward to this time for a few reasons

1. I'm sick. I just like this kid of stuff
2. I use to live / work in that world and it reminds me of how glad I am not to be doing that stuff for a live any more. My apologies to all those CPA's in public accounting
3. The most important, it puts a ribbon and bow on the year that just ended and brings credibility to our finances.

So, I'll be sending the next few days pulling together documentation to support or financial statements and answering lots of questions. I can't wait.

Commission vrs Allowance

This post is in response to a comment left here yesterday. Thanks for your question.

In years past, prior to me leading Financial Peace, my wife and I would pay our two kids a weekly allowance so our kids would have some of their own spending money. When kids are young the typical allowance is usually $1 for each year old your child is.

As our two kids started getting a little older, I began disliking the feeling I had each time I handed them their allowance money. I sensed an entitlement attitude coming from them and I wanted to teach them that money doesn't grow on trees. (Well technically the paper money is printed on comes from trees)

Fast forward to Financial Peace. In on of the classes, Dave Ramsey spends some time talking about parents teaching children how to handle money. During that time, the light bulb went on for me. Dave says that each member of the family must contribute to the household and that children should have some assigned work to do. Dave then paid his kids a "commission" for work done. No work, no money. (Just like in the real world.)

My wife and I adopted this method at our house and it has worked out wonderfully. Although my 13 year old doesn't like the name Dave Ramsey. There's no more asking for money from our kids when we are at a store. No on the rare occasion when our kids ask for money from Mon and Dad, we'd respond, how much commission do you have left? The kids usually respond "none". Then we say sorry, you'll have to save some next time. The typical question these days from our kids is,"What can I do around the house to earn $XX".

Here's how our commission process works. I post a chore list on our refrigerator each week. Our kids have 7 days to complete the items on the list. at 9 pm on the 7th day, I pay them the commission base on what has been completed and take away $2 for every item that hasn't been completed. And if there are three things on the list not completed, they are grounded for the weekend. Our kids can also earn bonus bucks for bringing home graded papers from school with A's on them. (Limit of 3 A's per week for bonus bucks. The A's week really adding up.)

If our kids complete all their chores, there weekly commission is $12. Then $1 for church, $1 into savings and they get to spend $10. They also get one additional dollar for each A that week up to 3 A's. (My 13 year old son is pushing for a larger commission. I'll need to revisit that soon.)

Anyway sorry for the long post but it was worth reading. If you go to commission route, please let me know how it goes. It's been a great learning process for our kids and has taken away the guild of Mom and me. No more asking for money from our kids and us telling them no.

My wife has drunk the Kool-Aid

It's no secrete in my family or anyone who knows me knows that I'm a huge Financial Peace & Dave Ramsey fan. My wife is much less enthusiastic about Dave but understands and agrees with our financial game plan. Our kids earn their commission but really dislike the name Dave Ramsey. That's another story for another time.

So what does this have to do with drinking Kool-Aid? Great Question. My wife drove into Dover for lunch today. (We each have our own bi-weekly commission) She went to the Wendy's drive-thru and ordered a plain chicken sandwich. When she got up to the window to pay, They told her it would be $3.39 for a plain chicken sandwich. My wife hesitated and then asked if she could cancel the order. The drive thru attendant said no one had ever cancelled an order at the payment window and then reluctantly agreed. My wife said thanks and then drove over to the golden arches and ordered a chicken sandwich off the value menu $0.99. Way to go baby!

She told me this story as soon as she returned to work. She said she could see me saying, "You paid how much for a plain chicken sandwich?"

It's Back!

It's back and I'm juiced! Financial Peace University that is. We ran our fist announcement this past Sunday and over the next two weeks, we'll direct people to an information table located in our main rotunda area. Yours truly will be manning the table this weekend.

Why am I so juiced? I've seen and experienced God inspired life change in and through these classes.

I recently was told by a former class graduate that they have paid off more that $50,000 in just under two year. Way cool!

Want to get a feel for FPU? Watch this online video.

Want to take the class? Sign up this or next weekend at NPCC. Classes are starting Thursday Feb. 15th from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. Hope to see you there.

Calls 3 years later.

I just got off the phone with a pastor from North Carolina. He said he read my quote on the Fundraising Today web site.

In late 2003 our church was researching Stewardship / Fundraising firms. During this process, we came across a mailing for Fundraising today. Long story short, we ended up going with them and were very happy with the results. (3 times our annual budget in pledges)

So for all those interested and for future phone callers (I'm going to point them to this post.) Here's my two cents.

1. The price of Fundraising today's class is peanuts compared to what another Stewardship company will charge for their services. As such, going to the fundraising today class is money well spent even if you don't go with them for your campaign. No looking back and wondering what if?
2. You leave the class with a kit that walks you through the entire campaign process.
3. They have "canned" literature if you don't want to create your own. We created our own and used a local printer.
4. You need someone on you own team to hold team member accountable or the system will not work.
5. You need your senior pastor to cast the vision for the campaign.
6. If you don't have 4 or 5 you are better off going with a different program.
7. Support is an email away.
   

