I made a series of 29 short videos back in 2019 as part of a personal devotional. For United Methodists, you might recall that was the year of the special session of the General Conference that was to put an end to the debate on homosexuality. GC2019 was probably the lowest point in my time…
The Win-Win of the Charitable Remainder Trust
I don’t want this to sound like a gimmick or some slick way to raise money from gullible elderly church members. That is not what a Charitable Remainder Trust is. The Charitable Remainder Trust can be an wonderful part of a person’s retirement/estate plan. What makes it so wonderful? Here’s a list: Guaranteed Income for…
Single Board Governance #3 – How do you implement?
If you watched the previous videos, the problem with the traditional church governance is clear…to you. Also, the solution of the Single Board Governance is clear…to you. But you need to remember that pushing for change, even good common sense change, is hard and often dangerous. Kermit Culver has over 40 years of experience in…
Is it Commuting or Business Miles?
A lot of churches reimburse mileage for their pastor. Pastors can put on quite a few miles…especially if they serve multiple churches. Mileage can actually be a major part of the budget. One of the issues is knowing the difference between commuting miles and business miles because commuting is not reimbursable. I took my info…
Single Board Governance #2 – What’s the solution?
In the previous video, Kermit Culver talked us through the issues with the traditional church governance…where you have 20 committees each with 10 members. One of the issues with this is no one knows who is in charge or how an actual decision gets made. How do you replace all these committees with just one?…
Riches: The Great Killer of Churches
A church that has enough money to do everything it wants is in serious danger. How can having enough money be dangerous? John Wesley was very strong about warning people about riches and increasing riches. This applies to churches as well. Just as people need to guard their hearts against trusting in money instead of…
Single Board Governance #1 – What’s the problem?
Could it be that your church’s governance is hurting it’s own mission? Most United Methodist churches are structured according to the Book of Discipline (ΒΆ243-258), and most churches struggle filling a slew committee positions. Some churches seem to have about as many positions as they do members. You end up wasting a lot of time…