Even if you are fully funded you will experience financial bondage if you neglect Jesus’ parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25.

You know the story. Ten virgins planned to attend a wedding. Five wise virgins took extra oil for their lamps, but five foolish virgins “took no oil with them.” (Matthew 25:5)

A generous friend in Minneapolis frequently receives fundraising appeals from mission workers. He said, “They come sheepishly to my office to ask for support for their work in Brazil or Germany or downtown with their heads down. Without looking me in the eye they apologetically ask for help. But I surprise them. I bark, ‘Get your head up! Stop looking at your shoes!’”

What does your family think about your fundraising?

• Consider you a spiritualized beggar

• Embarrassed and hope you don’t appeal to their friends

• “Okay” with your decision to go into ministry but don’t understand what you do

• Assume you will be poor all your life and that they will have to subsidize you 100% behind you in your choice to go into gift-income ministry

Do you fear sharing “your donors” with your ministry organization? Won’t the organization steal them?

Here is a refreshing story about the YWAM El Paso-Juarez, Mexico ministry. The staff were struggling to raise the remaining $1,200,000 for a new Children’s Home to rescue kids off the street. What to do?

Leaders, you do a dis-service to the staff you lead when you don’t talk about fundraising. Perhaps you are well funded, and perhaps you execute wise fundraising plans. But your followers are not well funded, and they feel guilty if they even think about taking time to do fundraising.

Last week a giving-partner, Gary, wrote to say he “reads every one of our newsletters.” Realizing that I do not read “every one” of the ministry newsletters I receive, I asked him why he takes his valuable time to read my newsletters.  In his own words:

After being trained in ministry partner development, many staff from around the world go gangbusters in setting face-to-face appointments. And many see their donor income double within 12 months. The Goliath of Fund-raising has been slain!

The Mombasa Solution is needed!

The Mombasa Kenya Nav team under Timm and Carol Njuguna, gathered Thursday mornings to work on funding—together! Their agenda:

• Share successes and disappointments on funding since the last meeting

• Study scriptures and pray

• Phone prospective donors to set appointments