They could print it to a pdf format. Craig Ledbetter Ireland www.biblebc.com -----Original Message----- From: Dean West [mailto:ldw45@...] Sent: 14 July 2005 19:37 To: pastorsforum@... Subject: Re: [PastorsForum] Yeah, simpler meetings. Well said Steve. Not being an Excel user, I wish you guys who posted budgets could put it in another format. I would like to see them. Is there another program that opens them Dean ----- Original Message ----- >From: "Steven G. Rockhill" <revrock@...> To: <pastorsforum@...> Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 1:14 PM Subject: Re: [PastorsForum] Yeah, simpler meetings. Hey Gang I'm back. Catching the tail of this discussion I thought I would throw in my 2 cents. Having a budget is both wise and prudent. There are many things not explicitly stated in Scripture that we use based on the 'wise and prudent' principle. Pews or chairs (and even a church building), restrooms, telephones, kitchens, classroom space, any kind of committee, Sunday School and VBS Curriculum, teaching aides, computers, fire extinguishers and smoke alarms and yes even budgets. We certainly can 'do church' without these things (as they do in many parts of the world) but in our culture it is both wise and prudent. I would be very wary of pastoring a church that does not use a budget. In many ways a budget is an accountability structure that keeps you accountable to being good stewards of the Lord's good gifts. But there is also a certain amount of protection - if there is no record of how the money is spent then there is a great liability when money goes missing. Granted pastors and other church staff have embezzled funds when there was a church budget, but not having one would seem to make it all the more tempting. And if money does go missing the first one they will come to will be the pastor. In our day and age we need to be 'as wise as serpents'. That said, I am thankful we have a budget but wish it was more helpful. Our deacons make up a preliminary budget and then we (elders) meet with the deacons and finalize it and approve it but it is not necessarily written in stone (just hardening concrete). We then present it to the congregation more so for informational purposes but they do vote on it. Most of the times there is no problem, but minor adjustments can be made at the congregational meeting. When I first came here 3 years ago we had a hand written treasurer's report and hand written budget. We at least have a typed treasurer's report now but I would love to have something that was more aesthetically pleasing to the eye as well as more helpful. I saw Derick's Budget, DW you had a post that I read online that was an excel worksheet - could you email that to me personally. Thanks. Peace, Steve Dean West wrote: > Ray, > Having had input into the discussion I will respond to your post. Your > passages quoted dealing with worry and over concern for materialism are > certainly appropriate for the day. Poor stewardship of resources (money > management) is a scourge on our land. Attitudes toward debt, credit, > selfish use of material things are definitely keeping many believers > from living a productive life for the Lord. Emotional and physical > problems brought on by worry are providing hospitals and doctors with > abundant income. > > The passages quoted lay down basic principals for both areas. However > in none of them is it implied we are not to be good stewards/managers of > God's abundant resources. A church budget in my opinion has nothing to > do with a lack of trusting him for resources and living by faith. In > fact, a faith based budget is to be the norm. I do find in scripture > multiple illustrations that God never gets in a hurry, He makes well > ordered plans for the future, structure for everything he does, nothing > happening by mere chance. I view our budget as having many of these > Godly characteristics built into it. It is a means of directing God's > resources. It is a way of telling our resources where to go instead of > asking where they went. It is a well ordered plan for the future if God > allows time to continue. It provides an example of good stewardship to > our membership which can be applied to their lives. > > > I'm sure the Lord's Church where you serve does many things that > although not named specifically instructed in scripture are biblically > based. That would be my view of a church budget. > > Dean > > - -- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: pastorsforum-unsubscribe@... "In essential things, unity; in non-essential things, liberty; and in all things, charity." -- To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: pastorsforum-unsubscribe@... "In essential things, unity; in non-essential things, liberty; and in all things, charity."