Staying Afloat Amid Information Overload

The flow of information never stops for the Rev. Dr. Todd Adams, the associate general minister and vice president in the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

He fields up to 150 emails a day. He spends afternoons trading text messages about the church’s strategic plans. And he once tuned in to a conference call via cellphone while cutting the grass.

On a recent night, he and his wife had climbed into bed to watch TV when he heard the telltale ping of his cellphone from across the room.

He hopped out of bed, retrieved an email, fired up his laptop, and went to work responding.

It was past 9:30 p.m.

“It’s like an addiction,” Adams said. “I’m so driven by the customer service component of what our office is supposed to provide that I want them to have an immediate response.

“I am a digital media boundary failure,” he added, with a laugh.

His experience isn’t unique, and it raises questions for leaders of Christian institutions: Is it possible to serve the church’s mission and still give your mind, body and soul a much-needed break from the seemingly unending flow of information?

Can you be an effective, responsive leader without being plugged in all the time?

And when you are plugged in, are there strategies for managing the wave of information coming at you so you can avoid drowning in it?

The answer is “yes” to all three, say those who study the impact of information overload and the practice of managing it all.

“You can either do what you’re educated and trained to do, or you can be a universal receptionist, but you can’t do both,” said Joanne Cantor, the outreach director at the Center for Communication Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and author of “Conquer CyberOverload.”

“The idea is you should be available to those who absolutely need to reach you without being available to everyone in the world who may want to reach you,” she said.

Working harder, accomplishing less?

Technology gets a lot of the blame for information overload—the state in which a person is juggling more material than the brain can reasonably absorb. But the problem predates electronics.

Long before the first email, text or tweet, Ecclesiastes 12:12 warned, “Of anything beyond these, my child, beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh” (NRSV).

Virtually every age has struggled with its own complaints about information overload, said Ann Blair, a history professor at Harvard University and the author of “Too Much to Know.”

Roman philosophers and medieval scholars argued that wading through more books only made it harder to become truly knowledgeable, and critics in the 15th century cautioned that the wave of publications following the invention of the printing press could distract scholars with drivel.

What technology has done is multiply the amount of information available, the speed at which it arrives, and the size of the population digesting it.

“Ecclesiastes, Seneca or the medievals who talked about the problem worked in a very small circle in their time. With printing, a larger circle became aware of the problem. Still, only 10 or 20 percent of the population was literate,” Blair said. “Now we have universal literacy and nearly universal access to the Internet in this country.”

The ready access to information isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Case in point: when the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) denominational headquarters in Indianapolis was damaged by a fire April 5, its nearly 200 employees continued to work from remote sites using laptops and smartphones for about two weeks.

“That was technology being the enabler,” Adams said.

But harnessing technology to get things done is a lot more effective than being harnessed to it, said Cantor, who calls herself a “recovering cyber-addict.”

For years, she studied the impact of media on children. She started tracking its effects on adults after realizing how much time she was spending looking at email, multitasking and surfing the Internet. It seemed, she said, the harder she worked, the less she accomplished.

“Many people are actually getting less done even though we have better technology, because they have access to too much information and they can’t handle it, and they’re often being interrupted by irrelevant things,” Cantor said. “And even when it’s relevant, there’s too much of it.”

The body’s reaction to information overload is both physical and emotional, according to researchers from Temple University’s Center for Neural Decision Making, who used specialized MRIs to monitor the brain’s response to it. According to a Feb. 27 Newsweek article, as the amount of information given to the study participants increased, so did the activity detected in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex -- the brain area linked to cognitive thinking, working memory and emotion.

But when the participants were given more information than they could process, activity in that part of the brain suddenly fizzled, as if the mind had simply thrown up its hands. The participants got frustrated and started making poor choices, researcher Angelika Dimoka told Newsweek. “With too much information, people’s decisions make less and less sense.”

The real-world implications can be staggering. According to a study by research firm Basex, workers spend up to 50 percent of their day trying to manage information flow, costing companies $900 billion a year in lowered employee productivity and reduced innovation.

For leaders of Christian institutions, the impact may be harder to quantify but just as serious.

“The greatest casualty is the loss of a still and quiet center so essential for leading a healthy life and being a pastoral presence to another human being,” said the Rev. Kevin A. Miller, the associate rector at the Church of the Resurrection west of Chicago and author of “Surviving Information Overload.”

“What we have is people with up-to-the-millisecond Twitter feeds but not really thinking deeply and reflectively very often, and that’s critical to leadership,” he said. “They’re not really sitting there thinking meditatively, reflectively about the human being in front of them or this seminal work written 200 or 2,000 years ago.”

Give your brain a break

So what can Christian institution leaders do about information overload?

