Gas prices and the church

As a church business administrator, I like to keep my eye on the finances of the church. Hey, That's one of the reasons I'm on staff. Finances are my passion area. (That's a blog for another day.) Anyway, I've been wondering for some time now how these high gas prices are going to effect peoples lifestyle. Will high gas prices effect our church's weekly offering? Only time will tell. I hope and pray that people live on less than they make.

In reading today's newspaper, I did get a little insight on how gas prices are effectively people. According to an AP poll, the number of people who expect rising gas prices to cause financial problems jumped from 51% a year ago to 70% today. Wow! The real shocker is that the increase from last year came mostly from those earring more than $50,000 per year.

People are concentrating on gas prices only. We are very lucky in this part of the country that we had a very mild winter. This kept our heating costs in check.

If you find yourself worried about the high costs of the basics, then take some time in the next few week, have a budget planning meeting and look for areas of excess. As Dave Ramsey says, "live like know one else so later you can live like no one else"!