Is there a way to take the commercial part of Christmas, erase it and start over? Not entirely, but there are ways to allow Christmas to return to something a lot closer to where it started and put some of the Christ back in what has become a marketing and sales bonanza for the country. Please understand, marketing and sales are not bad – at least not until they overtake Jesus and push Him out of sight during Christmas!

Let’s start with some basics. It is not wrong to enjoy Christmas festivities, gift-giving and a celebration of a truly special time of the year. Where the sin occurs is when the Santa aspect of Christmas overtakes or eliminates the Christ-reality of Christmas. Christmas should be celebrated. Don’t ever forget that about 2,000 years ago the Creator reached down and gave us the greatest gift possible, the life of His one and only Son. John 3:16. That gives us a very solid reason to celebrate.

However, celebration, the parties, the gifts, the debt, the traffic and the incredible crowds can all blend together and bury the joy of the real meaning and celebration of Christmas.

Bring it back together and re-focus. How? Here are a few ideas.

Make Christmas about family and close friends

One of the most common news articles during the Christmas season is whether retailers will meet their sales goals. Perhaps right alongside those articles are the ones about the crazy crowds and even the near riots on “black Friday” as well as the insanity of black Friday creeping into Thanksgiving Day or even earlier. Don’t forget cyber Monday, the creation of the tech industry to attempt to extend the shopping frenzy for their own benefit.

Yes, the prices are good – at least some of them. But the crowds, the traffic and the tension can make it a time of enormous stress. Buying stuff you really don’t need, even at a savings over the normally high prices, just isn’t worth the loss of peace and quiet.

Step back and away from those crowds, shop online as much as possible (which often allows pre-planning and even greater savings – and spend time with those who are most important, your family and loved ones. Plan a day trip in the opposite direction from the mall. Head for a park and hold a picnic with your family, head to someone’s home and have some time reflecting upon the real gift of the season, a child was born and a Son given 2,000 years ago. Isaiah 9:6. The depths of that one verse, written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus is astonishing.

Avoid the TV and you can avoid a lot of the commercial pressure to buy. Modern American marketing is subtle in exerting psychological pressure using imagery, smiling faces on TV and the concept of the joy of having more stuff than the Joneses. How do you beat it? The truth is, marketing will likely create urges you don’t even recognize and pressure you to buy – if you allow yourself to have advertising wash over you during commercials. Record the shows you want and skip the commercials. Even better, turn the tube off entirely. Make Christmas about family and close friends.

In the last paragraph, I asked a question and now I want to answer it. The question was “How do you beat it?” with “it” being the smiles and happiness of the actors in the commercials. How? With real smiles and real joy, not paid for smiles by actors and situational happiness that will fade when the bills come in.

However, you will have to dip into some shopping. How? It’s never easy, but start here.

Budget and plan ahead to avoid debt

Debt is one of the overwhelming problems in America. The pressures of Christmas purchases (“Mommy, I gotta have one!”) can cause parents to succumb to the peer pressure their children face and buy that expensive fad of the season or year. “If the neighbors got one for their kids, we have to keep up!” No, not really!

According to multiple sources, the average American spent approximately $935 in 2016, $967 in 2017, $882 in 2018 and $942 in 2019 and with the inflation of past years it is a lot higher now. Shoppers spent an average of $1,638 on gifts, travel, and entertainment in 2024, marking a 7% increase from 2023. The pressure of bills in late December and January just isn’t worth the “joy” of new stuff, stuff that is no longer new by the time you have finished paying for it.

The problem is shown in some summary numbers from the article Study: 2019 Giving Statistics published by The Ascent in early 2020:

• The average American spent $1,638 on Christmas gifts, food, decorations, travel, and other miscellaneous holiday-related expenses. That average includes people who didn’t buy gifts.
• The average consumer who bought Christmas gifts spent $997.73.
• 3% of Americans who bought gifts set a budget for holiday spending — but only 64% stuck to it.
• 5% percent of survey respondents went into debt over Christmas.
• 7% of people who went into debt plan to pay it back with their tax returns, but almost as many have no idea how they’ll get out of debt.

Have a budget for shopping, preferably one you planned for all year so you have money set aside and then do the impossible – stick to the budget! Overall credit card debt is at record high levels with the average American holding more than $6,300 in credit card debt. See Credit card debt hits a record high. It’s time to make a payoff plan. No, it’s not time to make a plan to pay off debt! Instead, it’s time to make a plan to save and never get into debt, or at a minimum to not increase your debt. See Save More – 1-% Isn’t Enough, The Disaster of Debt and Getting Out of Debt as well as other articles posted in our Resources for You.

Shop and buy wisely and with a purpose

One rarely used “trick” requires you to look at more than the purchase price but also at all of the additional expenses that will inevitably result from a purchase. If you buy a car, there are insurance, gas, oil, tires, repairs, just to name a few of the additional expenses that will be added to your budget. If you buy a dog or a cat or other pet, there are veterinarian bills, shots, food as well as lots of time. Sure Rover is a blessing, but a blessing can become a financial burden too. If you buy that new TV, you may need new cables, a new DVR, access to Netflix … you get the picture. The expenses add up after only a short while. Can you handle it financially? Maybe. Start with Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. A significant part of his 9 week course is budgeting.

Then the trick is to have the discipline to stick with it. How can you develop discipline? Patience and self-control are fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23.

Bluntly, we should never embrace credit.

How can you develop spiritual discipline? Through prayer and time with God.

Start here:

1. Pray. I mean seriously get on your knees, bow your head and talk to the God who loves you and wants His best for you. He will give you the guidance you need if you wait and want for Him.
2. Ask for God to renew your mind. Romans 12:2.
3. Ask God for His priorities instead of the world’s priorities. Is that new whatever really going to benefit His kingdom, or just yours?
4. Admit you will be weak and fail without support. Seek an accountability partner, a friend who isn’t afraid to tell you the truth.
5. Pay only cash. Yes, I know, that sounds un-American. It isn’t. Consumer debt is only an invention of the past 40 to 50 years. Before then, Americans avoided debt like the plague. Now we embrace that plague. To put it bluntly, we should never embrace credit.
6. Use your failures from last year to encourage you this year and use those failures as encouragement (and a reminder) to start saving now for the future, including next Christmas. See It’s Time To Start Saving.

Ask God for a creative heart and spirit for the season. Consider alternative gifts, especially if you are short on money to buy gifts for loved ones. Consider these possibilities:

Make something unique and special for someone you love.

Give the gift of yourself. Spend time with your loved ones. Cook out, attend a free concert (many churches have free or very inexpensive Christmas programs), play a game, work a puzzle – the ideas and possibilities are endless.

Make your own gift cards for:

• massage,
• housecleaning,
• garden prep,
• meals,
• babysitting,
• concert,
• trip to the zoo,
• free chauffeuring to sports, music, or school,
• tutoring sessions,
• driving practice with teenager, or 
• offer to teach a skill like knitting, sewing, gardening, woodworking, car maintenance or cooking.

The ideas are endless.

Quality time gives more and longer lasting satisfaction. Take in a local event or plan a trip together.

Do Christmas with God in mind

Whatever you do, do this first and with the focus of your heart. The greatest strength we have is His strength. Our greatest weakness is the world and its pressures all around us. One way to spot the traps of the world is to maintain a Christian world view.

Is your hope really in the stuff you buy for Christmas for your family? I sure hope not.

1 Timothy 6:17
17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

When we truly understand the concept – the truth – that we are loved by the Creator of the universe, personally and individually, then we can begin to get our arms around the fact that we have enormous value to God. That should keep you from worry about the “Joneses” and eliminate much if not all of the peer pressure of “I have to keep up with _____.”

I had enough value for Jesus to leave the ultimate wealth of heaven and come here to this earth to suffer and die. If so, my neighbor’s view of my ten-year-old car becomes pretty insignificant.

