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Record Live is a conversation about life, spirituality and following Jesus in the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Who is Sister Betsy_
Jarrod Stackelroth: [00:00:00] Hi there, everyone. I'm Jared.
Zanita Fletcher: And I'm Zenita.
Jarrod Stackelroth: We are your hosts of Record Live, a podcast where we talk about church, faith, and living well.
Zanita Fletcher: We believe as followers of Jesus, faith is more than just a set of beliefs. It's a way of life, something we put into practice.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Let's go live.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And it's record live time again. Thank you for joining us and,, let us know where you're watching us from Zanida as always. Great to have you with us this week. And we are joined by a very special guest today, Mary Ellen. Friend of the show, former co host of Record Live. It is wonderful to see you again.
Jarrod Stackelroth: How are you? And tell us a little bit, if you [00:01:00] can, about what you've been up to lately.
Maryellen Hacko: Sure. Well, it's so lovely to be back. I have a very soft spot for Record Live, obviously. , so let me think. What am I up to? Well, I just got back from a trip to the USA for three weeks. So yeah, feeling a little bit kind of jet lagged.
Maryellen Hacko: It's just a bit tired at the moment. , but yeah, my husband had a work trip over there and so I joined him and I had some work stuff to do, but yeah, at the moment I am doing a bunch of different creative projects for different. Mostly parts of the Adventist church, but also some other organizations., a lot of design and illustration stuff at the moment, actually, which is exciting, but yeah, a bit of a jack of all trades.
Zanita Fletcher: I had someone recently, Mary Ellen, actually, , the mother of a,, Olympic medallion winner. , she said that she really loved watching you on the show when you did record live. And when you were a host and she said she really misses your conversations and your insight, I think she really [00:02:00] just gravitated to what you said.
Zanita Fletcher: So you are missed on this show and it was great to have you back for another episode.
Maryellen Hacko: That's so lovely. It's wild that an Olympic medalist's mum watched the show. That's amazing. So cool.
Zanita Fletcher: Anyway, I only heard of what this was a few months ago. Uh, prior to the article that came out in the record.
Zanita Fletcher: I was like, who is sister Betsy? And I literally just thought it was a real woman who maybe jumped out of planes and did extreme things. But it is not. And so we just want to answer that question today. Who is sister Betsy? And,, yeah, can you tell us a little bit about that? So we'll probably start with the obvious question.
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah,, that is the question. It's funny how, yeah, you said, I didn't know what this was. I didn't know what this was before getting to work with our very amazing stewardship director for the SPD, Julian Archer. , and it's really his brainchild. So he had this creative vision of creating Sister Betsy and sharing it with the church to kind of inspire people about giving and [00:03:00] stewardship and whatnot.
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah. Long story short, Sister Betsy, yes, , she does jump out of planes, and yes, she is very exciting, a hundred and seventy something year old, I think, at this point. But, , she's basically a metaphor, so she's a made up character, but she stands for systematic benevolence. And back in the day when our church began, , people like to nickname it Sister Betsy.
Maryellen Hacko: And basically it's like a really overarching concept. Systematic Benevolence or Sister Betsy is, , the practice of making regular, financial contributions to God's mission work or to the church. , so it kind of tithing sort of comes under it, but this is, it's going in a slightly different direction, but we can dive more into that soon.
Maryellen Hacko: But yeah, basically she's like here to help us know how to give, , and live that generous lifestyle. So does that answer the question or does it create more questions?
Zanita Fletcher: No, no, no, it does. There is also a surfboard wax brand named Sitsa Betsy. So I wasn't sure if it was [00:04:00] like, Initially related to that, but surf rent isn't very kosher.
Zanita Fletcher: So I was like, I doubt it, but there's a link in the adventure sports and the system Etsy. But I think this is. Way more awesome.
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah, wow, that is so serendipitous. That's so cool.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So, why does Sister Betsy need to come back? She was around at the beginning of the church. It was a term, as you said, coined by our pioneers, and it's quite, it sounds quite cool, you know, Sister Betsy having this complicated idea Personified, I think, is a very clever way to tackle something that may seem not that fun.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , finance, you know, finance and being intentional and donating to the church. , why? Now, why is it important to have a campaign like this around this concept now in this time in the church's history?
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah. Yeah. So , [00:05:00] that's the question really, like, why should we care? , obviously a lot of people will give tithes and that's a regular contribution.