Establish boundaries, Miller said. It’s not only good for your emotional well-being; it sets a positive example for those you work with and serve.

“With emails, people expect a quick reply, but I’ve found you can educate them. You can educate people that ‘I have a life too, a rhythm, a family, commitments, in addition to what I do here. Love you, but you’re not going to hear from me for a while,’” Miller said.

“They may not love it, but they come to respect it,” he said. “What it does is model a more balanced life for them.”

To avoid feeling overwhelmed, Miller takes a “technology sabbath,” usually on Fridays, when he’s reachable by phone but not by email. He also carves out at least half a day each week when he can work without any interruptions, and he reduces the flow of news coming his way to a trickle. He reads The Week magazine and gets a weekly news summary on his smartphone, but he avoids TV talk shows and the nightly news.

“It’s actually a real discipline” to do this, Miller said. “You’ve got to work on yourself and develop the grace to say to another person, ‘I had no idea Osama bin Laden was shot three days ago. Tell me about it.’ There is a humility you have to cultivate and a willingness to be out of the loop.”

Giving the brain a break is crucial to avoiding information overload, Cantor, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said.

The Internet makes collecting information relatively easy, but if you want your brain to process it all, take a walk, take a shower, or even take a nap.

“The research shows that ‘sleep on it’ really works,” she said. “When you come back to what you’re doing, you’ll see connections you didn’t see before.”

She also cautions against multitasking. Research indicates that the brain can’t effectively do two things at once.

Instead, it switches back and forth between tasks, taxing the brain’s ability to focus, reducing the amount of new information it can absorb, and delaying the length of time it takes to complete those tasks -- sometimes up to twice as long.

“Basically, you’re dumbing down your brain when you multitask,” Cantor said. “It’s like using your left hand when you’re right-handed.”

The Rev. Dr. C. Jeff Woods, the associate general secretary for regional ministries of American Baptist Churches USA, said he tries to avoid multitasking altogether.

He also resists the temptation to surf the Internet aimlessly by going online only if he needs specific information. And as information comes his way, he filters it based on a simple principle: Does it fit within the church’s mission?

The measuring stick of productivity

When Woods facilitates discussions about leadership and organizational development, he uses a jigsaw puzzle analogy to explain how to manage information.

“The edges frame your priorities. The corners are the core values that permeate everything. As information comes, ask, ‘Does it fit inside the puzzle or not?’” he said. “As new things come along, ask, ‘Does this fit with the priorities we’ve made?’”

Church leaders face considerable pressure to be informed about a host of issues, ranging from political movements to how to run a capital campaign. Rather than trying to develop expertise in everything, C. Michael Patton, the president of Oklahoma-based Credo House Ministries, said he practices “referred conviction,” relying on trusted sources to guide him.

“If you try to put your feet in too many rivers, you’re going to end up in overload big-time,” said Patton, whose organization focuses on theological development for laypeople. “As a Christian leader, I try to think, ‘What is it that I myself have been called to do? What is it I have been gifted to do? And what is it that I can refer to others to do?’”

Delegating responsibility is an important part of managing information overload, said Miller, the associate rector and author of “Surviving Information Overload.”

Online research is helpful, but when it makes sense, he consults church members and colleagues who have specific expertise rather than browsing the Internet.

He also trains his staff to avoid adding to information overload. For example, he instructs, don’t hit “reply all” on emails if the original sender is the only one who benefits from the message. And if you forward a link, specify exactly why you’re sending it.

Email is for affirmation, Miller said. If an exchange requires confrontation or emotion, do it in person.

And the best way to measure productivity, he said, is to remember that the church’s greatest strength is its people and the face-to-face relationships they build with each other—not the number of emails, tweets, links and documents they exchange via technology.

“Ultimately, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you’ve got and to love your neighbor as yourself,” he said. “So we have a measuring stick: Are you being a more loving human being, or are you not?”

The new normal

Adams, of the Disciples of Christ, will begin a three-month sabbatical next June. During this time designed for rebalancing, Adams said, he will spend time with his two children, play golf, learn Spanish, and return to Honolulu to check on the progress of several churches he helped a year ago.

His office will also take away his work phone and disable his office email account.

Though he’s a bit apprehensive about unplugging for so long, the “new normal”—the one where he’s not checking email around the clock—may suit him, he said.

“In August 2012, I’ll either be in a rehab program for the technologically addicted,” he joked, “or I’ll be really refreshed and back to work.”

This was first published in Faith & Leadership. Used with permission.