And after all of that, you really can have a merry Christmas and may God bless you all of that season and more!

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, or so that old movie and song by Andy Williams and the modern movie tell us. It can, unfortunately become a lot more than that.

It also is an incredibly stressful time of expectations, shopping, financial pressures and often, disappointments. Start a new tradition this year by making Christmas a time of family teaching, sharing and bonding. How?

Start with a basic understanding of how children, even bigger children at times, view the things and the world around them. The following list of property laws from the view of a child is a somewhat (perhaps) exaggerated statement of what every parent has observed at one time or another in terms of a child’s view of property rights as written by missionary Deb Lawrence:
   1. If I like it, it’s mine.
   2. If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.
   3. If I can take it from you, it’s mine.
   4. If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.
   5. If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.
   6. If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
   7. If it looks just like mine, it’s mine.
   8. If I saw it first, it’s mine.
   9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.
   10. If it’s broken, it’s yours.

Instead of this funny listing of property laws, it should be the goal of every parent to use the Christmas season teach an attitude of gratitude, work and earn, responsibility, saving and, perhaps most important of all, generous giving. That is easier said than done, but let’s cover a few ideas that might help you this Christmas.

An Attitude of Gratitude

One of the lost arts of our modern world is the art of saying “please” and “thank you.” In the last two generations, those words have not entirely vanished from common use, but they have certainly been reduced to insignificance.

If children think they are entitled to get something or that it is theirs because they deserved it, the battle is lost before it begins. They need to learn to earn by working; but more than anything, they need to understand that they have because God has allowed it.

Deuteronomy 8:18 is a verse for every adult to know and understand as well as a verse for children to begin to grasp. We have, not because we deserve it or earned it or were clever enough to get it. God gave us the ability to work, gave us our intelligence and our abilities to learn, work, earn and receive. When children learn and grasp this basic fact, it becomes less “that is mine” and more “what should I do with what God has given me?” True stewardship begins there.

As a parent, involve your children in the Christmas planning, Christmas shopping lists, gifting decisions and paying for Christmas giving. There are almost endless teaching opportunities with each of those areas of involvement. Planning for Christmas means planning expenses, budgeting, determining costs of gifts, looking at available finances, making responsible choices, forgoing some gifts because of rising prices, balancing your bank accounts, and especially understanding how your buying and gifting decisions can bring glory to God.

I did not learn those things as a child. I was raised by a single mom who had little time for lessons like that. Instead I had to learn them well into adulthood, once I became a believer, and began to understand that my money really isn’t my money. Those were hard lessons to learn in adulthood – teach them to children when they are very young and teachable.

Work and Earn

Work is an area where we can demonstrate to our children a solid grasp of theology or, as a bad alternative, a worldly sense of selfishness and materialism. See Called to Work, Part 1, and Called to Work, Part 2 about the fact, and it is a Biblical fact, that work is good. Then take that concept and make Christmas (and the whole year) a teaching opportunity. Give your children jobs around the house – work! Let them earn money and then teach them the spiritual disciplines of giving, saving, and spending their own hard-earned money! Help them buy gifts after they have given to God and saved some of the money they earned. It is an invaluable opportunity for them to learn that money not only doesn’t grow on trees, but also that it really doesn’t go as far as they probably think it does.

In this process they learn what they are good at, what they enjoy doing and they can begin to get their minds around the reality that much of their life will be spent working, earning money, supporting a family and saving for retirement and showing gratitude to God who made all of that possible.

In that process, they automatically reach the next step, learning responsibility.

Responsibility

Children will make mistakes. They will make an unwise purchase, spend too much on something, lose some money, make a selfish purchase, and not be able to do what they really wanted to do. Depending upon the circumstances, this may be the time to hold fast and teach that there are consequences to bad decisions, or to show grace. Because God certainly has shown enormous grace to each of us, we should never withhold it from our own children. Neither should we excuse their mistakes and eliminate the negative consequences when a good learning experience presents itself.

It is a tough decision, but one every parent has to make almost every day.

Saving

One of the responsibilities children should have is to save some of their money. Some of the savings should be long-term and some for the shorter term. By having some short term savings, they can save up for the gifts they want to give and the small things they may want for themselves. They thereby learn a lesson what no person really seems to want, the blessing of delayed gratification. In a microwave society like America, we want what we want and we want it now!

By saving for the long-term, your children can learn about budgeting and financial planning. It is especially important that they learn that the money they are saving is a tool for a Godly purpose in the future. They learn to save and not hoard.

The benefit? They learn good habits. Behavioral scientists tend to say habits can be learned in about six weeks. I think it takes longer for good habits to be both taught and caught. Sometimes it takes years for the good habits to become so foundational that the lessons will last a lifetime. They need to learn that it may take a year to save for that special phone with the features they want, the new tablet that has all the software they need, the bike or even the car (with gas and insurance and upkeep) that is so important in our connected and mobile society.

Show your children how you balance your income with giving, saving and spending. Show them your discipline – it’s a life lesson they will never forget. While I was not taught giving by my single mom, I did learn the discipline of hard work, the benefit of careful budgeting and the essential nature of saving to avoid debt. Those were lessons more observed than taught in the formal sense, and those life-lessons have lasted a lifetime.

Living within your means is a lesson in responsibility. Show them how you save for your own retirement and so you can help with their education and life. Don’t show excess in your life. Teach them that Jesus lived a very lowly and humble lifestyle. He lived for the gospel message to get out, not for the excesses of society. This is a time when your pattern of saving can become a lesson that there are more important treasures in heaven than anywhere on earth. Matthew 6:19-21 isn’t a Christmas verse, but it is a lesson in giving which is a very “Christmas topic.”

Matthew 6:19-21
19  “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
20  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This brings us to the last lesson in this listing, but nowhere near the lowest in importance – giving.

Giving

Giving can be taught through who you are and what you do as a parent. Your children need to see you give to God. I give through a Donor Advised Fund with the National Christian Foundation which is a wonderful giving tool that I highly recommend. See Ways to Give.

However, parents can best demonstrate and live a generous life by giving in the offering plate so their children can see it being done every week or month. Then children can pitch in with their own offering envelope and their own money. Give joyfully (2 Corinthians 9:7) and they will learn to give joyfully themselves.

Through this, as well as giving their Christmas gifts bought with their own hard-earned money, they learn the joy of giving. It truly is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35.

Show them that generosity is not only about money but about time and talents. Serve and serve joyfully as a volunteer. Perhaps even more important, be generous with your praise when they show they are getting the lesson. This giving of time and talents does not have to be only at the church. It can also be through worthy charities where the poor are served and helped. Each act of service of this nature becomes its own Bible lesson. It does not matter whether you focus on the Old Testament or the New Testament, the message is clear, God cares for those who are poor and needy.

Leviticus 19:10
10  Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.

Psalm 9:18
18  But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish.

Psalm 82:4
4  Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.

Proverbs 19:17
17  Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will reward them for what they have done.

Proverbs 31:9
9 Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.

Luke 11:41
41  But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

The opportunities to serve are especially important at Christmas, a time when those in need have less of an opportunity to have a Christmas filled with gifts. Every act of serving the poor and every gift, such as an Angel Tree gift becomes a life lesson in the generosity God had for us at Christmas.

He gave us His one and only Son, not because we earned it but because God was radically generous with us.

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

I Hate Crowded Stores!

Here’s a really odd idea – have a Merry Christmas! That is so old-fashioned and almost counter-cultural anymore. The holidays start even before October; Christmas lights and advertisements are out in October and they are late if not out in early November. The idea of a calm, reflective and spiritual Christmas where you can see the most amazing gift of all – Jesus! – is something you can see in the old-fashioned movies but not the mall.

Stop!