Maryellen Hacko: So why should I dive more into this when I'm already giving tithe or whatever? And I should mention before we start this, all of this information is summarized on Sister Betsy's webpage. So you can go to the stewardship. adventistchurch. com or slash sister Betsy, and you'll find it all here. , but long story short, mission offerings have decreased dramatically over the past about a hundred years.
Maryellen Hacko: And that obviously makes. It's a lot of mission work that we do very difficult or, can limit what we're able to do in spreading the gospel overseas. In the last six months or so, I think, Jared, were you there at PNG for Christ? Yep. You were there.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Visited. I was reporting on it.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I didn't actually preach, but I did, I did experience the, the epic campaign that was PNG for Christ. It was crazy.
Maryellen Hacko: How many baptisms were there in the end, do you know?
Jarrod Stackelroth: Um, a lot.
Maryellen Hacko: [00:06:00] Hundreds.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Well, they're still counting them by the end of the year, they expect they will have baptized around 300, 000 people this year in Papua New Guinea.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So
Maryellen Hacko: that's incredible. Well, yeah, like that as a case study, for example, a program like that, an initiative like that obviously requires funding, , there's a lot going on. A lot of people are there, lots of flights, lots of public campaigns, all that stuff requires funding. And so. Sister Betsy is kind of,, the principle of that is to increase this kind of activity around the world.
Maryellen Hacko: But when we look at the trends in giving, in the 1930s. Okay. That's where we kind of have data from. For every 1 that a person gave in tithe, they were also giving 64 cents.
Maryellen Hacko: So it's like about 50, a bit more than 50 percent of what you're getting to tithe, you're also giving commission offerings. Today, and for various reasons, but today that number is only 3. 6 cents. So we've gone from 60 cents down to 3. 6 [00:07:00] cents. So that, I don't know what percentage decrease that is, but it's significant.
Maryellen Hacko: , and so obviously that makes, um, difficult. , and sure you could probably look at, you know, trends in giving to local church more than we give to mission. That's a massive factor. You could also look at things like, okay, well today, they have things like Adra, like other charities that we can give to, but still, , the fact that I think offerings, I don't know, I've always struggled with offerings, right?
Maryellen Hacko: Cause like tithe, it's clear it's in the Bible. You give 10%. How much do I give in offerings? Like that's always the question. I have conversations with people my age about this all the time. Like where does the offering go? You know, all kinds of questions around it. , but yeah, systematic benevolence is back to really give a bit of a structure around offerings, and encourage people to give generously to mission because that's where the rubber hits the road, right?
Maryellen Hacko: That's where it actually counts..
Zanita Fletcher: Cool. So I guess I have a few questions. So obviously we've got Tide and then we've got. Systematic Benevolence or, , [00:08:00] offerings, , is Sister Betsy, like you know how every now and then we come to church and they say, the local offering this week is for, The local church or it's for,, mission or it's for education.
Zanita Fletcher: , is there a separate one for systematic benevolence or is that just like called mission or like, do we give it to a wet, like, how do we even go back?
Maryellen Hacko: That is a great question. And I kind of misunderstood it when I first started working on this as well. Long story short, systematic benevolence. Um, maybe I'll give a bit of history on it, actually, and then I'll answer that question.
Maryellen Hacko: And you can look, this history up in much more detail on, , the Adventist Encyclopedia. So, if you're interested, please feel free to go and read that. But long story short, when our church first started in , 1844 and then into the 1860s, 1863, I think it's official.
Maryellen Hacko: Anyway, in that period of time, obviously the Adventist church wasn't like, it didn't look anything like it does today. It was very much an organic movement. You had, , Ellen White, James White, all of these people just [00:09:00] going around and sharing , The good news of the gospel. , so it was very organic and you had a lot of traveling preachers relying on the generosity of people when they arrived at their destination.
Maryellen Hacko: And so because of that, you had two things that happened. First of all, a lot of. the preachers and, , missionaries, I suppose, , were kind of impoverished. Like they really struggled. There wasn't a lot for them and they would have to work, , jobs as they traveled. And that was difficult to find and all kinds of difficulties.
Maryellen Hacko: So that was one thing. And then the second thing was, , the people who were receiving these missionaries and these worships. traveling preachers and whatever, there were certain people that would financially support them, but the financial burden was on the 20%, not like it, it was a minority that were, , carrying that financial burden.
Maryellen Hacko: And eventually over a number of years, they became weary in doing that. It was like, this isn't fair. And so they stopped supporting them. And so the church founders were like, Okay, what are we going to [00:10:00] do? Like we want this message to spread. We need to introduce a concept. And so they read the Bible and this was before our church actually knew what tithing was or put the principle of tithing in place, which is fascinating to me.
