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Rush hour commutes, soccer practice for the kids, extra work from the office and the everyday demands of live in a culture awash in activities and time demands is posing a serious dilemma for churches across the country.

People are so busy that they simply don't have time to serve on church committees or work in church service projects.

How much do you care about the church?

About Gods people? How much of your time is spent helping givingpraying for your church? A lot of people give money to the church but much less give themselves.

There are a lot of reasons that move people to give to the church. I know that some people give as a write-off so that they will get a break on the taxes they pay to the government. If that is your only motive for giving, it is not a proper one.

A tax write-off is just not enough. That is not going to help you any with God.

Some people give to the church to gain a reputation for giving.

The Bible truth of the matter is that God really isn't interested in our money. Oh, don't get me wrong. The Bible says we are supposed to give. But it's our heart condition that God is most interested in.

In fact, even more than money, he wants us to give our time, our prayers and our service to the institution he's created to be his hands and feet on this earth: The church.

There are Bible stories galore about the consequences of not supporting the church.

It is striking that the very first death recorded in the church occurred when a couple, Ananias and Sapphira, decided they would gain a reputation for giving that they did not really deserve.

In the fifth chapter of Acts we read that other people were giving property. This couple thought they would get in on the honor and prestige that was being heaped on those who generously gave, so they gave some of the proceeds from tome land they sold.

But they pretended that they gave all of it when they really did not.

When the Holy Spirit dealt with that hypocritical kind of giving he dealt very severely with it.

Some people give because they were afraid of dying and they want to make Brownie points with God.

There have been people who give hundreds of thousands of dollars because they felt it would help them in their standing before God at the judgment seat. But they were not giving to help the cause of God or the church. They gave because they thought they could buy Gods favor.

All these are wrong motives.

When it comes to giving, motive is more important than the amount.

God is not so interested in how much you give the church, but why you give. Do you love the church? Thats the example we have from Christ.

More than 24 million seniors collectively volunteer 6 billion hours each year in the United States. Researchers at the University of Michigan recently discovered that the survival rate of seniors who volunteered 40 or more hours a year for a single cause was 40 percent greater than that of non-volunteers.

"Seniors who volunteer say it improves their health, life satisfaction, and social well-being," says Donna Thurmond, director of Senior Services for Volunteers of America.

So helping others and serving as Jesus commands us to do is not only a good thing to do, it's good for us. In fact, we were all created with a desire to serve. That's why it feels so good when we do so, because it's what we were made to do.

But the real reason we serve is because that is what Jesus did. that's the example he lefty us in the Bible.

We know it as the Golden Rule: Do unto othwers as you'd have them do to you.

Mike Fletcher publishes the Online Christian Shopper (http://www.onlinechristianshopper.com), which specializes in evangelism products like Christian T-Shirts and Christian jewelry.

It's worth the effort spending some time and energy figuring out who you work best with. Once you've figured that out, then what? You feel good, you've chosen a niche. How do you find the people in your niche and get your message across to them? And how can you do that without feeling like you are selling to them?

Here are a few things for you to think about...

1. Does this group of people, this niche, have any outside interests in common? For example, you may find there is a large group of engineers in the Midwest that enjoy hunting in their spare time. Or know some graphic designers in the Rocky Mountains that are avid rock climbers. Is there a better way to share a common interest and get to know each other in a relaxed environment than to join them on their excursions? Establish trust, build new friendships - it all leads to enjoyable work opportunities for you.

2. Do you help out with your kid's soccer team or are you on the PTA at school? Doing things that YOU enjoy will naturally lend yourself to meeting new people with like interests. Your co-volunteers could work in the niche you've chosen or may have friends that do. Doing things that you enjoy doing, especially if it is involves getting out and meeting other people, will help YOU meet new people and make new contacts. Don't like the people you've been hanging around with? Try something new and totally different. Put yourself in a very different environment and you'll meet totally different people and have a very different experience.

3. Get involved in local networking associations. I'm not necessarily talking about the chamber of commerce. If you can, get more targeted than that. If you would like to meet more people involved in naturopathic medicine, find out what they do. I bet they attend trade shows on maybe natural health or are interested in yoga, or vitamins, or the natural food stores in your area. How can you have a presence there? Are there groups that meet that are rock climbing enthusiasts? Roller blading groups?

