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Points Fresh
Perspectives on Personal Support Raising Steve
Shadrach Fayetteville,
AR: BodyBuilders Press, 2010, 174 pp. ISBN
978-0-9825107-0-4 |
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Steve Shadrach is the Director of Mobilization
for the U.S. Center for World Mission and president of The BodyBuilders
Ministry that trains Christian workers to raise support. Rather than a ‘how to’ manual, this book is
more of a handbook, providing a variety of perspectives, paradigms,
convictions, attitudes, etc. on personal fund raising. 1. Followership “Jesus really
did live on support!” “It was regular,
ongoing support from individuals.” “He
wanted to initiate and experience a simultaneous dependence upon God and those around Him.” See Luke 8:1-3
(3) 2. Fulfillment “…our Creator placed within every human an innate
desire to give.” (6) 4. Urgency According to a 2003 survey at Urbana, the average
time it took most missionaries to raise support was 23 months. [An average of 17 months is given on p.
148.] “But setting a support raising completion date of as little as 100 days should
come with five pre-requisites. The
Christian worker must:
Mixed with a ton of hard work and the blessings
of god, I believe most workers can raise their support in three to six
months.” “Through prayer and experienced counsel, set reasonable but
challenging start and finish dates. (10)
5. Risk Support raising can set
the pattern for other areas of your life.
“You are building a track record of hard, but faith-filled decisions
that set the course for your entire life.
Never underestimate how these early and seemingly small steps of faith
can have a profound effect on how our life and legacy turns out 30, 40, 50
years from now.” (12) 7. Prayer “Prayer is the real work of the ministry. Service is just gathering in the results of
prayer.” (17, quoting S.D. Gordon) “The amount of time I spend in prayer can
indicate whether I am trusting in God or myself.” “Whatever else we do when support raising, we can’t afford to neglect prayer.” (17)
Only God can change hearts. “We
must talk to God about men before we talk to men about God.” (18) When asking for significant end-of-the-year
gifts, the author prayed for each person and asked God to lay a certain
amount on that person’s heart to give for that year. (18) 8. Sacrifice Christian workers should lead the way in
giving. “All believers are commanded
to give.” “We must model what we ask
others to do.” “We reap what we sow.”
(19-20) 9. Full Funding People who begin ministry while fund raising
allow support raising to drift to the bottom of the
list. Marriage and ministry suffer
under the long-term stress. (21) 10. Asking “Lift up Muller as an ideal for faith, prayer, or
preaching, but unless you have a worldwide pulpit ministry like his, you may
not want to use him as your fund-raising model!” (23) 13. Teachability.
Getting ‘buy in’ from your supporters. “If you want others to ‘buy in’ you better first let them ‘weigh in!’ (31) “You can
almost never go wrong by inquiring, ‘What do you think?’ So if you’re considering embarking on a new
ministry (or a transition to a new position or organization) and you want to
have (or maintain) a strong support team, you might want to read and heed the
following:
14. Patience “Don’t ever do anything that
substitutes for the personal, one-on-one approach.” “Do unto others as
you would have them do unto you.” (34) 15. Courage “Walk toward your fears.” “Ministries do personal support raising just like they do their personal witnessing. Consider the necessary steps in both
activities:
Even though
rejection is possible, the bottom line for both endeavors is: Are you able to
ask the ’golden question?’” (35) “The fears we face in evangelism are the exact
ones we experience in support raising.”
“…the support raising golden question: ‘Mr. Smith, it would be such an
honor to have you and your family investing in us and our ministry. I am wondering if you would consider
supporting us for $00 or even $150 a month? What do
you think?’ Once again, zip the lip
and let them answer. It is now their turn to talk!” Ask the golden question as casually and as
relationally as possible, but ask. (35-6) 16. Affirmation “We think we offend people by asking too high, but with most people, we offend
them by asking too low!” When approached by someone asking for $200
a month, “I was honored because they not only believed I was generous enough to give that much, but
that I also had the ability
to. They thought I was willing and able.” (37) 18. Restoration “I bet if you really brainstormed you could come
up with a thousand people you’ve met during your lifetime. I doubt you are keeping up with a hundred
of them. If you try to reconnect with
the other 900 and they say ‘no thanks,’ what have you lost? Nothing!”