We had a great experience and a very successful campaign.

Illegal Tithing

Is there such a thing? According to a recent ruling by a New York federal court the answer is yes.

Tithing or making donations of any kind has been ruled illegal for BANKRUPT individuals by a judge in New York. The consequences of this ruling could be far reaching as other states will surly cite this recent in demanding similar rules in their states.

Well over 2 million Americans filed for bankruptcy in 2005 according to the National Association of Consumer Bankruptcy Attorneys.

Can you imagine having to ask a giver, before a church accepts a donation if they have filed for bankruptcy?

Joy

My wife and I just returned home from visiting our next door neighbor Glenna. Glenna is a wonderful lady who is going to be 86 years young next week.

In talking with Glenna tonight, she reminded me that the simple things in life make a big difference. We had some good conversation on a cold winters night. We enriched each others lives just by talking.

Who have you not talked to in some time? Who's day could you brighten by stopping by just to say high?

What Joy is waiting for you?

1 of 12 down

I'm one step closer in one of my 2007 goals. Last night I finished book #1 for 2007. Living A Life on Loan - Finding Grace at the Intersections. This book was written by Rick Rusaw & Eric Swanson.

My three main takeaway from this book was.

1. My life is on loan from God. Like every loan, the person giving the loan expects a return on their investment. What kind of return an I producing for God?
   
2. When I think about by live on loan from God rather than a life that I own, my perspective and priorities change to aline with God.
   
3. God gave us life and it matters a great deal to him what we do with our lives.

This is a great read for everyone who what to know how to make their life count and what God can do in and through you if you open yourself up to him.

Personal Tax Tip

Today is a rainy Saturday in Ohio. At least it's not snowing. . . I'm in the middle of one of my winter time hobbies of baking bread. (100% whole wheat as always;) The whole house smells like a bakery right now. I've got and hour before I can take the bread out of the machine so I thought I'd start looking into another one of my winter time hobbies. Taxes. What can I say, It's the accountant in me.

Here's a one time only deduction, i.e. money back in your pocket from the IRS. As taxpayers, we have been paying a federal telephone tax on long-distance since 1898. (Little known fact. . . . this tax was to fund the Spanish American War). Today this tax goes into the U.S. Treasury's general fund. . . Enough history

The short story . . . .

Use the standard deduction amount on 2006's tax form for the federal telephone excise tax credit/refund.

• $30 for taxpayers filing with one exemption
• $40 for two exemptions
• $50 for three exemptions
• $60 for four or more exemptions

If you are really into paperwork, you could file form 8913 and take the actual amount of excise taxes you paid. Good luck with that.

Off to check on my bread. . . .

What would you do with an extra $1,100?

Did this title grab your attention? I hope so. If the company you work for is like most companies, this is the time of year that you get a raise in your paycheck.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Census the mean income of all workers in the US is #35,500 per year. When I take this mean income and apply a cost of living increase of 3% it equals roughly $1,100.

No matter what your raise is in 2007, what is your plan for that increase. I can tell you this, if you don't have have a plan on what to do with it, your raise will disappear within three months and you won't know where it went.

Here are a few things I consider before I get a raise.

1. Take the increase in my pay and have it go right into my retirement plan. (Pretax)
2. Take the increase and put it into my Flexible Spending Account. (Pretax)
3. Increase my giving by that amount. (Eternal Investment)
4. Take the increase and have it automatically deducted by by bank into a savings account. (Peace of Mind)

As for me, I need to pay for those braces so I'm upping my Flex Spending Account in 2007.

Financial Evaluation Time

Greeting on the eve of the Ohio State National Championship game. As I'm waiting for pregame to start, I decided to do some personal financial reflection of the year just ended.

For many years now, I've tracked in a spreadsheet my net worth from year to year. How do you figure your net worth? Add up the value of the things you own (Cash, Savings, Emergency fund, Retirement, house) Less what you owe on these things. The difference between the two amounts is your net worth.

I know saving money is hard. I recently found my 13 year old gets his braces in March and my daughter is close behind. I'm getting off subject here.

Tracking your net worth allows you to see progress from year-to-year. You will be surprised how fast your net worth will grow when you start to track it. Your purchasing decisions will be affected and your goals may change.

Tracking my net worth was a key factor in starting the savings process for our kids college fund a few years back.

Every little bit helps. Remember, small amounts saved on a regular basis over time adds up to big number!

Go Bucks!

Goals in 2007

I hope you enjoyed bringing in the new year. I did my usual and slept right through it. Also for the two year in a row now, I got to ride my bicycle on Jan 1st. This is truly unbelievable for Ohio.

