My kids thought I should be aware of a law they discovered in school today. Apparently in the Corpus Juris Civilis, also known as the Code of Justinian, it was against the law to preach in such a way that your audience couldn’t hear you. I was particularly struck by the last paragraph of the law (in bold below). In case the threat of divine judgement wasn’t enough, the state wanted to make sure you knew that they would not leave you unpunished.

While I do find a bit of humor in the fact that the state created such a law, I also find some great wisdom.

Anyway, for all you preachers out there, don’t break the law…

CHAPTER VI.

In addition to this, We order all bishops and priests to repeat the divine service and the prayer, when baptism is performed, not in an undertone, but in a loud voice which can be heard by the faithful people, in such a way that the minds of the listeners may be induced to manifest greater devotion, and a higher appreciation of the praises and blessings of God. For as the Divine Apostle states in his First Epistle to the Corinthians: “But if you solely bless in spirit, how, after your act of grace, can the layman, who does not hear what you say, pronounce the holy word Amen; for if, while you are offering thanks to God, he does not understand, he will not be edified.” Again, in his Epistle to the Romans, he says: “Even though one may sincerely trust in the justice of God, confessions should be made with the mouth in order that salvation may be obtained.”

Therefore, it is proper that the prayers made during divine service, and the other supplications addressed to Our Lord Jesus Christ, God Our Father, and the Holy Spirit, should be uttered in a loud tone, by the most holy priests and bishops; and We notify all ecclesiastics that if they should violate any of these provisions, they must render an account of their conduct on the terrible Judgment Day of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and that We, when informed of these matters, shall not disregard them, and leave them unpunished.

As the director of operations for a young (4 years old today) mid-sized church, one of my goals in 2011 was to position our church’s financial structure and systems in such a way that we could successfully conduct our first internal financial audit in 2012. The goal behind the goal is to be in a position to apply for ECFA membership.

Now that 2011 is over, I’m taking the steps to put together our audit team. While doing this, I found several audit guides that were helpful. For your benefit, I’ve included them here with some highlights of what I liked about them. At the end of the day, if you’re serious about performing an internal audit, you should go ahead and just read through all of them and make sure that you and your audit team are ready to do the best job possible.

ECFA Annual Audit Checklist
While this isn’t a full out audit guide, this is the best guide to start with. It is a short checklist of items that you should have in place. If these items aren’t in place, don’t even bother trying to do a full out audit. Read through the checklist, note what you currently do or have in place, then immediately work on fixing anything that is missing. After that, you should be ready for the more robust guides.

Local Church Audit Guide For Western NY Presbytery Congregations PCUSA
I love that this audit guide starts out by walking you through the terminology. In a question and answer format, you’re walked through everything form “What is an audit?” to “How do restricted assets differ from designated assets?”. However, I found that the Q&A format falls apart a little at the end as it gets confusing as to the actual steps and items people need to report and how to report them. However, there are forms to help track the audit process, as well as instructions to the forms. The addendum help everything make more sense. Also, as noted in the onset of this document, it is almost entirely take from the UMC Local Church Audit Guide.

Presbytery of the James PCUSA Internal Audit Guide
Like the above audit guide, this one borrows some content from the UMC Local Church Audit Guide. The main difference in this guide from the others is that almost no time is spent explaining anything. It does however have a very well organized checklist for your audit team to follow, as well as helpful instructions for work through each section.

UCC Connecticut Conference Audit Program for Internal Auditors
Ok, I saved the best for last. This is, in my opinion, the best actual “guide” for an internal church audit. The format is very easy to follow and walks the auditors thorough all the information they need to gather, and then asks them a lot of yes/no questions to actually perform the audit. While the other church audit guides were helpful, this (or a slightly modified version) is most likely the one we’ll be using.

photo credit

The other day, Desiring God tweeted a quote from John Owen about the principal duty of a pastor. The tweet alone was challenging. I decided to pull the full Owen quote up in context. It is indeed more challenging than the tweet version.

The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent preaching of the word. It is a promise relating to the new testament, that God would give unto his church “pastors according to his own heart, which should feed them with knowledge and understanding,” Jer. 3:15. This is by teaching or preaching the word, and no otherwise. This feeding is of the essence of the office of a pastor, as unto the exercise of it; so that he who doth not, or can not, or will not feed the flock is no pastor, whatever outward call or work he any have in the church. The care of preaching the gospel was committed to Peter, and in him unto all true pastors of the church, under the name of “feeding,” John 21:15–17. According to the example of the apostles, they are to free themselves from all encumbrances, that they may give themselves wholly unto the word and prayer, Acts 6:1–4. Their work is “to labour in the word and doctrine,” 1 Tim. 5:17; and thereby to “feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers,” Acts 20:28: and it is that which is everywhere given them in charge.

