From time to time in the Burns household we take an entire month to tighten our fiscal belt. This year we declared March to be our “no money” month. Along with attempting to reduce reoccurring expenses (phone bills, cable bills, etc), we also attempt to live more simply. That means putting back impulse buys at the grocery store, not eating out for any meals, and generally not buying things that aren’t a “need” (which is just about everything).

The process as a whole is beneficial. For one, we end up saving money. The other benefit is the exposure of where my heart finds joy.

In doing this, I often find out how much I really love stuff… and buying stuff.  During pervious “no money” months I have actually felt physically agitated at not being able to simply “go grab a _____ at the _____.” The agitation is good. It is a helpful reminder of how addicted I have become to getting what I want, whenever I want it. I am reminded that my true joy will never be in the accumulation of things, but that my life often looks that way. It is a humble reminder.

As I said, there is also a financial benefit from this discipline. Besides the money we save from simply not buying “extra” stuff, we also take the month to reduce as many bills as possible. This March was, I believe, the most successful we’ve been at this. Check out this breakdown:

• Car Insurance: Was $250 per 6 months; Renegotiated to $162 per 6 months. Yearly Savings = $176 
• Cable: Was $140 per month (Cable + Internet); Cut cable & switched internet provider for $45 per month. Yearly Savings = $1140
• Health Insurance: Was $470 per month; Changed provider (and got better coverage!) $363 per month. Yearly Savings = $1284
• Cell Phone: Was $84 per month; Switching to Republic Wireless at $30 a month. Yearly Savings = $648

TOTAL YEARLY SAVINGS = $3,248

Bike to Work: I didn’t include this in the numbers above because there are a lot of moving variables. A rough estimate is that I can save (with gas at $3.40 +/-) at least $5 every day I ride to work. If I bike just 2 days a week, the savings over a year would be $520. But I notice that when I drive to work I’m much more inclined to go out for lunch (call it $10) or run an extra errand (more gas + whatever I buy). Then, if you want to figure in “wear and tear” on the truck… Like I said, lots of variables. All things considered, I feel very comfortable saying that 1 day of bike commuting saves me an average of $8-10. My target is to bike at least 3 days a week, knowing some weeks I’ll do more and some weeks I’ll do less. So, let’s call the yearly average at 3 times per week. The estimated yearly savings would be: $1248-$1560

TOTAL YEARLY SAVINGS = $4,256 – $4,568

So, there you have it. You ready for your turn? Pick a month and go for it:

• Just the Basics January
• Financial Freedom February
• No Money March
• ___ April (Anyone got a name for this one?)
• Mo Money May
• Just the Basics June
• Why Buy July
• ____ August (Little name help?)
• Super Saving September
• ____ October (Yeah, how about this one?)
• Not Necessary November
• Debt Free December

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.

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Life is busy. We all (well, at least I) have the tendency to rush through each day trying to accomplish as much as humanly possible. A day turns into a week. A week turns into a month. Then *blink* it is Christmas again. All the while, much of what we do is simply rote repetition: wash, rinse, repeat.

Below is a simple guide that I have found helpful in my life. It was written by Don Whitney and he graciously gave me permission to reprint it here.

Ten Questions to Ask at the Start of a New Year or On Your Birthday

Once, when the people of God had become careless in their relationship with Him, the Lord rebuked them through the prophet Haggai. “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:5) he declared, urging them to reflect on some of the things happening to them, and to evaluate their slipshod spirituality in light of what God had told them.

Even those most faithful to God occasionally need to pause and think about the direction of their lives. It’s so easy to bump along from one busy week to another without ever stopping to ponder where we’re going and where we should be going.

The beginning of a new year is an ideal time to stop, look up, and get our bearings. To that end, here are some questions to ask prayerfully in the presence of God.

1. What’s one thing you could do this year to increase your enjoyment of God?
2. What’s the most humanly impossible thing you will ask God to do this year?
3. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your family life this year?
4. In which spiritual discipline do you most want to make progress this year, and what will you do about it?
5. What is the single biggest time-waster in your life, and what will you do about it this year?
6. What is the most helpful new way you could strengthen your church?
7. For whose salvation will you pray most fervently this year?
8. What’s the most important way you will, by God’s grace, try to make this year different from last year?
9. What one thing could you do to improve your prayer life this year?
10. What single thing that you plan to do this year will matter most in ten years? In eternity?

In addition to these ten questions, here are twenty-one more to help you “Consider your ways.” Think on the entire list at one sitting, or answer one question each day for a month.

1. What’s the most important decision you need to make this year?
2. What area of your life most needs simplifying, and what’s one way you could simplify in that area?
3. What’s the most important need you feel burdened to meet this year?
4. What habit would you most like to establish this year?
5. Who is the person you most want to encourage this year?
6. What is your most important financial goal this year, and what is the most important step you can take toward achieving it?
7.  What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your work life this year?
8. What’s one new way you could be a blessing to your pastor (or to another who ministers to you) this year?
9. What’s one thing you could do this year to enrich the spiritual legacy you will leave to your children and grandchildren?
10. What book, in addition to the Bible, do you most want to read this year?
11. What one thing do you most regret about last year, and what will you do about it this year?
12. What single blessing from God do you want to seek most earnestly this year?
13. In what area of your life do you most need growth, and what will you do about it this year?
14. What’s the most important trip you want to take this year?
15. What skill do you most want to learn or improve this year?
16. To what need or ministry will you try to give an unprecedented amount this year?
17. What’s the single most important thing you could do to improve the quality of your commute this year?
18. What one biblical doctrine do you most want to understand better this year, and what will you do about it?
19. If those who know you best gave you one piece of advice, what would they say? Would they be right? What will you do about it?
20. What’s the most important new item you want to buy this year?
21. In what area of your life do you most need change, and what will you do about it this year?