Take a deep breathe, step back and start over again.

It is not Happy Holidays, it is Merry Christmas. This is the season celebrating the birth of our Savior, not the salvation of retail sales. Buying gifts is not wrong, but forgetting to recognize the reason for the season is. Pushing Jesus into the creche and pushing the manger to a corner of the yard or a spot under the tree while the rest of the yard and home are filled with Santa, reindeer, sleighs and toys reflects a problem of priorities.

God sent His Son out of heaven where He had everything (except us) and the gift of life, life eternal and life with abundance is a far better gift than a new phone, an iPad, or yet another shirt or pair of socks. Instead of stuff, make Christmas about people, starting with Jesus.

Jesus First

Peace is what Merry Christmas should be about. As a part of Jesus’s last words to His disciples, He said,

John 14:27
27   Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
(NIV)

He left peace, but that peace is hard to find in the crowded stores, overloaded parking lots and even online, where the “buy now” software just lacks that joyful Christmas spirit. Instead, always remember that Jesus told us to come to Him when we are weary and heavy laden. Why? He will give us rest. (Matthew 11:28). Rather than be concerned about whether the sale items will be sold out, we are to cast all of our anxiety on Him. Why? Because He cares for us. (1 Peter 5:7). Instead, we rush from store to store and from sale to sale, never hearing the still, small voice of God calling to us, saying, “be still, and know” that He is God. (Psalm 46:10).

Can Jeff Bezos and Amazon say the following to you? Will they shelter you in times of trouble?

Psalm 91:1-2
1   Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty
2   I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
(NIV)

In Christ we can have that peace, that calm, that area lacking anxiety and that refuge, but we can’t find that at Amazon.com. It isn’t at the mall, either. I did a search and while Amazon will give you page after page of products and books claiming peace can be yours, for as little as $16.95 (plus shipping unless you have Amazon Prime), but not one offers true refuge from the storms of life.

Start the season with the author and finisher of our faith. Hebrews 12:2. Next, let’s look at some practical steps you can take to make the most of this Christmas season.

Budget and be creative

• Find (or start) a group in a neighborhood singing Christmas carols. Join them and encourage your friends to join you!
• Look for someone lonely over the holidays, a widow or widower at your church and open your home to them. God seeks to comfort those in need through us. Psalm 72.
• Have a budget for Christmas gifts and stick to it! Do not start by making “a few” exceptions. Take a step back and refocus on the real reason for the season. You can do this in a couple very different ways. With some people, especially young children, a few smaller and less expensive gifts may be the best choice. After all, many kids seem to have more fun with the box than with that expensive toy you were sure would be a delight. For others, one larger gift may be the best, but always remember that expensive gifts are often not the best; thoughtful gifts are frequently the most appreciated ones.
• Believe it or not, thrift shops are great places to shop, especially for Christmas décor. Even better, you can make your own with some wild holly and evergreen branches.
• The fun, personal and free activities are usually the ones remembered best and appreciated the most. Give the gift of your time and attention. Turn your smart phone off and find a concert, an area with many Christmas lights, or read a good Christmas story to your kids.
• Talk a walk, or, even better, a hike and see some of the miracle in nature God has given us and that Paul wrote about in Romans 1:20:

Romans 1:20
20  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

• Watch a gorgeous sunset (on the beach if you can) or get away from city lights and spend a few minutes gazing at the amazing stars on a clear night.
• Add to those nature treks an almost sinful delight; bake some Christmas cookies, make some hot chocolate and carry it along with you.

Say “NO!”

• Who controls you? Is it the Almighty or is it the whim and pull of advertising and marketing? The Lord is our shield and it is His right hand that sustains us. Psalm 18:35. Pray before and during shopping trips, asking for the ability to say “NO” to the inevitable pressures of “you need this!”
• Go with a friend who is able to help you think and pray before you spend.
• Try to implement a 10 minute rule. Walk away, shop somewhere else, and wait at least 10 minutes before making a purchase. You will be surprised how that 10 minute delay can save a lot of money. If you want it to be even more effective, make it a 30 minute rule!

Avoid Temptation

• Wait, wait, wait, for the advertised sale. Don’t wander the mall just for a walk. Don’t eat a meal at the mall food court. Stay away from stores that hold your interest.
• Don’t take your credit card with you when shopping. Carry cash. It is a lot harder to count out the bills, one after another, than just slip the card into the slot. Have you noticed that stores are making it easier to buy on credit? Why, you don’t even have to sign a credit card slip anymore. Easier is faster and that is not a good thing for your budget.

• Recognize that every shopping trip is a test of your will power and self control. Self control is a fruit of the spirit, ask God for it.
• Before you buy, think about how many hours you will have to work to pay for each item. Is it really worth that much work?
• Do not compare your Christmas purchases with anyone else’s and encourage your children to avoid peer pressure.

Refocus

• Go back to the first point and refocus on the fact, and it is a fact, that the reason for this season is Jesus.
• Help yourself refocus by playing Christmas music, having a Christmas candle that gives off a holiday scent, putting up Christ-centered décor that will bring you back to the main thing when the world distracts you.

Psalm 9:2
2 I will be glad and rejoice in you;
I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.
(NIV)

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

I love watching little children destroy our best efforts to understand what they wanted for Christmas. They tear into the wrapping (in far less time than it took me to wrap the presents – or even less time than it took me to have it expensively wrapped), get to the box, pull that expensive toy out of the box … and then toss the toy aside and play with the box! Perhaps there is a message there in that common event for us. Or, as happened a few Christmas’ ago, I watched a child receive so many toys that she couldn’t play with most – so they went into the unused (and unappreciated) toy pile almost instantly.

Christmas is about giving – but the giving that counts is very different than what is seen in modern America. First, there is the most amazing gift ever given, Jesus. John 3:16. Without that gift we would be left with the barbarity of the Roman Empire and the cold formality of legalism. Can you ever work hard enough or be good enough to deserve heaven?

The second appearance of giving lies in the magi as they came a great distance to give gifts that set out the future of Jesus, His Lordship shown in the gold, frankincense which was a symbol of his priesthood, and myrrh, an embalming oil for His impending death. Matthew 2:11.

In that context, how we give does not fare well. Giving for Christmas is a struggle every year; what to buy, how much to spend, the hassle of the mall, the pain of online shopping without being able to see or touch the product or try it out (or on), and the inevitable horror of returns after Christmas. Then come the bills!

Isn’t there any way that is better? Yes! There is a book that is now over 25 years old and going strong, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas by Bill McKibben, that is worth reading.

The author is an environmental writer and he brought a fresh approach to the hectic Christmas most of us suffer through. He began to get interested in wanting a “more joyous Christmas.” McKibben starts with a historical look at what isn’t really a Christian holiday – at least not if you go back far enough. He takes the reader on a lengthy stroll through time as Christmas went on its own journey and became a shopping bonanza instead of a Christian celebration. That evolution of Christmas gives us every reason to change how we look at Christmas. He says “the reason to change Christmas – the reason it might be useful to change Christmas – is because it might help us get at some of the underlying discontent in our lives.”

It is difficult for any believer to disagree with the comments and opinions he offers. While gifts are and should remain a part of Christmas, perhaps it is time for Christians to reclaim some lost territory and do more than just talk about putting Christ back in Christmas. Maybe we should actually walk that talk!

Then, he asks what he calls a “subversive question.“ That question is “What was I made for?” He asks this in an effort to shift our view from “stuff” to more of what Christmas should be. McKibben then suggests such neighborly and radical ideas as go across the street and knock on the door of some barely-known neighbors and give them some freshly baked brownies. That gift of brownies is in the vein of his suggestion of the best gift of all to give – your time. Better than spending the time preparing Christmas cards, give that time directly to your family and friends – spend time with them. He suggests such relational and family-oriented ideas as a coupon for a monthly back-rub, a gift certificate for a trip to the zoo, a walk in the woods or even a game of Scrabble. The lasting memories of time well-spent are far better than the memory of a really neat toy that was given away years ago because it was outgrown.

