The Methodist Church

Every Friday I get a special email from the General Board of Church & Society. In it I get to read about all the left leaning activities of my church.

Some wonder why I stay at my church knowing that my tithes and offerings go toward such things as gays in the military, pro-choice movements, and pro-amnesty to name just a few. 

In this past weeks Word from Winkler it opens with “Declining membership in our denomination concerns me and many other United Methodists. I know of no one who likes to see our churches shrinking. The panic about this decades-long decline has become a major, perhaps the central, concern in our denomination today.”

I wonder why? 

Some of the top reasons I have heard for why church membership is down.

• Churches are more about entertainment than the Bible.
• Churches are focused on expanding the building instead of teaching about and following God.
• Churches teach things which some believe to be false.
• The music is too loud.
• Churches don't want me, they just want my money.

The third reason, Churches teach things which some believe to be false, is what concerns me most. The Methodist church has become an institution that models itself more after a business or political entity. The church should be counter-culture; instead it's suffering from worldly influences. When the pastor's job depends on him not offending the board, sermons get watered down and they focus more about preaching salvation to the choir than about pressing on to serious discipleship. The great commandment, Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. That's what the church should be primarily focused on.

Instead my church is worried about ratifying the START treaty. (A treaty I oppose because it would place severe restrictions on our missile defense system and the treaty's verification measures are inadequate to say the least.) But this is not the issue to focus on in this blog, declining numbers at the Methodist church are. 

If 40% of the population is conservative. I do not feel the church should be preaching about liberal policies. Instead I think they should spend more time on teaching people to give their lives to Jesus. Or how about teaching them to love their neighbor? (Their actual neighbor that lives across the street.) Or even the following, how about discussing that there is whole world dying and going to hell and the US church does not seem to care?

Evangelical churches are bursting at the seams. Why? Because the Gospel works. We don’t need to be fed progressive messages. The Methodist church, like many other churches, is a sinking ship. I continue to go to my church in hopes that I can tell people where the lifeboats are.

I want a revival. I pray for it. I’m active in my church in hopes that it will come. Why don’t you join me? I’ll be going this Sunday and would love to save you a seat.

Looking to diversify your investments? Try a micro-loan on for size

I came across an interesting item the other day. How about a way that you can earn interest and help the world be a better place?

“A billion people around the world work hard every day to lift themselves out of poverty. They don’t want your charity. They want your investment. Invest today, earn a return, and provide them with a livelihood.” – Microplace.com homepage.

Sounds pretty good, right? Microplace is owned by Ebay, and is an SEC-registered broker of microfinance securities to individual investors. Loans are classified by level of poverty, financial return, length of investment, and geographical location.

Here is the loan listing page. They seem to participate in a variety of countries on 4 continents, from Armenia to Bolivia to Cambodia.  These notes are not a mutual fund, and is not FDIC or SIPC insured. These are unsecured debt obligations, with partial backing of “philanthropic guarantors”. Basically, wealthy individuals and/or groups promise to repay parts of this loan if there are enough defaults. The details are a bit vague, but there seems to be a networked agreement across multiple guarantors. However, risks definitely remain.

The actual interest charged to local microfinance institutions (MFIs) are stated to be from 8-10%. The rates paid by actual individuals are not stated, but can be as high as 30%. But these are often short-term loans to people with no collateral and few alternatives. The historical repayment rate is listed to be 96%.  In some of these countries interest rates are as high as 120% so it’s nice to be able to offer loans at reasonable rates to people who are just like you and me, except they were not as fortunate to have been born in America. So why not invest a little? It will possibly do your investment balance and more importantly your soul good.

BARACK OBAMA'S children's book, "Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters", will be published on Tuesday 16th.

 It will be similar in form to George W. Bush's recent work, "Decision Points". Mr Bush's book covers 14 decisions made by him during his presidency. Mr Obama's book is an ode to 13 great Americans. If this trend continues, future presidents will have to publish a book consisting of a single bullet point.

Practice Teaching Slides

QE2: The last straw or the best move?

Many years from now when we look back at history, I think this chapter of fed policy may be seen as one of the greatest blunders or greatest move made by a central banker.  


Lets start with the dollar. 

The quantitative easing that has already taken place has had a real effect on the dollar. Many believe that with this second round of QE we will have a major currency crisis by next spring. 


Even if QE2 works I believe we have seen the end to the dollar being the worlds reserve currency, and unless the Fed has everything go in its favor the dollar may very well be doomed to follow every other fiat currency in history into the hyper inflation and total devaluation category. 


I'm suggesting to everyone that will listen to hedge their assets. Some are suggesting abandoning the dollar betting that the central bank is going to destroy it and its purchasing power. Many believe its no longer safe to hold cash. I'm a believer that diversification is the only free lunch. 


I would bet that most financial advisers would say buy stocks, but soaring inflation will destroy profit margins and the market will struggle more and more as it becomes more difficult to predict future value of dollar denominated assets. The only bright spot will be in commodities. As the dollar loses value more and more countries and firms will be moving away from their dollars and will use them to buy our commodities. As the fed weakens the dollar the better the fundamentals will become for precious metals and other commodities.  Gold itself is now entering the parabolic phase of the bull market. 


I really do doubt if we'll see sub $1300 gold for at least 20 years. All we can hope for is for the fed to pull off a miracle and accomplish a "soft landing." We need the dollar to lose value in an orderly fashion. The only way out of our current debt is through the devaluation of the dollar. A soft landing will bring this about over the next few years. If on the other hand it does not stay orderly things may become very difficult for the average American very quickly. You should expect assets to rise and the purchasing power of your money to decline. Expect everything to become more expensive. Its long been said that at least 10% of your assets should be in precious metals, its is quite possible that one will wish it had been more.