MV Giving 2018

By Ed Barnett

It is Tuesday morning and Thanksgiving is a couple of days away. I am sitting in my office reminiscing over this year and thanking God for the blessings He has poured out on our Conference. When we are faithful in working on the mission of the church, God always blesses.

Several years ago, as I was traveling in various countries in Europe, the beautiful castles and churches that always seemed to be built on higher ground struck me. I could see them from miles away. The people wanted their church to be seen. They wanted it to be the light on the hilltop. The builders wanted everyone to see how beautiful their places of worship were, and they created them as places of safety. And yet, when you travel in Europe today, you find that many of the famous old churches and castles are museums.

When built, these edifices were something special, but after following centuries of tradition, they lost what they had so deeply cherished. For a small token today, you can walk through these marvelous edifices and wonder what it must have been like in the “good old days.”

Sometimes I wonder if we don’t tend to do the same thing with our churches. Brothers and sisters, we must be about fulfilling the Gospel Commission today and always. It is our task to take Jesus to the world around us. We must be creative and thoughtful about how we reach out to the ever- changing world. Our missionary approaches must recognize that following Jesus will take us to places and introduce us to people we never expected. As one Bible translation says, let Him be in the driver’s seat, not us. It is not easy reaching out to each community event in our town or city. Even so, it’s not what we do, but what He will do through us.

When we are faithful to Him, God always blesses. This year God has faithfully blessed us with the generosity of our believers across the Conference. As of the end of the month of October we had more than a nine percent tithe increase. Among other things, it means that next year we don’t have to worry about cuts to our pastoral or office staff. We can continue to grow the mission of His church.

Today, I encourage you to continue in your faithfulness to God by focusing on the Gospel Commission. Be faithful in your stewardship as we finish out this year. It really is what helps the mission to continue to grow in our conference.

It’s my prayer that God will richly bless you throughout the rest of this year. Thank you for a job well done.

–Ed Barnett is RMC president.

By Douglas Inglish

When Jesus came to eat at the home of Zacchaeus, it changed the life of a cheater. The presence of the Holy Spirit in his heart meant that there was no more room for self-dealing, dishonesty, or graft. Jesus coming to his house turned him into a new man, and he showed evidence of this change by dealing severely with his old self. He boldly declared that he intended to return to those he had robbed four times what he had wrongly taken.

That’s pretty impressive. He didn’t need a judge to order restitution plus penalties. He imposed the sentence on himself, and the penalties were higher than most courts would have considered. He was unquestionably changed. As he makes his declaration, you can hear the joy that wells up in his heart as he is relieved of his burden of debt.

But as you know, that’s only part of the promise Zacchaeus made concerning his wealth. In fact, I believe it is actually the less important part of his promise. Read his story again at the beginning of Luke 19 and notice the order of his pledge. Before he addressed his debt to his fellow man, he promised to make things right with God. Half of every- thing he owned was pledged to the poor even before he began to make restitution. The joy of having Jesus in his home was expressed in the joy of his gift to the mission.

Did he need to do that in order to be right with God? People of differing opinions can argue that one all day, but the opinion that carried the day came from Zacchaeus. Clearly he believed it was important to set things right in his own heart. He had a lot of baggage to shed, which he began by unloading half of his wealth and putting it where it could do some good. When you figure in the restitution, he may have had nothing left, but as Jesus confirmed, he had all that mattered: salvation.

I won’t argue whether it was necessary for him to make such a large offering, but I will argue for this point: Zacchaeus understood that his responsibility was not just to those he had cheated. He had a responsibility to those from whom he had taken nothing, and he placed them before the people he cheated.

I don’t believe I have cheated anyone, and I presume you don’t believe you have either. But even if I had, it would be a lower priority for me to make things right with that person than to keep things right with God. To do that, I must engage in the mission. An important element of being part of the mission is to share my wealth with the poor.

When we return tithe and make sacrificial offerings, it benefits those who are poor in this world’s goods, and those who are poor in spirit because Jesus has not come to their hearts. It’s our mission. When Zacchaeus joined in the mission his immediate response was to give sacrificially. It brought joy to him, and joy to his esteemed Guest.

That joy is ours when we engage in the mission through our gifts.

–Douglas L. Inglish is RMC stewardship director.

By George Crumley

The Bible is clear regarding the importance and blessing of tithing. It is God’s method of providing for His work on Planet Earth. It allows those who have been trained and called to work full time to preach and teach the biblical truths that free people from sin, thus enabling them to live a more abundant and productive life.

Because of this system, workers are able to work exclusively for the advancement of the gospel without worrying about finding a job to support themselves and their families. Below is a brief summary as to how the tithe is used: (Percentages are rounded)

28%

The largest portion of each tithe dollar provides for those who work in pastoral ministry.

