Plenary Leaders

Workshops, Keynotes, & Sermons

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Workshops

A Congregational Lifestyle of Stewardship
 Effective stewardship is lived daily, in the lives of members and throughout congregational programming. Participants in this workshop will learn how components of financial stewardship-annual, capital, and planned giving-can be integrated through a variety of ministries, including church education, worship, fellowship, and outreach.
     Ruth McCreath, retired, formerly a Development Officer, Presbyterian Church Foundation; serves on Financial Services Committee, Presbytery of San Jose.
    David McCreath, retired formerly Coordinator of Stewardship Education, GAC; serves as Secretary to the PEER Board of Directors.

Annual Campaigns That Really Work
 Learn about an innovative annual stewardship program designed to assist pastors and church leaders. This program uses a variety of new approaches emphasizing the meaningful ministry provided by the church and the joy of supporting it. Each participant will receive all materials ready for personalization and printing.
     Bob Sheldon, Director of Funds Development for the Synod of the Rocky Mountains

Are You Ready? Building Your Capital Campaign on a Solid Foundation
 We will examine campaign readiness as a church embarks on its capital campaign faith journey. This journey will benefit your congregation for many years to come, both tangibly and spiritually. We hope churches in the early stages of thinking about a capital campaign will attend and share their stories while gaining new insights.
     John E. Wray, Coordinator; Church Financial Campaign Service, General Assembly Council

Building the Church Together  (PowerPoint file)
 This workshop is for anyone planning to construct a new church facility or ready to remodel an older church for mission and ministry. We will explore the importance of understanding your ministry as the foundation for planning a building project. Discovering options for location and style of building can open new possibilities. We will discuss the use of professional fund raisers, architects and financing options as building blocks in a successful capital project. This workshop will present the resources available through the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program to help you determine what you can afford and how to manage debt in the church. 
     Jay Hudson, President and CEO of the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program

Cultivating Generosity: Congregational Health and Financial Stewardship
 Based on the understanding of generosity as agape (self-giving love), this workshop helps participants understand the complex interactions of the cultivation of the generosity of individual members with the spiritual health of the larger whole of which they are a part. Utilizing group activities and case studies, a list of “Best Practices” and a suggested program for improvement of your congregation’s approach to financial stewardship will be addressed and discussed.
     Fred Milligan, Independent Stewardship Consultant

Developing Stewardship in Presbyteries
 Discover a year-round strategy that seems to be working in one Presbytery to help the presbytery and local churches strengthen stewardship and increase giving to Basic Mission Support in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
     Melanie Crawford, Associate General Presbyter, Presbytery of Northern Kansas

Endowments 101
 This workshop is designed to cover the basics of planned giving and its role in the congregation. It is not important for church leaders to know everything about endowments, but it is essential that they are informed enough to shape the direction of the church in this much-needed area of giving. Of the trillions of dollars transferring from one generation to the next in the coming years, a disproportionate amount will be in Presbyterian estates. We must be prepared to be of assistance to these individuals and their churches.
     Kim Warner, Vice President of Texas Presbyterian Foundation.
The foundation is a Synod of the Sun agency with a long history of assisting churches in the ministry of permanent funds.

Generational Realities in Financial Discipleship
 Too late to save the brand, GM realized we no longer wanted to drive our father’s Oldsmobile. Likewise, we do not respond well to our parent’s or grandparent’s stewardship program or campaign. This workshop explores what we know about the generations of worshipers in our congregations and how we best engage them in meaningful financial discipleship conversation and growth.
     Charles Spencer, Executive Presbyter, Heartland Presbytery

Imaginal Education and Stewardship
 Artists provide us with a variety of images about money, the environment, the church, and other elements of faithful stewardship. In this workshop, participants will use poetry, music, and other arts to explore stewardship themes in a seminary/discussion format. Participants will learn the pedagogy behind this method, and will design alternative workshop formats for use in their home settings. 
     David McCreath, retired, formerly Coordinator of Stewardship Education, GAC; serves as Secretary to the PEER Board of Directors.
    Ruth McCreath, retired, formerly a Development Officer, Presbyterian Church Foundation; serves on Financial Services Committee, Presbytery of San Jose.