4. Are there any small, local publications that your target market may read? For example, there are a few free magazines and newspapers in my area and they are often looking for content for their readers. Classified ads are very inexpensive because the publications are small, and I've also found that these smaller publications are very open to bartering to keep their pages full. One publisher offered to run ads for me for free if I delivered the free papers to 20 or so places around town once a month. I am too busy to do that of course, but the point is to be creative.

5. Look at where your strengths and weaknesses are. If you're comfortable writing and doing marketing related tasks on the internet, you may be doing enough of that already. Get away from your computer and meet some people. The same can be said if you are an extrovert. You need to balance your marketing efforts both online and off. I do get a lot of business from my online marketing efforts, but I also know that it compliments anything I do outside my office. Meeting people and having them experience you and your energy can't be beat.

Have you seen a common thread here? All of the tips I gave you involved you getting out and meeting people. As a writer I admit I like to stay home and do stuff on my computer. I have an awesome system in place for marketing myself online and publishing articles and even coaching and working with people on the phone.

Getting out and meeting people means taking off my favorite slippers and actually moving - not what I always want to do. Looking over the successes I've had the past few years, there's no doubt in my mind that when I do get out and speak to a group or get involved in an organization my business gets busier. And the people that I meet in person and have felt my energy and enthusiasm give me more referrals, and bring me more word of mouth marketing than the clients I have online. And we are more likely to become friends.

Copyright (c) 2006 Kelly Robbins

Author of Healthcare Copywriting Secrets Revealed, Kelly Robbins is a healthcare copywriter and marketing coach/consultant. She also publishes The Healthcare Marketing Connection (http://www.healthcaremarketingconnection.com), a free e-zine on healthcare marketing tips. Contact Kelly to receive her free report, "5 critical things you must know when writing for the healthcare industry" - info@KellyRobbinsLLC.com or 303-460-0285.

Affiliate Marketing, Google Ad Words, Google Ad Sense, Network Marketing, Niche Marketing, Direct Mail, Real Estate, Stock Market Investing, Direct Marketing, The 4X Market, High Yield Investment Programs, Direct Sales, EBay and Online Auctions, Information Marketingthe list goes on and on and on and on.

Where do you start?

What do you do?

Here is a story that you may relate with and hopefully provide a couple of ah ha moments. About 3 years ago I was speaking at an Internet Marketing Conference in Orlando, Florida. On the front row was a bright eyed enthusiastic young man in his twenties named Rob.

I was one of the first speakers at the event and my topic was How to Create a $5,000+ Monthly Income with EBay and Online Auctions. I could tell during my presentation that Rob was getting excited about the possibilities of making money with EBay & creating cash flow with online auctions.

When my presentation was over several attendees went to the back of the room to invest in one of my training programs. Rob was the first in line. I discovered later that Rob had invested in my Deluxe $1,500.00 How to make money with EBay package which included 8 hours of 1 on 1 training and coaching along with the DVDs CDs and manual.

I noticed throughout the weekend that Rob invested in 3 or 4 other programs during the seminar. I thought to myself, this is good. He is a newbie and he is going to try to find the right cash generating program for himself. I had the opportunity to visit with Rob briefly towards the end of the weekend, and sure enough he had inherited about $10,000 recently and decided to invest that money into a financial vehicle that would get him out of his dead end job working for the airlines.

I reminded him to contact our office to schedule his first 1-on-1 coaching session and encouraged him that online auctions can be used as a marketing division with whatever business he choose, even if he didnt want to do auctions as a stand alone business. This concept is discussed at http://www.FundedProposals.com.

Six weeks later, I was reviewing my client list and going through some records and I realized that Rob had never called our office to schedule his first one-on-one session which he had already paid for. I rarely do this, but I decided to pick up the phone and check in with Rob.

He told me that he had marked in his day timer to call me that week. He then went on to share with me three or four businesses that he had unsuccessfully tried over the past 6 weeks that had not made him a penny. This was a clue, that this gentleman definitely had unrealistic expectations and I made a mental note to discuss this during our first telephone consulting session, which we had scheduled for a week later.

Over the next 5 weeks Rob and I met on the phone once a week. My goal was to teach him how to make money on EBay and become a full time entrepreneur He got 20 items from his closet and garage on EBay during the first week and sold 16, which is statistically above average.

