Words can set the tone for everything we communicate, verbally or in written form.
For our team, the word stewardship has a special meaning. In 2008, we introduced the term Facility Stewardship and have never lost sight of its meaning and significance.
Stewardship Isn’t Just About Money
"A steward is a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.” - Dictionary.com
As a reminder, stewardship is not just about money. It is about caring for someone else's stuff. Yes, money is part of that. But it is not the only aspect of our lives that we steward. A steward is someone who has been given a task to complete by someone else or given something (entrusted) by someone else to use for the owner.
A steward acts as an agent of the owner; they are not the owner.
In essence, a steward takes care of someone else’s stuff! The things entrusted to them. It is that simple.
What Is Entrusted To You?
When something is entrusted to you, it isn’t yours. It belongs to someone else. The one who entrusted it to you has the right to dictate what you do with it or expects you to use the utmost diligence to care for it. You may be expected to use the entrusted thing for their purposes rather than yours.
For example, the person entrusted (i.e., an employee) cannot merely do whatever they like. They have a job to do, with accountability. Trust has been violated if the employee does not complete the work. If a big task has been entrusted to us, such as maintaining and managing our ministry facilities, we should be intentional about how we live our lives to get to the end and hear God say, “Well done.” This line of thought has driven me for years as I have served the church and the facilities entrusted to them.
God doesn’t entrust tasks or facilities to people unless he is committed to making them worthy of that trust. We are to take our responsibility as Facility Stewards seriously. Suppose you believe that everything on Earth belongs to God as I do. In that case, we must accept that our houses of worship, churches, administration buildings, education facilities, recreation complexes, etc., have been entrusted to us. We are responsible for stewarding this stuff for the “owner.”
Changes Among Our Team
To emphasize the importance of this theological and philosophical tenet, we are changing the titles we use with our team. These are not just small changes for external purposes but rather a commitment to our team to serve churches with a mindset and dedication to stewardship.
Here are some of the changes:
- Tim Cool, Chief Solutions Officer → Chief Stewardship Officer
- Facility Specialists → Facility Stewardship Specialists
- Customer Success/Engagement Specialist → Customer Stewardship Specialists
- Software Solutions Specialists → Software Stewardship Specialists
Yes, we take the stewardship of our customers very seriously.
This may seem trite to many of you. But it has significant meaning to our team as we strive, with God's help, to steward all the things entrusted to us. We also strive to equip YOU — our customers, subscribers, friends, and future customers — to be intentional and effective Facility Stewards.
ONWARD!
