Posted by C. Holland on Feb 12, 2010
Over at TheBodyBuilders.net, the latest newsletter focuses on the Top Five Mistakes in Support Raising. I really identified with #5 “Jumped in Without Preparation” on the aspect of thinking I just knew who would give. Just because someone is a wealthy Christian who adores missions doesn’t mean God will provide financial support for me through them, and I’m wrong to pre-judge anyone’s desire to give—or not. #3 “I Asked Too Timidly” resonates more with me and God than with me and financial supporters. I think that our mission field is such a tough one both spiritually and financially, and I didn’t want to “get my hopes up”, so I’d ask God that just a few people would show for worship. Or I expected to not get access to the tools I needed for ministry or even day-to-day living, and God provided it anyway. I’m not suggesting the Prosperity Path, but I think sometimes we can get dejected and swing very far the other way as if God can’t do anything and won’t provide at all.
As always, would love to hear in the comments your input on this and additional mistakes you’ve learned from your fundraising experience.
Posted by C. Holland on Nov 20, 2009
“Reverse Furlough, Part 1: The Good Stuff” is available here.
Yet, like all things, there are some not-so-great things to consider about the Reverse Furlough:
Adapting to Different Expectations
Some sponsors just wanted a “look-see” and really didn’t need much in-depth information. Others wanted all the info, background and history we could provide. One group was more motivated to do repair work on our building than anything else. The difficult part of adapting was that it was almost impossible to tell what each of these groups wanted before they arrived, so we were learning on the fly as to what they wanted to see or experience.
Mission Field Also a Popular Tourist Destination
We didn’t realise with the first couple of guests how much this played into their expectation of the trip. You start figuring out quickly who came here to actually see/do ministry and who came on a vacation under the guise of a “mission trip”. Everyone seemed to suffer from the misconception that we were only engaged in ministry on Sunday for an hour, so we would certainly have the rest of the week to play tourist with them. “What sights do you want to see?” they’d ask. It was really, really hard not to have a snarky reply like, “This is your trip, not mine. I’ve already seen [tourist attraction], and I don’t spend my days wanting to see it week after week. I thought you were interested in ministry, not tourism.” Because no one wanted to drive or rent a car over here, it fell to us to chauffeur people around which took a huge chunk out of our days. I’m cool with people taking a couple of days out to see our country; just be upfront and tell us this, and don’t expect the entire “mission trip” to run like a tour package when you said you wanted to see/participate in ministry.
Costing Us More Than Planned
While a trip back to the States for a year would cost us considerably more cash, the earlier supporter visits quickly taught us to be upfront with our visitors about how much our budget could support them, too. The food, electric, petrol and heating bills all increase when we’re accommodating a visitor and, while we welcome visitors, it’s necessary to plan for these increases, asking for assistance from the visitor if necessary. We had a supporter surprise us with a visit a year and a half ago, who hadn’t understood the exchange rate or the high cost of basic living here, so he attempted to get us to pay for everything. We simply could not afford to do what he asked, and it ended up losing us his support. Had we known he (and his group of five) were coming over, we could have communicated and planned much better. Read More…
Posted by C. Holland on Nov 18, 2009
A few weeks ago another set of our supporters visited us for a week, making them the fifth group to visit us this year alone. Because they’ve somehow stacked within a few weeks of each other, most of this has happened over just a few months and has made for a lot of repetition in explaining what we do here. I’ve honestly forgotten who hadn’t heard which ministry story before—and who graciously heard it again for the second (or third) time.
I like to think of these as “Reverse Furloughs”. As long-time readers of this blog know, we are not sent by a mission agency and so do not have a required time that we must return to the States. We have chosen to remain in our field the entire time since entering the country for various reasons. So this means that, though we communicate exhaustively via online and print sources, the best way to find out about what we do in ministry here is to come and see it for yourself.
