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Arkansas Church Saves $268,000 in One Year by “Going Green”
Orginally published on Monday, April 27, 2009 at 7:01 AM
by Todd Rhoades
First Baptist Church of Springdale, AR has saved, according to their calculations, about $268,000 by doing things like watching their thermostats, shutting off lights, and turning off computers at the end of the day. The 6,000 member church says that it has simply asked its staff to 'act like you are at home'. According to the church, the money saved is money that can be spent elsewhere, such as on missions.
Here’s a little more from the Baptist Press article:
“I think biblically, you’re called to be good stewards of what God blesses you with, and I think that’s the underlying reason why you do it,” Ben Mayes, the church’s executive leader of finance, told Baptist Press. “This has helped us focus on being good stewards. It’s a great program, and so far we’ve enjoyed it.”
The thermostat setting during Sunday morning worships services remained unchanged, although the thermostat during the rest of the week was tweaked a bit, and significantly so at nights when no one is there. But everyone has remained comfortable, Mayes said.
“We tell our [staff]: Hey, act like you’re at home,” he said. “That’s the easy way of reminding them to turn their lights off.... When you go home at night, turn off your computer, turn off your printers. It’s doing what you do at home. You don’t go out and leave things on. If you’re going for an hour-long lunch meeting, then turn your lights off when you leave.”
You can read the whole article here...
QUESTION: Has your church done anything in the way of ‘going green’? Are you seeing good results?
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There are 15 Comments:
Hi... I'm Todd Rhoades. I'm a Christ-follower, husband, father and I love to connect leaders with other leaders. Hopefully you'll find something here at MMI you like and will return often. If you want, you can find out more about me or follow my every step on Twitter.
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Post Your Comments:Our church is recycling paper and has a large bin outside the church for people to drop off paper. We’ve encouraged our leaders to shut off lights when leaving rooms and due to a downturn in attendance at our Sunday evening worship service, we’ve switched from using our sanctuary to using a classroom. Not necessarily green, we found where we had been paying taxes to a utility and are now recovering that money. So, it pays to look over your books with a fine tooth comb to make sure you’re not paying out money that could be going elsewhere.
It seems to me that there is a difference between being fiscally conservative and being good stewards of money by watching lights and thermostats etc, and “going green”. The latter to me states an intentional effort to buy into and participate in the environmental hysteria by trying to save a planet that God gave enough resources to last as long as he wants it to last.
Our church has programmable thermostats which allow for the weekly calendar - and automatic on/off on most lights through motion detection. That is simply good stewardship. I don’t think we are necessarily “green"…
Jim:
You hit the nail right on the head. This is not, “going green,” but just a display of common sense.
My parents taught me that when I’m not in a room, the lights should be off. If I’m not brushing my teeth or washing my hands, the faucet should be off. If we’re not going to be in the house, there’s no sense in warming or cooling it when no one is there.
This church realized and did the same thing. And it’s helping them financially. It’s great that they were able to do this.
I’ve found that the new god that people worship is named, “Green.” And they’ll attribute almost anything like this to it, even when it happens in Christian churches. Sorry, but I’ll never bow down to the creation.
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CS
uhhhh....
being stewards and going green go hand in hand sometimes. if you afraid of saying “going green” to avoid a tinge of “liberalism” or siding with democrats then fine. but its semantics. being “stewards” of the environment in the simplest of ways by turning of lights is in effect “going green.”
Jim
yeah, the environmental “hysteria” was started in Eden when God told us to by stewards of the environment. Blame God.
CS
no one said being environmentally concerned and common sense couldnt go hand in hand
Jim: Good thoughts. I agree that the hysteria isn’t good and there’s no call for it. We just continue to do what we’ve been doing, if someone wants to call it “green” because it’s the ‘in’ thing then fine; but there is a difference between being a good steward and jumping on the ‘green’ marketing bandwagon. Comparatively, one volcano eruption effects the planet more than human-induced green house emissions ever could. Greenhouse publications said that “the 1991 eruption of Mt Pinatubo in the Philippines was one of the largest in the past 100 years. The injection into the stratosphere of 14-26 million tons of sulfur dioxide led to a global surface cooling of 0.5°C a year after the eruption. The climatic impact of the Pinatubo aerosol was stronger than the warming effects of either El Niño or human-induced greenhouse gas changes during 1991-93.”