Nine Tips for Keeping Church Football Games Safe

Football season is underway, and many churches are hosting flag football and touch football events for their youth ministries. In full-contact football, players wear extensive padding and safety equipment. Virtually no protective gear is used for flag or touch football, and yet players still can experience high levels of contact, both intentionally and unintentionally. Here are nine quick safety tips to keep players safe on the gridiron:

1. Before play begins, inspect the playing area for hazards and make sure the field is clearly marked.
2. Check that the playing area includes a buffer zone.
3. Maintain a balance between skill and size when dividing up teams.
4. Before play begins, explain the rules of the game including what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
5. Have participants warm up before play begins.
6. Before the game starts, instruct participants to remove any jewelry such as rings, bracelets, or watches that could cut another player.
7. Instruct players not to wear metal cleats.
8. Instruct supervisors to correct inappropriate behavior immediately.
9. Instruct supervisors on emergency procedures in case of an accident or a health problem.

These tips were taken from the Risk Management Handbook. You can find more safety checklists like this on YourChurchResources.com.

"Shopping" for a Bank

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from Money Matters in Church by Aubrey Malphurs and Steve Stroope (Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2007):

At times you may find the need to “shop” banks. For example, if your church is ready to secure a loan to begin a large building project, such as a renovation or even a new facility, you will want to contact several local banks, provide them with the information they need, and go with the bank that offers you the best rate. This assumes the bank has a good reputation and is willing to work with your church. The obvious advantage of shopping banks is that you will likely get a better rate, especially if the bank knows you are shopping.

Our advice is to shop banks when you’re looking for a large loan. If you find a bank that’s willing to give you a better rate than your existing bank, then use this as leverage. Approach your current bank and ask if they’ll match the other bank’s offer. If they refuse, then you’ll need to decide whether to go with the new bank for the new loan but stay with the old bank for your existing services or move to the new bank entirely. (To provide you with a special rate, most banks will ask that you move all your accounts to them.)

So you should consider whether the better rate is worth changing banks. How much will you really save?

Another factor is your history with your current bank. Have they treated you well in the past? If so, then you may want to take this into account before making your decision.

To get a good feel for the market, check with other churches that have secured construction loans and compare their rates with the ones the bank is offering you. It’s best, however, not to let the bank know where you’re getting your information. Also be sure you are comparing similar situations—size and age of the church, and the size of the loan.

I (Aubrey) discussed this concept with a Christian banker who warned that churches should be very careful as to how they shop banks. This is especially true if they’re a small church or anticipating loans under one million dollars. His advice was not to take a “hard sell” approach, because bankers will back off and lose interest in doing business with you. As we explained earlier, banks have been reluctant to make loans to churches in the past and may still be reluctant to make a loan they consider either risky or high maintenance.

• Can it service the church’s needs?
• Does it have an officer who understands a church’s needs?
• Does the bank have a good reputation?
• Is the bank located conveniently to the church?

Excerpted from Money Matters in Church by Aubrey Malphurs and Steve Stroope (Baker Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2007). Used by permission. All rights to this material are reserved. Material is not to be reproduced, scanned, copied, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without written permission from Baker Publishing Group.

Tax Scammers in Person

The most common way tax scammers seem to work is through e-mail. Countless e-mails arrive daily in inboxes claiming a tax refund is available.

Many tax scammers have become less shy recently, according to a recent IRS news release and an Oklahoma news service. They walk through church doors, posing as unfamiliar for-profit tax services.

After teaming up with a church, they charge a fee for their service that includes convincing unsuspecting taxpayers to file an IRS return for tax credits, refunds, or rebates for which they are not entitled. By the time claims on the returns are rejected, the scammers have left town.

The scam has been reported to IRS officials in 33 states, according to the Oklahoma news service. Many of these scams have been in the South and Midwest, according to the IRS.

The IRS writes that these scams may include:

1. Fictitious claims for refunds or rebates based on excess or withheld Social Security benefits.
2. Claims that Treasury Form 1080 can be used to transfer funds from the Social Security Administration to the IRS enabling a payout from the IRS.
3. Offers of free money with no documentation required.
4. Promises of refunds for "Low Income – No Documents Tax Returns."
5. Claims for the expired Economic Recovery Credit Program or Recovery Rebate Credit.
6. Advice on claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit based on exaggerated reports of self-employment income.

If you have questions about a tax credit or program, call the IRS toll-free number at 800-829-1040, go to www.IRS.gov, or visit a local IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center.

Pastors Shot in Florida Church

This Sunday, a Florida man shot and killed his wife before entering a church a block away. Inside the church, the shooter identified the senior pastor and shot him in the head. He then shot the associate pastor three times, according to WTSP.com, a Tampa news station. Other church members tackled the shooter and held him until authorities arrived.

