Ben Habeck

In recording tithes and offerings for churches (I’m a bookkeeper), I’ve started to ponder the whole giving electronically thing (or e-tithing). I thought I’d bring the discussion to the Ps20 world in hopes that some pastor or wise lay man or woman could settle the issue and I can go on my merry way.

In the spirit of full disclosure (yes, I know I am supposed to give in secret), I tithe electronically. I like the ease of it, the convenience, the consistency, the no-brainer aspect. I don’t have to wriggle in my seat as the offering plate (or bucket in my case) approaches and think about the clothing purchase I made earlier this week and start bargaining, “God, how about $50 less for your Kingdom?” (In case there was any doubt, I am not a saint and still need to practice the Give-Save-Spend mantra.) The tithing exercise has turned into an annuity, coming straight out of the bank account, as any other bill would, before I get my oftentimes greedy hands on it. Obviously, churches aren’t complaining about this. Churches love consistent giving, without which forecasting is nearly impossible. When church attenders go out of town on a summer vacation, for example, roughly forty percent of those contributions missed are not made up. So giving through systematic electronic withdrawals appears to be the solution from the church’s perspective.

But what about from the heart of the giver? Does giving my first fruits offering electronically impact my heart the same way? After all, if I give without love, “it profits me nothing” (1 Cor. 13:13). Does electronic giving depersonalize tithing the same way an email letter depersonalizes a hand-written one? Am I bringing my tithe and offering to the church as an act of worship and obedience or is this just Old Testament rigmarole (I love that word, regardless of whether I am using it correctly)? Crown Ministries teaches that giving should be premeditated, that to know the full joy and reap the blessing of giving, it must not be done carelessly. Does e-tithing lead to careless giving more so than writing a manual check? When the offering plate goes by and I physically place something in it, do I more consciously remember that I am giving back to the Lord Himself? An electronic debit on my bank statement doesn’t seem to move my spirit in the same way. Is there a conscious (or subconscious) surrender of possessions when I participate in the Sunday offering or snail mail a check in to my church? Or am I missing the point altogether?

In wrestling with this whole thing, I am coming to understand that giving (whether it’s time or money) boils down to a heart issue. Am I giving, electronically or otherwise, with a heart of love? Am I positioned to reap the benefits and blessings that the Lord wants to bestow on me as the giver? Am I being stretched beyond my tithe? Is the tithe the starting point of my giving and not the limit? These are the questions that impact my selfish heart and more closely align it with Christ. Perhaps for me, a manual check would be better, but for others, giving electronically accomplishes the same mission in self and Christ-awareness: my heart follows my treasure (Matt. 6:21).

So, any thoughts out there? Should I buck the modernized e-tithe system and return to a pen and checkbook like my grandmother? Does it matter or am I splitting hairs? Is ‘obedience’ obedience regardless of how I arrive there, emotionless or not? Feedback, anyone?

~ Zoie (One of Ps20’s bookkeeper extraordinaire)

My wife is pregnant! It’s quite amazing… And just really crazy weird! The other day, she made a comment saying, “This is an area of my life that I really don’t have any control over.” She said, “I know I really don’t have control over the other areas of my life either, but at least I feel like I do.” (yeah, my wife is wicked smart!) It’s true though! She can’t develop the baby’s brain or bones or muscles… It just happens!

My father runs a landscaping company in Ohio. Yesterday he said, “I told the Lord that if he opened a door for me, then I was going to go through it no matter where it led.” This is quite an amazing thing to say to the Lord, if you ask me! In fact, kinda scary, but sheesh… What faith!

In college, my roommates (who I still keep in contact with) and I would often have a discussion about God’s sovereignty vs. our free will. I’ve been thinking about this stuff for over 10 years! I don’t want to have “that” discussion again, here, now.

My question is this… (I know, there are a ton of pastors that read this blog, so come on, give it to me!)

Where does it start and stop? My wife has a baby growing in her and she has no control over the development of the baby’s brain or bones or muscles and [even more so] no control over the baby’s developing personality! So, I know that she can eat healthy, take the right vitamins, exercise, rest, drink water, and all those other daggum things, but where does it stop? Or, where does it START? I know we “did it” but did we create that baby? How MUCH should she do to “help” develop that baby?

Let’s say my father has a “door open” to Africa… How hard does he push towards Africa? When does he stop pushing toward Africa… Or does he?

I think a lot of people get a “calling” to working for a church. (I won’t say a calling to the “ministry” because I believe we ALL have a calling to the ministry and we are all IN the ministry!) I have a calling to MY job, just like you have a calling to being a pastor. But, we’re both in full-time ministry! However, I talked to some folks recently who were moving to San Francisco to start a church. Why? Because, they felt a leading from the Lord to San Francisco. So, they start pushing towards San Francisco. What if it doesn’t work? What if only 10 people ever come to their church? What if they never actually make it to San Francisco? Come on, don’t give me that crap that “if one life was changed then it was all worth it”… We all agree with that, but sometimes I feel like it’s a cop out! Perhaps, if you didn’t go to San Francisco, then maybe 2 lives would have been changed. So, don’t give me that answer… Let’s be real here! What if it doesn’t work? What if you kill yourself and your family and your marriage for 5 years and you’re still broke (and probably broken!) and you’re still struggling? (or 10 years or 20 years) When do you stop? Do you ever think that you went the wrong way? Or that your “calling” wasn’t really a “calling”? Don’t give me that “God is sovereign” stuff either… What do you really feel? Deep down in your “knower”, what do you know you should do and when do you know you should start it and when do you know you should stop it?

Believe me, I’m not insinuating anything… I’m just asking the question! And, the real question is, what do you know in your “knower” that you need to do, or need to STOP doing, but you’re just not?

