Sermon Text: I Corinthians 12:1, 4-12, 25-27 (The Message) Sermon Excerpt: Our culture teaches us the importance of starting well each New Year. People tend to take New Year’s resolutions very seriously – at first. If you need confirmation, simply visit the gym of your choice sometime this month. Those crowded gyms never last long. While most resolutions are truly good ideas, often our motivation is inadequate to sustain our efforts. One study found that after just one Read More …
stewardship
Sermon: How Much is Enough? (#1210)
Sermon Text - Luke 12:13-21 Sermon Excerpt I don't know much about barns, but I do know a bit about real estate. In all honesty, houses have always fascinated me. All you have to do is to start using real estate terms like location, layout, view, amenities, finishes, and cost per square foot and I will gladly join your conversation. So, it is my pleasure to be your guide as we (read the full manuscript) So What? While few people who seek to follow the way of Jesus are consumed by Read More …
A Growing World (#0948)
Global population passed the 7 billion mark recently (either last year or this year, depending on who is counting), and continues to grow. While reaching the 7 billion mark generated significant conversation, it seems to be forgotten by most now as other national and global issues prove more pressing or of greater personal interest. Nonetheless, it remains important for people of faith to be aware not only of our current population, but of just how recent a development the population Read More …
Less Generous Than We Think (#0847)
According to the Science of Generosity Survey, self-reported data about how much people give to religious causes is significantly inflated. While roughly 25% stated they tithed (gave 10% of their income) to charity, actual giving records revealed that just 3% gave 5% or more to charity. And, not only do people have exceedingly favorable self-impressions, many are anything but generous: only 57% of respondents claim they gave more than $25 in the past year to charity. So Read More …
Surprising Statistics About Catholics (#0530)
David Gibson and Kevin Eckstrom recently wrote about an online survey of 1,400 adult Catholics. The research, conducted by D’Antonio, Gautier and Dillon in cooperation with the National Catholic Reporter, found: 86% don’t think that following the Vatican’s teachings is the only way to be a loyal member of the faith 83% say the clergy sexual abuse scandal has hurt the bishops’ moral and political credibility 74% said you could be a good Catholic without donating time or Read More …
High Cost of College (#0420)
Michael Feldstein, project manager at Oracle, shared a chart showing the skyrocketing cost of college tuition (and other fees) created by Anya Kamenetz for a presentation earlier this year about the transformation of higher education. So What? In the same presentation Kamenetz notes that, according to the College Board, the full cost of a public BA is $112,520, which reflects an increase of 24% over the last five years (from the 2005-06 school year to the 2010-2011 school year). While Read More …
Time Before Money (#0198)
Wendy Liu, Assistant Professor of Marketing at UCLA Anderson School of Management, and Jennifer Lynn Aaker, General Atlantic Professor of Marketing at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, co-authored "The Happiness of Giving: The Time-Ask Effect," which was published in the Journal of Consumer Research; October 2008, Vol. 35 Issue 3, pp.543-557. Those interested in the full text can read it here. The abstract summarizes the paper: This research Read More …