What If We Raise More Money Than We Need?

Should Antioch Fayetteville receive more money in any given month than my salary requires, then a couple different things could happen. Those funds will either go towards other needs of the organization, or more likely, be held aside until a future month when it could be paid to me within the confines of my salary.

For example, the surplus from one month could help fill in the gaps if there is a deficit of financial support in a future month. Or say Antioch receives a one-time $200,000 gift on my behalf; in this scenario, the gift would fully fund my salary for the next several years, meaning all of our supporters could then discontinue their monthly giving! And I would be the first to let you know if that happened! :)

Regardless though, a surplus in support raising does not result in a surplus to our bank account. It will either further bless the mission of Antioch or allow us to stop support raising sooner.  

What If We Raise Less Money Than We Need?

Will we starve to death if we don't raise this much money? Of course not! We are moving to Northwest Arkansas to help start the church even we have absolutely zero dollars to our name, but no, we don't plan on starving :). If we are underfunded, it means I'll be at risk of needing to find a second or third job in addition to my church work. Ultimately, that will take my time and attention away from the very thing we're moving there to do in the first place as well as put me at a conflict of interest with my primary employer. Not the end of the world by any means, just not ideal. 

The more stable our funding is, the quicker and healthier we can establish the church. The quicker we can build and grow the church, the better it will be for our new congregation, and the better it will be for our financial supporters - because our salary will be covered by our local tithing that much sooner. ​

How Do We Intend To Use Our Money?

As the son of two CPAs and the husband of another, you could say financial stewardship is a passion of mine. By both nature and nurture, I embrace frugality in the short run in order to plan for the long run. I love budgeting so much that a friend and I have spent years on end building one ourselves! 

One principle I've become deeply convinced of when it comes to money management is that regardless of income level, any working individual - particularly those who work in first-world nations - ought to live below their means in order to save consistently and give generously. 

​To put this in perspective, I'm the crazy guy who went as far as skipping meals throughout my entire Junior year of college in order to save up enough money to get married that upcoming summer while still giving away over 20% of my income! Hopefully we won't have to return to those extreme measures, but the principle remains that for every dollar we make, we always intend to give some, save & invest some, and live on some.

In our final working year in College Station, we were able to give away 30%, live on 50%, and save 20% of our income. In Arkansas, we'll have to change those ratios dramatically, as our move is coming with both increasing expenses (thanks to our growing family, loss of Megan's employer-provided healthcare, Fayetteville's higher cost of living, etc.) and a decreasing family income by almost $30,000 (as Megan stays at home with our son at least initially). Based on our projected monthly budget, I expect us needing to use around 85% of our income to cover our expenses.

​The name of the game for us will be to keep our lifestyle as basic as possible (ideally without penny pinching) in order to still save and give without having to pick up additional work. Once our lives settle in Northwest Arkansas, we'll be happy to share a detailed breakdown of our actual expenses, so feel free to reach out if that's of any interest.