Money. Hmm you may be thinking, “This week is about Community, so why is Richard talking about money?” Well, you see, for me they are related. Community has helped one of our small groups manage money more wisely.

Last summer, Wendy and I took part in a Dave Ramsey small group with our church so we would have some help learning how to discuss and manage our money, and we ended up getting more than we thought we would (not money, but other, much better things).

I have been a saver all my life, mostly by being thrifty and really only buying musical merchandise; well, that and techie stuff. However, managing money as a family was a whole different ballgame. The small group we were in consisted of four families. We all brought different experiences, income, expenses, credit cards, and debt to the table, but we were able to work through the material and learn together how to manage what God had given us.

The cool part of this is not that we learned about budgeting, debt snowballs, investing, insurance, and everything else, but we had a group of people to encourage and keep us accountable. We did “check-ups” during the group to see how we were progressing on our goals and even had a 6-month follow-up and will have a year check-in as well.

Accountability is so important for us to follow through with anything. It keeps us honest and moving forward toward our goals. I would encourage each of you to get involved with small groups at Journey (if you are not already involved) so that you could have others walking with you and encouraging you through life.

Richard Jacobs
Worship Pastor