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…
Posted by C. Holland on May 20, 2009
We got an email from one of our supporters recently, notifying us that she must reduce her support commitment.
This actually made me happy.
Why? It’s not because we’re losing a portion of our monthly support from our largest, and most regular, contributor. And it’s definitely not because our supporter has received an unfortunate reduction in pay due to the economic downturn. I truly wish this weren’t the case on both aspects.
The reason I’m happy is because our supporter took the time to briefly explain this situation, making sure to include how much less this would be, when we would begin seeing this change in our budget, and why this was happening. We would have understood if she couldn’t afford any further support, considering the situation. We’re thankful that she was thoughtful of both our budgeting needs and our feelings. Now, if we could get the rest of our supporters to be as forthcoming with info.
Communication between the missionary and their supporters in today’s age should be a breeze. We personally maintain: a phone number in the States that rings to our field, Skype accounts, email addresses, a stateside postal address, and a constantly-updated mission blog that contains all the above contact info. Additionally, we send all of our supporters a monthly email newsletter and quarterly print newsletter, all with updates on our ministry, prayer requests and praises, and the various ways to contact us. Financial supporters also receive periodical handwritten letters, postcards and thank you notes. Despite multiple methods of communication, and our efforts to keep communication going, we rarely hear from any of our supporters in the States. Read More…
Missionary Confidential by Email
I jest. Good one!