With each new year, I set goals for myself. Without goals I drift. Here's my 10 goals for 2007

10. Higher net worth in 2007 than in 2006
9. Lead at least one Financial Peace University class
8. 1,500 miles on my bicycle (road 25 today. Only 1,475 left to go)
7. Family Vacation (My 13 year old has other plans)
6. Adding one or two couples to our small group
5. Value people Daily
4. At a minimum, read a book a month. (Just started "Living A life on Loan")
3. Blog regularly
2. Coach my kids to make wise choices
1. Be a better leader & coworker

Setting goals are very important in making any kind of progress I encourage you to take some time this week and come up with 5 - 10 for the coming year.

What are you thankful for?

As 2006 is about to end, I took some time to think of the things I'm most thankful for this year. Here's my top 10

10. Bicycling over 1,500 miles again this year
9. My two dogs (Lumpy & Gino)
8. Being on staff at NewPointe Community Church
7. Praying regularly with my two kids
6. My Small Group ( I love those guys)
5. Good Health
4. Coffee (I'm now roasting my own at home)
3. Financial Peace (No consumer debt)
2. My Wife
1. Being used by God to make a difference in peoples lives. (There is no feeling in the world that can match this.)

Please take some time this weekend to come up with your own top 10 list.

Happy New Year!

I'm still here. . .

Thanks for checking back in on my Blog. I've been silent here since Nov. 17th. It hasn't been a lack of wanting to blog.

As you know, we have moved into our new facility and until Christmas, I haven't had the time or energy to get blogging.

The move and the first three weeks in the new building have gone better than anyone here on earth could have hoped for. (Thanks God!) Each week that passes, we continue to make improvements. Progress is great. In no way did we anticipate the increase in attendance. We've gone from averaging 1,500 to averaging 2,100 a weekend.

There is an energy and excitement seen and felt by everyone in the building. I'm an so grateful to be a part of what God is doing through NewPointe Community Church. If you haven't checked out our web site, I invite you to do so. www.newpointe.org

What is a blow category?

I recently received a request to explain the "Blow Category" in my budget. This was a great question. Thanks to the one who asked!

The night before I receive my bi-weekly paycheck, I sit down with my spreadsheet and allocate 100% of my paycheck. I plan were every dollar of it will go. As we all know, no matter how well we plan, unexpected thinks come up. For example, hey dad school pictures are tomorrow I need $20 for them. This is where the "Blow Category" in my budget comes into play.

Each bi-weekly pay, I budget $50 for Blow. I have an envelope that I keep in our home safe, you do have a home safe don't you? When unexpected things pop up, I go to the blow envelope. If there's money we can "Blow" it if no money, no blowing it.

If I find that the amount of cash is growing in the blow envelope to say $80 or more, I will allocate zero dollars out of the next pay for "Blow". Every once and a while when our blow envelope his $80, my wife and I take the family out for a treat. (unplanned dinner or a movie. Something fun.)

I hope I explained it. One last thought. If you don't plan on blowing some cash and you are trying to budget, you'll drive yourself crazy. So budget in some blow money.

Next post I'll explain the "commission" category in my budget.

Silo? What's with that

Ok, I'm sure you have heard it more than once in the ministry world that we can't be silo's. We need to be doing ministry together and not by ourselves. Does this apply to our church sign?

This Silo is at the entrance to our new church. It's a land mark in the area and we wanted to us that to our advantage. So, your looking at our road sign. What do you think?

Are we creative or what?

If you want to see it up close, you can come help us move the next few weekends. The 26th is the big move. Monday the 27th is the first business day in the new office. Say a prayer for us lots to move.

Invited to another's small group

A few weeks back I was asked by a small group to come give a talk on finances. I thought great, two of my favorite things. (Small Groups and Finances)

It was great I sensed true community between the group members and a desire to know God more. The just finished studying The Treasure Principal. This book will rock your world!

A member of the group asked me to share some tips on finances and I happily accepted the invitation. First I walked them through Dave Ramseys "Baby Steps" I'm a real believer in them. Here are the first three steps:

1. $1,000 in an emergency fund
2. Pay off debt using the debt snow ball
3. Save for retirement.

I also shared how my wife and I allocate our biweekly pay. We tell every dollar where to go before we get our paychecks. We even have a "blow" category. Of course me being a tech junky and an accountant, my allocation plan is in Excel. I'd be happy to share it with you if your interested.

It was great and a privilege to have been part of that small group tonight. I think I'll give my group members a call just to touch base before our next get together.

Cool to have voted today

I left the house at 6:25 a.m. today. I'm an early bird. Headed the 1/2 a mile down the road to go vote. I was the third person there. After a quick show of my drivers licenses and my signature, I was handed a credit card looking thing and pointed in the direction of a laptop looking device.

It was way cool. I put the card in the slot and instruction on how to proceed came up in less than 5 seconds. I was off and voting. Being a self proclaimed techie, I loved it. The touch screen was great and there was no doubt as I was voting as to checking the right box.