I also love the limiting title of the book, Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas. Why $100.00? No reason except it is a good round number, easy to remember, not too low to be horribly limiting – and it also makes a good book title. If the number is unreasonably high or low for you depending upon your circumstances, you can change it. But remember to keep the number low enough to allow Christ to remain in the center of your family’s Christmas world.

As a genuine environmentalist, McKibben can’t resist commenting upon, and perhaps even celebrating, the possibility that if enough people followed his plan, there would be less wasteful manufacturing, buying, selling, shopping and debt-building. In exchange for that would be caroling, visiting shut-ins in hospitals and assisted living facilities, resulting in “one of the most comfortable ways to begin and renew” our relationship with Jesus.

He also loves Luke 2:19,

19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Every Christian should spend time pondering the miracle of Christmas. It’s hard to do that in the crush of the mall or sitting in front of your computer or phone screen completing a purchase. In fact, it is impossible.

It has been 25 years since McKibben published his book, and obviously the idea has been more talked about than put into practice. Don’t give up hope yet, though. Take Christmas back. There is no rigid formula or schedule proposed for doing this. Actually, he admits “there is no ideal Christmas, only the Christmas you decide to make as a reflection of your values, desires, affections, traditions.” Start this Christmas and make some new traditions, traditions that truly reflect your desires, values and affections. Make it a Jesus-filled very merry Christmas!

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

Thanksgiving has become less of a true holiday for giving thanks, and instead, it has morphed into a day (or more) off where eating, shopping, and football have become central. There is a lot wrong with that and it starts with the lost reason for celebrating Thanksgiving in the first place. As can so easily happen as a time of remembrance and celebration changes over time, we have lost sight of the rich meaning and history of Thanksgiving. We have also lost sight of some features of the original celebration that should be restored to the day of giving thanks to make it more meaningful. That is especially true in this age when this holiday has been under attack – as has almost every traditional and foundational aspect of America. Learn more and take this holiday back for our country and heritage.

Most people know the basic story from elementary school. The Pilgrims came to the new world looking for religious freedom. They found that freedom, but they also found such hardship and had such insufficient supplies that half died in the first winter. The Indians brought food and celebrated the first thanksgiving with the struggling Pilgrims.

But there is a lot more to the story than that.

In 1619, 38 English settlers arrived in what ultimately became Charles City County, Virginia. The group’s London Company charter specifically required “that the day of our ships arrival at the place assigned… in the land of Virginia shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” However, things did not go well.

Three years later, after the Indian massacre of 1622, the original site and other outlying locations were abandoned and the colonists moved their community to Jamestown, Virginia, and other more secure spots. They did hold celebrations, but those celebrations are not what most consider to be the first Thanksgiving. These were not the Pilgrims and their history is bypassed in favor of the better-known Pilgrims who first arrived in 1620 at a different location.

In 1620 the Pilgrims, Calvinists who wanted to be apart from the Church of England and who struggled with life in the Netherlands, traveled to the new world. Their crossing took 66 days and they ended up in Plymouth, Massachusetts, far north of where they had planned on arriving. They settled on land that had been abandoned due to a plague brought by earlier explorers. That plague had wiped out the Pawtuxet Indians.

Their first winter was harsh and half of the Pilgrim settlers died. They were taught how to catch eel and grow corn by the sole surviving Pawtuxet Indian. Other Indians, the Wampanoag, also gave food to the colonists during the first winter when supplies brought from England were insufficient.

By harvest time 1621 the lessons they had been taught gave them a successful harvest, so they sat down for a feast with some of the nearby Wampanoag tribe. This feast lasted three days. Two of the Pilgrims made written reports of the celebration. One, Edward Winslow reported that the celebration was attended by 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims.

The area was appropriately known as “New England” and the people of the area regularly celebrated days of “thanksgiving.” These were days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.

However, there was no country yet so there could be no “national” celebration. In 1789 George Washington set aside a national day of thanks after a request from Congress. Then Thomas Jefferson didn’t celebrate Thanksgiving so it became only an occasional celebration, not a holiday. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for a federal Thanksgiving holiday. He wrote that the country’s gifts from God “should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American people.” Lincoln proclaimed a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” to be celebrated on the last Thursday in November.

That changed in 1939 when Franklin Roosevelt announced he was moving Thanksgiving in an effort to pump up holiday sales late in the Great Depression. His decision proved unpopular with football coaches and retailers alike. He ultimately settled for a day of Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of every November.

Now, thanks to the focus on business with the change of the holiday by President Roosevelt, football and retailers rule Thanksgiving. Meals have to be planned around “Black Friday” store opening times and football games.

Lost in this shuffle are the incredible acts of generosity that allowed the Pilgrims to survive, acts that sprang from a Wampanoag culture that included generosity and sharing. Now, we eat and shop until we drop. Instead, Christians are supposed to give thanks in all circumstances, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, and this time is one of the best as a time of thanksgiving. So, let’s work to re-establish Thanksgiving as a holiday filled with thanks and with giving.

There is a lot we can each do. Thanksgiving starts at 12:00 am on the fourth Thursday in November. Midnight may be a bit early, so wait until you wake up and start with a prayer of thanks to God. Then, try this:

• For the husbands, make breakfast for your wife.
• For the kids, help with the breakfast and especially with the clean-up
• For mom, relax and enjoy the giving from your family.

As the day goes on, keep it up! Many families do an early Thanksgiving lunch/dinner. The time of the dinner doesn’t matter, but what happens during it does matter. For yours:

• Invite a church member, widow or single you know who may be alone for Thanksgiving. Of course, you have to do the inviting long before Thanksgiving.
• For the husbands, help. If you can help in no other way, do what I do and stay out of the way.
• For the kids, help by setting the table, welcoming any company that is coming over and, again, especially help with the clean-up.
• For mom, relax and enjoy the giving from your family.

During the Thanksgiving meal, try something new and challenging – engage in family conversation and sharing. Start with a prayer of thanksgiving such as one of those at Crosswalk.com. Then follow that up with family conversation and sharing.

• You could perhaps read Psalm 95, or Psalm 118 in whole or in part. But don’t stop there. Discuss how those words of thanks fit your year and your life.
• Start it with sharing about what has blessed you in 2025.
• Share what was the best moment of the year and invite similar  input from everyone.
• Add in what the saddest moment of 2025 was and how God blessed you through whatever that was.

Stay away from the usual football, sports, work, politics, and school topics and instead try something radical, and try talking about giving back to your community, a thanksgiving paying it forward:

• Before Thanksgiving, discuss a service project for the holiday season;
• Decide where you as a family can make a donation that can make a difference for some charity;
• Start a Donor Advised Fund, a Giving Fund, at the National Christian Foundation and make giving a family topic;
• Review your family budget, what you made, what was spent and how as a family you can become better stewards of what God has given to you;
• Look up a faith-based charity such as Samaritan’s Purse, World Vision or Idlewild Baptist Church and make a donation or offering that is designated for a specific need; or
• Do an all-family hospital visit to someone you know who is hospitalized for the holiday or a church member who is in a nursing home or assisted living facility. That will help all your family members admit how blessed they are to be at home.

This is a holiday intended to be a giving of thanks and to support a spirit of gratitude, to commemorate an act of selfless generosity. Make sure you keep your eye on that and not on the sale ads, overeating, and football.

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus.  He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016.  He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

Halloween is a big deal in our area around the Tampa Bay region of Florida. It is no small irony that Halloween day is when the property tax bills for the year are placed in the mail. Now that’s really terrifying!