Sheriff Grady Judd, who was interviewed about the incident, called the intervening parishioners heroes for stepping in like they did. Unfortunately, these parishioners had to react to a horrific and unexpected situation. "If there's one place that you should be able to go on Sunday and worship safely and securely, it should be your church or your synagogue," Judd said. "And, unfortunately, that wasn't the case here this morning."

Judd’s words ring true for all churches. We want our church buildings to be dependably safe and secure. If you haven’t already established policies and procedures for dealing with violence in your church, get started with some helpful resources from ChurchSafety.com. Begin with the free assessment “Is Our Church Secure from Crime and Violence?” then read through the accompanying article “Preparing for the Unthinkable.” If you want additional training on this subject, look to any of the following to help guide your team: Protect Your Church from Crime & Violence, Confronting Gun Violence at Church, and Creating a Safety Team.

Lindsey Learn is assistant editor to the Church Management Team at Christianity Today International.

Who Owns a Pastor's Sermons?

Most clergy would be shocked to learn that their sermons are works made for hire that are owned by their employing church, and that their sermons cannot be used in any other churches with which they are later employed without the permission of the church with which they were employed when the sermons were created. This can become a contentious issue in the case of clergy whose sermons are recorded and sold publicly by the church.

Are Sermons Works Made for Hire?

Are a minister’s sermons works made for hire that are owned by the employing church? To the extent that sermons are written in a church office, during regular working hours, using church secretaries and equipment, it is possible if not likely that they are works made for hire since they are created by an employee within the scope of employment.

The argument could be made that sermons are works for hire even if composed by ministers at home, during “non-office” hours, since they comprise one of the most important functions that they perform on behalf of their employing church and congregation.

What this means for you and your church:

• The church owns the copyright in the sermons, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a signed writing that meets the requirements of section 201(b).
• Any written agreement between a church and a minister that transfers copyright ownership in works for hire to the minister may constitute inurement of church assets to the personal benefit of the minister in violation of section 501( c )(3) of the tax code. This jeopardizes the church’s tax-exempt status.
• The church has the exclusive right to copy and distribute the minister’s sermons. To illustrate, if a minister’s sermons are recorded and distributed publicly, and the minister resigns his or her position and accepts a position at another church, he or she does not have any legal rights with respect to the sermons preached at the previous church. Any further public distribution of the sermons could be done only by the previous church, and not the minister.
• The minister would not have the legal authority to publish a book based on the sermons that he or she has preached at the church, since the church is the copyright owner of the sermons (as works for hire). As a result, only the church can create, publish, and distribute publications based on the sermons.
• If the church receives royalties on the sales of the works for hire, this may generate unrelated business income tax.
• If the church receives royalties on the sales of works for hire, this may violate the “operational test” under section 501( c )(3) of the tax code (which requires that public charities be operated exclusively for exempt purposes), thereby jeopardizing the church’s tax-exempt status.
• If the church receives royalties from the publication and sale of a work for hire, and remits them back to the employee-author, this may constitute prohibited inurement that will jeopardize the church’s tax-exempt status.

Do you have a writer or composer on staff at your church? If so, it is possible that this person is doing some writing or composing on church premises, using church equipment, during office hours. One way to avoid the problems associated with work made for hire status is to encourage staff members to do all their writing and composing at home. Tell staff members that (1) if they do any writing or composing at church during office hours, their works may be works made for hire; and (2) the church owns the copyright in such works. By urging staff members to do all their personal writing and composing at home, the church also will avoid the difficult question of whether works that are written partly at home and partly at the office are works made for hire.

However, it is likely that pastors' sermons will be considered works made for hire, whenever and wherever they are composed, since sermons are the most important function that a pastor performs.

The best way to eliminate confusion over who owns the right to a work is by creating an appropriate copyright policy. Such a policy should be drafted by an attorney with experience in handling intellectual property issues. This can be included in a church’s employee handbook and should be communicated clearly to clergy and staff, ideally during the hiring process.

For more help on church matters, visit ChurchLawAndTax.com. For more help on preaching, visit PreachingToday.com.

Seattle Hayride Crash Injures Youth Group, Leaders

A church-sponsored hayride turned dangerous in July when a trailer carrying a Seattle area youth group flipped on a steep hill. According to a local news source, the trailer jackknifed on a packed gravel road, seriously injuring three adult volunteers. One lost a finger to amputation, while the other two suffered severe leg and ankle injuries. Several youths were also hospitalized. Investigators are studying the weight of people and objects placed on the trailer and the maintenance of the tractor and equipment.

At the moment, it is unclear if the tractor’s driver (an adult church volunteer) will be cited.