Maryellen Hacko: Like you kind of expect that has always been a thing, but it wasn't always a thing. , Long story short, it was in 1859, , the church founders James White, Ellen White, all the others got together and, , prayerfully put in place based on a couple of passages in the scripture in first and second Corinthians, this idea of systematic benevolence.
Maryellen Hacko: So that's kind of where it came from. So bringing it back to now, systematic benevolence is more of a concept than it is like a specific, well, it's not a specific one. So yeah, it's a concept. It's really, designed to just, educate people on the fact that systematic giving regular giving is really beneficial for the church for God's mission work and also has a lot of blessings to give to the individual as well.
Maryellen Hacko: , And yeah, that can be done because we already do it with tithe, right? That's [00:11:00] systematic benevolence is embedded in tithe, but we can also do it with our offerings. , knowing that we're giving regularly to God's mission work. So yeah, that's a bit of a context history lesson for
Jarrod Stackelroth: it. And so you said a You said 1859, which is before the church was officially organized.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So this concept predates the official Seventh day Adventist church. That's fascinating. , so maybe thinking about it myself to rehash what you've said, just in layman's terms, you're putting aside some money. And if I'm thinking about the visiting preachers, it's like other people contribute as well. And so you've got some money.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So when they rock up on your doorstep, you've got something. , you've set aside in a sense, like Joseph in the years of plenty, you're putting aside , some grain ready for the famine. And I guess this concept is like, so, okay, to mission work or to projects that come up to needs that happen in the [00:12:00] church, to mission offerings, to asks that come along. As a family, as a, , collective, as a church, you've been setting aside a little bit of funding and all of a sudden a need comes up and there's something there to give you've already pre saved money., is that a nutshell sort of version of what we're talking about here?
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah, , that's a perfect summary.
Maryellen Hacko: , yeah, I couldn't have said it better. And it's interesting because the two passages that like this concept was based on before they found all the other, I think it's in Micah where it talks about tithing and a few other passages in the Old Testament. , first Corinthians 16 verse 2 , it says now about the collection for the Lord's people, and this is Paul talking to, I think, oh yeah, I guess the church in Corinth.
Maryellen Hacko: , do what I told the Galatian churches to do on the first day of every week. Each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income proportionally. Saving it up so that when I come, no collections will have to be made. So the money is sitting there [00:13:00] so that, Yeah, when they come, there's no questions.
Maryellen Hacko: They just take what's there and kitty gets refilled each week kind of thing, which is interesting. So it's like a really old concept from Paul's time that we then implemented before tithing. So there's a history there.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah, that's awesome to know. There's also, , the verse Betsy's tagline that she thrives on living life to the full comes from John 10, 10, which says that my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.
Zanita Fletcher: How do we integrate those two? Like, how does systematic, I have to say this slowly every time and concentrate systematic benevolence. How does that give us a rich and satisfying life? Like I think we know that helping others helps us and rah, rah, rah. But can you tell us a bit more about that?
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah, I made a, ooh, I don't think I have it here on the Instagram page yet. , I made a carousel recently, which I wish I had in front of me, because I'll probably put a photo of that to say in comparison. But if you want to follow, , when that drops, it'll be on the SisterBetsy. SPD [00:14:00] Instagram page. So that'll come soon.
Maryellen Hacko: , but yeah, there are so many benefits to giving. And I wish Julian Archer was here, his SPD Stewardship Director, to kind of go into this, because he is so passionate about this. But when we give generously to God, and there's so much evidence in scripture, like money is, I don't know if it's the most talked about topic by Jesus, but I want to say I've read that somewhere.
, Jesus talks about money a lot. , obviously money is something that we all need to survive, right? And we all have a complicated relationship with money. , but giving to the church, I know for me personally, It's an act of faith. It's an act of trust. I've definitely seen the benefits of it in my life.
Maryellen Hacko: , but I almost, I don't know, veer away from answering this question too directly because I think it can very much get into kind of prosperity gospel territory a little bit. , I think the benefits are different for everyone. , for some people it will be, abundance, like prosperity, , for other people, it [00:15:00] will be You know, crushing your pride and relying on God more for other people.
Maryellen Hacko: It will be, strengthen relationship with Jesus. It'll be, it's different things for everyone. , But there are some very interesting testimonies coming to that Instagram page soon, actually, , which, yeah, it's really inspiring to hear how systematic benevolence and just giving in general, can transform people's lives and just , create more and more blessings.
