Tuesday, May 13, 2008 The BirminghamNews j 5AFROM PAGE ONE

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TITHE:Giving‘not easy’From Page 1A

churches. That’s down from3.11 percent of their incomein 1968, according to studiespublished by Empty Tomb, aministry that studies churchfinances.

“Tithing is in decline,” saidthe Rev. William Hull, a re-search professor at SamfordUniversity and teaching min-ister at Mountain Brook Bap-tist Church. “The older gener-ation was taught to tithe. It’snot being taught very muchanymore.”

Decades ago, the churchwas a focal point of philan-thropy. Now parachurch min-istries, schools and charitableagencies compete for thosedollars, he said.

“The church has been los-ing market share,” said SylviaRonsvalle, executive vice pres-ident of Empty Tomb. “Thatconcerns us. There could be acrisis in the very heart of thechurch.”

Many major mainline de-nominations are sufferingbudget shortfalls. “Thechurches don’t get enoughmoney to send on to head-quarters,” Hull said.

Donors and local churchesmay also reduce the amountof money they forward to de-nominational headquartersbecause of disputes over na-tional church policies on divi-sive issues, such as gay mar-riage. “In many cases it’s aboycott,” Hull said.

When he was pastor of First

Baptist Church of Shreveport,1975-87, Hull said church sta-tistics showed some peoplegave 10 percent or more, butmembers on average gave 3.5percent of their income overthe course of a year. “That istypical of many churches,”Hull said.

More should try tithing be-cause it’s a biblical principlethat blesses the tither, said theRev. George M. Matthews II,pastor of 1,200-member NewLife Interfaith Ministries inBessemer.

“God begins to bless theirefforts,” Matthews said. “Hewon’t allow us to outgive him.We believe the tithing prin-ciple will work for anyone. It’slike the law of gravity.”

Matthews said more than60 percent of his church’smembers contribute a tenthor more of their income to thechurch.

“We don’t mandate thatpeople pay anything,” he said.“God expects people to do itwillingly.”

At New Life, more than 10percent of the church budgetis spent on outreach ministry,in keeping with the principleof tithing, he said.

“The pastor should tithe,the church should tithe andeverybody that attends shouldtithe,” Matthews said. “It’s fair

for everybody, high income orlow income. It’s still the firstdime out of every dollar. It’s amanagement system. Do Itrust God? If I can’t be trustedwith that, how can I be trustedwith more?”

Many passages in the Biblecite the command to set asidethe first 10 percent of the har-vest for God.

“It’s something God insti-tuted even before the Bible,with the tree in the garden ofEden,” Matthews said. “Youhave every tree, but of onetree, don’t touch.”

Matthews said that afterAdam and Eve violated thatrule and were cast out of par-adise, Cain tested God againby giving unsatisfactory offer-ings to God, while Abel of-fered God the best he had.“Cain saw Abel’s blessing; andhe grew jealous and killedhim,” Matthews said. Godthen cursed Cain.

It’s a simple lesson, he said.“Offer God the best,” Mat-thews said. “If you do good,good will come to you.”

Ten percent should be aminimum, not a maximum,Matthews said.

“I don’t think that’s thecap,” he said. “My goal is togive God 90 percent and liveon 10 percent.”

Pateo recalled how tight fi-nances were when her child-ren were in day care and hersalary barely covered thecosts. But she believes it’s areligious duty to tithe to herchurch, St. Elizabeth Ann Se-ton.

“It’s not easy,” she said.“But other blessings come toyou if you are faithful.”

E-MAIL: ggarrison@bhamnews.com

EARLY COLLEGE:In nearly150 schoolsFrom Page 1A

Like Selma’s, the Besse-mer school system is pre-dominantly black, poor andstruggles with retention andstandardized test scores inupper grades. The most re-cent information from theAlabama State Departmentof Education lists Besse-mer’s average ACT score as16.9 and Selma’s as 18.2 Thestate average is 19. Bothschool systems’ graduationrates kept them from mak-ing adequate yearly progresslast year.

Details, pleaseSome Bessemer school

board members say the ini-tial idea is sound, but theyneed more details before de-ciding whether to support it.

“Anything we can get inBessemer to help enhanceour educational system, I’m100 percent for that,” boardmember Bessie Pippenssaid. “It’s an excellent pro-posal. If I could see the dol-lars and the cents in hand, Iwould be the first one to say,‘Let’s do it.’ ”

One of the main goals ofearly college high schools isto offer postsecondary op-portunities to students whomight not otherwise get theopportunity, said MichaelWebb, associate vice presi-dent of Jobs For the Future.

The Boston-based non-profit administers the EarlyCollege High School Initia-tive with philanthropic orga-nizations such as the Billand Melinda Gates Founda-tion, the Carnegie Corpora-tion of New York, the FordFoundation and the W.K.Kellogg Foundation. Thosegroups help fund the Selmaschool.

The program strives to in-crease the pool of college-bound kids to include thosewho are struggling learners,low-income students, first-generation college students,students of color and/or un-derrepresented students incollege. The structure ofearly college high schools al-lows for a seamless tran-sition from high school tocollege.

Growing trendThe first early college high

schools started during the2002-2003 school year,Webb said. Since then al-most 150 have cropped upin 23 states and the Districtof Columbia. Webb said heexpects about 200 early col-lege high schools to operateby the end of the year.