His second week using some techniques we taught he put $301.00 cash in his pocket. The fourth week almost $500.00 more and he jumped over the $500 mark his 6th week earning $711.00. At this point Rob was well on his way to creating a full time income successfully selling on EBay, and I knew it was just a matter of weeks until he would be able to submit his resignation to the airlines.

His sixth week, he didnt call in for his scheduled training session. I assumed that something had come up and was confident that he would be calling to reschedule. At this point I certainly wasnt going to beg him to continue his self education.

Three years go buy and I never heard from Rob again, until about 2 weeks ago. The phone rang at our office and my assistant told me there is someone named Rob XXXX on the line. I thought to myself Rob XXXX, I know that name, how do I know that name? (I use XXXX to protect the guilty, but I will personally be sending him a copy of this article)

I took the call, and as soon as I heard his voice everything came back to me. Rob, what happened to you? I responded. I will never forget his response. Well you know what the problem is Mr. Calvert, there are just too darn many ways to make money He went on to tell me that he still had his crummy job at the airlines, and all he had been doing for the past 3 years was basically spinning his wheels, trying one entrepreneur enterprise after another.

He said he made the most progress during the short 6 weeks we spent together learning how to make money on EBay and he was ready to pay me my consulting and coaching fee to get him back on track and his income to $3,500 a month with online auctions so he could quit his job.

I see this epidemic everywhere I go. Would be full time, home based, entrepreneurs that are suffering from information over load. They are a jack of all money making methods and a master of none!

Is this you?

I have to admit, at one time that was me. I became so fascinated with the Internet and the possibilities that I spent hours upon hours studying different systems and implementing few or none of those systems.

Here is what I have discovered.

Choose the strategy & systems very carefully.

You must ask yourself, am I looking for short term or long term cash flow?

Is this a system that I want to run for a long time or short time?

What are the realistic income possibilities for this project? This is a very important question. One of the best quotes I have heard over the years is You have to say no to a lot of good projects to make certain you have time for the great ones

Once you decide on a project, you must STAY WITH IT, until you are profitable!

Always remember that the problem is not the project or the system. If other people are making it work, so can you. The real problem is always in the mirror.

The best money you can spend is on one-on-one coaching from a mentor who knows what they are doing. These type of coaches can take years off of your learning curve, and will pay you back 100 times what you invest in their knowledge and expertise.

I personally do consulting with people in three our four niche markets. I also personally pay a coach in another market I am in the process of mastering. I am always amazed that most of the time the people that hire me to coach or consult with them are already full time entrepreneurs earning strong six figure incomes. Yet the newbie will spend $97.00 over and over for the latest eBooks on the newest hot trend and never even consider hiring a coach. Listen, even Tiger Woods needs a coach!

Once you start a project, STAY WITH IT, until it is profitable.

Think BIG! Once you have a project that is working, ask yourself, how can I duplicate this?

I recently had a lady from Utah call me and wanted to hire me to consult with her one on one to teach here how to make money with EBay & get her business started and profitable. She was very discouraged because she had spent the last six months focusing on how to create a website designed to create income from Adsense. After she got her self education, she built her site in less than 3 hours. She said she had finally figured out the formula after spending almost $2, 0000 on books and courses, but last month she only averaged about $5.00 a day from her sight.

My response, You dont need me, you need 999 more websites. This ladies problem was she wasnt thinking big enough and she wasnt thinking duplication. I told her after she had 1,000 websites each earning her $5.00 a day ($5,000 a day total) She could call me if she wanted and I could help her get to $5,000 a month in profit with EBay and online auctions. She thanked me for the paradigm shift and hopefully I will never hear from her again until we are speaking together at a seminar somewhere.

Is it time for you to quit spinning your wheels and get focused on exactly what systems and cash generating programs you want to master? A free book entitled The Top 6 Cash flow Systems for 2006 might help you, and you can get your copy at http://www.2006Top6.com.

After you decided, get some coaching, get profitable & duplicate!

Dale Calvert is a self-made marketing millionaire & CEO of Calvert Marketing Group. A Directory of his sites can be found at http://www.DaleCalvert.com and his site which teaches people How to Make Money on Ebay is at http://www.OnlineAuctionU.com where you can sign up for his "NO FLUFF" Ezine.