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"

God has already planned it

When Adam and Eve brought onto themselves the curses of sin at Eden, God had already planned that the woman's seed would crush the head of the serpent. (Genesis 3:15)

When Joseph's brothers delivered him into slavery in Egypt, God had already planned that he would save countless lives through the great famine. (Genesis 50:20)

When Israel found themselves trapped by the Egyptians with their back to the Red Sea, God had already planned a miracle He'd refer back to all throughout the Bible. (Exodus 14:13)

When Saul disqualified himself from kingship at Gilgal, God had already planned to anoint a greater king after His own heart. (1 Samuel 13:14)

When Naomi was left without a husband or sons, God had already planned that the Messiah would come through her family. (Ruth 4:17)

When Lazarus grew ill and died, God had already planned that His disciples would believe in Him as a result. (John 11:14)

When Jesus was taken prisoner and sentenced to crucifixion, God had already planned to bring about the salvation of mankind. (Acts 2:23)

When Jesus departed this world and left His frightened disciples behind, He had already planned that the gospel would penetrate to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

When a murderer was on his way to claim the life of more Christians, God had already planned to bring salvation to the Gentiles through him. (Acts 9:15)

When you were still in the grasp of the devil, God had already planned good works for you to accomplish. (Ephesians 2:10)

When all the armies of the earth gather together to finally destroy Christianity, God has already planned to demonstrate His sovereignty with absolute victory. (Revelation 20:9)

Perhaps you are feeling like your fundraising (or life!) isn't going according to your plan right now. If so, don't worry...

God has already planned something glorious to come from it.

Refresh: The place for smiles

"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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"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps." (Proverbs 16:9 ESV)

My wife Melanie and I showed up at Starbucks to share our ministry with a couple but were dismayed to discover that not a single chair was empty and the line was out the door. It was obvious that we were going to have to think of a new place to have our appointment.

While we waited for the couple, we brainstormed alternative venues. Our usual backup is Wegman's because of their nice cafe. But we could also try the other usuals: McDonald's, Burger King, etc.

When the couple arrived, they noticed the seating issues as well. So after a little small talk I asked them where they'd prefer. Their response bewildered me: Eat'n Park.

Now, I have nothing particular against Eat'n Park. It's a fine establishment. But if you had asked me for my top 1000 places to meet for anything, Eat'n Park wouldn't have made the list. Nonetheless, off to Eat'n Park we went.

Other than the location, it was a fairly typical support appointment. We ordered coffee and the couple seemed interested as we shared. We chatted, asked if they'd consider financial support, asked if we could follow up, etc.

As we were wrapping up and heading toward the door, my mind was already moving onto other things. Then, all of a sudden, a man with a large smile stepped in front of me. He said hello and told me his name was Pete. The only response I could think of at the moment was, "I have no clue who you are!" Now, I didn't actually say that, but my face clearly showed it because he followed up by saying, "You don't know me." I sighed with relief that I hadn't forgotten someone. Then he continued.

"I wanted to stop you because I was sitting across the way from you and I overheard what you were sharing about your ministry. I'd like to support you."

It turns out that Pete is only in the area five times a month since he and his wife live more than an hour away. He just happened to be at Eat'n Park that night because he was eating dinner after finishing a job.

In the end, the couple we'd actually met with gave a generous one-time gift, but Pete is now a generous monthly donor who has faithfully given ever since our "appointed" appointment.

Oh... and I kinda like Eat'n Park now.

Submitted by "Fred"

Refresh: The best support appointment ever

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

This is part of an ongoing series called Refresh, named for the verse above. "Gospel" means "good news", and so it seems appropriate to highlight tales of God providing, especially in amazing, fun and unexpected ways. Note that unlike most Refresh posts, this one contains real names. It's simply too good a story to use anything else. May this tale help refresh your bones!

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This is the story of how God provided an unexpected blessing for my wife during a support appointment. (I can tell the story because I had something to do with its coming to pass.)

The story begins at the point during our courtship when I started planning how I was going to propose. I wanted to give her an experience she would recall fondly, and a story she would enjoy telling. I knew that if I could surprise her (in a pleasant way), I'd be halfway there. However, I faced the dilemma many guys face: how do you surprise her when she's expecting that you're going to ask?

I decided that simply asking in an unexpected moment wouldn't work. Instead, I concluded my best strategy would be to show up somewhere she didn't expect me to be. But how to do that?

I decided to stage a fake support appointment.

I knew Carin was making plans for a support trip to Harrisburg, so I called up a friend of mine who had connections there. When I asked him if he knew anyone who would make a good accomplice for my plan, he immediately mentioned his friend Gabe. (Notice how I was making use of my own networking skills?) I called Gabe, who turned out to be an enthusiastic helper. He would play the role of prospective donor for the staged appointment.

I still needed a way to connect Carin with Gabe, though. I enlisted the help of Carin's mom, who also lived in Harrisburg at the time. She told Carin that she had a referral for her, a guy named Gabe who had visited her church and expressed interest in hearing more about her ministry.

(Incidentally, I knew all along that this was the weakest point in the plan. Given the interconnectedness of Christian circles, I knew there was a chance that Carin would know who Gabe was—and it turned out she did. She told me later that it did seem weird that Gabe, who was well-connected at his own church in Harrisburg, would visit her mom's church.)

And here you see that my entire plan rested on Carin's fundraising diligence! If Carin didn't follow up on the referral, my plan would fail. Thankfully, though, she remembered what her fundraising mentor had told her: always follow up because you never know how God might use it!

Gabe and I together had devised what he would say when Carin called: "I'm planning to go out to dinner with my brother and sister-in-law that Saturday. But I'm sure they'd like to hear about your ministry too. Why don't you come with us? We'll treat. Great! Oh, and it's kind of a nice restaurant, so dress up. Meet us at my house and we'll all go over together."

Gabe was indeed at his house at the appointed time, but he answered the door wearing shorts and a T-shirt. His brother and sister-in-law were not there, but I was... wearing a suit and holding a dozen roses. Carin's plans for her evening - and indeed for her future - had changed.

Submitted by Brian Roberg

Refresh: Funding the Opposition

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

This is part of an ongoing series called "Refresh", named for the verse above. "Gospel" means "good news", and so it seems appropriate to highlight tales of God providing, especially in amazing, fun and unexpected ways. Names and other details are modified just enough so as not to incriminate the innocent... or guilty! May this tale help refresh your bones!

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The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He will. (Proverbs 21:1 ESV)

Back when I was in college, I strongly disliked the boyfriend of one of my roommates. In fact, it would be fair to say that I hated him at first.

Despite that rocky beginning, we grew on each other and became good friends. He's involved in politics and runs several campaigns for people around the state. He spends a lot of time doing fundraising for large organizations and he's really good at it. The problem is that he's not a Christian and is quite outspoken about it.

Despite that, when he discovered that I was also doing fundraising he initiated us getting together for an appointment.

So we met one morning and had a good time catching up for a while. Eventually he got down to business and flat out asked me what my needs were. I responded by explaining that I wanted to share about what I'd be doing in my ministry and then we'd get to the money part.

He told me to save it - he didn't want to know about any ministry. He only wanted to give!

I replied that I generally ask for $100/month. Without blinking he said, "Okay. I'll write a yearly check."

I was amazed at the awesome way God provided support from that appointment, especially given our history and his anti-God mindset.  He even joked afterward that he'd be supporting me and I'd end up training people who would then work against him!

Years later, I still pray that God would use my donor's gifts, our relationship, our newsletters and whatever else He sees fit to bring my friend to Christ. Would you please pray with me?

Submitted by "Jackie"