I’m not discounting any missionary’s need to return to the States for fundraising, training or even simple refreshing. It should be between you and God when/why you need to return and for how long. For a great article dealing with redefining the traditional furlough back to the States, check it out here at MissioMishmash. That being said, there are some great aspects to the Reverse Furlough: Read More…
Posted by C. Holland on Sep 07, 2009
The latest issue of “Support Raising Solutions” from TheBodyBuilders.net focuses on the Top Five Myths in Support Raising. We certainly suffered from Number 2 early on (“I can do this alone”), partly because of our tentmaking ability with our business in the States. God quickly convicted us that, even if we could completely fund our ministry, prayer support and communication is really the most important part.
Number 3 (“Everybody’s already tapped out”) reminds me of my work in advertising. The sales manager always emphasised that the sales people had to approach everyone regardless of whether it appeared that their business could afford promotion; stop making the decision for potential advertisers, he’d say, and let them make it. You’d be absolutely shocked to know who our biggest and most consistent financial supporter is—and where they live.
Finally, Number 5 (“I will have to scrape by the rest of my life”) reminds me that, while prosperity gospel is not our goal, neither should be poverty theology; the whole attitude seems defeatist. However, I believe that non-missionary Christians are just as guilty at perpetuating this myth with this odd expectation of missionary life—but not for them, their Christian friends or their pastor. If the funding ultimately comes from God, then differentiating lifestyle by parts of The Body doesn’t really make sense.
Check it out here: Top Five Myths in Support Raising
Posted by C. Holland on Jul 14, 2009
If you write a blog, run a website or are some form of IT professional, then you already know that you have access to a staggering amount of statistics about your website. While these can vary, nowadays you usually can view how many people viewed your blog or site from certain countries or see which search engines (such as Google) they used to find you. Additionally, you can also see what search term or phrase they used right before they clicked on your site address.
You can probably figure out what most of the search terms/phrases would be for Missionary Confidential, but as I reviewed the list from the entire life of this blog thus far, I started noticing trends. Some are good points, some are confusing, some cause concern, and a few even made me laugh, though I doubt they were meant that way.
I’ve grouped the most interesting ones for your review: Read More…
Posted by C. Holland on Jul 06, 2009
The current issue of “Support Raising Solutions” from TheBodyBuilders.net expounds on familiar territory for us and, I suspect, for most missionaries: fears in fundraising. The author lists his top five fears, and, while all five are familiar to us, I believe number 2 (“Rejection By Family”) and number 5 (“Financial Instability”) resonated the most. Biggest shock statistic: 200,000 Americans inquire yearly about becoming missionaries; 1% make it to long-term service. Ouch.
Top Five Fears in Support Raising
Missionaries: what fundraising fears would you add to this top five? List them in the comments.
Posted by C. Holland on May 22, 2009
Perhaps because we live in a mission field that also is a popular tourist destination, we tend to receive an email every so often that looks like the one I received last week. It read, in part:
“We’re friends of [someone I actually know], and we’re coming very soon to [your mission field] for a week vacation. Would you email me the Top 10 things to see in your country? Should we drive, take a tour, get a taxi or use the train when we go to all these places you suggest? And we need to find a very good Bed and Breakfast; here’s our dates that we’ll need one. Offer any advice that you have.”
I wanted to honestly answer her very last sentence, but it wouldn’t have been a very polite response.
There’s a few things wrong with this kind of contact that I wish to address. First, I don’t know this person, although it is true we have a friend in common. We’ve never interacted before. Even if I were living here for a secular job, I’m just not very motivated to do heavy research and the essential work of a tour guide or travel agent, especially for someone I don’t know who is arriving very, very soon.
Secondly, I’m a missionary, not a travel agent. While I have had the opportunity to travel a bit and see some of the sites, I pretty much stay in my neck of the woods and travel about six miles away from my house. I don’t live in a part of the country that has many tourist attractions. Any of the places to suggest would be listed on any decent travel website’s “Top Ten” for my country, though to see all ten would take more than a week’s visit due to distance. And because our fact-finding trips were so long ago, it’s been ages since we would have stayed in a hotel, and we don’t keep up on current rates or quality levels, especially in other parts of the country where these sites would be. Read More…
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