Maryellen Hacko: So, yeah, I know that doesn't directly answer the question, but yeah, it's a tricky one.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I'm going to throw that question on Zanita cause I think she's been writing an article on generosity for signs of the times magazine. So do you have any info for us Zanita on how generosity helps our health or something like that?
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah, so many things you could say., I think you're right. Like, you don't want to give just for the sake of being like, this is going to make me happy and healthy. , but if you don't, then you're not going to, I guess I'll start with this. I was reading one study and it was, , this lady, , [00:16:00] she was the person who started, , this like self help thing around happiness.
Zanita Fletcher: I guess like 30 years ago, no one was really talking about it. And she was like at Stanford university studying it. And she said that there's like obviously hundreds of things that can make us happiness. But the top three is , gratitude interventions, which is just like being grateful for things, , being generous.
Zanita Fletcher: So like giving your time and money and then the other one was just like interacting with people more. So they all sound pretty obvious, but , I think we're always asking that , Oh, what's going to make me happy. And there's so many different things, but they're the things that like statistically and consistently across the board, like help for people.
Zanita Fletcher: But I think it's like that the Bible talks about is heaps like you're right, Mary Ellen, it's mentioned, I think, , And 50 percent of the parables are about money and generosity or something like that, which is quite crazy. But I don't know. I think we just all have this mindset. Like I know I do.
Zanita Fletcher: It's like, Oh, I just want a little bit more or once I buy that one thing, then I'll be more generous. , that also stops me from being generous. It's like my own little things or that just like [00:17:00] small other thing that I want or , I, maybe I just want to earn a bit more and then I'll give more.
Zanita Fletcher: , that's what kind of, Stops me. And I guess also like the obvious rise of costs and things, but I don't know. It's yeah, I guess we, we all buy into that or I know speaking for myself, I buy into that life so much that just a little bit more will be what makes me happy instead of giving that a little bit more and being tighter on my life and my luxuries instead of being generous.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I spoke on Sabbath at, , Kellyville Church about the, they're doing a series this month on anxiety in a, in a stressful world. , and the passage they asked me to speak about was in Matthew 6, which is in Jesus Sermon on the Mount, where he talks about do not worry. And basically that, Do not worry that , we know relatively well, sometimes we encounter like, Hey, don't worry.
Jarrod Stackelroth: The birds have food, the lilies have clothes and they're beautiful. And God cares about them. He cares about you more sort of thing. , I was reflecting on [00:18:00] that and, diving into that in my studies last week. And I guess, , that chunk comes after a. number of Jesus teachings on money and is kind of tied.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's a triplet sort of teaching. It goes along with the, , don't store up treasures in on earth, store them up in heaven. , don't serve two masters. The money versus, you know, God , wrestle between what, what are you going to do? What are you going to serve? And I guess, When I was looking at some of this stuff, it boiled down to that scarcity mindset versus that abundance mindset.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And Jesus had an abundance mindset. He was really expecting that God is good and that God is going to show up and do things for you. And so I guess, , that I'm just reflecting, , from what you guys were both saying in your answers , what I was hearing was the trust that it takes to practice systematic benevolence is it's an [00:19:00] abundance mindset.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I'm not worried about tomorrow. Tomorrow will look after itself, as Jesus said. I know there'll be enough tomorrow to go around, so I'm going to put a little aside today. It's not my money anyway. It's God's money. Like God will fill out of that abundant place. I think that is really hard to do. It's a test of our faith.
Jarrod Stackelroth: , but it's, Hey, if we want to live like Jesus, we've got to cultivate that abundance mindset. And I think sister Betsy maybe challenges us to do that.
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah, absolutely. I mean,, what's, what's so crazy about,, that abundance mindset that Jesus had is. Jesus was basically homeless. You know, he was a wandering prophet dude who like slept under the stars a lot of the time.
Maryellen Hacko: And he was able to be that abundant. And, I look at my own life and the incredible blessings I have, like material blessings I have in comparison. And that's a challenging concept. , , Luke 16, [00:20:00] 10 says whoever can be trusted with the small things can be trusted with the big things. And I think that is really where I find a lot of encouragement through systematic benevolence and Sister Betsy, because All it's asking you to do is to proportionally, it doesn't mean you have to give like a thousand bucks a week to whatever cause, it's like, whatever you can manage each week, you just start giving, and it's almost like a test, and actually, I think it's in the beginning of Micah, it says, test me in this.