And that’s just one eruption, think about all of the eruptions that happen in a given year… People get mad about the idea of man-made global issues but the real deal is that one eruption pollutes more than humans. So what do we do? Should we now freak out because we can’t really control the Volcanoes all that easily? Nah, let’s not do that. Let’s continue to be good stewards, keep things in perspective, and trust God.
Dale,
Just because you have jumped on the global warming cult band wagon, doesn’t mean we have to. God has called us to be good stewards of His creation, & has given us God-given common sense. If you want to adapt their language, go ahead but we will not. We will use God-given common sense & obey His word. And there was no enviromental “hysteria” in the garden of Eden either.
This church realized and did the same thing. And it’s helping them financially. It’s great that they were able to do this.
Calling everyone who gets global warming a member of a cult is insulting to many Christians, including myself.
Who are you to question my faith by saying I’m a member of a cult???? You know nothing about me or my walk with God—but you feel free to toss out insults on the internet.
I have two technical degrees (including a masters), professional engineering registration, and worked for a global technology company in the environmental field for a decade or so.
I’m a tech guy and I don’t pretend to be an expert in theology, so it mystifies me that theologians are now experts in science.
Remember all the studies that told us cigarettes weren’t harmful and nicotine wasn’t addictive? I’m sure it was convenient for many people who didn’t want to hear the bad news to believe those studies.
Since a “cult” by definition is a set of extremist beliefs that are out of the mainstream, I’ll leave you to think about who’s a member of a cult and who’s not.
Congratulation & Praise the Lord for what is very commendable action of saving.... Sometime when we have too much & in prosperity we forget the virtue of good stewardship. Remember there are people dying without Christ, without food and many other things that other people enjoy in this life...again to God be the glory
I wanted to share a newly launched website with you, http://www.goinggreentoday.com. It is an online coaching tool that gives you a daily tip on how to live more sustainably. If you follow your plan, your household will save more than $2,000 per year while also reducing your carbon emissions by at least 30%! There is a $29 fee, though half of this money goes to an organization addressing global warming issues.
Joseph2,
My first major ministry was working in evangelism towards the cults (CAF -Cult Awarness Fellowship). After working several years & witnessing to various cult groups the behavior patterns are all very similiar despite the belief system. I am certainly not the first or the only one to call the “global warming” scam a cult. “Global warming” is not proven science either but far more political if you have been doing your research. There is a huge & growing # of reputable scientist who are strongly against Al Gore & the whole global warming theory & that’s what it is & was, an unproven theory. The simple fact is, the earth has dropped in temperatures in the last 12 years according to scientific data but the main stream media & left-wing politicians are still crying “global warming.” God is in control of the global climate & it is arrogant for man to think he can actually control it.
Why do we discriminate in nature? “Going Green?” There are other, equally beautiful colors in nature...red, brown, pink, violet, yellow, orange, black, and even blue. So why do we honor green above all these others? As for me and my household, we are “Going Rainbow” as we are hugging not just trees but the entire diversity of God’s creation.
Richard, I like that!
Joseph
There wasnt environmental hysteria in the Garden because there didnt need to be. They actually cared for the environment.
dont use “jumping on a global warming band wagon” as an excuse to continue to exploit the environment. there is no denying that our environment has drastically been effected by our exploitation of it.
God went Green first, perhaps we should listen to him, whether you want to use the term or not or believe in global warming. that doesnt change the fact that this is what christians and the church, the body of christ, has been called to from the beginning.
if you dont want to be on board with that your issue isnt with me in a comment section, but with God.
Doing these things isnt liberal, green collard, hippie, or simply common sense, its being obedient.
Dale,
You actually had me laughing when you said “dont use “jumping on a global warming band wagon” as an excuse to continue to exploit the environment.,” yeah like I ‘m really exploiting the enviroment. Real funny! The bottom line is, like some of the above readers have commented, it’s just common sense. If you want to use “going green” terminology that the enviormental nut-cases have stimatized on all of us then go ahead but I choose not to. To say God is the first to go green is just a manipulation of the scriptures in order to say whatever you want it to say. That is very common among the cults. The higher calling is to reach out too, & love the billions of lost souls for Jesus. Should we be good stewards of the enviorment? Of course, that’s a give-in, but we honor the Toy Maker, not the toy. We honor & worship the Creator, not the creation & yet respect it..
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