Major Donors: Preparing the Field, Planting the Seeds and Doing the Harvest
 This workshop is from a pastor’s perspective and experience in the joy of helping people make expressions of faith from their resources. Sometimes this is during their lifetime and sometimes it is after. There are specific ways to facilitate any gifts, especially major gifts and bequests. There is a distinction between stewardship and fundraising and the church has the very real advantage to employ aspects of both to under gird mission. We will employ case studies throughout the presentation.
     Bob Bohl, former Moderator of General Assembly; retired pastor currently serving as Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Naples, Fla.

Money Talk
 Jesus said, “Where your money is, there your heart will be also.” Jesus does not need our money, but he longs for our hearts. Pastors and church leaders miss a wonderful disciple-making opportunity through their reluctance to bring up the M-word in church. Money talk can be fun and natural as well as a great tool for building disciples of Christ. Participants will leave with resources and confidence for engaging in spiritual money talk.  
    Vera White, Director of New Church Development, Stewardship, and Committee on Ministry for Pittsburgh Presbytery.

Multiplying Your Mission: Integrating Annual Giving and Endowed Funds in Church Life
 There is a persistent myth that endowed funds are a challenge to annual giving in churches, giving the impression that a church with an endowment doesn’t “need” annual gifts. This workshop will debunk that myth, arguing that an endowment (like all money) is neither good nor bad; it depends on how you use it! Used and interpreted properly, an endowment is a powerful multiplying force for any church’s mission and a key resource for deepening a culture of stewardship in your church.
     J.C. Austin, Associate Pastor for Evangelism and Stewardship at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City and a board member of the Presbyterian Endowment Education and Resource Network (PEER)

Narrative Budgets: How to Tell the Story of Your Church’s Mission
 Reframe your church’s operating, line-item budget into a tool for interpreting mission. Learn how to take your stewardship goals and present your budget in broad categories that help your members grasp the overall ministry and direction you’ve set for the next year. View copies of church narrative budget brochures and practice working on your own. BRING WITH YOU: Your church’s operating budget and your most recent stewardship goals (step-up, percentage giving, etc.) 
      Melanie Crawford, Associate General Presbyter, Presbytery of Northern Kansas

Preaching Stewardship
 Getting over the reluctance to preach about money; relating stewardship to the lectionary and all seasons of the church year; discovering the many stewardship texts in the Bible - these topics and more will be explored in this very practical workshop for pastors and other church leaders who find themselves being asked to talk about stewardship.
     Dave Crittenden, Synod Co-Executive, Synod of Lincoln Trails

Stewardship Presentations and Interpreting Shared Mission to Sessions
 It is crucial to communicate with sessions about stewardship issues and provide resources for them to lead in the spiritual dimensions of giving. This workshop will also provide ideas to interpret mission at all levels of the church and to challenge sessions in being faithful to the importance of shared mission giving.
     Dave Crittenden, Synod Co-Executive, Synod of Lincoln Trails

Technology and Communication for Stewardship
 What’s possible and what’s appropriate in technology and stewardship? Learn practical steps for using email reminders to automatic bank drafts. Discuss the theological and ethical implications of using such tools.
     Shane Whisler, Associate Executive for Communications, Synod of the Sun, PC(USA)

Keynotes and Sermons

Keynote: "From Abundance to Passion to Generosity"  - Elder Charles Easley

Sermon: "Choosing Jesus in a Starbucks World" - The Rev. Karl Travis

Questions for the Panel: Conversation aides for local congregations

 

March 10-12, 2008 Fort Worth, Texas
American Airlines Training & Conference Center