A Blog I Wish Some Church Would Start

First, here’s some background to that headline:

About a year ago or so, my wife and I had what we call a “marital crisis.”

The crisis was simple yet profound: We weren’t managing God’s money … we were embezzling it. We were abusing it and mis-appropriating it.

Now, I’m not talking about anything to do with our workplaces, but our personal finances.

Through some awesome seminary friends, we were educated on being good stewards of God’s money. Our friends coached us through Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University - a course I highly suggest. It taught us how to manage the “other 90 percent” we thought was ours after our tithe.

Somehow we missed the part that it’s ALL His.
And in almost a year’s time, we have a budget (albeit a work in progress), we “tell our money where to go” instead of it telling us where to go, we’re frugal and smart with how we spend His money, and are quickly on the path to financial freedom. In fact, in the midst of it all, we’ve paid over $15,000 in debt. (All we have left now is student loans.)

OK, back to the headline … having gone through the process of being “owners” to “managers,” and seeing our marriage and spiritual lives transformed (radically and for the better!) simply by managing God’s money … I wish … in fact, I’d BEG someone to start a blog (aka blog ministry) about personal finance advice like this one.

This blog offers free advice about money matters … and as I recall, the blogger’s company Moose Tracks gets some EXCELLENT exposure.

A free money/personal finance advice blog could accomplish several things:

  • Help people manage their money better,
  • while sharing the Gospel and God’s perspective on life and money,
  • and simultaneously, garnering great exposure for your church or ministry to a broader audience

Now, I would only suggest doing this if it’s your passion. (As in you frequently give advice and counsel to others and thoroughly enjoy doing so.) AND that you actually have good, sound, biblical advice about money to offer. (Kinda important too.)
BUT … if you have those two things in hand … why not start a blog on that topic?

ANd email me if you do! I’ll be your cheerleader!

November 16, 2006 · Filed Under Blogging Tips, Church Marketing

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7 Responses to “A Blog I Wish Some Church Would Start”

  1. Rich Schmidt on November 16th, 2006 1:50 pm

    You mean there isn’t one already? I’m surprised to hear that. Maybe one of your readers will chime in with one we’ve just not heard of yet.

    I’ve recently started using Bloglines after many years of thinking I didn’t need a feedreader… Boy, was I wrong! I’ve been discovering interesting blogs left & right, and among them is one called “Get Rich Slowly” - http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/ . It’s filled with helpful personal financial advice. Now I’ll have to check out the one you’ve linked to.

    If it’s true that there’s not one out there… what do you think would be most helpful about such a site? Maybe I could get one going. Not that I have time to… :)

  2. Cory Miller on November 16th, 2006 1:59 pm

    Rich, there may be (and I do hope people will announce it here) … but I’ll add … I wish there was more. :-)

    This is a concept that doesn’t necessarily have to be “one site to rule them all” but could be used in most, if not all, local contexts.

    I haven’t seen it done well from a Christian perspective. I think someone could use this topic to benefit the Gospel and Christ. I’d love to see the two merged — talk about money, use it to build a bridge to the Gospel, and a local church. Make sense?

    My brain is fuzzy, but the guy who does this site either is, or was, on staff at the site’s sponsor Moose Tracks. He started doing it because he enjoyed it, then helped get some recognition for his company (and boy did he, I think I originally read about it in a major paper like the NY Times or something).

    If you’ve got a blog, let me know! If you want to start one on this topic, read my blogging 101 series, or email me for help.

    Rich, BTW, are you a feedreader of this blog? :-)

  3. Rich Schmidt on November 16th, 2006 2:35 pm

    Yep, I keep up with you in Bloglines using your feedburner feed. (Well, I don’t really keep up, but at least I see what you’re doing.)

    I don’t have a blog at this point. I’m still trying to figure out what kind of blog it would be. In particular, I’m trying to figure out my audience (other pastors? folks in our community? folks in our church?), because that really shapes what I’d be doing with it. But I’m pretty familiar with WordPress already, since I’ve used it to create 3 or 4 websites. None of ‘em are blogs, though. :)

  4. FMF on November 16th, 2006 7:28 pm

    I’m not sure if you know it or not, but I am a Christian and write every Sunday on “The Bible and Money.” You can find all my articles at this link:

    http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/the_bible_and_money/index.html

    Click on it and scroll down to read them all.

    Also, feel free to stop by on future Sundays as I plan on doing this for a long time to come. ;-)

  5. Rich Schmidt on November 17th, 2006 10:55 pm

    Hey! It looks like some Christian already HAS started a blog JUST LIKE FreeMoneyFinance.com… It’s FreeMoneyFinance.com! :)

    Evidently, though, Cory, you’re looking for something a little different…? Or does knowing this about FMF do the trick for you?

  6. Cory Miller on November 18th, 2006 7:17 am

    Rich, I still think a church could use this in a more local context … there’s plenty of room out there for it, especially if you’re targeting your community.

    My “vision” or thought is that is would be attached to a church Website … it would be an outreach ministry, just like why my church has a gym that’s open to the public and half of our guests are unchurched.

    A lot of people are hurting financially … and it could be an open door for the Gospel.

    FMF has emailed me and I’m looking forward to posting his 5 questions responses soon from the Blogging 101 series. I was pleasantly surprised to hear he’s a Chrisitian!

  7. DEBTective on December 22nd, 2006 2:45 pm

    Bub, I’m big-time proud of you for working to deep-six your debt, Dave Ramsey-style. Dave’s plan makes tons of sense, doesn’t it? Way to go on the dough, baby. Thanks for spreading the word about living without debt, and thanks for working for The Man Upstairs.

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