The Spirituality of Money

By Rev. Rich Goodier


When we think of money, the first thing that pops into our minds is not our Christian faith. Money seems to be antithetical to our faith, wooing us from the One we love. We remember the verse in 1 Timothy 6:10 that warns us that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” And indeed, the love of money is very dangerous. Jesus spoke against loving money countless times.

Among those many times Jesus spoke on money, though, we never hear Jesus rejecting the use of money. In fact, Jesus called his followers and would-be followers to use their money wisely, not hoarding it for themselves, but using it to help others.

Jesus himself was the benefactor of people using their money wisely. We read in Luke 8 that in addition to his twelve apostles, some wealthy women followed Jesus and supported them “out of their own means.” We follow the model of these women today, using the money God has given us towards love and good deeds.

Jesus spoke about money more than any subject except for the Kingdom of God. If that is true, then we Christians must consider how we view money. This is especially true in the midst of the worldwide economic breakdown of the past decade. Because of the irresponsible and selfish use of money by some, we are all hurting. Some of us are hurting considerably. And now we have a decision to make.

Our decision is not whether or not to use money, but rather how are we to use the money God has given us. Like time and talents, money is a gift from God. We must not love the gift but the Giver and learn how to use the gift to glorify the Giver.

How do we use the money God has given us to Glorify God? We give to our local church, the primary presence of the Gospel in our community. The local church can be an economic force for good in a world battered by selfish economic forces. We pool our money like the early church and proclaim the Gospel in tangible ways.

As individuals, we also give to those in need, the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the immigrant, as Scripture has called us to do for hundreds of years. And we give to support our missionaries. Our money becomes an extension of us so that we can participate in the missionary endeavors in places we cannot go.

As a new calendar year begins, vow to participate in the privilege of using your money to help others in Jesus’ name. Take the Macedonian church’s generosity (2 Corinthians 8) as an example for you and Mount Hermon Baptist Church. May we give all, including our wealth, in the name of the One who gave all for us.

Rich Goodier is the pastor of Mount Hermon Baptist Church in Durham. This article is the introduction to a sermon series on Christian giving that you can find here: http://www.mounthermondurham.org/media/sermons (Every sermon has a “Giving” in the title). Here is a link to an article that ties up this giving series: http://www.mounthermondurham.org/media/pastors-pen.

FBC and the BBC

 By Dr. Dennis Atwood

It’s been an interesting week here in Mount Olive. The BBC (as in British Broadcasting Corporation) was in town—and in our church—last Sunday to do a story on the Haitian immigration to Mount Olive. The BBC broadcasts its news stories to over 100 countries throughout the world. The link to our story is: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-17039167.

Here's how it started. On January 22, 2012, the Raleigh News & Observer published a front page feature on Haitian immigrants settling in Mount Olive. Last Thursday afternoon I received a call from a reporter with the BBC. At first I thought it was a marketing salesman trying to sign me up for a subscription to the BBC! As an outside observer, the British reporter thought our community was a fascinating story of four cultures (Anglo, African-American, Hispanic, and Haitian) converging in a small southern town. Obviously this happens frequently in large cities and urban settings, but when it happens in a small southern town—given the south’s history of segregation and racism as its backdrop—then it becomes much more pronounced. It becomes a “story.”

It has been a year and a half since the first Haitians stepped through the doors of our sanctuary on a September Sunday morning. Many things have happened over these 18 months. Relationships have been established; needs have been met; many worship services and prayers have been shared. I’m proud of the fact that our church has been willing to open our doors and our hearts to these people of vibrant faith. They are brothers and sisters in Christ. They do have great needs, but they also have great hopes and dreams for a better life.

In Mount Olive we are learning to live, worship, and work together and we do have a long way to go. But it is my hope, and the hope of the gospel, that with God’s help we might become a tiny model of how to live as a community of one. In fact, we also provide worship space for a Hispanic congregation which meets between the Haitian’s two worship services each Sunday. So on any given Sunday you will find two English worship services, one Spanish worship service, and two Creole worship services in our First Baptist facilities. That’s a small town Pentecost!

Of course, there are those in the community who say they would prefer the Haitians “go back home.” They don’t like the new people. If a Haitian is rude or commits a crime then suddenly all Haitians are portrayed as rude criminals. Immigration is clearly an emotional and divisive issue for many people in our society. But the way I see it, in America, we are all sons and daughters of immigrants. Hopefully those who are not so optimistic about the new immigrants in Mount Olive will be won over in time with love and kindness. But even if they are not, the call of Christ compels those of us who are listening to embrace the outcast and the immigrant. This is a vital part of the fabric of the gospel that cannot be torn away or altered by human hands.

Our story in Mount Olive is really one about paying attention to God and what God is doing around us—and sometimes right in front of us! Then it simply becomes a matter of being courageous enough to do something nobody else may be doing… because it’s the right thing to do.

Dennis Atwood is the pastor of FBC Mount Olive. This article originally appeared on his blog.

Awesome and Meddlesome

by Rev. Christina Whitehouse-Suggs

I have no idea how I first met Hugh Hollowell and was introduced to Love Wins Ministries but he's become one of those friends that you swear you've known your whole life. You know, the one who is SO MUCH like you but keeps you honest and real? Yeah, he's like that. Awesome and meddlesome, all at the same time.

Growing up as a preacher's kid at Central Baptist Church in downtown Miami, FL meant seeing lots of homeless folks...even serving them a hot meal on occasion from the mission at the back corner of the church parking lot. But it never meant getting to know them. Or seeing them as real live human beings.

Leave it to Hugh to make me re-think that old script.