After I went through all my selections, there was a review screen that allowed me to check my selections and make any corrections. Then I pressed the button "cast my ballot"

The credit card looking thing popped out of the machine and I return that to the poll worker. My only disappointment is I didn't get one of those "I voted today stickers" as I left.

I'm happy to see voting has finally embraced technology. I'll really be happy when we are able to vote from home via the internet. Will that ever happen? Who knows.

Speed Stacking with my Daughter

Tonight my daughter Katie and I spend some quality time together. She "helped" me work the sound board at church tonight during our Small Group Leaders event - EQUIP. I love small group. That's a story for another time.

I love the one-on-one time with my kids in the car. It's a time of great conversation and Q & A. Tonight also included a happy meal on the way home. (For Katie not me.) The only thing I enjoy at the golden arches is their coffee.

During the ride home, my daughter asked me if she could teach me speed stacking. I said sure but first you'll have to show me what that is.

Speed stacking is where you take 12 plastic cups and build pyramids with them. The more complex the pyramid the better and of course it must be done fast. I came to find out my daughter is her class champion. I soon found out why. She was flying with different combinations of stacks.

Then it was my turn. Let's just say we needed safety glasses because there were cups flying everywhere. I guess my hand eye coordination isn't what it use to be. Katie and I had great laughs. I'll have to stick to stacks of three cups for now. It will take me some time to get to the 12 cup stack. Chess anyone?

How long does it take to pay for Christmas?

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. And as my wife reminded me this weekend, it's time to start buying gifts. As always, we put a little back each month so gift buying time isn't a stain on the family budget.

I came across a great article in my Sound Mind Investing newsletter relating to Christmas buying. It tell you how many days you have to work in a year to pay for all those great gifts. It assumes a 7 hr work day, who works 7 hours?

How many days on the job will it take.

Assuming $10 earned per hour and $1,000 spent on Christmas = 24 days

Assuming $12 earned per hour and $1,000 spent on Christmas = 20 days

So if you haven't saved for gifts yet, what can you do to minimize the damage and keep your budget on track? Here are a few gift ideas that could be worth more to the gift getter than anything you could purchase.

1. A gift of service. Make up a coupon book (running errands, house work, shopping)
2. Make a gift. Are you good at something? Photography, candle making, cook a great meal for them
3. Gift of time together. Take a relative out for coffee. When was the last time you just sat and talked with an aunt or uncle?

Non stress time together at Christmas is a true gift to friends and loved ones. It's worth much more than anything money could buy.

Big news in the church world and taxes

In August, Congress inacted the massive Pension Protection Act of 2006. The provisions of this act take effect immediately.

The biggest impact of this act and church's is this

If you have people in your church who are age 70 1/2 or older who have an IRA(s), they can make TAX-FREE distributions of up to $100,000 from a traditional IRA or Roth IRA to a tax-exempt church or charity. This provision is effective through 2007.

In a nut shell, the church wins and the donor wins but there is only a two year window so don't let 2006 go by without getting this information into the hands of your church body who reached age 70 1/2.

Unreal shopping experience

Yesterday, my wife did some cloths shopping at the mall. (mall's that's another blog for another time.) Because of how we allocate our paychecks, we tell every dollar where to go, and we had a specific amount budgeted for cloths this pay.

When my wife checked out at the register, she used the balance of what we had allocated for cloths and put that amount on our debit card and she paid for the balance in cash from her biweekly commission. (Again another blog topic at another time.) The sales clerk must have thought my wife was trying to hide the purchase from me. The clerk suggested three ways my wife could keep me from knowing what she purchased. (I'm not making his up.)

1. Put her new purchase on under her current cloths so when my wife comes in the house, I wouldn't see her purchase.
2. Put the cloths in the trunk of the car and wait for me to leave then bring the cloths in the house.
3. Dispose of the department store bag before she got home and maybe I wouldn't notice.

I find it unbelievable that one someone would suggest things like this and two that people would even think like this. Another reason why we must tell our money where to go or it will leave on its own. Thanks Dave Ramsey!

Recharge your Batteries. . .

As we coming to the end of the construction phase of our new church, situations, questions, and decisions are moving at light speed. I know this is just a season and much like fall, the next season is just around the corner.

In all of this, I exercise to stay energized. Exercise clears my mind. My sweat of choice is riding my bike. I'm less than 50 miles away from my yearly goal of 1,500 miles. I should have that in my next ride or maybe two rides. Walking my dogs is a daily activity. I'm really surprised how just walking helps keep my weight stable.

I also love listening to podcasts on my mp3 player. This is one of the greatest inventions of my lifetime. I recently purchased a FM transmitter for my mp3 player for use in my car. Now I'm legal. (I'll say no more on this.)

So what do you do to recharge your batteries? I hope whatever it is you do it on a regular basis. It will help you to focus on the big picture and not get gobbled up by the details of everyday life.

