By Dewayne White
“We give for a number of reasons. The first one sounds strange, and doesn't even really make sense financially. The bottom line is that we believe God can do a LOT more (and has in my life) with 10% than I can do with my 100%. We started to tithe back around 1999/2000 when a friend of mine started talking to us about this spiritual 'discipline.' It was more than we were used to giving, but it wasn't a large amount by any means. We began to notice that, even without that money, we seemed to have more. We couldn't explain it, but it became clear that God was blessing us. As I became more senior and the amount increased, there were times when I thought, 'this is too much.' However, our belief that God has blessed us financially because of our financial obedience is one that we hold very strongly to. So, we give because we are convinced that God really does love a cheerful giver and has blessed our family because of it.
We also give for practical reasons. As the grandson of a former Baptist minister, I saw my grandfather work all night as a prison guard to support his family while leading a Church. Because the Churches simply couldn't afford it, all of the local ministers lived similar lives, and it took a toll on their effectiveness. I believe that we need to take care of our leaders. Certainly, they know that they are not going to get rich in their 'chosen profession,' but they can be so much more effective if they don't have to work jobs on the side or worry if they'll be able to buy things for their children. I believe we owe it to our leaders to ensure that they don't take a vow of poverty in order to serve us, the Church.
Finally, we give for strategic reasons. There are a couple of ministries that we give to in addition to Image. These are carefully selected ministries that work with children in "hard to reach" countries who may just rise up to change their world for Jesus. We also give to a military-focused ministry that helps men escape the clutches of pornography and another program that helps disciple future officers who will go, literally, all over the world to lead men and women. What better way to strategically reach the nations for Christ?
To sum it up, I guess I'd say we give because we've seen how wonderfully God has blessed us, we give to support our church leadership team, and we give strategically to spread the Gospel throughout the world."