Week 13 - Rachel - Minister's Taxes

1. Use Turbo Tax

2. Minister’s do not pay income taxes on housing expenses
3. Minister’s do pay Social Security taxes on housing
4. Minister’s buying a house also get to take their housing interest
5. Claim honorariums
6. Don’t ignore the housing allowance cap

Week 12 - Rachel - Learning Leadership

Some of the best ways that people learn are from the mistakes that they themselves make. They form an understanding of what works and what doesn’t work. In ministry, there may not be much time recover from a mistake, so it’s best to find a way to evaluate what went wrong and begin again. However, it is wise to not only learn from personal mistakes, but to be observant and learn from mistakes made by those around you. Knowing this and learning from others mistakes can save time and allow you to avoid problems that could come up. By picking up on mistakes that others make, it can also make you aware of obstacles that you will face and how not to go about dealing with those problems.

Week 12 - Rachel - Formal Leadership Theory

I’ve chosen to work with 360 Degree Leadership which states that no matter who you are, no matter where your position is in “the company,” you can be an affective leader to the people below, beside, and above you.

Here is the church setting: I am a newly hired youth pastor for a medium sized church of 700 people. The staff is a decent size (8 full-time people plus office assistants). When I was hired, many of the staff members began to share their wisdom with me about working at this church, especially about the head pastor. Most say that he can be difficult to work with and keeps to himself a lot. He doesn’t put much effort in getting to know those who work under him. I’ve noticed this for myself by the lack of face time I see from him.

According to the 360 Degree Leadership Theory, I can still influence and be a leader to my head pastor, even though he seems distant and may not give me an opportunity to do so. The trick is, I need to create those opportunities. I know that I’m working in ministry and one of the greatest rules is to stand behind your head pastor. I do not want to create a schism, so I need to support him and offer to him any help I can give him. I need to go out of my way to be interested in him even if he does go out of his way to get to know me. I need to keep tight communication with him and take initiative to do things without being asked to. It’s my desire to show him that I am a leader.

Week 10, "John Maxwell Book"

Principle, "Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it." 

It really is true, that there are many occurrences in our lives, good and bad, big and small, but our reactions is what sets the tone of how our life will play out. 

When you have certain things happen to you, it can either be the end of the world, or not a big deal.  This is how this principle applies to our lives, every little thing that happens to us can either stress us out and put us in a bad mood or we can control our attitudes and then let these things not get to us.  Our reactions are things that we can control and learn to change.  Not everything in the world is about us, and we must remember that to see if we are reacting selfishly, selflessly or even some way different than either of those...

If you are in a leadership position and are leading others, how you react to things is setting an example.  If you continually react in a negative manner, people are going to question your leadership.  90% is a pretty big percentage and we must remember that we can control how we react.  

Week 10, "Mistakes Ministers Make" Taylor Shanks

Interviewed Earl Shanks on 3/28/09.

Mistakes:

1. Not being on time-  When ministers are chronically late and do not take promptness seriously, shows a lack of professionalism and desire to be in their position.
2. Not sharing the vision- When a minister is not sharing what God has shared and driven them do, the importance of why we all do what we do in the name of the Lord,  shows a lack of passion and drivenness to act on what God has called us to do.
3. Selective leadership- When a minister is selective about whom he or she wants to lead a ministry and who is involved in ministry, this is not always a good thing.  

Week 13: Singleness and Ministry Melissa

Week 13: Singleness and Ministry

Code of Items I Intend to Practice to Avoid Sexual Impurity:

I will always listen to those around me when I am single and when I am married. If people come to me telling me to be cautious around someone then I will listen. I will set up boundaries with men around me and never “start anything” or respond to any co-workers if they initiate something.

I will always have an accountability partner that I can tell things to in this area of my life. I will speak truth if I think someone is acting in an unhealthy manner toward me.

I will not be in the office late at night and I will not allow myself to be in an office alone with a man. I will also not hangout with men from the church in my spare time.

I will seek God to control my emotions and fulfill my life. I will not become “emotionally attached” to another man besides my spouse. I will be in the Word and committed to purity.

I will be committed to prayer and continue to ask for God’s protection against Satan. I will dwell on the heavenly things instead of the earthly things and pursue holiness.

Week 13: Taxes Melissa

Week 12: Minister’s Taxes

List of Six Most Important Things I Need To Remember About Ministers and Taxes:
1. Use TurboTax because it immediately ask if you earned income from being a minister
2. You do pay social security taxes on your house
3. Report unused housing allowance
4. You can “double dip” by living in a house and getting to deduct the interest after you’ve eliminated it “off the top” of your income
5. Keep receipts to show what you actually spent
6. Get a letter in advance designating your housing expense and don’t estimate low