This work and duty, therefore, as was said, is essential unto the office of a pastor. A man is a pastor unto them whom he feeds by pastoral teaching, and to no more; and he that doth not so feed is no pastor. Nor is it required only that he preach now and then at his leisure, but that he lay aside all other employments, though lawful, all other duties in the church, as unto such a constant attendance on them as would divert him from this work, that he give himself unto it,—that he be in these things labouring to the utmost of his ability. Without this no man will be able to give a comfortable account of the pastoral office at the last day.

John Owen, vol. 16, The Works of John Owen., ed. William H. Goold (Edinburg: T&T Clark), 74-75.

So, pastors, what do you think?

Good Friday seems like a good time for confession. So, here it is:

The last several weeks I have worked (hard) to try and pull off something our church has never done before–have two Sunday morning services. Currently, we have about 400+/- people show up for our regular Sunday service. With Easter we decided to have two services to accommodate the anticipated number of guest that will be joining us. The preparation for this has been pretty big (I’ll spare you the details) and I’ve been hoping and planning for us to see 600-800 people join us on Easter Sunday to hear the good news of what God has done for us in his son Jesus. And here is where the problem kicks in. I find that there is a lurking fear in me that we won’t come anywhere close to 600-800 people. While the fear isn’t inherently bad, it is the root of the fear that really gets me. The root of the fear is that I somehow feel like I will have failed if it doesn’t happen.

But thanks be to God that this is Good Friday. The day that we have a gruesome reminder of how bad sin really is and the wrath we truly deserve because of it. See, I’m so worried about what other may think (or more specifically what I think of myself based on my “success”) that I forget that success isn’t measured in a flawless execution of a plan. Success is measured in the execution of God’s flawless son. See, my fear is just another reminder that I am far too concerned with my good name and fame than I am with God’s. I seek, in big and (more so) small ways, to steal the fame and glory due only to God.

So, I hope as this Good Friday continues, and we lead into Easter, that my heart will be more interested in the proclamation of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection for sinners like me, than on how well this all comes together. I hope and pray for many to hear about Jesus this Sunday (maybe even 600-800 at Redemption Hill’s Easter Service), but not so that people can be impressed with how well I can pull off an event, or that we can gather a big crowd, but so they can be hear the news that offers them forgiveness of their sins. It is the news that I cling to now, and always.

“To him be the glory forever” Romans 11:36

The next time you sit down to read your Bible, take a moment to reflect on the prayer of a pastor who, in March of 2010, held the New Testament, in his own language, for the very first time (Prayer is at minute 1:45 of the video, but watch the whole thing).

O God, O God. The plan which you had from the beginning, regarding your Kimyals which already existed in your Spirit. The month that you had set, the day that you had set, has come to pass today. Oh my Father, my Father. The promise that you gave Simeon that he would see Jesus Christ and hold his arms before he died. I also have been waiting under the same promise, O God. I have also been waiting under that same promise, O God. You looked at all the different languages and chose which ones will be put into Your Word. You thought that we should see Your Word in our own language. Today, the day you had chosen for this to be fulfilled, has come to pass. O God, Today, you have placed Your Word into my hands, just like you promised. You have placed it here in our land. And for all this, O God, I give You praise.

This will be the official dumping grounds of all the links and stuff I come across that might be useful to church planters and/or executive pastors. Mostly, I want to be able to find them when I need them. Hope they help you. Feel free to drop any helpful links you have in the comments. I’ll add the good ones to the list.

Last updated – April 14, 2013

Staff:

• Helpful quote – “I wasn’t born with a big staff. Nobody is!” Stephen Furtick
• Employee Handbook – Available from Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper)
• Church Staff Documents – A wealth of resources from Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper)
• Best Church Payroll Service – Great rates. Amazing customer service. iPhone app. Seriously, these folks are the best. They understand clergy tax and housing allowances. Call and ask for Lara (x7273) and tell her Ryan from Redemption Hill sent you. Your first month’s processing fee will be waived.
• Exempt Employees – It is important that your employees are classified correctly. If an employee is non-exempt you need to track their hours and pay them overtime (along with other requirements of FLSA). This resource will help you know which of your employees are exempt.

Money:

• Church Compensation Data - Compensation survey information for the top positions for churches and other nonprofit organizations.
• Keeping track of authority granted - Document and update who has what financial authority in your organization. Review and update this information semi-annually.
• Health Insurance Tax Credit - Did you know that, even though you church doesn’t pay taxes you may be entitled to a credit ($$$) from the government?   If you pay for at least 50% of your employees health insurance, then you might be able to get 35% of that cost back.

Facilities:

• Corgun – Design/Build firm. Matt is a super helpful guy.
• Church Development Services – Design/Build PLUS financing. These guys love the Lord. Really interesting program and business model.
• Leadership & Church Size Dynamics (PDF) – Provided by Tim Keller and The Resurgence. Super helpful in looking at church size (and space) dynamics. Must read!
• Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 – RLUIPA is a federal statute that was passed in 2000 to provide stronger protection for religious freedom in the land-use and prison contexts. Meaning that if the zoning board is giving you crap about where you want to build or expand your church building, you may be able to cite RLUIPA. More RLUIPA resources and information.
• Renting vs Buying Whitepaper – Helpful PDF by ECCU with some things to think about and consider when looking at your facility options.

