76: Discipling Believers in Lane 3
The Faithful Steward
In our last podcast, we addressed the stewardship conversation with two segments of our congregations: those in financial crisis (Lane 1) and those who are making ends meet but not making real financial progress (Lane 2). We identified their needs for stability and clarity and discussed how we might disciple them toward those goals. The stewardship conversation with folks in Lane 3 looks very different than the other two conversations, and it can be a bit daunting. Often as pastors and leaders, we fall into one of two patterns around engaging our Lane 3 believers with the stewardship...
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75: Discipling Believers in Lanes 1 & 2
The Faithful Steward
Leading the stewardship conversation in church can be difficult. It can come across as self-serving ("the church just wants me to give more"). Or we can miss the mark by focusing on one financial condition ("I'm not in debt, so this doesn't apply to me"). Biblical principles apply across all financial conditions. Principles of God's ownership, and values like generosity, gratitude, and contentment are relevant regardless of income and wealth. Big ideas - like being a faithful steward, a diligent earner, a prudent spender, a generous giver, a wise saver, and a cautious debtor - connect with our...
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74: Faith, Fear, and Finances
The Faithful Steward
Fear of missing out. Fear of rejection, of not fitting in. Fear of not having enough. These and other worries drive much of our behavior. Marketers and media know this. So they play on our fears to manipulate our decisions or pique our interest. And we find ourselves driven by the things that other people tell us we need to be afraid of. This can lead to bad stewardship decisions. We fear loss, so we invest too conservatively and miss out on opportunities to multiply rfdesources. We fear not having enough, so we overwork and oversave - at the expense of relationships with others and with God....
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73: Intentional Retirement, pt. 2: Transition
The Faithful Steward
In our last episode, we talked about preparing for retirement. We highlighted the importance of planning beyond the finances and balancing pleasure with purpose. But what happens when we get there? Suddenly, the career is over and the demands of the job are gone - as is the paycheck! How do we handle this important time of transition? Three major areas of focus are finances, health, and lifestyle - and they're all connected. The key at the beginning is to understand our position and plan well enough to enter retirement with confidence. As we develop that understanding, we enable ourselves to...
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72: Intentional Retirement, pt. 1: Preparation
The Faithful Steward
Most of us who haven't reached retirement yet are looking forward to getting there. But how much have we thought about what retirement actually looks like? If all we're thinking about is what we're retiring from, we're not ready to maximize what we're retiring to. Many people find after some time that the "permanent Saturday" they were dreaming about doesn't bring fulfillment. It lacks purpose and meaning. The Teacher warns us about the meaninglessness of pursuing nothing but pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11). At the same time, many of us are consumed with planning for retirement financially but...
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71: Financial Freedom Includes Responsibility
The Faithful Steward
Is the pursuit of financial freedom a good thing or a bad thing? It depends on your definition. The world's definition and the Biblical definition are very different. In the eyes of the world, financial freedom means being free to spend on whatever we want without worrying. This tends to take one of two forms: either spending recklessly (like the Prodigal Son) or accumulating obsessively to get to the point where we can take life easy (like the Rich Fool in Luke 12). The problem is that both of these definitions are actually slavery. In the first case, the one who thinks he is free is...
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70: Midpoint Stewardship Check-in
The Faithful Steward
Each quarter, we discuss the key financial rhythm of a quarterly stewardship check-in. This is where we look at where we are financially versus where we planned to be and identify areas where adjustments might need to be made. Quarterly check-ins are an important rhythm because they give us a longer view than monthly Spending Plan reviews and help us to understand trends. And the mid-year check-in is important because there's still time in the year to make the adjustments we need to make if we can identify them. Check out our from last year for details. But often we find that quarter after...
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69: The Enneagram and Stewardship: Types 8-9-1
The Faithful Steward
This episode concludes our 3-part series on the Enneagram and Stewardship by looking at the "gut" grouping - the three Enneagram types motivated by anger. These three types include: The Challenger or Activist (type 8), who focuses anger outward. These are the big personalities, who tend to take over a conversation and dominate a room. They're not constantly expressing anger, but when they do, it's loud and domineering. The Peacemaker (type 9), who tends to mask anger by focusing on harmony. These are the people who readily see others' points of view but struggle to express their own...
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68: Enneagram and Stewardship: Types 5-6-7
The Faithful Steward
Last time, we began our 3-part series on the Enneagram and Stewardship by looking at the "heart" grouping - the three Enneagram types motivated by shame. This episode, we're looking at the "head" grouping - the three types that are motivated primarily by fear: The Investigator (type 5) deals with fear by focusing inward, withdrawing from people. This person tends to come across as an introvert, preferring to process emotions internally rather than externally. The Loyalist (type 6) deals with fear through planning and control. This person cares deeply about relationships, but more from an...
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67: Enneagram and Stewardship: Types 2-3-4
The Faithful Steward
This episode begins a 3-part series on the Enneagram, a popular personality profile tool. The Enneagram identifies nine different personality types in three groupings and we'll tackle one grouping each episode. What's different about the Enneagram from most other personality tests is that it acknowledges that within each personality type, there are healthy and unhealthy traits. People of any personality type are on a spectrum from unhealthy to healthy, and the explanations identify ways to move more toward the healthy end of the spectrum for each type. We'll look at what these personality...
info_outlineAugust 21, 2024 marks the one-year anniversary of The Faithful Steward. In this year, we've worked to bring topics to help individuals grow in their understanding and practice of stewardship and to help church leaders disciple their congregations in this important area. In this episode, we look at some of the highlights of the year past and anticipate some exciting topics for the year ahead.
The year began with a foundational 6-part series on what it means to be a faithful steward. These podcasts are still among our most popular, covering topics such as the Diligent Earner, Prudent Spender, Generous Giver, Wise Saver, and Cautious Debtor. We tied these together into a holistic picture of stewardship and financial freedom.
Our 3-part series on Marriage and Money helped couples understand the importance of being one in finances and navigate some of the complexities of bringing together disparate family backgrounds and money motivations. A key learning in this series was that most fights over money aren't really about the numbers - they're about the priorities and motivations behind those numbers. Crafting a set of agreed-on priorities for life and finances is key to couples getting - and staying - on the same page financially.
A 5-part series on kids and money highlighted the importance of discipling our children in this area and also touched on some key milestones as they grow older.
Financial rhythms was another key recurring topic, as we offered quarterly podcasts on seasonal financial reviews, a 2-part series on looking back over the past year and forward to the year to come, and our most recent episode on four key financial rhythms.
Throughout the year, we've highlighted key topics for stewardship leaders, such as the significance of differentiating stewardship from giving and stewardship ministry from benevolence ministry. We emphasized the importance of training the entire congregation in stewardship and provided help for establishing a stewardship coaching ministry.
Join host James Lenhoff as he reviews Year 1 of The Faithful Steward and previews some of our inspiring topics for Year 2.
To learn more check out www.GoodSenseMovement.org
Email James at: JamesLenhoff@GoodSenseMovement.org
You can see the full video of some of our podcast episodes on our YouTube channel.