Pastors

We expect that some people will contribute very little financially to our churches. Take for instance the college student, living on student loans. She might toss a crumpled five in the offering here and there, but don't expect much more. Or visitors—they're likely to keep the purse strings drawn until they decide to make your church their home.

But what would you do if you discovered that one of your elders wasn't giving? I'm not talking about an elder experiencing a financial crisis or one recently out of work. And I'm not talking about someone who's just overly frugal. What if you found out that you had an elder who wasn't giving a dime? Nada.

How would you respond?

Well, that's exactly the situation I found myself in.

This was one of those leadership challenges that seminary doesn't prepare you for. To make matters worse, I happened upon the unpleasant discovery during a particularly dark season in my leadership journey. I had recently transitioned ...

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