PAYING THE PRICEMaking and Maturing Disciples to the Glory of God

Introduction• Good News Series – Will finish this year• January - April – Series from The Pursuit of God: The

Thirst for the Divine, A. W. Tozier• In planning and goal setting mode for 2013• Need to talk finances for a bit this morning• Talk history and development of church first

Some Key Defining ScripturesLuke 19 – 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save

what was lost.Luke 9 – 3 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come

after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

Matt. 28 – 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

• Thus, we defined our mission as “making and maturing disciples to the glory of God.”• “To win as many as possible”• “To present everyone mature (perfect) in Christ”

• Key Strategies• Build from the inside out (vision: “a place where hearts are turned to God and lives are changed”

• Build from the ground up• Children, Teens, College• One on one studies with everyone that will• Start and build churches and ministries from the ground up

• Plant churches and ministries• Campus Ministry/Mission as primary mission work• Simply Christian/Simple Christianity

• Nonsectarian (divided by pet doctrines; divided in nature)• Nondenominational

• Throw away “brand” names and be just Christian• Accept everyone that calls Jesus Lord• Be kingdom focused

• Open-minded, discipleship-oriented approach to scripture, walking in the Spirit, and “doing church”

• Grow and develop leaders at every level and in every ministry• Develop our own leaders unless we feel led by God to bring ministers

from elsewhere

• Jesus as the model; early church as the first example

History• Started Nov. 97 in a warehouse off LBJ• I was appointed lead evangelist by church; Dave Drayton

was appointed associate minister• Came to this location and rented from the Walnut Village

Church of Christ in March 1998• Walnut Village Church disbanded, gave the property to

the Northeast Church, and about half of the members joined Northeast 1998

• Appointed four elders: Dannye, John, Jack, and Bob in about 2001 (added Kyle, David, Kerry)

• Soon after, Brandon, with a small band of students, started campus ministry as a small group at UTD, while a sophomore.

• Kurt Rowe was appointed as children’s minister.• Leslie Rowe was appointed as office administrator and

later evolved into women’s minister.• John Von Runnen came in January 1998 and in the fall

became a teen ministry intern.• Started with about 40 members, including children, now

have around 700 who participate in our two churches and ministries.

• Planted a church, Mission Church, in Plano in 2002 (I believe) and remerged it to Northeast in 2003.

• Planted Wylie Northeast Church in 2009 fully staffed with about 75 members, including children (John Von Runnen, Bob, Kerry)

• Brandon became Campus Minister in about 2001 at University of TX at Dallas (UTD).– Started Collin College ministry in about 2003 with a few students

(Kale, Tyler, Weston, etc.); Brad Davis was first appointed minister– Started University of North Texas started three years ago (Brianna,

Jamiann, and Courtney); Brad became first minister

• Started Richland two years ago with Travis Jones as intern; now campus minister

• We now operate as three “churches” – Northeast Garland, Wylie Northeast, and FOCUS• Garland

• Elders: John, Dannye, Kyle, Jack, David• Staff Ministers: Ronnie, Aaron, Scott, Kris, Kurt, Leslie, Kale, Ryan• Small groups; ministry ldr teams; 2020

• Wylie• Elders: Bob, Kerry• Staff Ministers: JVR, Sean, Mark, Joseph, Lindsay, Kelli• Small groups; ministry ldr teams; DiscipleU

– FOCUS• Brandon is Senior Minister; Debbie works as administrator• Campus Ministers

– UTD: Casey, Mandy + leader team– Collin: Garrett, Tyler, Brianna + leader team– UNT: Matt, Amy + leader team– Richland: Travis + leader team

• Campus Internship– UTD: Sirak and Courtney– Richland: Katy– UNT: Melissa

• We are targeting to plant churches near UTD and in Denton near UNT when the Lord leads us to

• We are targeting new ministry fields in Arlington area near UTA and in Commerce near Texas A & M Commerce.

• We desire in time to have campus missions on all the metro campuses and to continue planting churches strategically and as led by the Spirit.

• Our 2020 vision: to plant 50 churches in 20 years (began in 2000 aiming for 2020)• Churches would be defined as God defined them• Churches would not necessarily look at all like traditional models,

even our own• It was a vision, not a goal, and we were going to use it in the way

we built Northeast. We were perfectly satisfied with just what we had.

• We felt them and feel now that we, along with the whole world, is a “God-Deal.” Hence, one of our defining expressions.

• God has defined us, modified us, and redefined us over and over again, as he builds his church among us.

• We are a relatively small niche church with a big strategic vision.

• God has brought many of you to our community of churches over the years. You are people who believed in what we were doing and dreamed of doing and who have also greatly impacted our culture and course.

• We are at a juncture during the recession in financing all our works.

God and Giving• God is a giver. The word “grace” (charis, Gr.) means gift.

God gave us only son for us, so that we would give ourselves back to him, in imitation (2 Cor. 5:14-15).

• Giving and sacrificing are presented as a part of men’s relationships with God from the time of Cain and Abel (Gen. 4), Abraham giving a tenth of his captured goods to Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18-20), and Jacob pledging a tithe to God for being with him (Gen. 28:20-22).

• Giving was a big part of the law• Tithing of produce was at the core of providing for the

Levites (giving a tenth of agricultural production)• Lev. 27:30-33; Num. 18:21-24; Deut. 14:22-29; Neh. 12:44; Mal.

