Our Road to Elevate series continues with a conversation every pastor, stewardship leader, and ministry director needs to hear. Darrel Girardier sits down with Ken Schafer, Brentwood Baptist's stewardship minister, to discuss what it takes to build a culture of generosity, previewing one of the breakout sessions at the Elevate Church Conference on September 21 and 22, 2026.
Ken starts by separating two words most of us use interchangeably: giving and generosity. From there, he and Darrel work through why money conversations create friction in churches, why a met budget can still hide an unhealthy congregation, and the specific numbers Ken tells every church leader to go find in their own giving data. They close by rethinking a familiar narrative about generational giving and unpacking the difference between giving to a church and giving from worship.
In This Episode, You'll Learn
- The key difference between giving and generosity, and why treating them as interchangeable holds churches back: giving is a transaction, and generosity is a condition of the heart
- Why healthy churches treat generosity as part of holistic spiritual development, right alongside Bible study, worship, and prayer, instead of putting it in a lane by itself
- Why "our budget is being met" almost never means a church has a healthy culture of generosity
- The difference between average giving and median giving, and why median is the more honest, and often more sobering, number for a church to know
- The difference between giving to a church and giving from worship, and why that shift changes how a church should talk about money altogether
Meet the Guests
Ken Schafer is the Stewardship Minister at Brentwood Baptist, where he helps individuals and the congregation grow into a biblical view of generosity as an act of worship, not just a line in the budget.
Darrel Girardier is the Executive Director of Ministry Resources at Brentwood Baptist, where he oversees the team and resources that help equip pastors and ministry leaders across the church.