Budget Time!

Well, it's that time of year. Budgeting Season. As I'm closing the quarter, ok trying to close the quarter, I'm also looking ahead to 2007. Next year is bringing with it some unique challenges in our budget process. As we move into our new facility what impact will this have on our budgets? Truth is, it's very hard to tell.

Conventional wisdom says, our people numbers will go up and our giving will go down. This is playing a key factor in my projections for 2007. As a starting point for our budgets, I'm working off the assumption of a 30% increase in attendance and a (15%) decrease in offerings. I believe this is a "typical" trend based on my conversations with other church's and church consultants who I've spoken with on this topic.

I've looked back to our construction costs to estimate our electric and natural gas for the coming year. Since we will still own our current facility, I have to budget utility costs for this building also.

One very exciting thing for me is that our Worship & Creative Arts Ministry has already submitted to me their 2007 budget. I should give them a prize. Since I didn't budget for a prize a big thank you here on my blog is all they get.

If you are interested in seeing the budget sheets I give our various ministries to use, send me a email and I'll forward you a copy.

Have a great budgeting season!

Kudos to Church Staffing

If you have been following my blog for a while you know we are getting ever so closer to moving into our new church. (Yea God!) As such, we currently have three staff positions open and posted on our web site www.sugarcreekfmc.org

We decided to test the waters at www.churchstaffing.com and post our Service programmer position. Kudos to Churchstaffing! In one day, I received 11 resumes via email. That to me is very impressive as this position is what I would call "specialized". The really cool think is that none of these applicants would have found us without our listing.

Now if someone would apply for one of our open staff positions based on my blog, well then that would be unbelievable. (Anyone from Indiana wanting to move to Ohio?)

Online Bill Pay

As I sit here waiting for the Ohio State game to start, I thought I'd pay a few bills and as I was doing so, I wonder many people take advantage on line bill payment?

I've been baking on line for more than 8 years now and I love it. I just scheduled my credit card payment (yes, I have one credit card used for mostly business purchases. I do not carry a balance on my cc and I never use it for unplanned purchases.) I'm a big Dave Ramsey fan! I digress. Here are some reasons why I bank on line:

1. I can schedule exactly when the payment will reach the intended party.
2. No envelopes or stamps ( I love saving money).
3. My online bill pay is free through my bank.
4. They keep track of all the payments I've sent. I can pull up a years worth of payment to my gas company to see how much we spend in this category each year.
5. I love technology and this is a great way to make it work for me.

Putting on my Church Business Administrators hat, I see more and more "bank" checks each year from people in our church using bill pay services. We offered electronic giving for a few years now and that's been great as well.

Time to walk my dog then I'll be all ready for the Bucks! (Ohio State)

To POS or not to POS

We only have 7 weeks until we take over our building. Lot's to get done. I guess that's why I wake up at 2 a.m. and think I should get out of bed and get to work. Don't get me wrong. I'm energized by all that's taking place. I thank God every day that I get to be a part of what he is doing through Sugarcreek.

My latest 2 a.m. thing had me thinking about our cafe and how to intergrated the accounting for it into our church's books. (I still haven't decided the which way to go on this.) But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ok, POS - Point of Sale. This consists of a computer, scanner, cash drawer, expensive software. . . . This is the first issue at hand for our cafe. At least in my mind.

I've received some great suggestions on what POS sytems others are using in their cafes. Thanks Andy and Matt. We will get there sometime. For starters, mostly for cost reasons . . . . . ok totaly for cost reasons, we are going to start simple. We'll start out with 2 ROYAL alpha583cx Heavy Duty Cash Register I found the best price at JR.com. $179.99 Thanks Froogle.com



I think this simple solution will give me the reporting I need as it comes with software that will allow me to download the sales transactions into my notebook. Even right into Quickbooks if I choose.

Now what to serve at the cafe and what to charge? Decisions, decisions. What I do know is profits from the cafe will go to missions.

Next Hire . . .

During a break at the IT roundtable, I looked up Granger's "retail manager" Susan Chipman. She was very helpful and gave me lots to think about as we get ready to hire a food service coordinator.

We just posted this opening on our web site. In addition to coming up with great interveiw questions, I'm also looking for a POS system. Any suggesgtions on either issue?

I'm also trying to process how to best integrate the cafe's accounting into the church's accounting.

I love this kind of stuff.

I asked at the roundtable if anyone heard of bookstore manager (as we have a bookstore as well) and lots of people heard of it. That's all I'll share here. So no need to suggest this software.

Back from the IT Round Table

I'm back in the office after Granger Trip. My head is still spinning. It was very fruitful in multiple ways.

Here's a few key items / pointer that resonated with me.

