ECCU Blog

The best ministry budgets are built by people who know ministry and finances. Presenters for the upcoming ECCU webinar Budgeting 101 meet both qualifications.

As an audit partner with CapinCrouse LLP, Vonna Laue is responsible for audit and accounting services provided to their clients. She coauthored the book Essential Guide to Church Finances. In 2010, Vonna was inducted into the Church Management Hall of Fame by the National Association of Church Business Administration. She is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Ingrid Robinson, founder and CEO of LenShaw Financial Services, has over a decade of experience in church ministry finances. A member of Heart of the Bay Christian Center in Hayward, California, she was instrumental in establishing financial programs for the church’s members. Ingrid sits on the boards of two Bay Area churches and the San Francisco chapter of the Financial Planning Association. She is committed to helping churches operate with financial integrity.

And Mark Jones, a vice president and senior banking consultant with ECCU, has worked in banking for over 25 years and specializes in helping nonprofits manage their finances. He has taught and written extensively on nonprofit financial management and banking. Mark is a Certified Treasury Professional, Accredited ACH Professional, has served on the governing board of his church, and now works as their finance director.

You can benefit from the expertise of these three ministry financial professionals by attending the Budgeting 101 webinar at 10:00 a.m. (PT) on August 16, 2012.

This free webinar is for ministries with annual revenues up to $2 million. You can follow this link to learn more and register.

Two ECCU employees, David Paltza and Jay Sherer, have been nominated for the Next Top Credit Union Executive competition hosted by the Credit Union Executives Society. Nominees are being judged on a project that they are implementing. David and Jay have both selected projects that impact Christ-centered ministry across the globe.

For more information on their projects, and to vote for David or Jay, please review our news release.

As ministries tightened their budget belts these past few years, they’ve also come to rely more on volunteers than ever before. But every ministry knows the challenges that accompany finding—and retaining—quality volunteers. How do you build a successful volunteer program? For starters, begin with a comprehensive orientation program. Shawn Kendrick from VolunteerHub shares his recommendations and best practices.

How have you found success in retaining volunteers?

A good budget can help your ministry plan for and stay focused on its highest priorities. Two upcoming webinars are being offered by ECCU to help you budget better.

Budgeting 101 is for ministries with annual revenues up to $2 million. It will be presented from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (PT) on August 16, 2012, and will cover:

• Different budget approaches
• The importance of aligning your budget with your mission
• Specific steps for creating, approving, and implementing a budget
• How and why to monitor budgets carefully

Vonna Laue, audit partner with CapinCrouse LLP, will present with Ingrid Robinson, founder/CEO of LenShaw Financial Services, and Mark Jones, ECCU vice president and senior banking consultant.

Advanced Budgeting,  for ministries with annual revenues of more than $2 million, will go beyond the principles of basic budgeting to examine the greater complexities of budgeting for larger ministries. It will be presented from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. (PT) on August 23, 2012, and will cover:

• The importance of accurately projecting revenue and how to do it
• Why and how to align money and mission
• How to use your budget to stay on mission

Arthur Wilson, CFO of The Park Ministries (Charlotte, North Carolina), will present with Billy Burnett, executive vice president and CFO with Joni and Friends International Disability Center, and Mark Jones, ECCU vice president and senior banking consultant.

These webinars are free. You can follow this link for more information and to register.

There’s no avoiding it. Sooner or later, we are all accountable. When it’s welcomed as an integral part of our lives, accountability is the very foundation of personal development and organizational health. When accountability is absent, delayed, or dysfunctional, our character, reputation, and effectiveness suffer. And when the inevitable consequences arise, weakly accountable people are surprised when their lives begin to fall apart.

Scripture is clear that there will come a day of ultimate accountability for every single person. “…for it is written, ‘As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God.’ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.” (Romans 14:11–13)

So what keeps us from welcoming or inviting personal accountability?

• Sometimes we are fearful of being told the truth, or fearful of the consequences of our vulnerability, so we close off ourselves from giving and receiving much-needed, refining, character-building truth about ourselves.
• Those close to us avoid offering feedback because it doesn’t seem safe for others to tell us the truth about ourselves. We get defensive, or even go on the attack, so people just avoid even gentle words of counsel.
• Some accountability suffers when churches and organizations lack the will or processes that enable consistent feedback. It’s not a priority, so most accountability is ad hoc and inconsistent.

As a result, most people and organizations—particularly Christians—aren’t very good at holding one another accountable. This tension at times leads to frustration, inconsistency, lack of fairness. The very thing that Jesus prayed for the church—unity—is weakened or destroyed.

Yet it is in God-honoring accountability that we break down barriers to unity and build up the body of Christ. A stronger, more God-glorifying church emerges from a healthy culture of accountability. “For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting, and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:11–12 NIV, emphasis mine)

In my next few blog posts I will explore with you what the Bible says about God-honoring accountability. We’ll answer the question: What should accountability look like and how can we do it well?