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CHURCH
Owen
County Churches
Dave
Ramsey’s FPU to
be offered
At MBC; provides insight into what God says about finances
When the collection
plate passes each Sunday at churches all over the county, research
shows that congregation members would like to give more to further
kingdom work, but they feel they can’t.
Their debt load is too high.
Their obligations to creditors is too great.
They’re maxed out financially and many leave each Sunday
feeling guilty about not giving what they think they should.
“Most people are natural givers,” said Dave Ramsey,
in an online article at pastors.com. “The problem is that
most of the congregation is so far in debt they are too worried
about putting food on the table to even consider giving. Every
mentally and spiritually healthy person I’ve met has been
turned on by giving as long as it didn’t mean his own lights
got cut off.”
Ramsey, a personal money management expert and popular national
radio personality, should know. By the age of 26, he had established
a $4 million real estate portfolio, only to lose it by the age
of 30. He has rebuilt his financial life and now spends his day
helping ordinary people understand the forces behind their financial
distress and offering tips on how to set things right —
financially, emotionally and spiritually.
“God never said debt is a sin, but he didn’t have
anything good to say about it either,” Ramsey said. “Proverbs
22:7 says, ‘The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower
is slave to the lender.’ After losing everything I owned
and finding myself bankrupt, I was confronted with this scripture
and had to make a conscious decision of who was right —
my broke finance professor, who taught that debt is a tool, or
God, who showed obvious disdain for debt.”
One of the tools Ramsey makes available to the public is his Financial
Peace University, offered through churches around the country.
Next month, Monterey Baptist Church will begin the 13-week series
which focuses on using a written budget, saving $1,000 in an emergency
fund and then paying off debts. The average family enrolled in
the program pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in the first
91 days after beginning FPU. That average family is also completely
out of debt, except for their mortgage, in 18 to 24 months.
Two orientation sessions will be held to offer the community more
information about Financial Peace University. The first will be
at 5 p.m. Sunday. The second is at 7 p.m. Aug. 7. FPU will begin
Aug. 20 and will meet each Sunday at 5 p.m. in the fellowship
hall of the church.
The church is located in Monterey. From north of Monterey, take
Hwy. 127 S. from Owenton, turn right onto Hwy. 355 and then left
at the first road. Turn right onto Clyde Street and then left
onto High Street. The church is on the left.
If you’re coming from south of Monterey, take Hwy. 127 north
to Hwy. 3523. There is a Monterey Baptist Church sign at the corner.
Turn left onto Clyde Street and then left onto High Street. The
church will be on the left.
The cost of the program is $96 per family, which includes the
13-weeks of DVD training by Ramsey; the Financial Peace University
workbook; all 13 lessons on CD; Ramsey’s book, “Financial
Peace Revisited; the FPU envelope system; budgeting forms; a bonus
CD with financial calculator, screen saver and more; and two debit
card holders.
For more information about the classes or the program, call Patti
Clark at (502) 514-3478.
For more information about Monterey Baptist Church, check out
our Web site at www.monterey-baptist.org
“After years of studying, teaching, and even preaching on
finances across America, I can find only three good uses for money.
Money is good for fun, to invest, and to give,” Ramsey said.
“Anything else you find to do with it doesn’t represent
good mental and spiritual health on your part.”
Peak
serves as Baptist
Fellowship missionary
Sarah
Peak, a 2004 OCHS graduate, is currently serving as a Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship student volunteer in Perry County, Ala.
She is one of 34 students serving in North American assignments.
Peak is partnered with Sowing Seeds of Hope, an Alabama CBF ministry
that addresses long-term goals of improving the physical, economic,
spiritual and social environment in Alabama’s poorest county.
As the worship coordinator, Peak serves with two other students
and assists with construction and literacy projects.
The program offers undergraduate and graduate students opportunities
to spend a summer or semester serving alongside CBF Global Missions
field personnel and ministry partners in locations around the
world.
Peak is the daughter of Gregg and Suzanne Peak of Owenton. She
is a junior at Georgetown College.
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