1. Church's are size and larger have at least one full time IT person. (At this time, our IT Superman is has other responsibilities.
2. Most church's have laptops that can be checked out. Very few staff members have a laptop assigned to them.
3. No local adimistration of PC's. (i.e. no installing software unless the IT department installs it.)
4. No personal inkjet printers.
5. Help Desk software / Ticketing software is a must. (We are looking into that today.)
6. Most church's that were running Fellowship One has a back-up ISP.

As always with this kind of thing, the best part about the event was the networking and knowing there are other church IT departments and people who have similar needs and "opportunities".

Greetings from Wired Churches.com

Good morning.

I'm waiting for the church IT round table to start. I'm jacked. About 20 of us got together last night informally to "hang out". I learned so much that I could drive home now and still be very blessed by the networking and knowledge I gained.

We are sitting in Grangers Jungle room. This is Dave Mast our very own IT guy. We are early. What can I say. . . . . It's always better to be early than on time.

Road Trip

I'll be hitting the road Tuesday with our IT manager, Dave Mast. Dave and I are headed to Granger Community Church for a church IT round table. Way Cool!

SFMC is the smallest in weekend attendance numbers that will be present at this event. The largest church is Seacoast at 7,500.

What exactly is a roundtable? I'm glad you asked.

DEFINITION OF A ROUNDTABLE: roundtable is a peer-learning event where the participants are both teachers and learners. A roundtable is:

o Small enough to emphasize interactive learning

o Led by a facilitator and peer

o Includes participants who have an affinity with each other

o Does not include a strong agenda beyond sharing knowledge Roundtable members are selectively invited with less than 25 per group

PURPOSE OF THIS ROUNDTABLE
1. To meet other innovators· Encouragement - "I am not alone." "Here I am understood."· Confidence - "I'm not so crazy after all."· Relationship - Develop on-going friendships

2. To advance the diffusion of innovation in a given topic area· Sharing knowledge, lessons learned, and experiences· Sorting out the big picture. How does it all fit? Where are we= going?· Synergy of new ideas, new perspectives, and new dreams

3. To facilitate collaboration· Explore opportunities for teaming up to accomplish common goals· "Network" - Learn who knows what and who is doing what

I'll update you from Granger. . . . . Pray for Dave & I

Thanks

Basketball at Church? . . . . It's not what you think

Today, our weekly all staff meeting was two hours. Usually our weekly all staff is only an hour and here's the agenda.

1. We share stories of life change that happened last week. (This is what makes life great!)
2. We communicate with staff on what's going on so we can be informed and inform others.
3. We pray together and for each other.

Today was different. No we didn't play basketball. We had the defending, two years in a row, Highland Hawks basketball coach Dave Schlabach speak to us. He came to share his leadership principals with us. I was very excited to hear from him and to see if these principals would be transferable to us.

I very surprised. He really didn't talk about basketball at all. His principals were all about leading people. And man did these principals apply to me. Here were my take aways from the church.

1. Have a passion for what you do.
2. surround yourself with Energy Givers
3. Give people a roadmap where to go
4. Make your goals big
5. Never be on time, always be early
6. Sacrifice is needed for special things to happen
7. Understand your role and do it very well (not everyone is the shooter)
8. Ask for help. No one knows it all or sees it all
9. Don't assume people know their role. Help them see it
10. with a "big win" thank the smallest contributors first. Make them feel like hero's. Everyone will thank the person out front.

I know if I would diligently work on these ten things, I'd be a better leader!

What is most important to you?

I woke up this morning thinking about the same thing as when I went to bed last night. Life moving in fast forward. In my quiet time, God asked me what am I willing to say no to in order to slow down a little bit? At that moment, I didn't have an answer.

In doing some reading in success magazine, I was reading a profile on Chris Gardner. At 27, he was homeless and living on the subways of Chicago. He's now 52 and president of his own company. He said something in his article that stuck with me. "Money is the least significant aspect of success. It's more important to look in the mirror and go Yeah. A lot of folks with a whole lot of money can't do that." His quote brought me right back to God's word. Your treasure is where your heart is. I say all this to say, God's asking me to say no to a few things and to check where my heart is.

When I slowed down and thought about what God challenged me with this morning, he brought me back to it's all about relationships. That's what's most important. My relationship with him and with people.

Did you miss me?

Ok, I know it's been some time since I was last here. To be honest I was thinking about giving up the blog world for a while. I guess in a way that's just what I did.

Over the last few day's I've had more than a few people ask me where my blog has been. The last person who asked was Jeff. Jeff's our sales rep at Fellowship One. (Hi Jeff!)

In talking with Jeff today he said life feels like it is in fast forward. I totally agreed and thought to myself that's a very accurate statement about the lives of most of the people I know.

As I type this, I just finished doing some consulting work, my wife is on her way to pick our son up from football. I've put my daughter to bed for the third time tonight and our puppy is finally sleeping.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't trade my life with anyone if I could.

