Welcome to Desiring Fundraising

PRESS RELEASE

Gospel Fundraising is very pleased to announce a merger with Desiring God Ministries. Beginning next week, these two gospel-promoting, Christ-exalting, missions-supporting, Christian-gerunding organizations will be re-branded as Desiring Fundraising.

John Piper, founder of Desiring God Ministries, shares his reasoning for the merger: "Several months ago, while writing my second book of the evening, I got to thinking about the state of Christian fundraising. Before long I was weeping at my desk! How many fundraisers there are who try to perform their difficult task under their own power! I pictured them before Christ on that last day: 'Look, Lord, see my funds!' That is a tragedy. And Christians today are raising billions of dollars without tapping into the limitless power of the gospel of Christ. Over against that, I put my protest: Don't buy it. Don’t waste your fundraising.”

He went on to say that he found Gospel Fundraising buried somewhere on the 7th page of Google's search results. "After praying and fasting about it for three days, I knew instantly that this was the next thing I could do to advance the supremacy of God throughout the world."

Piper later added another reason the merger made sense. "I had also run out of people to dedicate my books to, so I figured I should start dedicating them to people who submit Refresh stories on Gospel Fundraising."

Tom Hallman, founder of Gospel Fundraising, added, "Pastor John has been a hero of mine since I first listened to his talk, Doing Missions When Dying is Gain. The merger made sense from the moment he proposed it."

Hallman shared that he almost missed the opportunity when Piper first suggested the idea. "John sent me a direct message via Twitter with the proposal. I got an email notification of it, but unfortunately it went directly into my spam folder because Gmail assumed it was a fake." He shook his head. "Same thing happened when Mark Driscoll contacted me via Google Plus."

According to the new website, Desiring Fundraising exists to "spread a passion for the supremacy of God in fundraising for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ."

Piper and Hallman also announced that they will be co-authoring a new book to be released this July entitled, Don't Waste Your Fundraising. According to Hallman, "I named the 3rd chapter!"

Prolific Christian blogger Tim Challies was sent an early draft of the manuscript and gave a favorable impression on his website. "This is some of Piper's best work yet and Hallman outdid himself! I'm planning to purchase copies for every missionary my church supports. I found the title of Chapter 3 especially impactful."

Here are select quotes from Don't Waste Your Fundraising, courtesy of Desiring Fundraising:

• “God is most glorified in fundraising when we are most satisfied in Him.”
• "If you raise funds gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full."
• "The chief end of fundraising is to glorify God by enjoying him forever."
• "It is better to lose your funding than to waste it."
• "Don’t so much pray that your fundraising will be without pain, but that it will be without doubt."

ChristianBook.com is offering a 20% discount to existing Gospel Fundraising readers if you preorder a copy of the book by May 5. Use coupon code, DF2013.

Piper also hinted that he's working on a poem called "The Fundraiser" based on the life of Paul.

When asked if there was any correlation between the timing of the merger and his stepping down as Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church this past weekend, Piper simply did this. A spokesman from Desiring Fundraising was not available for comment.


Happy April Fool's Day!