Gerry and Lisa's Story - Generosity
Gerry and Lisa Gaugler are both on staff at Vibrant, Gerry is the Children’s Pastor, and Lisa is the Generosity Manager:
We have been attending Vibrant since 2006, when their neighbor invited them to first come to the church.
Neither of us had grown up with giving being an emphasis, so our experience at first was the offering plate coming by, but we weren’t educated on tithing.
The church did a 90-day tithing challenge, and at that point we were really afraid to do that, because 10 percent at the time felt like a lot because we were living paycheck to paycheck.
They [the church] said that if you try it and it isn’t working out, we will give you your money back. So, we tried it out.
At the same time, we took a Financial Peace University class, which helped us look at money differently. You give them much, you spend this much, you save this much. It really showed us that to give that 10 percent was for sure a stretch at the beginning. It was certainly an exercise of trust with God, to give him what he was asking for.
Our finances are better than they have ever been! The more faithful we are, the more God works it out.
If you trust God, he just works it out, and we have experienced that. We have never felt sorry for tithing. It came down to trusting God. We feel richer in our lives now, we feel more blessed, and we believe it is part of that trust.
We know he is going to take care of us.
There have definitely been times since we took that initial tithing challenge that we have been worried. It isn’t like we haven’t had doubts, but we have just reinforced our commitment to what we decided, but just haven’t let fear get in the way and have realized he has always provided.
It is a joy, now, and we know if something unexpected comes up that we want to give to, we can give to it, and we don’t have to be afraid.
Our priorities have shifted as far as what is important to us, I feel less anxiety because there is less tying us down financially, we are not a slave to our mortgage or to car payments. God has been very faithful.
At the beginning, it was more of a discipline, this is what we are supposed to do. It doesn’t feel like a discipline anymore, it very much feels joyful.
I would say to myself, if I was in that situation again, to just trust God. Just trust Him. You don’t have a lot to lose, but you have everything to gain.
It is a leap for sure, for a lot of people to just step out and trust that God’s got this, but it is truly rewarding when you do it.
In our culture, we get caught up and it is about bigger, more and the quest for that, the “American Way” but it is not the Christian way, it is not how Jesus wanted us to live. It is how the culture we live in and around wants us to live.
Just take the leap. Just trust Him.
If anything, it is going to bring you more freedom, not less.
We have been attending Vibrant since 2006, when their neighbor invited them to first come to the church.
Neither of us had grown up with giving being an emphasis, so our experience at first was the offering plate coming by, but we weren’t educated on tithing.
The church did a 90-day tithing challenge, and at that point we were really afraid to do that, because 10 percent at the time felt like a lot because we were living paycheck to paycheck.
They [the church] said that if you try it and it isn’t working out, we will give you your money back. So, we tried it out.
At the same time, we took a Financial Peace University class, which helped us look at money differently. You give them much, you spend this much, you save this much. It really showed us that to give that 10 percent was for sure a stretch at the beginning. It was certainly an exercise of trust with God, to give him what he was asking for.
Our finances are better than they have ever been! The more faithful we are, the more God works it out.
If you trust God, he just works it out, and we have experienced that. We have never felt sorry for tithing. It came down to trusting God. We feel richer in our lives now, we feel more blessed, and we believe it is part of that trust.
We know he is going to take care of us.
There have definitely been times since we took that initial tithing challenge that we have been worried. It isn’t like we haven’t had doubts, but we have just reinforced our commitment to what we decided, but just haven’t let fear get in the way and have realized he has always provided.
It is a joy, now, and we know if something unexpected comes up that we want to give to, we can give to it, and we don’t have to be afraid.
Our priorities have shifted as far as what is important to us, I feel less anxiety because there is less tying us down financially, we are not a slave to our mortgage or to car payments. God has been very faithful.
At the beginning, it was more of a discipline, this is what we are supposed to do. It doesn’t feel like a discipline anymore, it very much feels joyful.
I would say to myself, if I was in that situation again, to just trust God. Just trust Him. You don’t have a lot to lose, but you have everything to gain.
It is a leap for sure, for a lot of people to just step out and trust that God’s got this, but it is truly rewarding when you do it.
In our culture, we get caught up and it is about bigger, more and the quest for that, the “American Way” but it is not the Christian way, it is not how Jesus wanted us to live. It is how the culture we live in and around wants us to live.
Just take the leap. Just trust Him.
If anything, it is going to bring you more freedom, not less.