Mike and Bev Zimmer



Several years ago, Mike and I became aware that we were not being obedient to God's call to tithe, as well as to our
commitment as members of SLW. We had always given to the church by putting some money in the offering plate, but we
only gave what we thought we could spare.

After realizing that everything we had in life had been given to us by God, we realized the need to realign our priorities in
the area of stewardship. Things were tough, as Mike had been laid off a year after building our house, and things didn’t get
easier once Mike he left for Vermont to get trained on starting his own monument business. We had huge concerns and
doubts, wondering whether we’d be able to pay all our bills if we chose to tithe according to God's guidelines. But we were
challenged to test God – just as his Word says (Mal. 3:10) – and honestly have not looked back since.

There were times of decision making, yes, but we continue to tithe 10% and every need has been met. We have learned to
adjust our list of supposed needs and have allowed God to show us His priorities. Many times we’ve discovered that what we
thought was a need was really our human desire for something – and there is a huge difference between our real needs and
wants. We are obligated to the Lord, who paid the ultimate sacrifice for us to distinguish between these wants and needs.
And as Christians, we have a choice – Will we be obedient to our God, or will we be self-serving and put our wants first?

I encourage anyone that is doubting God in this area to take the challenge and test his promises. We have been so blessed
to see His goodness in our lives! We still don't have that fishing boat we want, but we’re pretty sure that if it’s God’s will, it
will happen someday.
(724) 376-2233       3096 Sandy Lake-Grove City Road, PO Box 275      Sandy Lake, PA 16145



Scott and Chris Powell



When we first got married, we agreed that we were going to tithe. We started out tithing on our total NET income (a
whopping $15K per year) when I heard a sermon on the radio challenging us to tithe on our GROSS income. The speaker
stressed the biblical concept of “first fruits” (one of the OT Jewish holidays was “Festival of First fruits”) and stressed that
we should give to God FIRST (not 10% of what was left after the government took our first fruits). We weren’t sure how we
could do that on our very modest income and still survive, but we agreed that we should do so.

That was 18 years ago and God has blessed us abundantly in increments since then. Each time we earned more, we gave 10%
of our “first fruits” to God. While we have never made a huge amount of money, we are totally debt-free, and Chris has been
able to follow her heart’s desire to be a stay-at-home mom.

In recent years, we have made it a point to give above 10% of our gross income (tithing to SLW first, and then supporting a
Compassion child and others in need), and we are joyful about doing so. We believe that we have been blessed not so that
we can get ‘rich,’ but so that we can help bless others through giving.
LIFE STORIES

If the mission of SLW is to be an authentic community that
equips people to know and grow in Christ Jesus, then Life
Stories are evidences of how we're gradually accomplishing
that mission.

The stories you are about to read are real. They come from
real people who attend SLW, fascinating stories which
demonstrate God's faithfulness among us.

Of course, no one submitting a story claims perfection, so
please give grace as you read how God is working in our
midst. But keep in mind - each one is a unique
demonstration of God's love, mercy, and kindness.

By the way...

If you have a story you'd like to share, please send it to
kdepeal@slwchurch.org for consideration.



Bob and Gretchen Barr



Before Bobby started attending church I came on my own and did my own tithing. I was so very careful to keep it within our
budget – in other words, I didn't tithe well or biblically. But when my Bobby became a Christian and started attending
church, as the spiritual head of our family this issue became his responsibility.

One day I was walking by the table as he wrote out our tithe check, and my first reaction was to remind him that we are
definitely "payday to payday" people, but he trusted where I had doubted. I can tell you this, we have not been blessed in
financial ways since we started tithing – and we still have to be very careful about where our money goes – but (and this is
huge) we have been blessed in God’s ways.

We never have more in the checkbook than we had before, but we never have less, either, and our spiritual lives have grown
as a result of Bobby’s good stewardship. I think this is a testimony needing to be shared, because there are so many people
that think if we do what God wants of us we will find $20 bills on the ground or have money "magically" appear in our lives.
However, God does not do magic, and even though I know that some are blessed in financial ways, we need to remember
that the true value of tithing is the assurance that our Father recognizes our obedience and honors that obedience.



Roman and Julie Amon



Julie & I were taught about the Godly principle of tithing sometime after Oct. 97, and we decided to ‘put God to the test,’
as it says in Malachi 3:10.

There was a time when things got really tough for us financially, all while we were obediently tithing. So one night, in
frustration, I went outside and wrote on our sidewalk with chalk. I wrote, “Why God? We go to church! We go to prayer
meetings! We tithe! We pray! We worship you! Why are we struggling?”

Well, it rained that very night, and much to our surprise all that was left on the sidewalk after the rainstorm were the words
(in CHALK)…

We        We        We        We        We

I had to get Julie to come see it – WE had the wrong attitude!

We continued to tithe, but things got rough again and we backed off for about 1 ½  years. We had financial struggles and
felt that we could not tithe. We still gave a little here and there, but one Sunday I decided to step out and tithe regardless
of our circumstances.

A couple days after I made the decision to tithe regardless, I began getting calls out of the woodwork for side jobs – and
these calls were from people I didn't even know, who knew people that I did know! Well, there was no explaining it away;
God was honoring our obedience in faith as we began believing He would take care of our financial needs.



Patrick and Elaine Aretz



We got married just over a year ago. Prior to getting married, I had always tithed. However, right at the beginning of our
marriage, we were adjusting to living away from home and joining our lives, and this obviously included learning the full
responsibilities of bills and appropriately managing our money. In the mix of all these new adjustments, tithing was somehow
overlooked and not discussed. Throughout this time, we noticed that the amount in our checking and savings accounts was
gradually getting smaller and smaller, which caused us some concern.

After a couple of months into marriage, the topic of tithing came up. We both agreed that it was necessary to start giving
10% of our income to the Lord, and we started tithing regularly. After we did that, we began to notice that, instead of the
amount in our checking account decreasing as it had been before, it was gradually increasing more and more. We really had
not made any changes in our spending except for giving 10% of our earnings. As this trend continued, we were certain that
God was completely responsible for what was happening. He reassured us both of His faithfulness to us when we are faithful
to Him.

During this same time, we had been looking off and on for houses to buy. We had not been able to find anything in our price
range that we liked. Then, in March, Patrick "stumbled" across a house that looked as if no one was living there. It was not
listed with a realtor at that point, and after doing some research we were able to track down the owners and the realty
company virtually the minute the house was being listed. Less than a week later, we signed a contract for the house and
were able to buy it, which was well below our price range and was perfect for us.

Later on, some people in the community actually asked, "How did you actually get this house? There has been a line of
people waiting for this house for over a year." We knew immediately that, again, God's hand was guiding us and providing for
us. These experiences have made us feel truly blessed and have helped us realize how important it is to remain faithful to
God by tithing.