So, it is so strangely appropriate that the witches and the goblins come out when our tax bill arrives. However, at the same time, Christians face questions. How should Christians respond to Halloween? Is it wrong for Christians to participate in Halloween? Do we have a better witness or impact if we do nothing? Do we have any positive impact if we have across carved into a pumpkin and give out tracts?

Is a Halloween alternative like Trunk or Treat good, or is it a part-way capitulation to the world? Should parents let their children do trick-or-treat? Is there a best practice? What are the different approaches and why is this such a contentious issue?

The Mixed History of Halloween

Halloween has a history that is a curious blend of Christianity and paganism. Today there is virtually no semblance of Christ in any aspect of Halloween. That is a good warning of what the world will do to any Christian day if it can. Just look at what is happening to Christmas.

The name “Halloween” comes from the All Saints Day celebration of the early church. All Saints Day has had several different names and has been celebrated on different days since it was first begun in the 4th century. It has gone by All Hallows’ Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas. It started as a celebration of the many martyrs of the church.

It should be no surprise that when the Roman emperor Constantine adopted Christianity of the Roman Empire that the lines between the pagan practices and Christianity blurred as pagan temples and pagan priests were forcibly converted in mass.

The earliest known celebrations of Christian martyrs were held around Pentecost. As the holiday shifted to be for all saints and not just martyrs, and as the church suffered as the Roman Empire started to collapse, things changed. The date of the celebration shifted to late October or early November. The earliest evidence for the November 1 date of celebration and of the expansion of the celebration to include saints as well as martyrs occurred during under Pope Gregory III (731–741). He dedicated a chapel in St. Peter’s Basilica on November 1 in honor of all saints.

Over many years after that, the name All Hallows Eve was shortened to Hallow-e’en and then it degenerated into Halloween. But more changed than just the name.

As Christianity expanded and overcame pagan cultures, pagan holidays and festivals sometimes lingered in the hearts and minds of the new Christians. There was a Celtic celebration at the end of the harvest that featured death images including skeletons, skulls, and the color black, Samhain.

This Samhain festival celebrated this last harvest and the onset of winter, Samhain was a celebration covering October 31 through November 2. During this time, the belief was that the curtain dividing the living and the dead lifted. That allowed the spirits of the dead to walk among the living—ghosts haunting the earth.

Pagans sought “divine” spirits as well as the spirits of their ancestors for everything from weather forecasts to crop expectations. Bobbing for apples was used to gain the spirit’s “blessings” on a couple’s romance.

How did this become the “trick or treat” of Halloween? Simple. Some believed these spirits, actually demons, were trapped on earth until they were given treats. If they were not given treats, they would remain on earth and haunt people. Some also believed that these spirits would be scared away by an ugly face carved into a gourd or vegetable. That became the Jack-o-lantern. Over many years, the Samhain festival overtook All Saints Day in popular appeal. At the same time Samhain revelers took over the Hallowmas name of All Saints Day.

New believers should have rejected this pagan superstition. Of course, we can see that with the wisdom of years of Bible study and a lot of hindsight. Deuteronomy 18 might have been some help had the new believers known of it.

Deuteronomy 18:10-13
10  Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,
11  or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
12  Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD; because of these same detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.
13  You must be blameless before the LORD your God.

But until the Renaissance Age, the Bible was not written for the common people to read. Around 1440 AD, Johannes Gutenberg developed the moveable type press which made mass production of books possible. English translations were produced in the Renaissance and that brought about radical change doubtless unimagined by Gutenberg.

Nor could anyone at that time have foreseen what mass migration in the 18th century and American marketing eventually would do.

The move of All Saints Day to a date right in the middle of the pagan holiday of Samhain created the perfect opportunity for social confusion and blending. The Christian aspect of All Saints Day dwindled and the public acceptance of the pagan superstitions of Samhain grew, all under the name Halloween that was rooted in Christianity.
Immigration in the 18th century finished creating the social environment for Halloween becoming an American tradition. Immigration from Europe soared with many heading to the new country and its freedoms and opportunities. They brought with them the Samhain practices which then grew over the years into our modern Halloween.

It wasn’t hard then for Halloween to expand and grow, while at the same time, All Saints Day has almost vanished from view. Now the formerly pagan holiday has added non-Biblical fictional characters and Hollywood marketers use Halloween to sell over-priced costumes of fictional characters with more resemblance to the Pocahontas or some fictional Hollywood character than to unrelated to any aspect of Samhain.

So, we have a day derived from a purely pagan celebration that has subsumed a purely Christian celebration for martyrs and saints. The pagan celebration has come to wide public acceptance even among Christians. Is it right for Christians to participate in an activity that is historically and visibly based in pagan practices? What do we do about it?

So How Should We Respond to This?

Today, Halloween is an American secular holiday, but few who participate in it know or care about its pagan root. A number of distinct questions appear.

1. Who cares? Should we even make this an issue? Don’t we face bigger challenges?

While the world faces many challenges, it would be dishonest to call the deterioration or pollution of foundational beliefs anything less than extremely important. Our goal should never be to make this world a better place to go to hell from. If we focus only on the world’s problems and let our foundational beliefs be destroyed, no one will be helped. See Matthew 7:24-27.

The same deterioration of All Hallow’s Day that led to Halloween and it’s portrayal of evil would also overtake other aspects of our faith, ruining lives.

But you can reach the same result about the importance of taking a stand from a different perspective. It simply is not possible to look at the images of evil Halloween costumes and say that they glorify God. They do not. The Psalmist made it clear – we are to praise the Lord with all that we do.

Psalm 150:6
8  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

It simply cannot be said that anything that glorifies evil can also glorify God. Nor should we be pleased to have children play at being satan, or a demon. That hardly glorifies God and there should be nothing funny or cute in normalizing satan. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, Paul wrote, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Can you dress in a devil costume or a skeleton to the glory of God? No.

God’s Word makes it clear that God is a God of life. 1 John 1:1. On the other hand, Halloween, or Samhain, is about death. Can a believer truly rejoice and celebrate a holiday where the focus is death and demons, where tombstones decorate front yards, and skeletons are a popular costume?

Perhaps, instead of getting cozy with the world, we are to be separate from the world’s evils. 2 Corinthians 6:17.

But what if the costume isn’t a devil, but is instead a princess? Isn’t that okay? No, because that is a bit like telling your children, “it’s okay to play on the edge of a cliff, but just don’t fall over the edge.” Instead of being careful around temptation and danger, we are to flee it. 2 Timothy 2:22.

Halloween is a day celebrated by Wiccans; it is a sacred high holiday for the religion of witchcraft. Do we really want to be alongside them with our children? As a Wiccan website puts it,

“Samhain is a sabbat that is the third and last harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year and is often the biggest celebration for Wiccans as it is the Witches New Year. During this time of the year, the border between our world and the spirit world is porous and thin. Spirits can easily cross over so we can reach out to them for communication, guidance, and closure.”

The most obvious reason to draw a line and stick to it is the reality of our world today. Even today there are blurred lines between Christianity and pagan practices. In some South American countries blurred lines are common. In Peru, there are common roof top ornaments/shrines consisting of a cross, a manger and a cow. This cow image is for good fortune and for the protection for the house and the family. This tradition of a shrine including a cow comes from the time of the Incas.

What happened to faith in God alone? This shrine is nothing less than a “good luck charm” and reflects a weakness of faith in God.

Another very strong reason to avoid celebrating Halloween like the world is because of potential confusion and dilution of Biblical truths. Part of the message the of Halloween in the world is that all of the figures depicted are fictitious. Some are fictitious, bad developments of Hollywood; there are no zombies, werewolves or Frankensteins. But satan is real. His demons are real. Angels are real. The best and most effective lie satan has told is that he doesn’t exist. Halloween is one way that lie is socially communicated.