It’s more important than ever to use both common sense and educated legal knowledge to ensure the safety of church-sponsored events. As your congregation plans outdoor events throughout the fall season, do you know your legal responsibilities and liabilities? How can you keep participants – and your church – safe while enjoying traditional events and outings such as hayrides? Legal expert Richard Hammar gives a crash course in caution and savvy planning for hayrides as he fields this question in his Risk Management Handbook:

Many churches sponsor hayrides during the fall. The occasion may be a preschool class visiting a farm or a church youth group having a fellowship activity. What is intended as a fun activity can quickly turn into a tragedy. Hayride accidents can kill or seriously injure participants. The accidents tend to follow several patterns. Major concerns include falling off the wagon and sustaining injuries directly from the fall or being run over by the wagon or a vehicle that is following the wagon. Accidents also occur that crush participants who sit on the sides or back of the wagon with their legs hanging over the side. Several scenarios occur. Sometimes the wagon turns a corner next to a building (or some other physical object such as a bridge or a post) and the driver cuts the corner short. A person sitting with his or her legs dangling over the side can be crushed as the wagon slams into the side or corner of the building. Or the wagon may clear the building, but the rider is literally scraped off the wagon by the corner of the building. On other occasions two wagons may be hitched together. Individuals sitting on the back of the first wagon get pinched between the two wagons during a turn. Sometimes they fall off the first wagon and are run over by the second wagon. Wagon rides can be very bumpy. Riders can be bounced right out of the wagon. Often hayrides occur at night and visibility is poor. Usually there is a lot of noise and the driver may be completely unaware that an accident has occurred or that a problem may exist.
Many risk management experts do not recommend hayrides. Few companies specialize in providing hayrides. As a result, hayrides are often one-time events without careful planning or awareness of the safety issues. If a church or school sponsors a hayride the following points should be taken into consideration.

1. Equipment. The tractor and the wagon should be in good repair. The wagon should be clean and equipped with side walls. Loose hay should not be used. Two wagons should not be hitched together. In addition, occasionally a wagon will become unhitched from the tractor during the hayride. It is best to use a chain as a secondary backup to connect the wagon to the tractor to avoid that problem.

Example. Two dozen people were injured when they rolled down a hill when a wagon became unhitched during a hayride. One individual had medical bills exceeding
$50,000.

2. Driver. The driver should be fully trained and experienced in driving the tractor while pulling a wagon. The driver should have a written checklist of all safety precautions and review them prior to beginning the hayride.
3. Route. The route should be selected in advance and fully inspected for hazards. The driver should practice driving the route with the wagon prior to the hayride.
   Avoid the use of busy roads or roads that are too bumpy.
4. Seating. No rider should be seated in such a manner than any part of the body can extend past the side, back, or front of the wagon. Riders should remain seated inside the wagon at all times. Arms, head, and legs should be kept inside the wagon. Trips sponsored for small children should only use wagons equipped with proper seat belts and safety equipment. Small children can bounce right out of a wagon.
5. Trailing car. A car can follow the wagon at a safe distance with the headlights on the wagon. The car should have on its hazard lights. This car provides additional protection for the wagon from a rear collision, and serves as a form of back-up transportation if the tractor should have mechanical problems. The driver can also serve as a rear spotter to monitor the back of the wagon. The trailing driver must maintain a safe distance between the wagon at all times.
6. Lighting and visibility. Lighting is a critical safety factor for hayrides that occur at night. The tractor pulling the wagon should have the headlights on, the warning hazard lights on, and lights on the back that illuminate the wagon. As noted above, the car following the wagon should have its headlights on the wagon. Supervisors riding on the wagon should have flashlights ready for use if needed.
7. Supervision. An adequate number of supervisors should be present on the wagon. Riders should be given clear safety instructions prior to the hayride. Rowdy conduct should be corrected immediately.
8. Speed. The speed should be kept low. This may pose a problem if a main road is used and cars are backing up behind the wagon, and then try to pass quickly. For this reason main roads should be avoided.
9. Communication. The driver, a supervisor on the wagon, and the driver of the car following the wagon should use walkie-talkies to stay in communication with one another. The driver should have a spotter that can relay information as warranted, such as the need to stop. A cell phone should be available in case a need arises for emergency assistance.
10. Emergency procedures. A first aid kit should be present in case an injury should occur. Supervisors should have an emergency plan in place with phone numbers that may be needed. -From Risk Management Handbook, pages 109-110

• Obtain a module, including a complete risk management checklist, for hayrides and related activities.
• Obtain the Risk Management Handbook to learn more about comprehensive safety planning and awareness of liability.
• Learn more about safety matters at ChurchSafety.com. On the site, Richard Hammar addresses more about hayrides.

