If you need money, do the work.
That’s what we need to tell you.
Not that you aren’t already overworked, underpaid, and stressed to the hilt. We get that.
But that there’s no shortcut around it. You must do the work. You must not give up. You must believe in your work. And you must convince us and bug us relentlessly to put you in our budgets.
The missions that get in are led by people who are bold and tenacious.
Make us believe that you believe in your mission, and by all flippin means, make the ask.
Ask for the check. And don’t apologize for it.
Ever.
Recently a leader of a mission’s organization we partner with emailed me and asked my advice on how they could get 30 new missions launched around the world.
Here’s the advice I gave him…
Advice From Someone Who’s Been There
Hi Doug,
Sorry about the delay in responding. Been dealing with a messy situation here that has taken its toll. But we’re out on the other side of it now.
So, if I understand your question, you’re asking if I were in your shoes, and wanted to add an additional 30 projects by year’s end, what would I do?
That’s pretty simple: I’d make a list of every Senior Pastor in our movement, starting from the largest church to the smallest, and I would personally call every single one and ask them to lead their church to become a partnering church. And I wouldn’t stop until I had recruited the Senior Pastors/mission’s ministers/mission teams/churches to make those happen.
Do the Work
When I started CCV I sat in my home office and made phone calls from 7am until 11pm raising support. I did that for 6 months straight. I basically worked my way through the Directory of Ministry (our denomination’s church phonebook).
The result? I raised $650,000 in commitments ($300K from individuals and churches over 5 years and $300K from three organizations over 5 years.
I would have had an additional $150K from Southeast Christian Church in Louisville (our denomination’s largest church) but someone on their mission’s team didn’t like one of my Management Team members (seriously) and they sent their support to a church planter in Boston who blew up his church in 2 years and isn’t even in ministry today. Am I still angry? No. Do I want to punch that Mission Chairman’s dog in the face? Why do you ask? Do you know someone who does that kind of work? I digress…back to the topic at hand.
Anyway, it took me six months, but God made that happen. Every weekend was spent going to churches and speaking. Monday through Thursday making phone calls. I took Friday and Saturday off.
Find Leaders Who Will Help You Find Leaders
With every person I got to commit financially I would also ask, “Do you know anyone who would like to join us?”
Once I had their wallet, I asked for their hands. With the first commit I not only raised funds, but someone else who was on my team to go find new financial partners. I would encourage you to do the same.
For every Pastor that you can get that’s a “10” leadership-wise, that guy can recruit 4 or 5 other “9’s” and “8’s”. But you have to ask. And give them a seat at the table. Start by making asks of “3’s” and “4’s” and you’ll quickly find they can’t “recruit up.”
Go Big or Go Home
Doug no one will be able to do this for you.
You can’t delegate this task to any staff member (besides you need them working on finding 30 worthwhile projects anyway, so they’ll have their hands full).
Your team doesn’t have the church-leader credibility chips in their pockets.
Only you can make the calls and big asks, and you have to want it bad.
But if you do the work, you’ll have 30 new projects by the end of the year. Don’t do this and you’ll have the exact same prayer request for 2016.
The real question is, as always, which we all have to ask ourselves at critical junctures, “Am I willing to pay the price?”
Take massive action Doug.
Brian