Who cares about Halloween and its history and underpinnings? We all should because we should want a better life for the next generations and a life with superstition and without Jesus cannot be that better life.

2. Are alternative activities such as “Trunk or Treat,” a “Harvest Festival,” or a “Hell House” good choices?

The answer is a strong “maybe yes,” and “maybe no.” Trunk or treat with costumes is an activity that usually does little more than move pagan activities onto the church parking lot. Even with some level of control over “acceptable” costumes, it is difficult. Trunk or Treat is an activity teetering right on the edge of the cliff. However, this time it isn’t one child or one family on the edge of the cliff, it is the whole church.

But someone will ask, isn’t that better than wandering the neighborhood where there is no control over costumes or behavior? That question can be countered with this question, “What does Trunk or Treat demonstrate to the world about our separation from the ways of the world and its sin?”

1 Corinthians 10:14
14  Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.

2 Corinthians 6:17
17  Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”

Paul wrote that we are to flee from idolatry. Never are we told to try to control it or limit it so that it isn’t too terribly bad. Nowhere does God set our standard of behavior to just be a little bit better than the world.

But Trunk or Treat isn’t the only Halloween alternative. There are Harvest Festivals, sometimes where the children dress up in harmless costumes like farmers.

Instead of a Harvest Festival, some do a Reformation Festival where the children dress up as Bible characters. For some, these are far enough from the edge of the cliff to be safe.

Some churches opt for totally different activities not involving costumes but instead involving acts of service in the community.

There is yet another alternative some more fundamental churches have chosen and that is sometimes referred to as Hell House evangelism. Different rooms are set up and visitors are invited to walk through rooms laid out like haunted houses. Sin is put on display, sometimes quite graphically. Only a few use this alternative since scaring people into the faith is not considered by many to be the most loving or effective approach to evangelism.

Simply put, in a cold and violent society, the level of shock needed to scare people into accepting the gospel is hardly the image of a life transformed by the love of God that most believers want to live. Romans 12:2.

How far to be from the world is a personal judgment or a judgment to be made by a church’s spiritual leaders.

3. How do you decide what to do?

How do you decide what is best? How do you decide anything else regarding your life and your faith? Start with spending time with God and with His Word. Seek the wisdom and guidance of God first, then ask for guidance from other believers you know and respect. On some parts of this issue there is no clear Biblical right or wrong.

When there is a lack of clarity, ask God.

James 1:5
5  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.

Your relationship with God is exactly that, it is yours. What you decide in social issues like this where there is uncertainty may depend on your level of maturity as a believer and may also be highly dependent on specific details and facts that are unique to you and your family. It isn’t right to violate clear instructions from God, i.e., Exodus 20:14, “You shall not commit adultery.” It is right to forge your own personal relationship with God.

Paul wrestled with that and came up with a good way to measure your choices.

1 Corinthians 6:12
12  ”Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.”

There is a comparable modern saying that reflects Paul’s thinking, “Just because you have the right to do something doesn’t make it the right thing to do.” How true that is! Always measure what you do against God, with His Word, and finally against the impact you may have on others. Romans 15:1-13 and Matthew 18:6.

4. How can my Halloween be a good Christian witness?

There are very few times when your neighbors come knocking on your door and ask for something. This is perhaps the only time it happens. Don’t just give them candy, give them Jesus as well. Don’t make Christians look cheap or stingy or unfriendly, instead, be open and obvious and be a witness.

Matthew 5:14-16
14  “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
15  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
16  In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

How you do this is a personal decision. Some believers have come to the conclusion that their best witness is to give Gospel tracts along with treats, to have small treat bags with key verses, to have a joyful attitude and make coming to a Christians’ home a positive experience. Resist the devil and he will flee! James 4:7. The same can be said about his demons and imitators. They will stay away, but those who might be blessed will still come by your home.

Christians have nothing to fear from Halloween. We know the truth, the world lives through superstition, luck and evil spirits. Truly, “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4). We are less at risk from “evil spirits” on Halloween than we are from sinful conduct including vandalism and hateful people on the prowl.

Instead of a darkened door, make your home well-lighted welcoming door. Most non-believers have a quiet fear of the death and evil that Samhain, or Halloween, promotes. Instead of death and horror, give them a smile and the true light.

1 John 2:10
10  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

Use the very imagery of darkness and evil as an opportunity to show that what we have is eternally better.

This is also an opportunity to engage in open and honest communication about what you believe and why you believe it. As a neighbor, you have an opportunity to be that light on the hill. As a parent, you have an opportunity to live your faith visibly for your children to see. As someone who opens the door to “Trick or Treaters,” you have an opportunity to demonstrate that Christians are warm and welcoming, a truth that much of the mass media will never admit.

5. Does the Bible speak to Halloween at all?

Not directly, not using that name or even using a similar holiday or feast. But there are several stories that offer guidance. The issues or witchcraft and sorcery did come up at times in Biblical history. One time was in Acts 8. Simon was a sorcerer who lived in Samaria. He had displayed his power many times and was considered powerful. They called him “the Great Power of God.” Acts 8:10. When Philip brought the gospel and the true power of God to Samaria, Simon became a believer and was baptized. When Peter and John arrived, they placed their hands on the new Samaritan believers and they received the Holy Spirit. Simon coveted that power so badly that he offered money to gain that ability.

The moral of that story is that Simon should have made a complete break from his past and sin. He walked too close to the edge of the cliff and found out how dangerous that was. Can we as believers risk being too close to pagan practices? Perhaps yes, but that depends on you and your maturity. Regardless, we certainly we cannot risk our impressionable children.

There is also the passage in 1 Corinthians 8 mentioned earlier and our witness to weaker brothers and sisters in Christ. There may be nothing overtly sinful in wearing a princess costume or some other non-satanic or evil costume and asking for candy. Doing what I call “Halloween light” isn’t overtly sinful. One Christian agreed and wrote:

“I am a born-again believer and have been baptized in the Holy Sprit. I believe Halloween can be fun and celebrated in the right manner. I am not worshiping Pagans or Satan. It is just a fun day for all.”

That may be true for her, but what we do will influence others and may confuse others, including our own children. Can we afford to send mixed messages to our children? Can we be sure they won’t view our mixed messages as evidence that we don’t really practice what we preach?

1 Corinthians 8:9
9  Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Eating food sacrificed to idols may not be an endorsement of idol worship, but it may confuse a weaker believer. Are we committing a wrong if our conduct leads others into sin? Yes.

Conclusion

Christian participation in Halloween is a personal choice, one of conscience before God. However, you answer the questions asked earlier, make a choice that will honor your Creator and Sustainer.

1 Peter 1:15-16
15  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
16  for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

There is a song I love that was sung by Steve Green, Find Us Faithful. It is a great encouragement as he beautifully sings,

We’re pilgrims on the journey
of the narrow road,
and those who’ve gone before us
line the way.
Cheering on the faithful,
encouraging the weary,
their lives a stirring testament
to God’s sustaining grace.

Surrounded by so great
a cloud of witnesses,
let us run the race
not only for the prize,
but as those who’ve gone before us.
Let us leave to those behind us,
the heritage of faithfulness
passed on thru Godly lives.

It is the chorus of that song I especially love,

O may all who come behind us
find us faithful;
may the fire of our devotion
light their way.
May the footprints that we leave,
lead them to believe,
and the lives we live
inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us
find us faithful.

What a great expression of Christian legacy. Legacy is a topic I have written about several times because I have heard interest from readers and people I speak with on behalf of The Idlewild Foundation. Don’t wait until “next year,” “next month,” or even “next week. Start today and make this a year in which you focus on how you will be known and remembered. May those who follow in your footsteps find you faithful!

Here are a few ideas to start your legacy.

