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We’re Coming

10/23/2018

I was at the registration table that morning of the Church Management Seminar in St. Louis Missouri. Pastor Elkins was the first one to check in and since the rush had not yet begun he decided to engage me in conversation. One of his first remarks to me was, “I don’t really believe our Church needs this because as a Church, the IRS will not bother us. I am only here because my Church Board insisted that I attend.”

As I listened to him, a gentleman who was attending a different conference in the room next to us approached the table. The gentleman asked what our conference was about and I informed him that it was a Clergy and Church Tax and Management Seminar. It was then he told Pastor Elkins and me that he used to Pastor a Church in West Virginia, and although he had the best CPA in town, the CPA could not stay abreast of Church and non-profit tax law. He then explained how he and his Church almost became a casualty of the IRS. When I asked him what happened, he didn’t tell either of us, but he did state that he then made the decision to leave the ministry and join the IRS as an Investigator—investigating Churches and non-profits.

Pastor Elkins Receives Shocking News

The former West Virginia Pastor then informed us that the meeting next door to ours was a Federal Marshall and IRS Criminal Investigator’s seminar. At that moment the former Pastor turned IRS investigator looked at Pastor Elkins and offered him this advice: “You better listen and heed everything that is taught in this Clergy and Church Tax Seminar because we are coming!”

Unfortunately Pastor Elkins’ shock did not end there. The class progressed throughout the morning and into the afternoon session as one of our seminars typically does. Right after the afternoon break, during the second round of the question and answer section, a gentleman who had been quiet for the whole class raised his hand to ask a question.

When I acknowledged him, he stood, gave the class his name, his Church name, Pastor’s name and then informed us that he had just been appointed as a Trustee in his Church. However, before he asked his question he revealed a shocking revelation—he was an IRS auditor for the for profit division of the IRS. When his Church made him a Trustee, he knew he needed to attend our seminar to discover what was required of a Church. I told him I appreciated him attending, but then what he said next shocked all of us. His words were, “The IRS is planning a huge push into Church and non-profit investigations and he could not afford for his Church to be one they investigated and it be out of compliance—especially with him (an IRS agent) on the Church Board.”

You Don’t Have the Luxury of Doing Nothing

With IRS investigations on the rise, especially in the last part of this year and the year approaching, what you do not know will hurt you tremendously. There are 45 new tax changes that can greatly affect a Church. If you do not know these changes and do not have them in place in your Church there will be some drastic consequences for the Pastor and Board.

The worst mistake a Pastor or Church Board can make is to assume their Church is IRS compliant. Even if your Church is compliant, you don’t have the luxury of assuming. You must attend the nearest Church Management Conference NOW! If your Church is compliant it is better to attend the conference and know for certain than to assume you are compliant and have the IRS assess penalties and possible criminal charges against the Pastor and Board. “AN OUNCE OF PREVENTION IS WORTH A POUND OF CURE.”

We Are Coming to a Location Near You

It is imperative that every Pastor and Board Member go to www.cmtc.org or call 800-344-0076 immediately to locate the conference nearest them and register. Two IRS agents on the same day in St. Louis, MO said the exact same thing: “You better be ready—We are coming.”

As the Number One Church and Clergy Tax and Management firm in the nation, we know what others do not. If you will do that which we suggest, the IRS will never be a worry to you or your Church. Go online or call now to register. The livelihood of the Pastor, the Church Board, and the Church depend upon it!

By Dr. Micheal Chitwood

What You Will Learn at our Conferences

Our Church Management Conferences will arm you with the information you must have to shield your Church or Ministry from IRS intrusiveness; teach you how to get your Taxes to the lowest possible rate; and daily operate your Church or Ministry within IRS acceptable guidelines.

Our Conferences have been taught across the Nation for over 48 years. Because of the Penalties, Fines, and even Imprisonment that the IRS imposed on many Churches and Pastors, Dr. Chitwood felt led by the Holy Spirit to become a buffer between Churches, Ministers, and the IRS.

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How Bad Do You Want It?

10/11/2018

Pastor Franklin seemed frustrated and anxious during the Church Management Seminar in Dallas. It was easy to conclude that he would find his way to me during the lunch break. As he approached, I stopped the other task I was completing in hopes I could calm any fears or help find a solution to his apparent dilemma. He told me he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Pastor Franklin’s issue is one faced by many Pastors across the USA--more ministry than money to fund it. Some Pastors mistakenly assume that just because they have a vision God will ensure the funds will be available. God will fund His real Kingdom vision, but it probably won’t be from tithes and offerings. Therefore, Pastors must pursue other avenues and fund raisers are not the answer.