25%

This amount is sent to the Union, North American Division, and General Conference entities and helps to support our work in regions beyond Rocky Mountain Conference. A small portion does come back to benefit the local conference in the areas of education and evangelism.

13%

This percentage supports Adventist education. It helps with elementary education, academy education (Campion Academy and Mile High Academy subsidies),college education (Union College subsidy) and educational administration. (Elementary education is also funded by local elementary schools and Rocky Mountain Conference Advance.)

11%

This portion supports the Defined Benefit Retirement Plan which ended December 31, 1999, but still needs to be paid into since there are still workers in the North American Division retiring who have service under this old plan. The Defined Contribution Retirement Plan started January 1, 2000, and is based on a percentage of payroll and is not included in this 11 percent but in departmental costs.

11%

This portion covers departmental coordination and support such as communication services, youth ministries, ministerial services, trust and property services, women’s ministries, prayer ministries, Hispanic ministries, community services, IT services, and church membership support.

8%

This percentage supports our presidential, secretariat, treasury, and human resources, and the support staff within those areas along with liability insurance costs and legal costs.

4%

This category strengthens the conference working capital.

It is because of the participation of our many members in returning tithes and offerings through their local churches that we are able to continue to see God’s work expand.

Thank you for your faithfulness and generosity in advancing God’s kingdom within the Rocky Mountain Conference and throughout the world.

–George Crumley is RMC vice president for finance.

By Carol Bolden

Try this experiment: while driving, do your best to keep another driver from getting into your lane. How does that make you feel? Now try looking out for the other driver, even if he’s being pushy. How does that make you feel?

In the first experiment, I can actually feel my heart closing a door. In the second, I feel my heart expanding. Do you think this might be something built into us by our Creator?

Generosity is an attribute of the God who created our beautiful earth to provide for the needs of all. Plants and animals give and receive. This mutualism, or relationship in which both species benefit, is inherent in the plant and animal kingdom. As humans, we also live in mutualism, i.e. giving off carbon dioxide to benefit plants, who give off oxygen to benefit humans. But as humans, we can make conscious choices to bless others.

We’re programmed to be generous like the God who made us in His image. And that generosity benefits us in return. Generosity lowers blood pressure as much as medication or exercise, according to one study. It also lowers the risk of dementia, reduces anxiety and depression, improves chronic pain management, and more.

The study also reported that generosity toward a spouse was linked to of a sense of marital satisfaction for the giver as well as the receiving spouse.

Generosity can also extend our lives. A study in Marin, California, found that volunteering dramatically reduced mortality rates.

According to researcher Christian Smith, feeling good is a product of doing good. It’s built into our neurochemistry. Giving makes us happy. It triggers feel-good chemicals like endorphins, dopamine, and oxytocin. Generosity lowers our stress and improves our relationships.

I came across this story of a generous, open heart that happened in Atlanta, during Thanksgiving week. A home- less man was digging in the trash outside of the Omni Hotel when he found a wallet. The man, Joel Hartman, took the wallet to the hotel, hoping to return it to the guest. The hotel management was so impressed with Hartman’s honesty that they gave him a room for the weekend, free room service, a new wardrobe, and even a make-over.

But that’s not the end of the story. When the media got hold of the story, his family, who had been looking for him for years, finally found him. And Hartman—who suffered from a medical condition—is receiving the medical help he needs.

While presumably we don’t give just so that we can receive, there is a reward in giving, whether it be a sense of satisfaction and wellbeing or even something tangible like what Hartman received. God designed it that way.

Do you consider yourself a generous person? According to author Mike Hyatt, if we want the full positive effect of generosity, we have to make it a lifestyle.

As we near the end of the year, I’m making a conscious decision to be more generous every day—with my time, my money, my resources. Won’t you join me?

–Carol Bolden provides editorial support for the RMC communication department.

By Keifer Dooley

It was late August and I was back at work in the RMC administrative offices after spending a solid eight weeks working at Glacier View Ranch for summer camp. The sun was beginning to set as I left the office, leaving the air fresh, balmy and a cool 72 degrees. As I made my way to I-25, I began to roll down my windows, letting the perfect late summer air wash through my car. “Perfect,” I thought, “I’m driving my nice new 2018 Subaru WRX, it’s a beautiful evening, and I’m going to see my wonderful fiancée. Praise God!” The words of Chance the Rapper’s song, “Blessings,” played in my head, “When the praises go up, the blessings come down. It seems like blessings keep falling in my lap!”

As my windows whirred down, I slowed to stop at a red light. I glanced out and saw a young man with his thumb in the air. Windows down, eye contact made, car rolling to a stop …I resisted an urge to lock my eyes on the car in front of me or to pull out my phone. “Hey man, I’m heading toward 25,” I shouted out the window, “but if that’ll help, hop in!”