Think about your family. As only four of an endless number of possibilities:

1. Can you help provide a Christian education for grandchildren? 
2. Is a family member considering adoption but struggling with the cost?
3. Is there a family member with special needs who could use some support? 
4. Is there a family committed to foster care, serving as foster parents –  opening their homes and their hearts to children at risk.

Spend a few minutes and think back to the last missions conference you attended. At Idlewild we call them Global Impact Conferences.  Think of a booth you visited or a story you heard that excited you and warmed you heart about someone’s special service. Now write that name down. Call someone in that ministry and find out how you can offer support that will be meaningful and that will hit the sweet spot in that ministry that caught your attention. Consider joining in that ministry with more than financial support. If you are short on cash, I don’t know of many ministries that couldn’t use more prayer support, “feet on the ground” in terms of short-term missionaries, or even local administrative support.

Meet with your financial advisor or a representative of The Idlewild Foundation to learn how wise estate planning can create a tax-wise series of gifts for family and ministry and, in doing so, increase the net donation and the impact of the estate with a gift of highly appreciated assets such as real estate, traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, or appreciated stocks or bonds to Idlewild or to the Foundation.

Consider giving to an endowment, or permanent fund, such as The Idlewild Foundation’s Permanent Fund. Such a fund can support Idlewild or the ministries of your choice indefinitely. Read more at The Idlewild Foundation Permanent Fund.

A donation to The Idlewild Foundation’s scholarship fund can ensure that your money will help educate an Idlewild member who is active in the ministries of the church and in a small group, and who has a financial need to complete college or attend technical or vocational training. The Idlewild Foundation has given out hundreds (more than 470) of scholarships totaling over $1.5 million in eleven years and will continue to do so as long as faithful people give to this worthy fund.

Or make an impact in the life of a child and donate to Fund 1:27. That fund, starting by the Foundation in 2021, is for foster children and families in the foster care ministry at Idlewild Baptist Church and throughout Tampa Bay. Not one dime of any donation goes to a Foundation salary or overhead or operating expense. We are almost fully volunteer and work hard to make sure that donations go 100% to ministry. Foster children (and there are thousands in the Tampa Bay region) face special challenges. Many came from a substance-abusing or abusive environment and they can have special (often expensive) needs. We support Trust Based Relational Intervention® therapy for families with a need, help with respite care, have a support group, help the families build Care Communities and otherwise provide a range of support to try to interrupt the cycle of abuse – hurt people do not have to hurt people! To learn more or to donate, go to our website for foster families.

Please consider a legacy gift that will demonstrate your faith and light the way for those who follow you. In this very difficult world, your display of your faith, your legacy, may make an eternal difference for many.

To learn more, contact us at The Idlewild Foundation at (813) 264-8713. It is our ministry and legacy to help you find and support yours.

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus.  He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016.  He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

New Year’s Resolutions to Kick-Off the Year

What are your New Year Resolutions for 2025?  Lose weight – check, exercise more – check, and get in better shape – long overdue! Those three resolutions are there for me almost every year. But then life happens! Sometimes I keep such a resolution for a few weeks or maybe even a few months with strong encouragement. After that, the busy days of spring begin to take over.

Instead, join the Campbells and make one of your resolutions for 2025 to review your family financial and estate plans. Significant life changes (and even significant inflationary, market or legal changes such as increasing income tax rates) are something that should trigger in our minds the question, “Do I need to change my will or trust?” or “Should I change any of my beneficiary designations?” If you need an easy way to keep track of your bequests and beneficiary designations on bank accounts, IRAs and financial or investment accounts, make a list. It is best done on a computer file so you do not have to re-do the entire document each time there is a significant change, but then print it and keep it with your estate and financial documents just in case your computer files are somehow lost. For a few additional thoughts on this topic, see A Few Estate Planning Pitfalls (especially #3) and A Few More Estate Planning Pitfalls.

Also, think about adding a few fresh ideas in which your entire family can become involved! Here are some things we are trying that I can offer as suggestions to prayerfully consider.

1. Serve: Serve together as a family, a small group or just as a group of friends.  Find a ministry that touches your heart and about which you can be passionate. Schedule yourself to serve regularly in this ministry with your family, a group of friends, or involve your small group. On a simpler note, you can visit a friend you haven’t seen in a while, perhaps someone out with an illness or injury. Always remember that stewardship is a L.I.F.E activity that is not limited to dollars and cents. It involves your Labor, your Influence, your Financial resources, and your Expertise, your entire L.I.F.E. Stop by the Join the Movement booth in the Gatheria at Idlewild. Learn how you can discover God’s gifting to you and put your gift(s) into joyful service. You can give an hour a week – yes, you really can.

2. Broaden your view: Look for new opportunities to broaden your stewardship. Never neglect giving your tithe to your home church. Check out Does the New Testament Teach Tithing?, More on the Tithe – Tithes and Offerings 1, and More on the Tithe – Tithes and Offerings 2. Know that God has also called us to give over and above the tithe. Read and reflect upon Deuteronomy 15, Matthew 23:23, and Luke 12:33-34.

3. Give generously and wisely: When you find a ministry that touches your heart, consider giving as well as serving. You can give in different ways. Instead of just monetary giving, consider giving an appreciated asset, stock, or a piece of property. This type of giving may be better for both you and the charity than if you sold and donated the net proceeds. This strategy may reduce your tax burden if done correctly (and wisely) and increases the amount the charity receives – and what that charity can do. Not sure how to do this? The Idlewild Foundation can show you how. Just give us a call at (813) 264-8713. And never forget God in your giving.

4. Learn about Giving Funds: Explore the possibilities of a Donor Advised Fund that will allow you a deduction now, but choose who you want to support and how much you will give at a future date. This kind of fund can be an efficient means of setting up recurring donations and makes record keeping for taxes easy. Learn more at Ways to Give, or just give us a call. Now, with the new administration in Washington and with there being a great likelihood of either direct or indirect tax increases, more than ever you need to examine tax-wise giving. We can help!

5. Share your experience with others: If you have a life example of how God has blessed you and how you have given back to Him, share your story. Tell your small group, your friends, and your family about how you’ve been blessed and how you’ve been able to bless others.

6. Increase your giving: Despite rugged inflation, you may have some additional money that can be given to the kingdom. Rather than increase your standard of living, instead increase your standard of giving (a quote from Randy Alcorn). Increase your giving to Idlewild’s kingdom investments, join Pastor Edgar in that goal, or increase your giving to other Christian ministries. Please consider The Idlewild Foundation and its Fund 1:27 where 100% of any donation goes to ministry. Nothing – not one cent – goes to our salaries, overhead or administrative costs. Give over and above the tithe and enjoy the joy of generosity. For a bit of help encouraging that, read More on the Tithe – Tithes and Offerings 1, More on the Tithe – Tithes and Offerings 2, and Science Proves That It Is More Blessed to Give Than Receive.

Here’s another idea! Why not spend some time reviewing your spending for last year? By looking at your bank and charge card statements you’ll get a pretty good picture of where your money was spent and what your priorities have been. Did you find ways to glorify God through any of your spending? Did your spending in 2024 give more glory to yourself than to God? Could you do better? Give God the credit He is due. He made your income and your abilities (and every breath you took in 2024) possible.

Deuteronomy 8:18
18     But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth …

Take some time to sit down with your family and discuss ways to manage your money more effectively. Consider speaking with someone from the Stewardship Ministry of Idlewild Baptist Church or with us at The Idlewild Foundation. There are financial counselors who work with Idlewild’s Stewardship ministry who will meet with you for free to discuss your finances and budget and help. We can give you tips and ideas in managing your money. And don’t worry. You won’t be bludgeoned until you agree to give money to Idlewild or to the Foundation! On the other hand, you will learn ways that you can further God’s kingdom by sharing His blessings with others – with open hands!

You can contact us at The Idlewild Foundation, (813) 264-8713 or email me at jcampbell@idlewild.org. Make 2025 a year to celebrate!