3:8-12

• Tithing is an Old Testament Law as such and is mentioned four times in the NT• Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42; Luke 18:12; Heb. 7:1-10• It is never commanded to NT Christians nor is it mentioned in that

context

• There were other required or expected offerings• Ex. 36:3-7 (freewill); Deut. 26:5-10 (firstfruits); Num. 28 (daily

offerings, Sabbath offerings, monthly offerings); Num. 15 ( supplementary and sin offerings); Lev. 19 and 23 (not harvesting corners of fields or going back over them, saving for poor and traveling), etc.

• Three Feast Gifts – Deut. 16:16-17 – 16 Three times a year all your men must appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. No man should appear before the LORD empty-handed: 17 Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the LORD your God has blessed you.

• The New Testament church started with Jews who clearly had a concept of giving ingrained within them whether they were consistent or not.• Acts 2:44-45 – had everything in common; sold possessions to

support needs of church• Acts 4:32-37 – did not claim possessions as own but shared

everything they had; did not allow needy people among them

• Old Testament Law giving was NOT imposed on Christians however, as with Sabbath and circumcision.

• The modern practice of binding the tithe is unscriptural and fairly dishonest in its use of scripture.

• Tithing was reinstituted in the church when the Catholic church began building church buildings and used the OT temple as its model, along with the whole priesthood, etc.

• But the principle of giving demonstrated in the Old Testament was a prelude to the reality that God expects us to “give everything” to take care of the church and to support its mission.

• A Few NT Scriptures on Giving• Jesus – the four Gospels!• Luke 8:1-3 – Jesus’ support from the women followers

• Luke 12:22-34 – lay up treasures in heaven; treasure is where your heart is

• Mark 12:41-44 – widow’s penny and Jesus’ view• 1 Cor. 16:1 – giving at church on Sunday; giving purposefully

• 2 Cor. 8 and 9 – giving sacrificially, generously, not by force, and purposefully

• 1 Tim. 5:17-18 – supporting pastors/ministers• Eph. 4:25-28 – working to support the needy• Matt. 25:31-46 – sheep and goats parable—God takes all gifts personally

• Heb. 13:15-25 – giving to the needy• Acts 4:37; 1 Tim. and Titus – Leader oversight of

• I believe the NT principle of giving is “whatever it takes!”• For the needy in the body• For the needs of the body• For the needs of the mission

• To mature each and every member• To win as many as possible• To fulfill our calling

• Our history of giving• “No-debt policy” – faith is seeing if you have the faith to raise the

money to do something, then doing it, not borrowing the money and then hoping you have the faith and wherewithal to pay it back.

• Focus on raising up leaders as missionaries; giving the bulk of our money to those to lead us in the mission• The idea of doing substantial ministry today through those who are not

supported at least partially by the church does not work.• Our practice of bi-vocational and volunteer staff ministers.• Our primary expenditure is minister support, helping members and poor

with needs, and facilities upkeep and costs and meeting places.

• Assisting and growing the mission• Wylie• FOCUS – raising money outside• Northeast Counseling Center• Community Outreach• Willets in Guinea, West Africa• Sugumars in Chennai, India

• Separating funds and accounting – Wylie and FOCUS has their own accounting and accounts

• Re-focusing on Garland and the new missions ahead

• Where we are now• Giving vs. expenses this last year

• Jan – 26,576 26,014 -562• Feb – 23,670 33,643 9,974• Ma – 24,014 24,670 -656• Ap – 28,687 28,961 -274• Ma – 18, 923 13,547 13, 547 (Springjita)• Jun – 22,506 55,223 -32,718• Jul – 29,440 21,303 8,136• Au – 25,587 57,441 -31,854• Se – 24,942 29,475 -4,532• Oc – 19,873 19,520 -353• Avg – 24,422 28,270 -3,849/month

• Bank Balances• General – 9,651• Benevolence – 1,292• NEXT – 868• Payroll – 7,188• PayPal – 500• Money Market – 34,936 (building upkeep fund, JaM Camp money

raised, my Israel gift trip, church plant money

• Issues• Starting this past year we were living off of reserves and now we

are basically out of reserves• We are prioritizing cuts that will be made to balance the budget

now• Wylie’s leader team is making about 2500 in staff salary/benefit cuts at

present• We are trying not to do that.• We really don’t have much fat on our budget.• We are looking at targeted priority cuts if we need to, mostly

staff/mission support cuts.• We’ve had a virtual freeze on extras for a long time.

• Our staff stipend salaries are basically expense checks.• Kale, Leslie, Kurt and I are the only paid staff in Garland.

• Strategies• We will be emphasizing generosity.• We will be emphasizing giving to church more this next year.• We will be doing an anonymous evaluation of our giving to see

where improvement needs are.• We will be focusing contributions more.• We will have to hold line on subsidizing and scholarshipping at

camps and retreats only with money pre-pledged.• We will be prepared for staff salary/benefit cuts starting with my

own.

• Challenge to church• Take ownership over it; take responsibility.• Everyone needs to give something.• Give to church more sacrificially.• Give to church more purposefully.• Give more consistently.• Look at your other giving and see what might be better used by

church and its mission.• Talk it up; disciple others about it; get excited about what we can

do• Don’t take this lightly; God doesn’t.• Pray fervently and consistently for our giving.

• Attitudes• Challenge• Chance to grow• Chance to pare and trip—right-size ourselves• Positive• Faithful and hopeful• Mission-focused• Needy-focused