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| I GIVE! ASK ME WHY |
| Tammy
and I started to ask ourselves this question when I got out of seminary. We
had no money. In fact, we were paying off school loans with salaries from
the lucrative professions of preaching and teaching. |
| Why we started giving to God through the church was
largely due to our parents. Tammy’s parents are devout Baptist. Her
mother was the church librarian and her father was a long time Deacon at First
Baptist in Tyler, Texas. We often say about Tammy’s father that "He has
the first dollar he ever earned" but we also know God got a dime of that dollar
and 10% and everyone since. My parents are United Methodists and have always
sat down at the first of the month to write their first check to God through
the church. We had good parental examples of not only giving but the biblical
instruction of a tithe—10% of one’s income given to God. We
started giving proportionately in my first appointment in Henderson, Texas. |
| We started "tithing" largely due to the encouragement
and example of my Senior Pastor, Bill Hinson and his wife, Jean. When we
moved to Houston we had a new baby and I had recently been diagnosed with leukemia. Hospital
and medical bills like we had never seen before were now a part of life. During
this very precarious and scariest time in our lives we started to set aside a
tenth of our income to God. "Why?", because during this time, when I was
faced with a potentially terminal prognosis, every day of life was seen as a
gift from God. We also trusted God, whether I lived a short life as was
expected or longer, to take care of things that were so obviously out of our
hands. Days are still blessings and God has taken good care of us. We
are certainly not rich but we have really wanted for nothing. |
| Why we keep tithing is because God is love and just
keeps giving to us and loving us. When we went to Tyler,
I was the Senior Pastor. Tammy reminded me that if we were going to ask our
people to give then we needed to lead the way and tell our people why and how
we give. We
have continued to talk about why we give here at Lovers Lane. The bottom line is that we give because
we believe in God. And we believe in the ministry and outreach of this
great church. And giving is one of the ways "we so love." That’s
why. Why do you give? |
| We so love, |
| Stan Copeland, Senior Pastor |
Lovers Lane and Giving 