Selma Early College HighSchool opened in January2005 after two years of plan-ning and largely operatesongrant money, said IreneSmith, who has been direct-ing the school since itopened. The school enrolls187 students in grades 9-12and employs seven teacherswho are paid through theSelma school system.Classes are based at WallaceCommunity College Selma.

Smith said her students’ACT scores hover around 20or 21, higher than the stateaverage. The top-rankinghigh school students whograduated this past weekendat Selma High were earlycollege high school students,Smith said.

Planning an early collegehigh school takes a least ayear, Webb said. School sys-tems have to ensure thatstate colleges will accept thecredits.

Nevertheless, coalitionmembers say it’s time forchange.

“It’s time out for doingbusiness as usual with ourchildren,” said EarnestineWilliams, also a member ofthe coalition. “We have toreally step up with newideas. We have to do some-thing new to save them.Business as usual is notworking.”

E-MAIL: rnance@bhamnews.com

AP

Rescuers search for victims in the debris of a hospital Monday after the earthquake inDujiangyan, in southwest China’s Sichuan province.

240,000 people dead and pos-ing a severe challenge to theruling Communist Party,which initially tried to coverup the disaster.

This time, officials mobi-lized some 50,000 soldiers tohelp with rescue efforts, statemedia said. Prime MinisterWen Jiabao flew to the sceneand was shown coordinatingdisaster response teams fromthe cabinet of his jet.

The prime minister waslater shown on national televi-sion standing outside theheavily damaged TraditionalMedicine Hospital in the cityof Dujiangyan, shouting en-couragement at peopletrapped in its ruins.

“Hang on a bit longer. Thetroops are rescuing you,” hesaid. “As long as there is theslightest hope, we will neverrelax our efforts.”

The quake was the latest ina series of events that havedisrupted China’s planningfor the Olympics Games inAugust, including widespreadunrest among the country’sethnic Tibetan population,which lives in large numbersin the same part of Sichuanprovince where the earth-quake struck.

The powerful initial quakestruck at 2:28 p.m. local time— 1:28 a.m. Central time —near Wenchuan County, ac-cording to China’s State Seis-mological Bureau. Most of theheavy damage appeared to beconcentrated in nearby towns,which by Chinese standardsare not heavily populated.Chengdu, the largest city inthe area with a population ofabout 10 million, is locatedabout 60 miles away, and didnot appear to have sufferedmajor damage or heavy cas-ualties.

But officials had yet to de-scribe the impact in Wen-chuan itself, which has a pop-ulation of 112,000 and ishome to the Wolong NatureReserve, the largest panda re-

serve in China. The town ofBeichuan, on the way fromChengdu to Wenchuan, suf-fered several thousand deaths,state media said.

At dawn on Tuesday morn-ing in Chengdu, clusters ofpeople were huddled outside,many saying they were toofearful of aftershocks to go in-doors. Many wore plastic slic-kers in the steady drizzle.Wang Zihong, 35, a business-man from Gansu Province,had spent 12 hours outside hishotel, squatting with otherson a street corner.

Efforts to reach people nearthe epicenter of the biggerquake in western China werehindered by the damaged tele-phone system. Some 2,300towers used to transmit mo-bile phone signals had fallen,the country’s main mobilephone company reported. Theearthquake also disrupted airtraffic control in westernChina, interfering with flightsbetween Asia and Europe onMonday afternoon, althoughflight services were restoredby the evening.

EARTHQUAKE:10,000 mayhave diedFrom Page 1A

COUNTY:No income fromswap agreementsFrom Page 1A

in part because the county isnot receiving income on a se-ries of swap agreements itmade to reduce its bond debt.

“We’re not getting that rightnow and that is part of the $22million,” Denard said. “Forthe last several months wehave not been getting thoseswap payments.”

The swap payments havebeen put on hold while Jeffer-son County officials negotiatewith New York banks andbond insurers a solution tothe county’s financial crisis. Asettlement has not beenreached.

The budget projection doesnot include $3 million in extraweekly interest expenses thecounty is accumulating on itsfailed auction-rate bonds.

Those extra expenses, moneythat county officials say theydon’t have the ability to payover an extended period, re-sulted from problems in thenation’s credit markets andrising interest rates on thecounty’s bonds. They werenot part of the budget.

“The sewer debt crisis willaffect cash flows into the nearfuture,” Denard said. “Wehave to use the cash thatcomes in on a monthly basisto pay operating expenses.”

The sanitary operationsfund is used for the daily op-erations of the sewer depart-ment including salaries, somebond indenture payments andmoney for contractors andconstruction services.

While the county looks tosolve its financial problems inthe sewer department, Com-mission President Bettye FineCollins said the general fundis healthy and expected tohave $9,903,272 in the fundbalance on Sept. 30, the endof the fiscal year.

The projected surplus in thegeneral fund shows that thecounty is paying attention toexpenditures, Collins said.

“We’re not spending morethan we’re taking in,” shesaid. “There have been nohuge projects. I think we’vedone a pretty good job ofmanagement of the county’sfinances.”

Collins, who has responsi-bility for the finance depart-ment and budget manage-m e n t o f f i c e , s a i d h e rdepartment heads are re-quired to submit written re-ports of their operations andthe information is shared withthe full commission.

Tracie Hodge, director ofbudget management, saidspending is closely monitoredunder Collins’s directive andonly 47 percent of the generalfund budget has been ex-pended midway through thefiscal year.

E-MAIL: bwright@bhamnews.com