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CONTENTS

  1. Story: The swimming pool – 5 lessons for effective giving
  2. Research: Who are the most generous? Not who you’d expect
  3. Story: Thy kingdom come – A 5-point alignment matrix for Christian business
  4. Video: A seminarian moves from despair to hope
  5. Stat: Faith-based donors are still giving
  6. Podcast: Stewarding your influence with Mike Todd and Craig Groeschel
  7. Parting shot: Pray for the persecuted

STORY • 5 MIN

The swimming pool: 5 lessons for effective giving

By Heather Larson

A big swimming pool that was gifted to a ministry in Central America became legendary among missions teams and ministry leaders. It became a memorable teaching tool, a reminder of what can happen when good intentions don’t pan out.

This is a story with big lessons for not only ministries, but givers too. Find out what happened and learn how five easy skills can help you give with greater impact.

READ MORE

research • 5 MIN

By Christianity Today

BUSINESS • 3 MIN

By Mike Sharrow


video • 7 MIN

After his wife's health problems and the loss of their child, seminary professor Nate Hoff found himself huddled in the shower crying – a long way from the transformation into the image of Christ he taught and sought for his own life. And it didn't get better in that moment. Learn how he found his way out of a frightening place.

WATCH VIDEO

STAT

According to new research, 85 percent of faith-based donors surveyed online expect the amount they give to charity to stay at last year’s level or increase in the second half of 2020. That’s encouraging news for the nation’s 1.5 million registered nonprofit organizations.

Dickerson Bakker conducted a nationwide survey of the giving intentions of 1,079 churchgoing donors across 44 states included those who had given between $1,000-$1 million dollars to a faith-based charity in 2018 or 2019.


Graphic: Dickerson Bakker, Charitable Giving in the Wake of COVID-19


PODCAST • 51 MIN

What would you do if something you wrote or said went viral and you went from having 4,000 followers on Instagram to more than 2 million views on Youtube? This happened, almost overnight, to Pastor Mike Todd in 2017. But what people found when they began to search his name was a library of solid messages preached in a season when he wasn’t sure anyone beyond his church would ever hear them. He had stewarded his small influence well.

Learn with Craig Groeschel about how Pastor Mike stewards his now-exponentially larger influence. Don’t miss this one. There is a mountain of wisdom in it for everyone.

LISTEN NOW

Parting Shot

The United Nations has declared August 22nd the International Day Commemorating the Victims of Acts of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. North Korean Christians are among the world’s most persecuted. Since 1953, more than 200,000 Christians in North Korea have vanished.

If you feel led to help ministries that serve the persecuted church, log in to your Giving Fund here at NCF, click the Search link in the top menu, select the “Search by cause” option, and then select “Persecution” in the dropdown menu. You’ll find organizations who minister to the persecuted Christian Church, including those working in North Korea. If you don’t already have a Giving Fund, open one today in minutes.

Photo: Open Doors USA, serving persecuted Christians worldwide. OpenDoorsUSA.org

So that's our parting shot for this week. What will yours be? Do you have friends, family, or colleagues who would enjoy an email like this? Forward it to them today.


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