Glad TithingsFamily newsletter of Christian Stewardship Ministries |
| "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy." (1 Cor. 4:2) March 1998 * Vol 17 No 1 |
Volume 17 No 1
© 1998 by Christian Stewardship Ministries
Glad Tithings is a newsletter of Christian Stewardship Ministries, a nonprofit public foundation. To receive Glad Tithings regularly, send your name and address (with a zip code) to CSM. Gifts are tax deductible, greatly needed and deeply appreciated. The ministry's annual cost per person is approximately $15. Any portion of this newsletter may be quoted or reproduced without further permission, provided excerpts are in context, by adding the following credit line: "Reprinted from Christian Stewardship Ministries' newsletter Glad Tithings, Fairfax, Virginia," and furnishing a copy to CSM.
Christian Stewardship Ministries, 10523 Main Street,
Fairfax, Virginia 22030. Telephone 703-591-5000
fax 703-273-1795
e-mail CSM
Ben and Vannesa Henneke: Finding Peace Through Planning
Lots of peace, lots of joy-and more time to spend on the things that are really important-that's what Ben and Vannesa Henneke got from their Life Management Study class. And why they now teach that class to others.
"Wonderfully confrontive" is Vannesa's description of the class where she learned to see time in blocks. Through taking and teaching the class, she began to better understand how to balance her life, including how to stop working on a project when the allotted time is up and how to schedule additional time to finish it later. Ben, too, learned that trying to "scrunch in more" work into a short time period was an approach guaranteed to result in additional stress along with a string of broken promises. "The LMS course is really about facing clearly where your priorities are, re-thinking them and then acting to establish your real priorities in your life-a process that continues long after the course is over," Ben says.
By the time the couple completed the LMS course, they had both begun quiet times, committed to reading the Bible daily and pledged to drive the 55-mile speed limit around the Washington-area raceway known as the Beltway. They found particularly helpful the accountability measures that the course includes and the encouragement of the group to take small steps toward big goals. Keeping track of prayers God answered for group members each week also inspired them.
As the founder of Clean Air Action Corporation, Ben works with regulators, policy makers, companies and others to find sensible approaches to cleaning the environment. Vannesa is focusing on developing a new ministry for step families based on the experiences she and Ben have had parenting the five college-age children in their blended family. The couple live in Fair Haven, Maryland, and attend Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia.
Joyful Dividends
From readers of It's About Time
Outstanding-wonderful to start with obedience, since that is the key. I am interested in using your book for a women's Bible study. Do you have any other materials that would help?
Thank you.
Amy Macari, Austin, Texas
We used your book in a women's Bible study, and we go so much out of it.
Thank you.
Marcia Shalla, Grant, Nebraska
I tried to read both of Covey's books, but could never seem to get a hold of much. I love your book-it is so practical and God-centered. If pastors want their people to tithe, they should have you come and give a seminar.
Janice Dietrich
From CSM Staff
Thank you for writing the wonderful book, It's About Time, which challenged me through your encouraging testimony and by emphasizing the importance of daily planning and daily quiet times. After the birth of my baby I thought my time would never be organized again, but the Lord convicted me through your book that no matter how demanding my schedule is, that if I am not spending time with Him, I am actually in disobedience to His will. (Though I still have a long way to go, I am now able to get up early-before the baby-at least three times a week.) My husband and I were also convicted to bridge the temporary gap in our tithing.
It was through this book that I gained a vision for CSM that prompted me to take part in the ministry. Nothing has been more worthwhile than helping people to walk more closely with the Lord and to live more peaceful and organized lives. It has been a joy to work together with so many Christian business men and women and to see the willingness of the volunteers. The activity from the LMS, the banquet and various other meetings and events has made this position anything but boring. I have also gained invaluable computer and accounting skills and experience in everything from writing letters to billing to designing advertisements.
Perhaps what has impressed me most about CSM is that Ken Smith is a man of integrity who actually "practices what he preaches" (of which I have met very few). Even in the midst of incredible activity he still maintains a daily early-morning quiet-time with God and spends the necessary daily time planning to establish clear goals and priorities for himself and for the office.
Even though I am stepping aside from the ministry to spend more time with my baby, working for CSM (albeit briefly) has been nothing but a privilege and a blessing for me.
May God continually bless you,
Mary Louise Blanton, CSM Secretary
From LMS Participants
As I have now completed just over half of my pastors' Life management Study course, I wanted to tell you how profoundly it is imparting me, both professionally and personally.
I have wanted to be more disciplined, but my best intentions have not been carried out until I received the support and accountability of you and my colleagues in the course. My wife would say that I have been more consistently and fully present to my family and my staff would say that I am more focused and effective at church....
Thank you, friend. I pray the Lord's continued blessing on you and on all the vital work of CSM.
John A.M. Guernsey, Rector
All Saints' Episcopal, Woodbridge, Virginia