The value of many of these questions is not in their profundity, but in the simple fact that they bring an issue or commitment into focus. For example, just by articulating which person you most want to encourage this year is more likely to help you remember to encourage that person than if you hadn’t considered the question.

If you’ve found these questions helpful, you might want to put them someplace—in a day planner, PDA, calendar, bulletin board, etc.—where you can review them more frequently than once a year.

So let’s evaluate our lives, make plans and goals, and live this new year with biblical diligence, remembering that, “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage” (Proverbs 21:5). But in all things let’s also remember our dependence on our King who said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Copyright © 2003 Donald S. Whitney. All rights reserved. For more short, reproducible pieces like this, see www.BiblicalSpirituality.org

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Shortcuts save time. And, if you’re like me and spend most of your day in front of your computer, then all those extra seconds it takes to do some tasks can easily add up to minutes that, over the months, equate to literal HOURS wasted. After watching some of my friends interact with their Macs recently, I decided to share three of the simple time savers that can be easily implemented and will, in the end, save you hours! If you aren’t using these, you’re wasting time.

NOTE: Lion launched today and I’m not sure how these shortcuts and their mileage will be impacted. Likely the new multitouch gestures, mission control, and launchpad will change things a bit, but I feel that I’ll still rely pretty heavily on these.

1. Command + Tab = Quickly Switch Applications

This shortcut will allow you to quickly navigate between all open applications. While holding the Command button, each time you hit Tab you will bump to the next application. Once you release Command, it will bring the highlighted application to the forefront. You can also use your mouse while this window is open to click on the application you want to use.

2. f3 (maybe f9) = Show All Open Windows

If you have a lot of windows open, this quickly show you all of them. Then, simply click on the one you want to work with.

3. Command + f3 = Show Your Desktop

No screenshot here. This shortcut just moves all your windows off the screen so you can grab a file off your desktop. If you manually minimize windows to get to your desktop, you’re wasting MASSIVE time!

4. Command + Spacebar = Quickly Find Files

“Where is that file?” Hit Command + Spacebar and start typing. Your mac will try and find relevant matches to the keywaords you type. Then, simply click on the file and boom!

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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.

The first thing I noticed when I hopped into my 2000 Honda Odyssey after it completed its 3,000+ mile cross-country trek on the back of a big-rig was that the check engine light was on. Nervous about the thought of potentially having to spend hundreds of dollar at mechanic after just moving to town, I decided to call around to a few shops to see how much it would cost to simply hook up my van to a computer and see what was wrong. I was shocked to find that the industry standard is about $100 for a diagnostic. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS to stick a wire into a plug, hit enter, and read some codes! I was quite unhappy.

Not wanting to pay $100 just to find out what I’m really going to have to pay for, I began to explore my options. I remembered a student I had when we were college ministers in GA who had a program on his computer that allowed him to run diagnostics on his car. I wondered how much something like that cost, so I googled it. Turns out that there are a plethora of hand-held diagnostic tools out there. What is even better is there are many under $100.

So, whether pride, stubbornness, or frugality, I decided that if I was going to spend $100, I was going to actually spend it so that I got a cool toy to keep in the end. So, I ended up buying something very similar to this diagnostic tool. As soon as I got it, I plugged it into the car and fired her up. In just a few minutes I had what I needed, the mysterious OBDII code “P1607 EGM/PGM Internal Circuit Failure A.” I immediatly hopped on the computer and looked up this line of text, knowing that I was moments away from finding out what was wrong with my van. After about 15 minutes of reading forums and websites with information about the code, I decided that I most likely had a bad ECM. Just a small, very important, part that should set me back about $750 if I were to get it fixed at a shop.

Feeling quite accomplished in my do-it-yourself-edness thus far, I decided to try and see if I could fix it myself (note: I have NO car fixing experience at all). I searched for online instructions on how to replace an ECM on a 2000 Honda Odyssey and more or less had the idea. Then I stumbled across a GREAT website called “Just Answers.” The site has an entire section devoted to Hondas! All you have to do is enter your question and say how much you’d be willing to pay if someone gave you an answer you were happy with. I figured it was worth $9 to see if a certified mechanic could halp me fix my van, so I posted and this is what I got (Scroll down on that page to see my question and the answer). The most gratifing moment however came when the mechanic mentioned that it might just be a glitch and that I should try resetting the computer memory first. If it is really an ECM problem, the light will come back on. If it is a glitch, then a reset will make the warning go away.

A few minutes later I was under the hood disconnecting the battery and poof, the light was gone and didn’t return. Problem solved for $109. The real sense of accomplishment came for me when I thought about how I could have easily take the van to a lazy mechanic who might have seen the “P1607 EGM/PGM Internal Circuit Failure A” code and thought, “Sweet, here comes $800.” How easily a mechanic could have told me that the computer says I need a new ECM and here’s the bill. Not today Mr. Mechanic!

How to Save Money When Your Check Engine Light Comes On

1. Buy a OBDII diagnositc tool. (NOTE: These only work on cars built after 1996)
2. Google the code you get with car’s your make and model.
3. If you need more help, try JustAnswer.com or post in a web forum for you make and model of car.

Even if you can’t fix the problem yourself, at least you can now go tot the mechanic and have a better feel for what the problem is and how much he or she should charge for the service. Also, you might be able to find the part you need at a discount store online, then all you need to do is have the mechanic install it for you. This could easily save you money as all you need to do is pay for labor and not diagnostic or the part.

I have a mac at home.
I have a mac at work.
I want to sync my calendar and address book across the two computers.
I DON’T want to pay $99 a year for MobileMe.

Here is the free solution I used:

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