The letter came from "Youth Track," a treatment program for troubled teenaged boys, telling us they were ending their seven-year rental of the 3rd floor of our barely used education building.  They were paying South Broadway Christian Church nearly $25,000 a year to use the space for a school.  This was the same week we got our $3888.50 Public Service bill for heating this historic church. 

In the past nine years we had depleted nearly all our savings to offset the cost of occupying a space with a congregation that is in the process of transformation.  We were looking at a $75,000 budget shortfall for 2006-07.  After reading the letter, Rod White, a young banker and elder who heads our Resources Team, said, "Just when things were very difficult they got worse."

There is nothing like sitting in a meeting contemplating these kinds of challenges.  After some quiet reflection Rod said, "I think as we put the new budget together we need to get serious about the church tithing 10 percent off the top to outreach.  We can not expect our people to take stewardship seriously if we do not as a church.  We have been giving outreach our leftovers for years and we need to set the example." No one spoke out in disagreement. 

 A few days later Rod and I discussed the issue, and agreed on how to begin.  We decided to talk about what it would mean to go to every home of the congregation and share honestly about where the church was in our financial life.  We would do this over three weekends in March.  (It is important here to know members of this congregation live in five counties in the greater Denver metropolitan area.)

In three weeks we visited 50 families.  Each visit included the question "Should the church give 10 percent off the top to outreach?"  Almost every family said "Yes."  The annual financial campaign ended on Palm Sunday.  The increase in pledged giving has totaled 57 percent.  We have cut our deficit in half and have hopes of renting the building by the end of the year.  This is the new axiom for income to the church.  The first 10 percent of every penny that comes into the church is for Outreach.  Rental incomes, weddings, money dropped anonymously in the mail box, and fund-raisers.  Secondly, base amounts will be set for giving to special offerings.  The first one of those was the Easter Offering.  Our Easter Special Day Offering was $1,190.  By early June we had received $1,000 for Pentecost with more coming. That didn't stop us from raising $300 for the Gideon's!  Our Christmas offering will be at least $3,000.  We are raising dramatically the amounts given to Colorado Christian Home and Phillips Theological Seminary.  Our giving to local outreach will grow by 400 percent.

On the Sunday we dedicated our Easter Offering there was applause and God was smiling.

Rev. Dr. Mark Pumphrey is pastor at South Broadway Christian Church in Denver, Colo.