I understand that. One of my friends took out her calculator as Pastor Robbie was teaching and was actually calculating how much she would have left to live on if she gave 10%, saved 10%, and paid her debtors including some student loans. She showed me the number and we both kind of laughed.
If that feels like you, this is what I want you to hear. Stewardship is not about giving money to the church. Stewardship is about managing well everything God blesses you with because you believe that you are managing God's resources for Him. And if you've gotten yourself into a hole, (and who hasn't at some point or another) then good stewardship means tackling that debt head-on AND the spending that put you in that hole. If you don't know how to do that, don't be embarrassed. We have a Financial Peace life group you can join that will break it all down. Whether you make a little, or more than you ever dreamed you would, the life group will help you manage it well.
Ultimately, I want this for you whether you give to Next Level Church or not. That's probably because of the huge blessing it has been in my family. I've experienced financial freedom firsthand and I want that for you, too. So even if you were to leave NLC tomorrow and never give one dollar I would say, "Do whatever it takes to get to the point where you can give first, save second, and live on the rest."
