Six Steps to a Generous Life: Living Your Commitment to Christ

By Bob Crossman

So how do we even begin to live a more generous life? First, it comes by acknowledging where our resources come from. This affordable and pocket-sized book presents giving as a lifelong journey in Christian discipleship with emphasis on six specific areas:

 

• Bible Reading


• Prayer


• Worship


• Service


• Financial Giving


• Witness

 

Using excerpts from Committed to Christ, a six-week stewardship program, readers will cultivate a thankful heart that leads to giving more than they could ever imagine. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Release date: May 1, 2012
• ISBN: 9781426758645

Bob Crossman

Rev. Bob Crossman has over 35 years of experience as a pastor and has served as pastor or staff member in congregations from 13 to 3000 members. As Director of the New Church Leadership Institute for the Arkansas Conference of the United Methodist Church and a Ministry Strategist with Horizons Stewardship, he conducts workshops across the country on topics of wholistic stewardship, developing a vision, and overcoming growth barriers in a range of settings from new church starts to established congregations. Bob has been the recipient of the Denman Evangelism Award and received a doctorate from SMU in evangelism.

Book preview

SIX STEPS TO A GENEROUS LIFE

SIX STEPS TO A

GENEROUS LIFE

Living Your

Commitment to Christ

Bob Crossman

Abingdon Press

Nashville

SIX STEPS TO A GENEROUS LIFE:

LIVING YOUR COMMITMENT TO CHRIST

by Bob Crossman

Copyright © 2012 by Abingdon Press

All rights reserved.

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed in writing to Permissions Office, 201 Eighth Avenue, South, P. O. Box 801, Nashville, Tennessee 37202-0801, faxed to 615-749-6128, or e-mailed to [e-mail].

Scripture quotations are from the Common English Bible. Copyright © 2011 by the Common English Bible. All rights reserved. Used by permission. www.CommonEnglishBible.com.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

ISBN 978-1-4267-46901

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data on file.

The author's personal account of the sledding experience found on page eight resembles a similar occurence noted by Norman Lucas in Kinetic Christianity: Sermons for the Epiphany Season, C.S.S. Publishing Company, 1979, pp. 20-26.

12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21––10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Contents

Introduction: Answering the Call

Accepting Christ as Lord and Savior

Scott J. Jones

1. Teach Us to Pray

Prayer Made Easy

Olu Brown

2. Reading the Bible Daily

God's Measuring Stick

James W. Moore

3. Let Us Go to the House of the Lord

Faithful Worship Attendance

Rick Bezer

4. You Shall Be My Witnesses

An Invitation

Bob Pierson

5. Financial Giving

You Tithe But . . .

J. Clif Christopher

6. Hands-on Service in Jesus' Name

A Man Named Ernie

Minerva G. Carcaño

Introduction: Answering the Call

All have sinned and fall short of God's glory, but all

are treated as righteous freely by his grace because

of a ransom that was paid by Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:23-24

" I assure you that whoever hears my word and

believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and

won't come under judgment but has passed from

death into life."

John 5:24

My adolescent years were spent in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, just within bicycle distance from an absolutely fantastic golf course called Theodore Wirth Park. As a youth I was not impressed with Wirth Park's greens, fairways, sand traps, or water hazards. Instead, what made that golf course exciting was the terrain itself. You would not believe the hills that were on and around that golf course. To my youthful eyes, the hills were straight up and straight down. They were magnificent.

I had no interest whatsoever in golf. However, I was very interested in the golf course, especially in winter. In Minnesota, snow covered the greens and fairways from December until April. Children from my neighborhood traveled to Wirth Park carrying sleds, sheets of cardboard, trashcan lids, and almost anything they could devise to slide