Dr. Steve Shadrach is a guest on Danny Parmelee’s show “101 Questions Church Planters Ask” to look at the WHY behind raising financial support. This looks at some of the biblical reasons and examples of raising financial support along with some of the pragmatic benefits of raising personal funds for church planting.
Keep Reading →Layout & Language I’ve observed that most missionaries struggle with one of two things when writing their prayer and update newsletters. Either they struggle to design a newsletter layout that is both attractive to the eye and easy to read, or they struggle to use language that speaks to the heart and inspires the reader. Here are 4 quick tips on the layout of your newsletter and 4 quick tips on the language in your newsletter. 4 Tips on Layout Use your organization’s logo and branding You don’t want to know how many missionary newsletters I receive where it’s unclear […]
Keep Reading →Dread. That’s what I felt before my weekly check-in as an MPD coach with this staff. The litany of excuses, hopelessness, and futility I felt each meeting sucked me right into their vortex of despair, transforming a great day into a dreary one. I worked hard as a coach, asking reflective questions designed to help them arrive at a new insight or behavior change that would move them to some measure of success. Nearly every time my questions were answered with some form of “I have tried it all and people just don’t want to support me. I don’t even […]
Keep Reading →Co-authored by Tim Howington and Chris Haas I (Tim) had a world-changing meeting at Cracker Barrell recently. I was privileged to sit down with a young couple committed to reaching college students for Christ. I got to hear about what God is doing as He expands His kingdom in and through these missionaries. Like many other missionaries, God has called them to spread the gospel in a specific part of our world, and they are in the process of raising their personal support. By that, I mean that they are working full time in their ministry and are looking to […]
Keep Reading →In 1919, Texas Baptists began a ministry for college students. Our first Baptist Student Ministries (BSM) was planted at Texas A&M and UT, but soon included most of the major campuses in Texas. God has done so much in these past 101 years within Texas BSM, so we have a lot to celebrate! While our methods of ministry have changed with the times, our model of funding (until recently) has not. The path from a traditional model of funding into a support-based model has not been easy, but because of our embrace of support raising, we are better equipped to […]
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In 1 Corinthians 11:1 Paul says, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ (NIV).” It is interesting that Paul does not say, “Follow Christ’s example, as I follow the example of Christ.” I believe what Paul is trying to convey in this passage is the principle of mentorship in our walk with God. In whatever skill we are trying to develop, we all need a mentor or a coach to get better. Even the most highly accomplished, professional athletes still need a coach. How much more important is a good coach when it comes to raising support, […]
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At first, the words were faint, harmlessly percolating in my mind, but a question soon formed and draped over my shoulders like a yoke, “Did I prepare him for this?”. Foot on brake, not yet ready to drive away, I gazed with yearning through my car window at the back of my oldest boy while his huge frame eagerly pranced through the quad to the entrance of his college dormitory. My wife, LeNair, knew my thoughts and reassured me as I watched Ryan disappear around the corner. Questions still echoed in my head, “Did I prepare him for this?”, “Did I […]
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Five Reasons Why Now is the Perfect Time A young man named Jack is calling me right now trying to get a Zoom call appointment to tell me about his new ministry assignment—and ask for support. At first I thought, “Bro, back off for a while. Let this thing blow over. No one is going to respond to you during this crisis. Chalk it up to the sovereignty of God and let it go!” But the more I’ve reflected and talked to other ministry leaders, I’ve concluded this may be the absolute perfect time to launch your support raising efforts. […]
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What does it mean to wait on Lord? A lot of times we as Christians think that waiting on the Lord is this quiet, unproductive posture of doing nothing. We recently moved from Colorado to Arkansas, which meant a trip to the DMV to get my Arkansas driver’s license. I don’t know about you, but for me it took several hours of sitting and waiting on three separate occasions before I finally walked out of the DMV, license in hand! Have you ever noticed that waiting for stuff like that can really drain you? But is that what God is […]
Keep Reading →Core Messaging is just what it sounds like: the core, the foundation, of everything you want to and have to say. If you get these right, your communications become easier throughout the year, and you have a better chance of following the old “they need to hear it 7+ times to pay attention” rule. Without core messages, your funding plan falls flat because your donors will lack the clarity of message. And without that funding plan, your core messages would never see the light of day. It’s a hand-in-hand thing. Let’s build some strong messages out of all your hard […]
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