Church Puts Property Up for Sale After Tax Dispute

An ongoing property tax assessment battle between Concord, N.H., and a 50-member church there has led to the church putting its property up for sale to make ends meet, according to a recent article in the Concord Monitor.

Four years ago, the city assessed taxes for the property after it determined 60 percent of it wasn’t used for religious purposes. The Destiny Christian Church, a Pentecostal congregation, owns a two-story building, a parsonage, and 26 acres, according to the newspaper article.

The church disputed the tax bill, but the Board of Tax and Land Appeal sided with the city. This summer, the appeal was approved to go to the state Supreme Court.

The church’s pastor told the Concord Monitor that the church paid $13,000 owed for the 2008 bill earlier this year. The church determined it couldn’t afford to pay what is still owed on top of its normal expenses; combined with what church leaders decided was an inconvenient location, he said the decision was made to put the property up for sale.

A similar case in Kentucky that ended in a state Supreme Court ruling was featured in the January/February 2011 issue of Church Law & Tax Report, where Richard Hammar writes:

Undeveloped church-owned property generally is not exempt from property taxation. However, some courts have ruled that such property may be exempt from taxation if its sole, though infrequent, use is for religious purposes.

In a free lesson on this topic on ChurchLawAndTax.com, Hammar also mentions that the extent of the property tax exemption of church-owned property varies from state to state.

The annually released Church & Clergy Tax Guide, written by Hammar, includes a table with the text of each state’s property tax exemption for church property (Table 12-4). For New Hampshire, Hammar cites the following state revenue statute:

The following real estate and personal property shall, unless otherwise provided by statute, be exempt from taxation …. III. Houses of worship, parish houses, church parsonages occupied by their pastors, convents, monasteries, buildings and the lands appertaining to them owned, used and occupied directly for religious training or for other religious purposes by any regularly recognized and constituted denomination, creed or sect, organized, incorporated or legally doing business in this state and the personal property used by them for the purposes for which they are established. (page 683)

Churches that own large properties should research the statutes in their states to determine what type of potential taxes their local municipalities may attempt to assess, especially as coffers continue to shrink across the country in the midst of a struggling economy.

Six Steps for Handling Fraud

Churches are prime targets for embezzlement. This is partly because churches are some of the most trusting organizations, a quality often abused by paid staff and volunteers.

Embezzlement not only robs a church of money; it also damages its reputation, calling the ministry’s integrity into question by the public. A church’s own congregation might even disagree on the response to embezzlement—grace versus punishment. This is why one of the biggest challenges of embezzlement in a church setting is determining how to respond when theft is discovered. Here are six steps that may help you navigate the disturbing discovery that your church has been embezzled:

1. Identify the amount of the loss. The church’s first priority is to deal with the embezzled funds and to understand the details of the loss. Ask questions like: Was only one person involved? What’s the time frame for fraud—did it occur long ago, or is it still going on? Is the embezzlement limited to a petty cash fund? Do we have a way to determine how much has been embezzled?
   
   Once you know the details of the loss you are in a better position to decide whether you need outside help or if church staff can handle the situation. If the loss is limited to a few hundred dollars from petty cash, the church staff might easily determine the amount of the loss. If the ministry does not have staff with the knowledge and experience to assess the loss, it may be appropriate to engage a Certified Public Accountant (or an in-country accountant if the embezzlement occurred internationally) to perform a specific audit of the loss. This differs from a full audit. The independent accountant should document the amount of loss and how it occurred. The ministry board has a fiduciary responsibility for all funds, and part of this is to document losses.
2. Insurance coverage. Determine if the organization has any insurance to cover the loss. If so, the question of legal action may be in the hands of the insurance carrier.
3. Restoration of funds. If there is no insurance to cover the loss, determine whether or not the church can recoup any or all of the loss, and decide how to accomplish the recovery. Individuals who embezzle money usually have little, if any, of the embezzled money still in their possession (although they may have some assets that were purchased with the embezzled money). In other words, they tend to spend it as they go. However, under the threat of legal action, most embezzlers will agree to enter into a repayment agreement over several years, and sometimes will sell certain assets to repay the amount owed.
4. Public relations. Determine if the ministry will make a public statement concerning the embezzlement. Most ministries will prepare a carefully worded public statement but will not release the statement unless the matter gets into the media. If it is necessary for the ministry to publicly comment on the matter, the use of a public statement will prevent various versions from being issued by board members or others representing the ministry.
5. Reporting responsibilities. Any portion of misappropriated funds not repaid to the church must be reported as taxable compensation to the individual embezzling the funds under U.S. law (laws vary in other countries). Under the intermediate sanction regulations, embezzlement constitutes an excess benefit transaction subject to penalties and repayment under the law. If such amounts have not been properly reported as compensation, they are considered excess benefits, regardless of whether the total compensation package was reasonable or not.
   