Over the next 3.5 miles, Eli told me a bit about his life— his recent abdominal surgery to repair a ruptured spleen, his girlfriend who was in the hospital on Downing Street fighting Type 1 diabetes, and how, after leaving visitation hours at the hospital, he had found the bus to downtown was cancelled. This was bad news because he had to make the 6 p.m. check-in time at New Genesis, a residence for displaced individuals. Although Eli was working two jobs, he was struggling to afford housing, let alone keep up with hospital bills. He shared how he was hoping to save enough by staying at New Genesis to get on his feet and have a place of his own in a few months.

In a few minutes, as I pulled over to let Eli out, he said, “Hey brother, let me pray for you.” In his prayer, Eli gave thanks to God for the Genesis shelter, for the ride that I gave him to ensure that he kept his good status with their community, and for the fact that both he and his girlfriend were “still breathing.” I said a quick prayer for Eli in response and as I finished, he pulled out a cross shaped necklace and said, “Kiefer, I’m all good because He is so good! I give thanks and praise to Jesus every day for what He did for me, and for you, on a cross just like this one.”

As I pulled away, I thought about the joy that I’d been experiencing as I reveled in a few of the blessings that God poured out on my lap. And while Eli’s profound gratitude for the little things, in the midst of some truly unfortunate circumstances, stood in stark juxtaposition to the same feelings I had been celebrating only 15 minutes earlier, they all stemmed from one fact: the pure goodness of our God. Chance the Rapper’s lyrics played in my mind again and echoed the words of King David in Psalm 98:28–29, written so many years earlier: “You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

This holiday season, take a moment to remember that God is good. Give praise to him in all things. And with a little, or a lot, find a way to give to your community—whether it is money in tithes or offerings, time in volunteering, or simply giving like Eli did, through uplifting testimony and praise to Jesus!

Kiefer Dooley is RMC associate youth director.

By Rajmund Dabrowski

My nearly two decades of engagement at the world church headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland taught me the important lesson that my mission in life is found where I am. I was blessed to discover that reaching out to people of different cultures is a showcase of imagination, creativity, boldness, and risk taking. I also discovered that “one [method] size does not fit all.” I learned that generosity can make things happen, and each of us is responsible for making mission happen.

During a visit to Bucharest, Romania, Beatrice Lospa taught me a lesson in faithfulness. For her, it was an experiment in mission that surprised even her church leadership with the national impact of one simple idea.

Along with a couple of young colleagues from a Bible correspondence school, she recommended an unusual idea— how about introducing the Bible to everyone in the country?

As in many lands with a religious majority, the Orthodox Christians in Romania hear Bible stories from priests. Beatrice and her friends proposed renting store-front rooms in different cities to be turned into religious reading clubs.

Naturally, they needed funding. But would it come, they wondered? And they prayed. With a limited budget, the Sola Scriptura clubs were established and turned into Bible-read- ing venues. A slogan on a single city billboard—that some thought of as being rather risky—stated: “If you know how to read, and you have not read the Bible, you have not read at all! Join a Sola Scriptura reading club.”

The story gets more exciting with the arrival of a check for 60,000 euros from an anonymous Bible reader. He wasn’t even a member of Beatrice’s faith community. It turned out that he owned 60 percent of the roadside billboards across the country. He made an offer to help with even more, and enabled a believing and creative group of young people to place hundreds of billboards across the country.

Surprisingly, people came—old and young, ordinary people, university professors, and a member of parliament or two. Soon they had to organize more efficiently because people were flooding their clubs. After completing the simple reading of Scriptures, discussions followed with participants who asked: Is there more we can study?

A Bible reading? Anything novel in it for you and me? Yet . . .

It made me reflect and conclude that our generosity turns the wheels of our Christian mission. Each of us is responsible for it, and the Spirit of God will add His power as He turns our imagination, creativity, boldness, and risk-taking into an individual story of faithfulness.

–Rajmund Dabrowski is RMC communication director.

By Douglas Inglish

As a member of the Rocky Mountain Conference, it is your right to know the financial situation of your Conference. Ellen White makes it clear that pastors who do not preach about tithes and offerings are neglecting their duty (see Ellen G. White, Counsels on Stewardship, p. 87). Conference leaders believe that our members should know that we encourage pastors to be faithful in the presentation of this message. Here is an excerpt from a recent email I sent to all pastors:

We started off the year with impressively strong tithe growth.
The last few months have had a distinct downward trend of one percent or so each month.
At this rate, we will end the year about seven percent up.

That sounds good, but it’s not good enough (talk to the RMC vice president for finance if there is any doubt).Our mission depends on the faithful stewardship of your members. The best thing you can do at this point is to make sure your members hear an uplifting, positive message about the joy of giving before the end of the year. If your last such message was more than a month ago, do not end the year without a stewardship sermon.

Whether your pastor recently presented such a message or soon will, I pray that the message was inspirational and encouraging, and that we will all be blessed by witnessing the faithfulness of our members.

–Douglas L. Inglish is RMC stewardship director.