I end up subscribing to the Love Wins newsletter and one day read this post about/from Tony. Specifically, this:

“Please tell the people who give you this money that I am so grateful. That I could not have made it this long without you guys. And that while it may not seem like a big deal to them, it has changed my life. Hell, it probably saved my life.”

Damn it, Hugh.

That night, my family becomes a monthly contributor to Love Wins. Hugh sends me a direct message on Twitter to say that we rock. I tell him to shove it because it's a pittance and I want it to be more. I can almost feel him roll his eyes when he responds, "You don't know what I can do with a pittance."

In the next few months, I can't get Tony off my mind. Eventually, I email Hugh and ask if there's any way I can get in touch with him. Become his friend and let him know that someone other than Hugh cares about him and wants to know him personally.

Tony agrees and we start emailing. Just getting to know each other. When Tony mentions that he could use some dishes and kitchen supplies, I just smile and shake my head. God's sense of humor and timing continues to slay me...I have a ton of stuff I've "inherited" when a great-aunt passed away.

I had the opportunity to give these things to Tony in person yesterday. I got to see where he lives, hug him, introduce him to my daughter, and talk smack about NC football teams. I discovered that his birthday is close to my anticipated due date and promised I would email him when I found out the sex of the baby at the end of this month.

Hugh told me today that I have no idea what that short visit meant to Tony. I told him that I know what it meant to me.

Because, you see, Tony is my friend.

Christina Whitehouse-Suggs is the Associate Coordinator of CBF of South Carolina. This article originally appeared on her blog, Thoughts from the Journey.

Hugh Hollowell will be a workshop leader at the CBFNC General Assembly at Trinity Baptist Church in Raleigh. To find out more information and to register, visit http://www.cbfnc.org/Congregations/2012GeneralAssembly.aspx.

Thoughts on Faith and Politics

by Rev. H. Michael Johnson

As a citizen, I am pleased that in our nation we can debate the issues and qualities of those who we consider electing into offices to serve every person. We are in the midst of watching our democratic system at work in choosing leadership.

As a Christian, I am appalled at the abuse of the Scriptures to serve a political purpose. Candidates promote the worst kind of religion that is judgmental, harsh, legalistic, hate-filled. In seeking to win votes, prayer is turned into a weapon and Jesus is given a party label. They trash the Messiah’s directives to love all and serve all with their stump speeches.

Religion is a powerful weapon and has always been used by faith groups to dehumanize others and justify attacks on the lives of those whom they wish to conquer. Christians often use texts picked out of context to denounce their political opponents and turn people’s trust in God into shouts of rage just as Satan used the Scripture to tempt Jesus in the wilderness to serve the purposes of Satan.

Jesus came, not with the political power of an earthly kingdom, but with God’s power that stands up to the darkness of this world raining justice on people and not an angry religion. The power of Jesus sought to call people’s lives to change toward the good; crossing any cultural boundary to lift up the fallen, hurting, the lonely, the forgotten. The power of Jesus loves enemies and sees all humanity as worthy of coming to God’s table.

Jesus came to be a light to all nations. Let us tell the true story.

Michael Johnson is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Rowland, NC. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, First Baptist News.

An Unexpected Friend in a Time of Fear

by Rev. Len Keever

Last week an old friend visited me quite unexpectedly. I was doing my devotions when I was directed to a text that has meant more and more to me every time we sit down for a chat. Scripture has a way of doing that; it becomes our friend when we spend time together. A passage of Scripture can sit with us when we are down, be honest to us when we need a friend to tell us the truth, and accept us as we are when we when we just can’t be who we aren’t (or we discover we aren’t who we thought we were). Familiar passages can comfort us, challenge us, and soothe us. When we have a history with a Biblical text, the memory of that text can illicit warm thoughts; it can also remind us of how far God has brought us from the last time we were together.

For many, the Bible is a book of answers. For some it is a book of instruction. For me, especially as I grow in faith, it has become a friend. The stories that I have spent time with, the little verses and phrases that have jumped out to speak to my heart when my heart needed a word from the Lord, each have become very dear to me. For example: one day I was sitting with my Bible wondering how I was going to get everything done I needed to do. I was feeling particularly vulnerable to failure; my resources were so depleted. To be honest, I was in a season of lament. I was overwhelmed. That morning the devotions led me to read a section from Isaiah 41. The second time I read it, verse 10 jumped out at me: “Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be afraid, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.” At that moment, a friendship was formed. I was introduced to a text that spoke to my circumstances. We sat and had coffee together. I told the text my story and it told me a truth I needed to hear. We became best friends that day.

How we read the Bible is as important as when we read the Bible. If we pick it up and read it like we’d read a newspaper we’ll only get details. If we read it as we would read an encyclopedia or an article on Wikipedia (for the computer savvy) we’ll only get information. But if we can sit with it as we would visit a friend, sharing time, insights, what we’ve been going through and how it is weighing on us, then we are open to allowing God to speak to us in a word or a verse, a phrase or an image that has the potential to speak deeply to our hearts.

Years ago, I heard a professor talk about meditating on Scripture. That sounded so formal. I didn’t understand what he meant. Today I think I know. For me meditating is forming a friendship with a particular passage. We sit and talk to each other. We share what’s going on. We listen to one another. And, somewhere in there something deep happens. It becomes personal. God speaks.

How do you read the Bible? Do you have friendships there? Sometime today, pour yourself a cup of coffee or a glass of iced tea, maybe even get a slice of cake or a piece of pie, sit with your friend, tell it your deepest concerns, your most frightening thoughts, your needs. Listen to what your friend says to you. Let your Bible become God’s Word to you.

Len Keever is the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dunn. This article originally appeared in their church newsletter, The Builder.