(41) 19. Honor “Face-to-face asking is the most personal.” (How did you propose?) We still need to be high-touch. “If it’s important, we will do it face to
face.” (43) 21. God or Others Three philosophies of fundraising: Prayer
only. Pray and share needs. Pray, share needs and ask. (49)
Ask God which is best for you.
Don’t let fear make the decision. (50) 22. Full Time or Part Time: “A full-time support raiser can schedule 20-30
appointments weekly.” “Donors hesitate
to come on a team until the newcomer really needs support.” (51) 23.
Churches or Individuals “I believe you should ask your home church to
anchor your support team for at least 20 percent of your total, and, if you
have time, approach a few other key churches.
But, in my opinion, if possible, the main focus of your support
raising should be with individuals.”
“Here’s the principle: Going to people
you do know will almost always bear
more fruit than going to churches
you don’t know.” (56) 25. Standard of Living Follow two competing principles. Live a Spartan lifestyle unencumbered with
the non-essentials. “The more we
acquire and surround ourselves with luxuries and toys, the more time and
energy (read: distraction) are required.”
Maximize your fruitfulness.
“Raise enough to maximize the fruitfulness of your family and
ministry.” (59-60) 34. Friends Perhaps you can recruit a full-fledged support
raising partner. This person could
support you, set up appointments for you, go with you on those appointments
and share why he or she is supporting you and helping you raise support. Perhaps this champion can even select a
“steering committee” who will meet monthly, give, network, share contacts,
set up meetings, brainstorm ideas and help hold you accountable for support
raising efforts. Perhaps this person
will ask people who love and trust him enough to personally meet with you to
listen to your ministry and financial goals.
(84) 38. Communicate with Excellence “Research tells us our readers will give us 11
seconds. They look at pictures,
captions, bullet points, and the postscript.
To draw them into the text itself, it better be short – and powerful.”
(94) Use simple language. Spell it out. Make sure the headlines, pictures, stories,
and prayer requests stay focused on the vision of the ministry. Include a transformed life. “The purpose of newsletters is to share vision and changed lives.” (95) 39. Think Long Term “If you haven’t already, go back to EVERY single
person who supports you and meet with them face to face. Heart to
heart, review with them the vision God has given you and thank them so much
for being willing to invest some of their strategic giving dollars in you and
your ministry.” “They want to know
your heart and eyes are fixed on the person and purposes of Jesus Christ and
that you are working just as hard as they are (in their secular jobs) to
bring about eternal change in the lives of people.” (98) 42. Front
Door-Back Door Professor and author Howard Hendricks believes
financial tensions (partly or mainly) cause up to 90 percent of all divorces,
and I contend the same is true for most of our departing staff. They may give every reason under the sun
why they’re moving on, but it usually boils down to support related issues.”
(105) 56. Give
Before You Ask “Support raisers must be givers. I consider personal generosity among the
most important factors to successful fund-raising. If God blesses givers, then support raisers
can’t afford to miss God’s blessings from their own funding efforts.” “In a
sense, my personal giving serves as a ceiling for the measure of gift I can
ask of others. The more I give and
experience the joy of giving, the greater my funnel of opportunity for
lifting the generosity in others. I
call this ‘earning the right to ask.’” (135, quoting Jeff Anderson) 57. Forty Years of Support Raising “Support raising is not
begging. It is giving people an
opportunity to make an eternal investment that will beat anything the stock
market does – hands-down! And there is
no substitute for the caring and praying these giving partners will do.” (137,
quoting Art Deyo) 58. The
Top Four Books on Support Raising
60. Five
Ironclad Policies Every Ministry Should Have
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Your comments and book
recommendations are welcome.