As I travel the nation teaching Church Management Seminars, I am amazed at the number of Churches that must rely on some type of fund-raising to properly fund their ministries. As the Body of our Lord and Savior, Churches should never be short of funds to do that which God has called them. However, hundreds of Church doors are padlocked every month across the USA due to foreclosure, or Church closure. The culprit―there are not enough funds to pay the bills and do ministry.

Two Causes

The two main causes for insufficient budgets are simple to diagnose. They are:

1. The Church may be taking on more ministry than that which God has called them.

2. Unfaithful tithers.

Either of these two will sink a Church. No one wants to buy a ticket on the “Titanic.” The Titanic was considered unsinkable, but it sank. Some consider the local Church unsinkable, but hundreds close their doors every day. Don’t be one of them.

When Churches are always begging for money or overburdening the members to volunteer for countless fund-raisers, people get discouraged and look for an out. At this point, some will quit attending Church, while others will find another place to worship.

Let’s look at each cause closely.

Too Much Ministry

This seems like an oxymoron. How can a Church do too much ministry? Even though we all are to evangelize and win people to Christ, we need to understand that God calls certain Pastors for certain areas. For example, if your Church only seats 100 people, God probably has not called it to sponsor large drama productions. Another example, if you have 30 people in attendance on a given Sunday, your Church probably has not been called to buy 5 buses and start a bus ministry. How can a Church feed the hungry, when its members can barely feed themselves?

As noble as the above-mentioned ministries are, and many more that we don’t have space to name, we each have a ministry niche that is unique to the Pastor, members, and location.

Competition among Churches pressures Pastors to attempt ministry that others are successfully engaging. We must learn to stay in our lane! Find that to which God has called you and refine it until it is the best in your city.

If you are engaging in that which you are not called, there will be a shortage of funds. When this happens, Pastors begin to manipulate the members to give more, or resort to a myriad of fund-raisers in attempts to “keep up with the Joneses.”

Insufficient Revenue

There should be ample funds within any Church to function according to God’s plan for that House of Worship. God does not demand that which He will not fund. If the Pastor is sure that God has called his or her Church to an area of ministry, then the money is in the House; which leads to the second problem – unfaithful tithers.

Less than 5 percent of Christians tithe, even though the tithing principle is adamantly displayed throughout Scripture – Old and New Testament.

Before we are too harsh on non-tithing Christians we should look at the pulpit. According to one survey, less than four percent of Pastors and Ministers tithe. If insufficient tithes and offerings are coming into your Church each month, maybe the Board Members need to check the Pastor’s tithing record. If the Pastor curses himself or herself by not tithing, as the spiritual head of that Church, the Church will be cursed. If the Pastor is a faithful tither then he or she should properly teach this subject to his Church – at least four or five weeks per year. We get what we preach. If we constantly preach soul-winning, we have soul-winners. Preach tithing and you will get tithers.

One thing the Pastor can do to get members to tithe is to properly teach the subject and then offer some type of commitment card with a “God-Guarantee” based on Malachi 3. Get the members to put God to the test – to tithe for 90 days, and if at the end of that time, tithing has caused a proven, undue hardship for the member, give him or her, a refund. God’s Word is either true or it isn’t.

I need to throw a caution in here about the refund. Offer it at the beginning of each year as a teaching on Stewardship. Do not give a refund, if you have given the member a Giving Statement and they have claimed the donation on their tax return. This could create IRS issues!

I know of several Churches that have utilized the God-Guarantee approach, and only know of one that has actually had members ask for a refund – and in that Church it was less than half of one percent. The good news is that each time it is taught, the Church gains new tithers. But, until you can train Christians to become tithers, you still need money.

How We Can Help

There is plenty of money to fund our visions if we know where to look. Chitwood & Chitwood knows of funding sources others do not know. We know where the money is and how to get it. The question is: “How Bad Do You Want It?” Are you willing to “roll up your sleeves” and go get it?

As one of the largest Church resource firms in the nation, Chitwood & Chitwood knows how to increase your tithes and offerings. Our system, How to Make Your Tithes Start, Stay, and Grow, provides Biblical resources and strategies to teach your members the importance of the tithe.

Call us at 800-344-0076 to purchase your system, or contact us at www.cmtc.org to register to attend a Church Management Conference in a city nearest you. You will be glad you did. Remember, for us “It is A Ministry – Not A Job!”