DECEMBER 2010


ThE WEsT ViRGinia UniTED METhODisT • www.wvumc.org


LETTER TO ThE EDiTOR To Te Editor:


PhOTO By aDaM CUnninGhaM


The United Methodist Foundation Board of Trustees met at John XXIII Pastoral Center in Charleston in November.


Give with the Blink of an Eye


By Jeff Taylor


it to give money to them. I can pay most of my bills with just one click; I


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don’t even need to use a computer—I do it from my phone. My car payment? Te lender takes the amount directly out of our checking ac- count each month and e-mails me a reminder. I am not suggesting churches and ministries


should start offering “contactless” ways to give, but I do believe that if we expect people to of- fer their best for the Lord, we need to enable them to do so. Most churches expect that you will write


a check. You can mail it, which costs you a stamp and an envelope; or you can place it in the offering plate—do you always remember to have your checkbook with you? It’s usually a lot harder to make my offering to church than it is to, say, buy a book. Many charities have caught on, but the church


seems to be slow to grasp automated giving. As I have talked to pastors, church treasurers, and financial secretaries about offering auto- mated options for giving, I have discovered that many think it is harder and more expen- sive than it actually is. Te truth is—it’s easier and cheaper than you think. Tere are two ways to offer automatic giving.


First, your donor can set up automated pay- ments on their bank’s website. Ten, the bank mails a check to the church in the amount and as oſten as they choose. Most banks do not charge anything for this service. Second, you can use a third-party service and


attach a “give now” button on your church’s website to offer donors the option of Elec- tronic Funds Transfer (EFT). Te donor who


ow easy is it to give money to your church? Tink about it in contrast with how easy merchants have made


clicks on that button is taken to a secure site that allows them to enter their bank account information as well as the frequency and amount of their giſts. Te amount would be automatically debited from their account and transferred to the church’s account. Vanco Services is one such vendor that has a


preferred relationship with Te United Method- ist General Council on Finance and Administra- tion. Vanco sets up a web page for your church for free, and then charges $25 per month to host it. Tere is a one-time cost of 50 cents to authorize each donor and 25 cents for each transaction. For example, a donor who uses this service monthly would cost the church 50 cents to get started then $3 for the year. If that donor gives twice a month, the church would pay Vanco $6 for the year. Credit and debit cards, are more expensive.


In addition to the 50 cent registration fee (one time) the per-transaction fee is 45 cents plus 2.75% of each transaction. Your church will potentially realize great


benefits for the relatively low cost of offering automated giving options. Your weekly offer- ings won’t be affected by blizzards and vaca- tions, and church members who winter in the south can conveniently continue their giving while away. Finally, the church would be help- ing younger members—many of whom have never and will never write a check. Shouldn’t the church meet them where they are? To see how easy EFT by Vanco is, visit our


website at www.umfwv.org and click on the “Give Now” button. If you have any questions about how to get your church started with au- tomatic giving, call Kim Matthews or me at 1-800-788-3746 ext. 45. Consider the possibilities!


Jeff Taylor is president of the United Methodist foun- dation of West Virginia.


I spent a glorious week- end at the 102nd Gather- ing of United Methodist Men (UMM) at Jackson’s Mill in September. A week- end of fellowship and wor- ship, uplifting spirit filled gospel music and anointed preaching. A weekend in which one is given the op- portunity to be spiritually fed, renewed, revived, and refreshed in the Lord. The men’s gathering at the Mill is a retreat for brothers in Christ to come together to share their faith and to grow as men of Christ. As a pastor in our confer-


ence I look forward to my time with the men of our local churches at the Mill every Fall. Yet as much as I enjoy this time of fellowship and worship it has also be- come a time of disappoint- ment for me. A disappoint- ment that I do not allow to take away from my blessing of having the opportunity of being a part of this retreat, but a disappointment that lays heavy on my heart. How can such an uplift-


ing, renewing, refreshing, and reviving weekend be a disappointment? The dis- appointment is in how few men and pastors in our churches participate in this retreat. We had a total of 44 men from the entire confer- ence at Jackson’s Mill this year. It lays heavy on my heart that the men in our local churches and commu- nities fail to take advantage of the opportunity to come together with other men for a spiritual retreat. I know many local church-


es don’t have organized groups of United Method- ist Men, but that shouldn’t keep anyone from attend- ing. As far as I know it is open to all men, regardless


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of whether or not they be- long to a UMM group. I just do not understand why so few men in our churches and communities choose to take advantage of this op- portunity to spend a week- end with other men and scouts from around our conference. But the greatest disap-


pointment is the lack of participation by our active pastors. I believe we only had two pastors under ap- pointment attending the gathering this year. Need- less to say they were both women, and yes I was one of the two. As a pastor I am invited to attend this gathering and find it to be a very uplifting, refresh- ing, and renewing time for me as a pastor. An added benefit for me as a pastor is that this event is continuing education for me. I encourage all pastors in


our conference to get on board with the UMM An- nual Gathering and to en- courage the men in your churches and communities to also get on board. We pastors are supposed to be an example for those we serve. What better example can we set than to be active- ly involved in the opportu- nities for spiritual retreat and growth offered to the people in our churches by the conference. My prayer for the 103rd


gathering of the United Methodist Men is that the majority of our pastors will be lead by God to attend and to bring men from your church and communities with you. I pray I will see you at the Mill next Sep- tember as men and women in Christ.


Pastor Rose “Jo” McCartney Westover UMC Morgantown, WV


KEEP UP WiTh UPCOMinG EVEnTs in ThE COnfEREnCE. siGn UP fOR E-nEWs aT WWW.WVUMC.ORG/EnEWs


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