Communication:

• Beginner’s Guide to Twitter - This is the best primer I’ve seen for a business looking to start using twitter. From setting up your profile, to standard practices, terminology, and how to best “use” twitter as a tool. Written for businesses, but just about everything can apply to churches as well.

Resource Sites:

• Inside North Point – “A look into our ministry service division” North Point Community Church (Andy Stanley) // Lots of great resources.
• Executive Pastor Online Resource Page – Job descriptions are nice. REALLY like the Measuring Results section.
• Great US Church Statistics -  Good place to start if you looking for church stats.

I’ve spent the past few days trying to find a good accounting program for our church and have wanted, on more than one occasion,  to smash my head through the computer as I searched in vain. Thankfully, my computer is a really nice Mac, so I was able to resist the urge. In the end, I’ve found a solution that I think will work well for us. For the sake of trying to help some schmuck like myself who is out there googling “fund accounting software for churches” or “mac fund accounting software” hopefully I can help save you some time.

First, what we needed:

1. The ability to do Fund Accounting. If you’re a church, you’ll need this too. (what is fund accounting?)
2. Mac compatible or online access.
3. Nothing else!

I stress the “nothing else” part because so many software packages for churches want to be Church Management Software. So, along with your bookkeeping they will throw in member management, donation management,  volunteer management, facilities management, payroll management, and a whole host of other bells and whistles that we don’t need.  Now, let me stop and say that if you need all those things too, then one of these all-in-one systems might be right for you. We, however, already have all these items elsewhere. We run our donations management through TheCity. We outsource our payroll. And we’re currently using Planning Center Online for volunteer management. So, all I was looking for was some fund accounting software.

The second issue, and a big one for us, is that it needed to be able to run on my Mac. Our whole staff is Mac based, so I wasn’t going to go buy a Windows machine (or set up boot camp) in order to do the bookkeeping. We chose the Mac platform for a reason and we’re sticking to it.

Now, within those three constraints, there are essentially no options at all. Here are the hand-full that I considered (excluding the one I chose, because I’ll tell you that part last).

• PowerChurch Online Version – They have a demo version on their site that you can take for a spin if you’d like, but here’s why I jumped ship 2 minutes into the demo: It isn’t really “online.” Essentially, they will install PowerChurch on their server and you can access the program remotely. It is kind of like VPNing into the program. So, you’re basically running a Windows program on their server, remotely. This just isn’t the elegant solution I was looking for, so I bailed.
• Quickbooks Online – Everyone knows about quickbooks. It is a really robust accounting software package that the pros use. It is the Photoshop of accounting software. But, just like Photoshop, 90% of the users only need or use 5% of the program. I signed up for a trial of Online Plus with Payroll just to see if I could make it work. The problem is that Quickbooks isn’t designed to be intuitive for fund accounting. From what I understand, it can be done using “classes” as funds. But, after a few hours trying to get it to work, I decided to try something else. Perhaps if you can get an QB pro to come and set it up for you, it will all flow nicely from there. For me, if I can’t figure it out in a few hours, then we’ve got to find a better solution.
• Quickbooks for Mac – Like above, just on your computer.

That’s it! Those are the only fund accounting software packages I could find out there for my Mac. I was just about ready to call it quits when I remembered a program that I had used several years ago for my personal finances (fund accounting is a great way to budget your money). The program is called Mvelopes. Now, again, this is designed for personal finance, but I’m convinced that it will work for most any church, especially church plants!

Here are the highlights of why we’re going to Mvelopes in 2011:

• Fund accounting. That’s what it does. We can set up all our fund, assign them budgets, and then track monthly, quarterly, and yearly progress.
• Automatically pulls transactions from our bank accounts and all we have to do is assign them to the proper funds.
• Online access. Get our financial records when and where we need them.
• Split transaction ability. This means when someone turns in a reimbursement form, I create 1 transaction (the reimbursement check) and split the total of that check across the various funds that the money should be pulled from.
• No payroll, membership management, or anything else. Just the bookkeeping.
• Good reporting (reports could be a little better, but you can export everything and build custom reports in Numbers easy enough).
• Price! It is only $10 a month if you pay for the whole year in advance. Compared to the $65 I was going to pay for QB, this is a STEAL!

We’ll be rolling Mvelopes out in 2011, so I’ll let you know how it goes. But, for now I’m just happy to have SOMETHING.

As a side note to all you entrepreneurs out there, here is a great opportunity. Build some sweet church focused fund accounting software and you’ll hit the freakin jackpot. Church planters need something easy to use that is built for them.

Photo Credit: kevindooley