I'll be blogging again on a regular basis. We are only 10 weeks away from opening weekend in our new building. I'll keep you posted on this from my point of view. Pray for us!

Riding Wet?

If you don't know by now, I'm passionate about bicycling. My licenses plates say "LV2PDL" . . . . . love to pedal. Tonight, myself and two friends hit the road and drive two hours north to bed down in a red roof inn in anticipation for 6 a.m. Saturday morning. At that time, we will join hundreds of other cycling enthusiasts and head west along the shores of Lake Erie.

At the end of the day, hopefully around 1 or 2 pm, we will have completed the first day of a two day ride having ridden 100 miles. (75 + an optional 25 the first day) It will be time for a shower, food, and then on a bus for free admission to cedar point. I think cedar point is better than Disney. Lots of childhood memories at cedar point.

After the point, its back on the bus and off to bed. Sunday is the return bike ride back to Cleveland. When it's all said and done, I'll have 175 miles more to add to my total from this weekend ride.

Pray that the rain stays away. It's not looking good for Saturday.

Church Construction Road Trip

Today our Senior Pastor and I jumped in the car and headed about 45 minutes up the road to visit with First Christian Church of Canton Ohio. They are in a relocation project just like we are and both church's' are set to open within one week of each other. Cool! Dwith and I met Matt Chambers at their construction site for a tour. Thanks Matt!

Talking with Matt and having him walk us through his building was very cool. We've both experienced a lot of the same issues during the construction process and we are both very humbled and grateful for what God is doing!

In a couple of weeks, it will be my turn to host Matt and his Senior Pastor for a walk through our new building. I hope we will be a source of encouragement for them.

We adopted!

This weekend was very special for our family. After months and months of begging, our 10 year old daughter finally got her puppy. On Saturday, our family took a trip to the county dog pound and we adopted a 8 week old puppy. We named him "Gino".

My daughter made all the right pleas for months and months. "I'll walk it, feed it, and take care of it". I'll have to admit, she's done a great job of this until last night. She finally gave into sleep. I was the one who took Gino out 3 times last night. 11:30 pm; 2:30 pm, 5:00 am.

Today / tonight it will be my turn to give into sleep. That's ok, I'm a dog lover. It was a condition of marriage. . . . That's a story for another time.

Coke or Pepsi

By all estimates, we are 90 - 120 days from moving into our new church. That will be a wonderful day! In the mean time, lots of stuff to get done before the move. Today I had the opportunity to listen to a proposal from Coke. It was great, they made a nice presentation and brought lots of samples of their new milk drinks.

The milk drinks are still sitting on my desk unopened. I'm not to sure about dairy products that don't need to be refrigerated and have a shelf life of 6 months. The reps from Coke tell me the kids love them. I'll take their word for it.

I've got a call into the Pepsi rep and I'm waiting for their proposal. If all things were equal, who would you go with? Coke or Pepsi?

It doesn't get any better. . .

As I'm about to finish leading my fifth Financial Peace University Class, God has reviled to me that I'm doing what he has created me to do. Helping people with their financial lives.

I'm still jacked after having a conversation with a couple a few weeks ago. They completed an FPU almost two years ago. In that time they have paid off $25,000. WOW! Not only that, this couple is leading others through FPU in their home.

There's no grater joy in life than being used by God!

Onward and Upward

With my two bicycle rides this weekend, I'm crossed the 1,000 mile mark for the year. This is a big goal for me each year and I'm very excited to have passed 1,000 miles in July. Lots of riding left this year.

Since it's Monday, my focus turns back to the issues at hand. Fellowship One, the move, and July's month end.

Fellowship One - Looking at rolling out check in for infant through K in September. This will require us to add two more check-in station and to add volunteers.

The move - Thinking about this is almost a daily if not hourly. Last week, we had a large dumpster brought in and each ministry did some spring cleaning. We had lots of neighborhood dumpster divers taking home stuff we didn't need or want to take with us in the move.

July's month end. July has tipically been our lowest giving month of the year. Lot's of people on vacation and off doing other family things. I'm encouraged that more and more people are mailing their giving into the church and more are enrolling in our on line giving program. It's safe and easy to use.

Swing on over to our church's web site and check out the building progress when you get time. www.sugarcreekfmc.org

Budget time?

Is it time to look at 2007's budget already? Well yes and no. As we prepare to move into our new church three or so months from now, I'm wondering how realalistic our 2006's budget will be from this point forward. It was based on being in this building for the entire year. The fact is we will spend the last quarter of the year in the new building and still owning this building. This fact has prompted some preliminary discussion from the powers that be as to what does our 2007's budget look like? This kind of question gets my accounting juices flowing. (I love this kind of stuff.) I have this information and our construction costs ananlysis throught the balance of our project ready in time for our Trustees meeing on August 8th.

In the mean time, I'm riding my bicycle this weekend in the Sweet Corn Chalenge along with 300+ other riders. The distance on this ride will put me over the 1,000 mile mark for this year.