Or, maybe the better question is, where is the balance between what WE do and what we allow GOD to do? If we feel God is pushing us in one direction, do we sit back and let Him do it, or do we push as hard as we can towards it? Where is the balance? Where do I start and where do I allow God to do?

Continued from yesterday…

Since we’ve been talking a bit about banking, the economy, how money flows, who does what with your money, etc. I figured this video would help explain all this a little better and from a bit of a different angle.

:: TO BE CONTINUED… TOMORROW! ::

So, I always know when it’s time to talk about a specific subject on here. Usually, several (ie. more than 2 or 3) of our customers have the same question, around the same time. So here we go… This isn’t going to be a fun topic, but, if you get to the bottom of the post, there will be a nice reward for you. Read this though, and you’ll never have to question it again… You’ll just remember!

In my opinion, the banking business is in the top 10 most confusing systems in the world. It’s so hard to understand, yet we trust these people with ALL of our money, ALL of our credit and ALL of our investments. We take cash to this building, hand it to a person behind a desk and miraculously it shows up as a number on our bank statement. Most of the time, we never see that cash again, but we trust that when we write a check, the numbers show up on someone else’s bank statement and not ours anymore. CRAZY… REALLY, we trust that it just all works, but most of us have no idea what goes on behind the scenes. So, let me give you a 30 thousand foot overview of what’s going on here.

First, when you write a check to someone, you’re basically giving them an “IOU” and promising that your bank will transfer the money to them… Somehow. Now, if that person takes that check to YOUR bank to cash it, then your bank will take the cash directly out of your bank account and give it to them. Simple, right? But, if that person takes that check to THEIR bank (or any other place that will cash the check) then several things need to happen. First, THEIR bank will usually want to know that they have enough money in their own bank account to cover the amount of the check. So, if the check is written for $200 and they have $500 in their bank account, then the bank will typically cash the check. However, if there the check is written for $200 but they only have $100 in their bank account, then the bank may put a “HOLD” on a portion of that money until the check clears the system. So, the bank may “HOLD” $100 of the $200 check.

What happens next? Well, the processing time actually depends on the time you make the deposit at the bank. Typically, if you make a deposit before 2:00pm, then the check will be processed that day. If you deposit it after 2:00pm, then it may not be processed until the next BUSINESS day. Remember, if you make a deposit at 3:00pm on Friday, that check usually won’t be processed until MONDAY. Then, you have to consider the next step in the process.

Each day, after the “Cut-off” time, the bank sends a listing of all the checks that they’ve cashed for the day to what’s called an “Intermediary Bank”. There are really 3 types of intermediary banks, but the Federal Reserve Bank handles about 60% of all these transactions, so let’s just talk about that one. The Fed is really the link between all financial institutions. Money that you deposit at your bank, is ultimately taken to the Federal Reserve and then distributed from there. If everyone who banks at your branch, came in on one day and tried to withdrawal all of their money, the branch wouldn’t have enough cash to give them. That’s because, most of the money is sitting in the Federal Reserve bank (or, other places that we can talk about later. Hence our current financial crisis!) So, the federal reserve looks at the routing # (ABA#) on your check and finds the bank that the check was written off of. They then send a request to your bank, asking them to send the Federal Reserve the $200 that the check was written for. If there is enough money in your bank account, then your bank debits your account and sends the money to the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve then sends the money to the bank the person made the deposit at and everyone is happy.

Now, what if there isn’t enough money in your bank account, but you write the check anyway? Well, when the Federal Reserve requests that money from your bank, your bank says “Sorry, “Insufficient Funds”. The federal reserve then sends a message back to the depositing bank saying, “Insufficient Funds – Don’t cash that check!” If the bank had already given the person the money, then they’re stuck and you’ve run off with their money! This is why banks won’t cash a check unless you have an account with them. They want to make sure that you’re going to be responsible for that money, just in case the federal reserve comes back saying “Insufficient Funds”.

So, it takes time for all of this to happen. Years ago, it used to take longer, but now that Check 21 is in effect, everything is done electronically and it’s a much quicker process. BUT, it still takes 24 to 48 hours (sometimes longer) for all of this to take place. This time frame makes up PART of the term “FLOAT”. The float is really the time between when the check is printed to the time the funds are available. You can figure mail time, how long it takes someone to open the mail and actually get it to the bank to make the deposit and then how long it takes for the banks to negotiate the funds. ALL this time makes up the float and there are literally 50 different things you can do with that “Float Time” to actually make money before the checks clear. (ie. Zero Balance Accounts, Funds sweep, etc. Again, different topics for a different day BUT, if you want more info now, just ask!)

This float time can work in your favor (sometimes) OR it could kill you! For example, if you know that payroll is hitting tomorrow and you make a deposit today, then the bank might put a hold on that deposit to wait for the Federal Reserve to do their thing… This hold could take 2 days, in which case, your payroll won’t go through and checks would likely bounce! Just because you make a deposit today, doesn’t mean that the money will be available tomorrow! This is very important!

So, in a nutshell, the Federal Reserve Bank is the middle man between all the other banks. All the money supposedly goes in and out of the Federal Reserve. So, A couple questions…

1. What if your bank decides to take your $200 and invest it rather than sending it to the Federal Reserve? What if your BANK plays the “Float”?

2. What happens if a bunch of people withdrawal all (or a lot) of their cash out of their bank accounts at one time and the Federal Reserve doesn’t have enough cash to distribute to everyone because the BANK played the float?

3. What if the bank barrows money (from another bank) to send to the Federal Reserve and then invests YOUR money, trying to make a profit?

4. What if the stock market sucks and the bank loses your money and can’t pay back the loan they took out to send to the Federal Reserve?

hummmm…