Do you ever notice that when you go to your Dentist everyone working there has perfect teeth, especially the Dentist?
I have had several dentists over the years and have a good friend who is a retired dentist. They all have perfect teeth. The receptionist, hygienist and dental assistants all have fantastic white smiles and picture-perfect teeth. In the case of my friend, his wife, children, and grandchildren all have gorgeous teeth without flaws.
When you think about it, you really wouldn’t want it any other way. I would not want to go to a dentist that has half their teeth missing and then others in ill repair. I want a dentist who practices what he preaches so to speak!
Do What I Do, Not Just What I Say!
This seems self-evident with the exception of Christian fundraising and the road well-traveled.
On the road well-traveled, the pastor or Christian leader focuses on motivating people to give of their resources. The fundraising effort has to offer up a big and bold goal, a magnificent vision, powerful stories of the ministry’s impact, and some compelling Bible teaching.
These elements are essential. Pastors and Christian leaders feel the responsibility to motivate people to give. Apparently, they do not feel the same responsibility to lead by example and practice what they preach.
As mentioned in last week’s blog, I was at a fundraising seminar some years ago, and the facilitator told us we’d be amazed to know how many leaders ask people to give to the ministry they lead even though they themselves don’t support it financially.
Then he said we’d be further amazed to learn how many pastors don’t tithe or give materially to their own church. Then he boldly asserted we’d be amazed to find out how many Christian leaders in mission agencies don’t financially support their own ministry.
I’m not sure how he might have known any information in support of his claims, but in this room filled with pastors and Christian leaders, you could feel the conviction. There was a lot of squirming… and crickets.
Yet we see David on the road less traveled. Just as David did, leaders today who are walking this road will—ideally—consecrate their own hearts and make their own financial commitments before asking anyone else to prayerfully consider their response to that particular giving opportunity.
Effective fundraising requires leadership, and that leadership involves being an example of generous giving.
In David’s day, giving was more public than we’re probably used to. The people of Israel saw what David gave, but—and I can’t emphasize this enough—his generous giving was not meant to draw attention to himself or to his generosity. (The Pharisees in the New Testament mastered the public display of giving.)
Instead—and this is evident in the 1 Chronicles 29:10-19 prayer—David wanted to set an example and give glory to God as he did so. A young lady named Summer was exactly this kind of leader. I’ll explain.
For almost thirty years, Every Generation Ministries has been working with churches around the world to help each of them develop a life-transforming children’s ministry.
Tom and Nancy Wilson were instrumental in the founding of EGM, and Nancy has a long history in education for special needs children. Nancy founded the first educational program for autistic children in Southern California’s Irvine Unified School District.
We had prayed with Nancy for years about her serving with EGM to help churches develop a children’s ministry for special needs children.
We’d seen in various countries where we were serving a grassroots movement to develop special needs ministry in churches. One of those countries was Egypt. We were so excited when some ministry work emerged spontaneously. Starting to explore this vision in earnest, we sent a team to a large conference in the US focused on special needs ministry.
At our ministry booth we had a looping video of a worship service for special needs children in Egypt. They were singing and praising the Lord in Arabic, and it was lovely. Stepping up to our booth, Summer—who had Down syndrome—was fascinated by the footage of those Egyptian children with Down syndrome worshipping in Arabic. After a while, though, she moved on from the booth.
About two hours later, during the lunch break, Summer returned, and she was holding a small envelope. Taking our EGM representative aside, Summer said she had a special financial gift for the work in Egypt. She asked that the entire gift—100 percent—go to the ministry.
After our staff person guaranteed that this would happen, Summer presented the envelope. They prayed together, and Summer moved on to lunch. Our staff opened the envelope and found three one-dollar bills. Summer had given us her contact information, so we sent her a receipt for the three-dollar donation.
Several days later we received a call from Summer’s mother asking about the receipt. She had no idea why she had received it, so we explained what had happened. Apparently, Summer’s mom had given her money for a drink at lunch, and Summer had sacrificially given it to God for the ministry work of helping special needs children.
Summer’s gift was one of the first we received for the new ministry initiative. Summer was a leader in giving, and God has honored that. Today, EGM has a new ministry initiative underway with Nancy Wilson on our staff. With her giving, Summer was a leader in launching the work.
King David stands in sharp contrast to the people that seminar speaker referred to: David was a leader and a generous giver.
An essential element of the road less traveled approach to Christian fundraising is a leader who understands that he/she needs to set an example of generous, God-honoring giving.
The Road Well Traveled: Motivate people to give by developing a creative and compelling presentation of the vision and the financial need.
The Road Less Traveled: Present the financial need and lead by example, confident that God honors the leader who is a generous and cheerful giver by moving among the people and prompting them to give generously and cheerfully.