Maryellen Hacko: It's one of the only times in scripture where God tells us to test him, test me in this. You know, if you give to me, I will give back to you. I'm butchering the text. I can get it up if you want. But, , he's basically if you were generous to me, I will be generous to you. Test me in this. And so systematic benevolence is almost like a little sneaky way of being like, well okay, God, I'm going to start giving to you each week.
Maryellen Hacko: This amount, I'm going to test you and see what happens. And. You know, yeah, I guess that's where the testimonies flow, right? So,
Zanita Fletcher: yeah, see what happens. Just put aside a little [00:21:00] bit. I think, , also on that idea, like many people think that, , they're struggling just to pay like their bare necessities.
Zanita Fletcher: But a lot of the things I think that we in the West consider bare necessities, , I think I heard a statistic recently where it was like the average woman spends like 300 a month just on So moisturizers, or getting their eyebrows done, or , shaving, or whatever, , and so, I think, There's a lot of things that we can , just pull back.
Zanita Fletcher: Like if we just thought about one little luxury in our life and put that instead towards sister Betsy, like , it would all add up and it wouldn't really be a loss. Like we would probably barely notice it, but yeah, I think it just starts with figuring out what that small thing is, but I don't know, Mary Ellen, do you have any tips as to like how to start small or , what are some things that we can do to , give
Maryellen Hacko: that a little bit.
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, hmm, the first thing is probably a mindset shift before we get like super practical on it. We can touch on that, but, I think a lot of us, [00:22:00] if you, if I was to ask either of you, like, what are your top three priorities in life, you'd probably say something like, , family, , God, God, family, and.
Maryellen Hacko: I don't know, whatever, , that's what most people say. But then when I look at my own life, for example, I would say the same kind of things. A lot of the time I'm super busy with work and so I don't spend time with my family. Or I'm super distracted by social media and so I don't spend time with God or whatever.
Maryellen Hacko: So often our actions aren't actually in harmony with what we say our values are. And so this is a really good test for that. Cause I think with what you're saying Zanita, , 300 bucks a month on skincare or, , whatever that thing is, probably a lot of people aren't aware of that.
Maryellen Hacko: And a lot of people if asked, , what, what is important to spend your money on? They probably wouldn't say that. And yet, that's what they're doing. So it's a really great way to . Again, test God, but also get your priorities straight and do a bit of a, [00:23:00] an analysis of, of your life.
Maryellen Hacko: , so anyway,, getting your mindset straight on what is important to do with your money. And look, some people may look at this concept and be like, that's not for me. That's cool. But if you do feel convicted by it, then it's really great, great place to start getting those priorities straight.
Maryellen Hacko: , Really practically speaking, I mean, we have, at least in the Adventist church e giving, , which is like a way of scheduling your giving. And, , it's super simple to set up just a recurring weekly debit, right? So whether it's five bucks a week, whether it's 50 bucks a week, , you can set up like a scheduled thing, any giving, giving it to like world mission budget or whatever offering cause you feel passionate about.
Maryellen Hacko: That's where I would start. That's where I have started. And so far smooth sailing. to follow up
Jarrod Stackelroth: to that, how do we find a cause? Is it something we're passionate about? Should we challenge ourselves to give to something we wouldn't normally give to? Or there are so many causes, sometimes it can be overwhelming.
Jarrod Stackelroth: It's like, , too many options, you know, we don't know where to start. , how do we [00:24:00] start? Or should we spread it across? Or is it more impactful if each person has one thing that they do in a chunk, you know?
Maryellen Hacko: Yeah, this, , this question does open up, , it doesn't really, but maybe I'm going to go there.
Maryellen Hacko: , it does have a bit of jitterworms and I have this discussion with a lot of, especially Gen Z and millennials, , they say, where should I be giving my offering to all my, to my tithe to, because I don't trust that it's going to be used in the right way. Or , there's so much admin and the church levels, like I'd rather give to this.
Maryellen Hacko: That is really challenging. I'm not pretending to have all the answers, but again, this is a real test of faith and trust that God will use the funds for where they're meant to go. , I don't know if you guys have opinions on that. Maybe we can dive into it, but long story short. Systematic Benevolence, the reason this has been set up is what I said before.
