Refresh: Bad Math

"Good news refreshes the bones." - Proverbs 15:30b

This is part of an ongoing series called "Refresh" which highlight tales of God providing, especially in amazing, fun and unexpected ways. Details may be modified to protect privacy. May this tale help refresh your bones!

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My wife and I had recently gotten married and I was going around introducing her to my support team. Now that my family size had doubled, I was trying to raise additional funding. Thankfully, having a beautiful new wife on my arm made many conversations with donors a whole lot easier even when asking for increases in support! It may have been because I felt bolder. Or maybe it was that she was a much better conversationalist. In either case, things were going well and we were steadily getting the extra support we needed.

However, there was one supporting church in particular that had a very business-like (and therefore intimidating) Missions Board. On the way to the meeting where I'd be introducing her, we prayed together that they'd consider increasing their support from the already-generous $400 per month to $600 per month. Would God be so generous as to grant our request for a 50% increase?

The meeting went fairly well. As was always the case, I felt intimidated but still managed to share our vision for ministry as a couple, our increased support need and several prayer requests. However, what I completely, totally chickened out on was asking for that increase to $600 per month. I'd stopped short by telling them that we needed $X more per month, but I hadn't been specific. (Some would say that that's totally fine - my wife, however, had been expecting me to be specific as I'd said I would. Oops...) The Missions Board asked a few questions, prayed for our requests and then directed us to leave the room for a bit while they decided what to do.

We waited and prayed out in the lobby. I apologized to my wife for backing down and she graciously forgave me.

Then we were ushered back into the conference room where the Missions Board informed us of their decision: "We're very encouraged with your work. We'd like to double your support to $1000/mo."

We sat there dumbfounded. We were amazed that God answered our prayer and then some! We were amazed at the generosity of the Missions Board. We were amazed that they gave so much despite my not asking specifically. We were amazed that they thought that 400 x 2 = 1000.

We had no problem with that bad math.

Later on we noted to one of the Missions Board members that they previously only supported us at $400 per month, so they actually did more than double. He blushed and told us to not worry about it - they were happy to give. We're certain of that!

We're also certain, as we found out afterwards, that the Missions Board member we spoke to was a high school math teacher.

Submitted by "Garrett"

The right way to do fundraising

I did fundraising as a single guy for about five years. During this time I learned the following two things:

1. Fundraising as a single guy is hard.
2. I had little clue about the right way to do fundraising.

Then I got married to the girl of my dreams... and we kept on fundraising. This fundraising was especially critical because a couple months before we got married I lost several donors whose total monthly giving was over $1100. See item #2 above. I wasn't exactly sweeping my wife off her feet with my fundraising skills.

So in our pre-kids days we used to do a lot of fundraising together. During this time I learned two more things:

1. Fundraising as a married guy is hard.
2. I still had little clue about the right way to do fundraising.

But here's the odd thing... despite the continually-mounting evidence to the contrary, I continued to act as though I knew the right way to do fundraising!

For example, my method was to share "big picture vision" with donors and potential donors. I told them all about the ministry's mission and core values, where we were heading and then how they could help, etc... you know... the right stuff to share! My wife, however, for reasons I simply could not fathom, would share the detailed day-to-day stuff: where we worked, how many people we ministered to, what their prayer needs were, etc... you know... the other stuff to share! Yeah, I suppose somebody could share that stuff, but, uh, why? (I also wasn't doing so hot at sweeping her off her feet with my stellar listening skills and vast reservoirs of empathy.)

Because of these... differences... going on support appointments together was often difficult.

Writing newsletters was worse.

What was the problem here? Was it that one of us was right and the other wasn't? Consider the words of King Solomon:

The plans of the heart belong to man,
    but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.
All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
    but the LORD weighs the spirit.
Commit your work to the LORD,
    and your plans will be established.
The heart of man plans his way,
    but the LORD establishes his steps.
(Proverbs 16:1-3,9 ESV)

Note the repeated emphasis: men's hearts are full of plans and intentions, but God is the one who sovereignly acts. His good purposes are always fulfilled even when my [faulty] purposes are not.

These verses should therefore cause us to learn two more things:

1. From man's perspective, fundraising is always hard. From God's perspective, it's already done.
2. I must choose to believe - to truly believe - that I have little clue how about the right way to do fundraising; only then do I recognize the need to commit my work to the LORD.

In the last few years, I've learned to lean on those truths far more than I used to. This has made fundraising on my own and with my wife far more enjoyable as well as more fruitful. I've learned that it's okay if my wife shares things differently than I do. It's okay if we differ on whether newsletters are one- or two-sided. It's okay if we have ongoing discussions about how to plan fundraising trips. None of those decisions will make or break our fundraising.

It's all okay so long as we commit our plans and our work to the LORD. He is the one who will give the donor's answer.

That's the right way to do fundraising.