A few years ago I met a missionary who wanted to increase his support. “We don’t ask. We just minister to people and some of them give. God is taking care of us,” he said proudly....

May I speak to you frankly about a blind spot in leadership? It popped up last week, but the story I am about to tell occurs frequently.

My assistant and I met with a missionary couple (Joe and Vicki—not their real names) last Monday. They had been in town five weeks and they had a problem—they were only 50% supported. But Joe said, “That’s not the real problem. I am not afraid of fundraising, but I don’t have time to do it. The real problem is that my supervisor expects me to catch up on my fundraising while I open a local office here—now!”

Vicki chimed in. “How can we launch a new office and do major funding simultaneously! It feels like we are being set up for failure.”

1. A famous 3-step tip for improving your golf game goes like this. After playing a round of golf where you scored badly, resolve to do better! But do not go to the practice range! Instead:

2. Go to the clubhouse and order a cool drink.

3. As you relax take your scorecard and study it slowly. Discern specifically where mistakes…

How Would Your Staff Answer? 

I use to say intellectual, but I changed my mind after writing national direct mail appeals. I quickly learned that intellect and logic alone do not inspire givers nearly as much as logic plus emotion. People make giving decisions with their hearts.

Even Moses' tabernacle givers were those with "stirred hearts."

And everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit moved him came and brought the Lord's contribution (Exodus 35:21-22)

The end of a calendar year is an ideal time to accelerate your fundraising. In some cultures, year-end giving brings about 30% of the total giving for the year. Here are some common questions I have been asked over the years about year-end appeals…

Years ago I conducted my first fund raising home appeal in Singapore. Ten friends from my church waited eagerly to hear me. They were not strangers—I knew them all by name. But I was nervous—I’d never asked face-to-face before.

As I walked into the house, everything seemed so dark. The window blinds were down and I felt a strange gloom…

In 1954 a singer was fired from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville after one performance. The manager told him, “You’re going nowhere son. Go back to driving a truck.”

Has anyone told you to “go back to driving a truck” on a FR appointment?

Recently a friend strongly exhorted me to use a certain type of health supplement which he used daily. The veins in his neck bulged out as he evangelized me about the how this supplement would “do wonders for me.”

The New York Times recently introduced a new term to the English language.  “Manalogue”–-men talking, talking, talking. The writer, Julia Baird, described a speaker who was answering a simple question: