'Financial Fitness' Centers Emphasizing Accountability

by Ken Walker                                                                                                                        Vol. X, No. 3, March 1997

[Pastors: Read this and ask yourselves whether your churches can establish financial fitness centers. Perhaps two or three smaller churches could cooperate in doing so. TCP]

Just 18 months after he organized his church's Financial Fitness Center, Gary Shepherd's vision for spreading the message of debt-free living stretches across the nation.

"We were looking at Texas and then the Southwest, but God took it a lot further than that," said Shepherd, director of the center at suburban Dallas' Lake Pointe Baptist Church. "We're getting calls out of the blue from people who heard about the program from someone, and we don't even know (the source)."

A financial planner who left his practice to start Lake Pointe's center, he said the primary difference between it and other debt-retirement strategies is its emphasis on accountability. After initial counseling, individuals and couples attend a monthly follow-up session for 90 days, he said. During that period the center helps them establish:

--balanced budget that includes systematic giving to the church.

--a plan to be debt free in one-third to one-half the time normally required.

--future savings goals.

"We feel one-on-one accountability with a counselor for the first 90 days is the key," Shepherd said. "Only two or three people out of a class of 30 will do anything with (teaching material). Our system allows a budget to be tailored to individual needs."

The program includes special software to track expenses as part of debt retirement and payment acceleration plans.

Lake Pointe also holds weekly workshops to help establish better spending habits during the 90-day period. The latter covers such topics as teaching children money management, staying out of debt, improving quality of life, and money-saving tips.

The center taught money management to more than 100 persons during its first year.

The effort proved so successful that recently Shepherd and a partner, Nick Woodall, incorporated New Hope Financial Fitness Centers to offer two-day seminars for other churches wanting to start a center.

The organization also publishes software -- it recently released a budget management package -- and written materials. It maintains a home page on the World Wide Web (www.flash.net/-debtfree). Its e-mail address is debtfree@flash.net.

Shepherd set up Lake Pointe's program after attending a seminar last year conducted by the Financial Freedom Foundation of Wyoming. The nonprofit organization teaches money management, helps negotiate agreements with creditors and publishes resource materials.

While he initially patterned Lake Pointe's program on foundation materials, he had a desire to include the biblical basis for money management. That led him to preparing a nine-week workbook, which he hopes will be available by early January. The "Experiencing God" type, scripturally-based study features six lessons per week, designed to be completed in 15 to 20 minutes a day.

Carter Shotwell, minister to adults at Lake Pointe, said the impact of its Financial Fitness Center can be measured by this year's receipts. They have been running ahead of budget, he said, even during typically slow summer months. A recent survey of participants in the program showed that in the past, 28 percent gave nothing to the church. Now 80 percent follow systematic giving plans.

It also serves as an outreach tool, Shotwell said. "When we have a person or a couple in financial crisis, we can plug them into this ministry," said the associate pastor. "For once in life they can have hope; they can pay off their debts. It's great to have a practical tool, to be able to do more than just say, 'We'll pray for you."'

Although Lake Pointe is one of the area’s largest Southern Baptist congregations (3,000 average Sunday attendance), Shepherd hopes financial fitness centers blossom outside the SBC world. After a session Oct. 17-18, nearly 20 representatives from a variety of churches will have attended counselor training.

The financial fitness approach is being implemented in other denominations, such as Grace Church in Little Rock, Ark., and an interdenominational group in the Tulsa, Okla., suburb of Sapulpa.

The latter is headed by Basker Johnson, a certified public accountant (CPA) who attends an independent Christian church. He hopes to hold the first monthly workshop during November.

"I'm very impressed with it," Johnson said. "It's a very needed service. The concept is so biblical it's almost scary to think it was developed in the secular world. I'm real pleased to be associated with Gary and the Christian environment in which he's taken it."

Southern Baptist churches are warming to the program, too. Among those attending the training are Milfred Minatrea, director of church ministries for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

The BGCT is examining the possibility of eventually offering the program through various associations across the state. While Minatrea will evaluate the training before making further recommendations, he said helping people manage their finances will reach the lost and benefit the church.

"I think it would be a tremendous service for associations to offer to their pastors and members," he said. "As I look across urban areas I see consumer debt swallowing people."

The first Southern Baptist congregation outside Dallas to start a center was Shively Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. After a dedication service in late June, its center is working with five clients and has scheduled its first monthly workshop in November.

"I'm really excited about it,,, said director Rick Fields, a CPA who hopes to offer biblically based financial planning at the center. "It's got the possibility for changing lives and that's what ministry is all about.”

Information about Financial Fitness centers can be obtained by calling 214-606-7739. [BP]