Dear Colleagues,

I have been freed. I've been freed from the addiction to working "better, faster, harder" and expecting things to change ... especially when it comes to stewardship. When I was pastor of a new mission start with lots of young families who were struggling with issues around money and generosity, I knew that simply tweaking how we did pledge season wasn't going to do anything to help our people live a life in right relationship with God and money -- and it certainly wasn't going to do anything to help the financial health of our congregation.

We were blessed to learn about a process which turned everything around for us. We learned about our peoples' attitudes, behaviors and beliefs about stewardship and then we designed experiments to get at what lies at the heart of our peoples' relationship with money and how it connects with their faith.

We decided to tackle fear. Together. Many people discovered a better way to live. And, even though we didn't even do pledge cards that season, giving increased 12 percent.

I want you to learn about this process, too. Because money is a faith issue. Please come to Jump Start Your Stewardship on April 5th at Christ the King in Bloomington.