How Getting to Full Support Changed Me as a Coach

By on January 19, 2021   /   Coaching, Leaders, Preparation and Tools, Training   /   Leave a comment

Ready for a challenge? It is stated in three simple words – get fully funded. You are a leader, a coach, a trainer, and, as such, you are an example for the supported staff in your organization. Yes, you’ve been at your role for many years, and you are good at what you do. Once upon a time, you were fully funded. You know what it’s like to raise support; you just haven’t done it for a while. Let me share how taking time out to make this a priority not only helped us reach full support but changed me […]

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Millennials and MPD: What I Have Learned Coaching New Staff in Support Raising

By on November 17, 2020   /   Appointments and Asking, Communication and Relationships, Culture, Follow-Through/Obstacles, Leadership, Preparation and Tools, Special Asks, Strategy and Planning   /   Leave a comment

Lysa, a young capable woman who loves Jesus and wants to serve Him overseas, joined our staff several years ago after college. She had never raised support, but was trained well. She plodded along among her college friends and home church with 3-5 appointments per week for several months, but was still only at about 10% of her goal. We had a deadline coming up in less than two weeks that required her to be at 80% of her actual (not pledged) support goal. If she did not make this, none of the rest of the team would launch and […]

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Ethnic Minority Support Raising is an Untapped Goldmine for Your MPD!

By on October 20, 2020   /   Communication and Relationships, Ethnic and Gender, Fear and Perspective, Non-Westerners, Training   /   Leave a comment

Support Raising for ethnic minorities usually conjures up words like shame and honor. But no longer are these terms relegated to ethnic minorities. Honor and shame categories are more relevant than ever and apply to all missionaries regardless of ethnic or cultural background. Consider the shame dynamics brought on by the onslaught of social media, articles like Christianity Today’s “The Return of Shame” and the popularity of best-selling author and shame researcher Brené Brown. Smartphones and Facebook have put honor-shame dynamics into everyone’s pocket, especially Gen Z, the first digitally native generation and the incoming missionary force. This current pandemic […]

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When to Say “No” to Raising Support

By on September 15, 2020   /   Infrastructure, Leaders, Leadership, Preparation and Tools   /   Leave a comment

When I met Jessie, everything indicated he would be a star in his ministry. The ministry he was aiming for was at the center of his passions.  It was in worship and his creativity came alive in the church context. His church body loved his contribution and his family was all for it.  It wasn’t long before Jessie was avoiding me and donor phone calls; paralysis had set in.  The situation surprised me. Each coaching call increased my own sense of anxiety as I perceived the situation was eroding his well-being rather than building him for the future. Ultimately, Jessie […]

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How to Get the Most Out of Your Coaching Experience

By on September 1, 2020   /   Coaching   /   Leave a comment

Since 2010 I have trained hundreds of missionaries in partnership development and during this time there has not been a week that I was not in a coaching relationship. Having personally coached over 200 missionaries, here are a few things that I have learned which can help you get the most out of your coaching relationship and partnership development (PD) season. Decide that you are going to work with a coach. Our records indicate that missionaries who use a coach raise approximately 33% more funding than those who do not in the same amount of time. This means that of […]

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Equipping Indigenous Workers

By on August 18, 2020   /   Coaching, Culture, Non-Westerners   /   Leave a comment

A note from SRS: Here is a story of a team that is making incredible strides in raising up international ministry workers. May their story inspire you to dream bigger for what is possible. The world is changing, but the gospel remains the same. And every day, God is at work in central and eastern Europe, as the message of Jesus Christ touches young people. Pockets of this reformation are being sparked by the dedication, sacrifice, and service of our missionary team, Josiah Venture.  Our goal in Josiah Venture is to walk young people through the process of disciple making […]

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Why Should I Raise Financial Support For Church Planting?

By on August 13, 2020   /   Basics, Biblical Encouragement, Culture, Fear and Perspective   /   Leave a comment

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 video 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.

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Learned Helplessness

By on July 21, 2020   /   Coaching, Culture, Fear and Perspective, Training   /   Leave a comment

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 […]

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An Open Letter to the Christian Family about Generosity to Our Missionaries

By on July 7, 2020   /   Biblical Encouragement, Culture, Family and Finances, Preparation and Tools   /   Leave a comment

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 […]

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The Price of Effectiveness: What Organizational Change Actually Costs

By on June 17, 2020   /   Culture, Leaders, Leadership   /   Leave a comment

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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Support Raising Solutions
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