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40 year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus.  He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016.  He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.

We live in a spender’s world. There are a few folks promoting the idea of saving in articles, but I rarely, if ever, see that idea of saving money in any advertisement on major network, online, or in a magazine. It just isn’t advertised or promoted. And that’s a shame, because in America we need a shift from our spending culture to one that at least accepts the idea of saving as something good.

That would be quite a change if it happened. As of February, 2019, the average credit card debt per household was at $5,700. As of October 2023, that figure had risen to $6,380. If you remove those households which pay off all charges every month and never carry a balance, the average debt rises substantially. Does anyone see a problem with debt?

Credit card debt has grown astronomically. In 1983, credit card debt was “only” $120,000,000. Now revolving debt, largely credit card debt, is over $1 trillion, nearing ten times as much debt as 40 years earlier. About 41.2% of American households carry a balance forward on their credit cards. Sadly, but predictably, the highest debt households are those with a zero or a negative net worth. Revolving debt is the most damaging and harmful debt because interest rates are the highest and committed spenders get hooked on spending.

At the same time, personal savings are low. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, personal savings rates were between 5 and 7%. However, those high rates decreased to a 1 to 3% range after the year 2000. There was a brief peak of saving during the recession from 2008 to 2010, but as the economy started recovering, spending began to soar again. As of March 2018, the savings rate in the United States was 3.1% according to Investopedia. Thankfully, by late 2024 that rate had risen to over 4%. But with debt rising faster, we still do not save nearly enough.

We need a change in the American spending culture that has developed. Why? There are many reasons ranging from financial freedom, wise planning for retirement, wise preparation for emergencies and hard times, peace of mind, along with just being better stewards of the wealth and resources God has entrusted to us.

Many people will recommend saving 10% of your disposable income. That is simply too low. See Save More, 10% Isn’t Enough.

The inevitable challenging question is, “How can I save even 10% much less more than that?” The equally inevitable answer is “by spending less, a lot of discipline, and a little sacrifice.” Here are a few more ideas with more detail than just those few words.
Develop habits

The only way you will ever reliably save over the long run is if you are fully committed and engaged in saving; get out of the habit of spending and get into the habit of saving.

Before you make a purchase, always ask yourself five questions:

• Does this fit within my monthly budget?
• Do I really need this?
• Do I have room for it?
• Will I really use this?
• Are there long-term upkeep, maintenance, parts or repair expenses or costs associated with this and can I afford those expenses?

Before you make the purchase, walk away. Wait a minimum of 10 minutes and then address the five questions. If all (yes, I said all) of the answers to the five questions are favorable, (four “yes” and one “no” is a “no”), only then should you consider making the purchase.

Write the questions down and put them in your wallet, taped to your credit card, or save them in your phone and always open them before making a purchase. But what about buying a soft drink? Yes, even that. There is even a long-term cost associated with soft drinks and food – exercise (and those things aren’t free). Those many little expenses add up quickly into budget breakers.

Another tip for you is this, set a weekly or monthly savings goal.

A final tip for creating this saving habit, leave your credit card at home and pay cash. This is far more important than you may think. Forbes Magazines says that multiple studies have shown that people spend more, a lot more, when they have the “convenience” of a credit or debit card or a pay app on their phone. Psychology Today agrees. That convenience has a cost, convenience results in spending a lot more, twice as much or an even greater amount that that based upon studies.

Saving

Saving needs to be as automatic and invisible as you can make it. In the past people had government savings bonds purchased directly out of their income before they got their check. But government savings bonds are no longer a typical investment (nor should they be). However, the idea of having the money seamlessly go to an investment or savings account and never make it to your bank checking account is a great idea.

Some articles suggest that all savings and investments should be done by hand because automatic transfers do not develop a habit. That is a reasonable concept, but I believe the greater concern is the temptation of having money visibly in your account.

When a paycheck is cashed, it is just too easy to keep $10 or $20 or even more as “spending money.” The funny thing about “spending money” is that it never gets saved and is always spent.

If a sum goes directly from your employer to a savings account (perhaps your emergency fund) or into your 401(k) or some other saving fund, it is much harder to spend. If you are doing well and get a raise, put the entire raise into savings too.

Budget and cash flow tracking

You can best follow what you spend if you keep a cash flow record that tracks every expense. See Where Does Your Money Go? to see how to get started with a cash flow analysis and budget.

This will be work and it will take time. Just know that the result will be worth it and after a few months you can relax and be less stringent because you will have developed better spending and saving habits and practices. You will also be able to see the savings add up!

Investing

After you have an emergency savings account, your savings need to go in a different direction. No one ever became wealthy on the savings rates paid by banks (except the banks themselves). To make progress against the inevitable power of the rate of inflation which is compounded annually to your detriment, you need to invest, and the best opportunity to stay ahead of inflation is the stock market. Isn’t that risky? Of course, there is risk. But read Aren’t Stocks a Risky Investment? so you can see that there is a certainty of loss if you do not invest at all.

Cutting expenses

Cutting expenses and costs needs to become equally automatic. The idea is not to be Draconian about it and not to put yourself in total self-denial. Your goal is not to deprive yourself of enjoyment of life, but keep this one fact in mind: overspending today does deprive you of enjoyment of life and spending ability in the future. Every dollar not saved today is two dollars you won’t have in the future, when you may need it much more.

For ideas on cutting expenses, see Ideas for Living Better Through Stewardship, 7 Steps for Financial Progress, It’s Time to Start Saving, Planning Your Financial Future and …, and Save More, 10% Isn’t Enough. There is no area of your spending that can’t be reduced; be creative and persistent.

Refinance

If you have debt that can be consolidated with a lower net cost to you, seriously consider consolidation. First see Debt Consolidation, Maybe and Maybe Not. Your goal is to be debt free, out of the bondage of being a borrower.

Now what?

Once you are out of debt and any loan payments stop, put the former loan payment money into your investments. Don’t just increase your spending, instead, increase your investment in your future.

Year, every household should do a financial check-up. Life happens and we begin to slip into spending patterns and habits that waste small amounts of money very easily.

How can I keep this up?

There are two points to make to answer the question, “how can I keep this up?” The first is that like any discipline, it gets easier as you develop good spending and saving habits. If you are consistent and regular with your budget and saving, you will find the pressure of the spending mindset decreases. You become more adept at spotting the subtle pressures encouraging frivolous spending and you also begin to see results as your savings and investments increase.

The second point is even more important. Your disciplined financial management is more God-honoring than the spending mind-set. For a good lesson on this point, read God and Money by Greg Baumer and John Cortines. Greg was a spender and John was a saver. Together they learned stewardship and Godly handling of money. Which rises the final issue.

Now what?

What are you saving for? If you save for 20 or 30 years and accumulate a large portfolio, so what? Being out of debt is important, but only for a short time when eternity is considered. Our lives were never meant to be just about ourselves, our comfort, and our satisfaction. We were created with a purpose, Ephesians 2:10, and that purpose is not to serve ourselves. Don’t ever forget God who made your ability to earn money and build savings possible, Deuteronomy 8:18. Don’t leave Him out of your financial plans or your life. We are called to be servants of our Creator and to be generous with the money and gifts He has given us. 2 Corinthians 9:11-13.

If you would like to earn more about your purpose and how your financial blessings (and even your financial struggles) can fit into God’s plan, give us a call at The Idlewild Foundation at (813) 264-8713.

About the Author

John Campbell has retired from a 40-year legal practice as a trial attorney in Tampa. He has served in multiple volunteer roles at Idlewild Baptist Church in Lutz, Florida, where he met Jesus. He began serving as the Executive Director of the Idlewild Foundation in 2016. He has been married to the love of his life, Mona Puckett Campbell, since 1972.