Directly across the street from Living Hope Baptist Church is a yellow street sign warning drivers of a “dead end” ahead.
Although the meaning of this sign is well understood, it could have meant something totally different, however, for Pastor Robby Tingle and his congregation at Living Hope had things continued as they were when he first became pastor.
Tingle agreed to lead Living Hope full-time in October 2021 after the church plant moved from Jacksonville, Arkansas, to nearby North Little Rock. At the time, approximately 40 people were already attending the church (they had originally started out with 22 members). The small congregation relocated after the North Pulaski Baptist Association offered the congregation a vacant church building.
Shortly after accepting the church’s offer to become its full-time pastor, Tingle said the church, now averaging anywhere between 70 and 80 attendees on Sunday mornings, received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service that notified them of a failure in fulfilling their IRS obligations and filing requirements for the past two years. 
“There was no embezzlement or anything like that from anyone within the church. It was not an intentional mistake; no one did it on purpose. Things just weren’t being handled correctly in an accounting format where we could track everything well,” Tingle said.
He subsequently met with church leadership about the letter and recommended they contact WatersEdge for help. Tingle had heard about WatersEdge Ministry Services at a church planting orientation a year earlier.
After getting the green light from church leadership, he called Kelsey Doughty, director of ministry accounting at WatersEdge, and explained the challenges the church was facing.
“At no point or time did WatersEdge say to me, ‘Well, what were you all thinking?’ At no point or time did they imply, ‘Well, you should have contacted us a year and a half ago when we talked to you about it.’ There was always a helpful spirit to say, ‘We want to help in any way we can,’” Tingle said. That help included filing all the required IRS paperwork on behalf of Living Hope.
The North American Mission Board, through a formal partnership with WatersEdge, also covered the costs of Living Hope’s first year of ministry accounting services. Those services included basic accounting, payroll services, contribution tracking, and online giving.
And because of the services it now receives from WatersEdge, Living Hope is better equipped to track every dollar it spends. Tingle cited their first-time participation in this year’s kid’s camp as an example.
“Last year, we weren’t able to go to kid’s camp because we didn’t have kids who were old enough to go to camp. This year, we do. Well, we didn’t make a budget line for that, but with WatersEdge, we’re able to put that in our budget as an expenditure,” Tingle said.
Tingle admits there is no reason a church plant should not use WatersEdge and relieve themselves of the stress of making a mistake with federal or state documents, which could ultimately create a “dead end” for the church sometime down the road.
“We are very pleased with what WatersEdge is doing for us and will continue to do for us. When our year lapses with WatersEdge and the [North American] Mission Board, we’ll find room in our budget to make sure that we continue allowing WatersEdge to take care of our finances and make sure they’re done right.”
Over the past five years, WatersEdge Ministry Accounting Services has seen a 700% increase in the number of churches it serves. At the end of 2023, there were 194 churches receiving some sort of accounting or payroll service from WatersEdge.
By Harve Allen