Maryellen Hacko: Our mission offerings are down, and , the church is this incredible institution, really, [00:25:00] and what, no matter what you say about it, no matter what qualms you have with it,, complaints, whatever, it is objectively pretty amazing that , our church is a global institution with multiple levels, and because of that, we are able to do incredible mission work in so many countries that a lot of other churches simply or denominations simply can't facilitate right they don't have the infrastructure to do so and so yeah just keeping that in mind it's like well the mission funds for you know if you give to a church like global mission world mission fund for example that could be funding like The homeless care packs in somewhere in Africa, or it could be funding PNG for Christ, or it could be funding like a Mission to the Cities initiative in New York City, whatever.
Maryellen Hacko: So, that's really the heart behind this, like increase those mission funds that our church can operate. But, if you're not in that place, I would encourage you to just give to a mission oriented cause, one that like,, You feel some kind of connection to address a good one. Asian aids, a good one, whatever.
Maryellen Hacko: , [00:26:00] I can't tell people what to give to, obviously, but yeah, mission is really the heart of it.
Zanita Fletcher: Yeah, totally.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I just want to speak to that a little bit, Mary Ellen. And , from what I've experienced, like,, there is cynicism around the church and what it can do and what it will do. , but at the same time, there's an incredible amount of, , at least in our part of the world, transparency and accountability in the church.
Jarrod Stackelroth: There's a lot of auditing that happens and not all the independent ministries necessarily have that, , not to be down on external things. But sometimes we like to do certain causes because, oh, that's closer to the ground or that's a bit more, , exciting. It seems like it's being more impactful.
Jarrod Stackelroth: But at the same time, some of these big, , global mission funds are going to projects that are making an impact at the same time. They're very, , highly scrutinized projects. So they're not necessarily going to be squandered or misused. So if you have concerns about how the money and the tithes and the offerings, et cetera, is being used, I [00:27:00] think,, at least, especially in this part of the world, , it's very carefully accounted for.
, and that is, , something that we probably don't talk about enough as a church, how many checks and balances there are. Being part of a global organization. We're not a congregational model, an independent model where people can just use the money, how they feel like getting the money. They're not, our pastors aren't buying themselves private jets and things, , that's not how the system's set up.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And so that is a, it should be a trust building, , comfort when we look at, okay, how's the money used? Well,, if we take part in some of these programs. The money is at least going to be accounted for. , so that I think is encouraging. Sorry, Zanita, you were going to ask another question? I
Zanita Fletcher: was just going to add on that because I think a lot of people don't know the ins and outs of where their offerings and tithes go.
Zanita Fletcher: , and we have been meaning to have a conversation about this on Record Live. So if you're interested, we'll do a full thing on it. , because , I think it is really interesting. And I remember when I found [00:28:00] out. where our tithing offerings went. I was like, Oh, that's actually awesome. , that's so well thought out.
Zanita Fletcher: Like, I feel like I can trust this again. So,, yeah, but anyway, Marianne, we have run out of time. , you have kind of gotten practical with us already, but is there any final words you would like to give regards to Sister Betsy, um, or anything practical or anything at all?
Maryellen Hacko: Well, just to, I guess, , what's the word, validate, validate, the fact that,, money is a difficult thing when it comes to faith, spirituality, and if anyone's watching who like, yeah, it still isn't sure, that is so valid, we need money to survive.
Maryellen Hacko: Jesus talks about money a lot because he knows it is such a big deal, but I guess, yeah, I'd encourage people, it's , just. Check out Sister Betsy's webpage, check out her Instagram, , just educate yourself more on it, see what you think. I haven't shared nearly everything that's involved with, this, the vision behind this.
Maryellen Hacko: , and yeah, it's a great, really, it's a really practical [00:29:00] way to test God. , and just like see how generous he can be. , so if that's something that interests you, yeah, try it out. But yeah.
Jarrod Stackelroth: And perhaps we can start with prayer because that's always a good way. If you're struggling with this, I'd encourage you to pray about it.
Jarrod Stackelroth: Just see if God has any special revelation for you, , on how you should be using your money. He might help you to see a challenge , in the space of that. , and that's always a good thing. Hey, Mary Ellen is so great to have you back on the program. It's been great to connect. Thank you for the work that you're doing in this campaign and all the other things.
Jarrod Stackelroth: I know you've got a lot of things that you're juggling, so we appreciate the time that you've taken to spend with us today. Zanita will be on leave for a few weeks, so we'll miss her, , but Record Live will continue in some capacity for the next few weeks.
Jarrod Stackelroth: So God bless you all and we'll see you again next week.
Zanita Fletcher: See you soon, everyone. Thanks, Mary Ellen. Thanks, guys. [00:30:00]