Pastor Challenges Church Members With Gift Of $100 Each

2005 - Volume #29, Issue #5, Page #05

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Steve Dyer, pastor of Newsong Church in Grove, Okla., put his 125-member congregation to the test one Sunday recently when he gave each of them an envelope with $100 in it.
  He told shocked church members that they could do whatever they wanted to with the money but that they should return the money and whatever profits they might have made with it seven weeks later.
  He told them the only thing they couldn't use the money for was gambling. The total amount dispersed was $12,700.
  The experiment was based on the biblical parable of a landowner who leaves for a trip and gives each of his three servants a sum of money. When he returns, two of the three had increased the amount while the third hid the original money because he was afraid of losing any of it.
  "At the end of seven weeks, we received the original $12,700 back plus $13,000 more. So we more than doubled the amount originally given away," Dyer says.
  "We had one lady who took her $100 and came back with $1,400. She did a combination of three different things," he says. "She's a manager of a hotel and so she went to Walmart and bought cookies, crackers and bottled water to put in the rooms with this note: æThis is a gift to you and if you'd like to leave a donation, you can. If not, just enjoy it.' She made a lot of money from that."
  Children, who received $50 each, often pooled their money together with their parents to do projects. Dyer and his daughter, for example, used their money to purchase and resell a horse.
  Dyer says the church used the money earned by members to take a group of teens on a mission trip to Asia where they conducted an English camp for children.
  He says he may conduct a Great Trust Adventure again in a few years. He advises other pastors to pray it through before attempting the same project. "Make sure it's God's idea and not just a good idea. Then suck up your courage and go for it!"
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Newsong Church, 35066 South 620 Rd., Grove, Okla. 74344 (ph 918 786-7737; www.newsonggrove.com).   (By Dawn Throener, Associate Editor)

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Pastor Challenges Church Members With Gift Of $100 Each FARM HOME Miscellaneous 29-5-5 Steve Dyer, pastor of Newsong Church in Grove, Okla., put his 125-member congregation to the test one Sunday recently when he gave each of them an envelope with $100 in it. He told shocked church members that they could do whatever they wanted to with the money but that they should return the money and whatever profits they might have made with it seven weeks later. He told them the only thing they couldn't use the money for was gambling. The total amount dispersed was $12,700. The experiment was based on the biblical parable of a landowner who leaves for a trip and gives each of his three servants a sum of money. When he returns, two of the three had increased the amount while the third hid the original money because he was afraid of losing any of it. "At the end of seven weeks, we received the original $12,700 back plus $13,000 more. So we more than doubled the amount originally given away," Dyer says. "We had one lady who took her $100 and came back with $1,400. She did a combination of three different things," he says. "She's a manager of a hotel and so she went to Walmart and bought cookies, crackers and bottled water to put in the rooms with this note: æThis is a gift to you and if you'd like to leave a donation, you can. If not, just enjoy it.' She made a lot of money from that." Children, who received $50 each, often pooled their money together with their parents to do projects. Dyer and his daughter, for example, used their money to purchase and resell a horse. Dyer says the church used the money earned by members to take a group of teens on a mission trip to Asia where they conducted an English camp for children. He says he may conduct a Great Trust Adventure again in a few years. He advises other pastors to pray it through before attempting the same project. "Make sure it's God's idea and not just a good idea. Then suck up your courage and go for it!" Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Newsong Church, 35066 South 620 Rd., Grove, Okla. 74344 (ph 918 786-7737; www.newsonggrove.com). (By Dawn Throener, Associate Editor)

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