   Because of the intermediate sanction rules, churches should seek knowledgeable legal or tax counsel in respect to the executive director's proper handling and reporting of unaccounted-for funds, considering the application of the intermediate sanctions rules for excess benefit transactions. Failure to report properly subjects the organization, its board, and the individual, to significant tax penalty and repayment requirements that exceed the stipulated amount unaccounted for. This constitutes a contingent liability.
6. Review policies and procedures. Take what you learned from the embezzlement, and use that knowledge to determine any inadequacies in existing policies and procedures. In order to safeguard from fraud happening again, internal and external controls likely need to be increased in some way. The Essential Guide to Church Finances from Christianity Today International says, “The principle of separating duties to establish internal financial control is violated in the majority of churches.”
   
   If the church treasurer was writing checks to himself or herself, what is the best corrective action? A church might require two signatures for each check instead of one. However, checks are primarily processed electronically and few banks check for two signatures, meaning requiring a second signature may have little impact on internal controls. A more effective approach: have all banking transactions reviewed by someone independent from the church financial operation.
   
   
   Whatever your specific embezzlement issue, the challenge will be to respond with appropriate corrective action. “Appropriate” is the key word here. A balanced approach is needed to avoid an over-kill on the implementation of new policies and procedures versus the other extreme, simply putting a bandage on the problem and not really correcting it.

While many churches hope embezzlement never visits their church, the odds are it will. May God grant you the courage to properly handle the issues in a loving but firm way if it occurs at your church. No matter your situation, promote and model an atmosphere of accountability and transparency to minimize the opportunities of fraud.

Dan Busby is president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and a CPA.

This article is included in the download resource We’ve Been Embezzled! on ChurchSafety.com.

A Good Time to Launch a Church Building Campaign?

Editor’s note: Churches continue to consider new building projects, even as the economy remains challenging. Church Finance Today recently created a new training resource to help churches navigate this difficult time of fundraising during a down economy. This interview was excerpted from that resource:

Church congregation growth may run on God's timing, not the economy's. The ability to deal with that growth, though, is more dependent on earthly funds, and the dollars in a church budget may be fewer when members are losing jobs and savings.

So what happens to church growth campaigns when the economy is going downhill?

Bill Walter is president of Church Growth Services, an organization that helps churches plan capital campaigns for building and growth projects. Walter has been in the business for over 30 years and offers a historical perspective on what seems to be the current recession and how it could affect churches.

How is the current economy affecting church capital campaigns?
Churches are becoming more cautious in terms of taking on major capital projects. The very name capital campaign suggests people typically are challenged to make extraordinary gifts to the campaign from capital-type assets. And with capital assets such as stocks, bonds, and real estate having gone down considerably, there's somewhat less likelihood that folks are able to commit at the level that perhaps they could have in more prosperous times.

Many times there are only a relatively small number of folks in the church who can make a gift out of assets, but there are many people in the church who can make gifts out of income.

This is where the individual or the family will pray about this and discuss it and say, "Over the next three years out of our wages and our earnings, we'll commit x dollars per week or per month." Those types of gifts are less at risk and still available, whereas the gifts of assets have been somewhat decimated by the recent market turmoil.

When asset giving goes down, do you usually see a surge in income giving to make up for that or does giving just drop?
Giving to the church from income is a function of people's employment and their continued earnings from their job. If we were, for instance, to see the unemployment rate spike considerably from even where it is now, then giving from income might become more in jeopardy.

But most times, folks who are giving their weekly tithes and/or offerings will continue to do so as long as their employment hasn't been seriously compromised or jeopardized.

Is starting a campaign during a recession more difficult?
It's ironic but I think it's somewhat to be expected in God's work and in God's economy that many times the greatest opportunities for ministry intersect with the most difficult times economically.

As times get tough, people often have greater interest in the church and in faith. Churches see an influx of people and then are challenged with the need to accommodate them, and that might relate to a capital campaign.

In our experience, the need must be very compelling and very self-evident to the majority of the congregation to move forward with a major campaign in a tough economic climate. But you can go forward with a capital campaign in a tough economy. You just have to be a little more sure of your footing before you launch.

What would be a compelling need?
We have found that there's a hierarchy of needs for projects that challenge and motivate people to give. The most motivational projects are those that actually increase the capacity of the congregation to meet and conduct their ministry.

Do you have any advice for churches interested in starting a campaign right now?
Do all of the preparation and all of the legwork—but carefully weigh when you decide to launch a capital campaign, because timing is everything. The few campaigns we are in right now are proceeding despite the day-to-day drumbeat of tough economic news. The churches have said.