Key meeting

Today was a strange day at work. As we move closer and closer to our move in date into the new church, I'm attending more and more meetings. Today I lead a meeting with our facilities team and three representatives from our door company. They wanted our team to tell them how to "key" the doors. My first response was we have your keyless access system why do we need keys? They smiled politely and said we needed the keys as a backup system and for the doors that didn't have the keyless system. I said great. Let's just have one key then that opens all or any door. They smiled at me again and politely suggested that wasn't a good idea. So I decided I better do what I should have done from the star, sit quietly and listen to what these three fellows had to say. Do you remember Charlie Browns teacher from any of the Peanuts cartoons? That's about all I heard for the first 15 minutes. Ok, it wasn't that bad. We worked though some questions received some good guidance and they left us with drawings and door schedules. Our facilities team is going to meet tomorrow to "Key" the doors. Wish us well.

I have returned

I'm back from vacation and ready to go!

My family and I had a wonderful time in southern West Virginia. We did lots of fun outdoor activities. The highlight for me was my picture taking and the black bear that came out to say high to us while we were ATVing. No I didn't get a picture of the black bear. Our guide had my camera and we were all to worried about keeping our distance from the bear.

Here's one of my favorite picture I took with the help of the self timer on my camera. My tripod was in the water.







Have a great week!

Do you have an Emergency Fund?

An emergency fund is the first and most important step in any financial plan. I've had my emergency fund fully funded for about three months now. (Thank you God) That emergency fund give me a great peaceful feeling knowing those funds are there if a financial emergency arrives. Why did I blog on this? Because I came across a survey from Harris Interactive . In their survey they point out.

"Almost half (45%) of American households do not have enough savings to cover 3 months of expenses."

"Nearly 1 in 10 (9%) do not have any savings at all."

"13% say they generally save none of their monthly household income in liquid accounts".

Furthermore, of the people who are saving, they arenaÂ’t necessarily saving for emergencies.
"Nearly three in ten adults who have liquid savings (29%) are saving for a vacation, the survey found. And fifteen percent are doing so to fund a special event, such as a wedding or birthday party."

So, do you have an emergency fund? I hope so. If not, start today!

Vacation Time

Ok. The family and I are headed off to WV for what I'd call Dad's vacation. Over the next few days, we'll be enjoying God's wonderful creation doing the following activities

1. White Water Rafting
2. ATVing
3. Horse Back Riding
4. Hiking
5. Swimming
6. Taking lots of pictures

This is my kind of vacation. My wife on the other hand has already made an appointment with her chiropractor when we return.

How about you? Are you going on a family vacation this year? Are you staying close to home with gas prices the way they are? (Our trip is less than 4 hours from home)

Room Numbers?

Each passing day brings the move into our new church closer and closer. We are getting more and more request for room use in the new church. The problem with this is we haven't given much thought as of yet to how to best do this. I guess we need to start assigning room number to each room. Does anyone have any good ideas on room number conventions? Do you number your rooms by section? Does every door need to have a number? I'd really appreciate your thoughts on this one as I'm going to be working on this while traveling Wednesday.

On Wednesday, I'll be touring a coffee roosters plant. To a coffee drinker like me it will be like Christmas day to a 10 year old. I'm going to Caruso's Coffee up near Cleveland Ohio. I'll keep you posted on this one.

Helping Hands

Today it was my turn to help. I had a two hour lunch with a local senior pastor today. It was time well invested. You see, as of late I've spent lots of time on the phone and visiting other church leaders trying to learn and grow from their experiences. Today it was my turn to invest in another. Over lunch, he asked some great questions and I hope I gave good answers. The church he leads is were we were a few years back and I understand some of the challenges he faces. The greatest thing about my time with this local church leader is that we were working together! Trying to help each other. That gets me jacked. I know SFMC is sometimes referred to as the "big church" and that can stir up ill feelings. It really shouldn't. We are all on the same team and the staff of SFMC is willing to share all we know because so many other have shared with us.

How about you? Do you share what you know with others? Personally? Professionally? If so, how do you share? If not, why not?

Happy 4th - I think.

Happy 4th of July to you! I hope this is a day of family and friends. That's the game plan for me. So why an I blogging today? One word "Rain". My family and I have big plans of kayaking down the Tuscarawas river. This would be the first time my two kids ever did anything like this. I've told them when I was a kid my friends and I would "tube" down the river a few times each summer. My kids look at me like I'm from another planet.

So with all this rain and no signs of letting up, I'll continue to sip my Starbucks coffee (received as a gift for my big 40th) grab a book and enjoy this quiet time while the rest of my family is still sleeping.

Next on my agenda is watching the Tour de France on OLN and wishing I'd be able to get a bike ride in tonight.

One final note, Do you know how many people signed the declaration of independence? . . . . . . . (56) Happy 4th!