"Look, we feel this is God's will, we've launched this and we're going to finish it out."
But I would say to churches that have not yet launched: Get everybody informed and on board, but don't declare the launch of the campaign until you're convinced that the timing for your church and the general economy is appropriate.

We're hearing that giving to some kinds of charities goes down in a recession but that church giving stays pretty much the same. Do you have any thoughts on why that would be?
In some ways the church is unique among charities. It's God's work. It's where people are getting their weekly fellowship, their weekly spiritual nurture, and is something that is seen as family—the family of God. [Also, church giving may go up because] when times get tough, people seem to get more serious about their faith again. Recall the weeks and few months after 9/11—there was a surge in church attendance. The same kind of thing happens when times get tough economically.

This article was excerpted from the Church Finance Today training download, Financing a Church Building Project, available on YourChurchResources.com.

What's Wrong with Credit Card Debt?

Earlier this year, we asked whether churches should accept credit cards for tithing. Christianity Today recently asked what's wrong with credit card debt? Three Christian leaders with backgrounds in theology and personal finance weighed in.

Read excerpts of their answers here, then tell us your views on credit cards:

"It's a lack of faith. ... Financial choices and predicaments are always symptomatic of other issues. Some of the more common issues that lead to credit card debt include a lack of contentment, a lack of self-discipline, the search for security, and the search for significance.

The bottom line is that we should avoid putting a lender in the place of God by depending on them to meet our needs, and we should not play God in our own lives by deciding that the only way to meet our needs is to borrow.

God wants us to be obedient to his commands, but he also wants us to be wise in how we live. Ephesians 5:15-16 (NASB) says, "Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." When we make unwise choices, such as accumulating credit card debt, we must live with the consequences. However, we can also trust that God will work out his good purposes as we walk through the tough disciplines of living within our means and paying off the debt we have accrued (Rom. 8:28)." --Ron Blue, who has written 15 books on personal finance and is president of Kingdom Advisors, which advices Christian financial professionals.

"It's dangerous. ... The Bible gives, as always, good advice. And the Bible must be interpreted contextually. In the economic contexts in which the Bible was written, debt was dangerous and best avoided entirely. But in our economic situation in North America, debt can improve the quality of life for oneself and for others if managed well. In developing countries, prudent use of credit can make the difference between literal life and death, and between liberty and slavery.

Yet biblical teaching not only addresses what is right and wrong, but what is wise and what is foolish, and what is prudent and what is risky.

Credit card borrowing is among the very worst ways to borrow any significant amount of money. We all know why. It's too easy--just hand over the card. It's too accessible--almost anyone can obtain a card, and most of us can get quite a few. It's too extortionate--interest rates are shockingly high relative to almost any other kind of loan. That's why they print them in the tiniest possible fonts.

So I have a mortgage. I have had educational loans, and my son have them now. I have made use of car payment plans. And I have a line of credit.

But I never, ever incur credit card debt. I pay off my cards every month, so the companies make not a dime off me in interest.

While debt isn't necessarily immoral, credit card borrowing is dangerous--for everyone." --John G. Stackhouse Jr., Sangwoo Youtong Chee Professor of Theology and Culture at Regent College in Vancouver.

"It's potentially immoral. ... So while the Bible does not forbid debt, its emphasis on stewardship suggests some rather strict guidelines:

1. The borrower should have resources readily available to repay the debt. With a mortgage, the collateral held by the lender (the property) secures repayment of the loan. But credit card debt is unsecured. Here is the test: If you do not have enough money to pay your entire credit card bill in a single month, you've violated this guideline. You've allowed yourself to slip into the lender's bondage.
2. The cost of the debt should be reasonable. The average credit card interest rate is currently 16.82 percent (IndexCreditCards.com), a rate that could hardly be considered reasonable. Paying the balance in full during the grace period precludes paying any interest, while offering the financially mature personal financial flexibility and opportunities.
3. Borrowers should pay off debt as soon as possible. It is difficult to fit long-term credit card debt within this guideline.

Carrying credit card debt within the guidelines is, at best, difficult, but the test is simple: Am I able to pay the entire balance in full in a single month? If the answer is no, you need to put that card far, far away until the day you've reached a level of financial stability that allows you to operate within biblical guidelines. Otherwise, I believe your debt will become immoral." --Mary Hunt, author of several books on financial responsibility, and founder of Debt-Proof Living, a website on escaping debt.

Cartoon: Giving for Tax Purposes

If you’ve ever created receipts for church offerings and donations, you’ve probably been asked to receipt donated property.

On a more serious note, Richard Hammar offers a couple of lessons on how to meet IRS requirements for non-cash contributions of $5,000 or less and $5,000 or more.