Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

In the midst of preparing for our upcoming workshop on Fundraising Banquets I spent some time considering a few passages in the Scriptures related to celebrations and various banquets, but in particular passages concerned with that great banquet which all those in Christ wait for expectantly. The culmination of all redemptive history and the realization of our Father’s original intent, namely, to make His permanent dwelling place (to tabernacle) with his children. In so doing I found Rev. 19:6-9 to be particularly outstanding. Consider this… 

The Marriage Supper of the Lamb

6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out,

“Hallelujah!
For the Lord our God
    the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult
   and give Him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
   and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself
   with fine linen, bright and pure”—

for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

9 And the angel said [2] to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Someone may ask the question, why is the glory to be given “to Him”(v.7) (clearly referring to the Lord our God (v.6)) when it’s the Bride that has “made herself ready"? Is no credit due her?

The answer to that question is found in v.8 when the text says, “it was granted her to clothe herself” in such a fashion.

By whom? By God!

So how is the Bride made ready for this great event? By clothing herself “with fine linen, bright and pure.”

Interestingly, what does the text say these linens are? These fine linens are the “righteous deeds of the saints.”

Again, by what power did she clothe herself with these linens? By walking in the righteous deeds that God has granted her to walk in.

So, when we do our righteous deeds (or works prepared beforehand that we should walk in- Eph 2:10) all heaven erupts in praise to God because the Bride is making herself ready.  

Ready for what? Ready to be joined to her groom AND to enter into the greatest celebration of all time.

So, what does this all mean for us, and what might the implications be for our banquets? I would suggest that it re-casts our banquet to serve as an introduction of sorts. An introduction, in that it invites The Bride into a mini celebration which reflects the once for all celebration that awaits all those in Christ. But even more, in that it calls the Bride to prepare herself for this great banquet by adorning these brilliant white garments. And how will she do so? By walking in the “righteous deeds” that God has given her to walk in.

Again I ask, how might this impact our banquets? Perhaps we should consider as we pray and plan, what does God want our champions to do to at or as a result of our banquet to make themselves ready for that day? I firmly believe that God has given our champions more significant work than merely writing checks. If the bride is to be ready she must make herself ready. And she can only do so, at least according to this passage, by obediently walking in the works that God has given her to walk in. So, what is that meaningful work? And are we calling people to it?

My conclusion, banquets are more important than I thought…especially if we have the picture of Rev. 19 in mind.  

At the Mission Increase Foundation, we talk about PEO – leading your people through the stages of Participation, Engagement and Ownership en route to a deeper connection with your cause.  Jesus didn’t use people to get jobs done; Jesus used jobs, situations and experiences to get people done.  That’s what I’m talking about!  Through PEO, we need to provide substantive, intentional growth opportunities to the people God has blessed us with (yes, I’m talking about our donors!) to help them reach their God-given potential connected with our ministry and cause.

Here’s the thing, though... everybody grows differently and we need to keep that in our PEO minds.    

In his book, The Me I Want to Be, John Ortberg reminds us:

"God had Abraham take a walk, Elijah take a nap, Joshua take a lap, and Adam take the rap.  He gave Moses a forty-year time out, he gave David a harp and a dance, and he gave Paul a pen and a scroll.  He wrestled with Jacob, argued with Job, whispered to Elijah, warned Cain, and comforted Hagar.  He gave Aaron an altar, Miriam a song, Gideon a fleece, Peter a name, and Elisha a mantle.  Jesus was stern with the rich young ruler, tender with the woman caught in adultery, patient with the disciples, blistering with the scribes, gentle with the children, and gracious with the thief on the cross.  God never grows two people the same way.  God is a hand-crafter, not a mass producer.  Now it is your turn.”

It’s our turn as ministry leaders to understand our people and to help them grow in specific ways that are consistent with how God made them.  We need to tap into passions, desires and abilities.  As leader Mike Slaughter once said, “With our ministry, we like to discover a person’s burning bush and then pour gasoline all over it.”

This means that, although you develop a ministry-wide PEO Plan, your plan needs to be flexible and open.  Flexible as you continue to learn about your people individually and come to discover what they need to grow.  And – as always – open to the leading of the Holy Spirit, who is always faithful to guide and direct.

For me, reading Ortberg’s chapter entitled, "Find Out How Your Grow", was a real P-E and Ohhhhhhhhh moment.

Blessings on your day!

You probably think I’m referring to the disciples and yes, they were indeed influential!  I recently had the honor of being part of an influential group of 12, but it had nothing to do with who WE were.  It had everything to do with the responsibility we had been given to influence someone else’s life.

I was Juror #2 for the three week duration of a criminal trial.  I, along with my 11 cohorts, spent two days going through a selection process which is typical for choosing jurors for a criminal trial, secretly hoping we wouldn’t be chosen and have to commit to what the judge first thought would be a month long trial.  We were all willing to spend a couple days at the courthouse, mind you, but a whole month?!

What I experienced over those three weeks will have an impact on me for a long time.  And I can truly say I am grateful for the experience God gave me during those weeks.  He showed me 3 things during my jury assignment, lessons that have already begun to influence my life:

1.    The criminal justice system needs Christians to play a vital role
2.     It is our responsibility as citizens to participate in our community in this way
3.    Transformation takes place on multiple levels for those involved

The criminal justice system is designed around, and only works if, volunteers step up and participate as jurors.  The jury pool is about as diverse as you can get, selected from the broadest segment of our society.  Christian thinking and influences need to be represented from a fairness standpoint, but the greater impact to be made is on your fellow jurors as you spend countless hours with them discussing, questioning, countering, maybe arguing, and just interacting with 11 people from all walks of life.  I found myself wanting to be a witness in this relatively short time I had to spend with them.

I was also awakened to the impact Christians can, and should, have on what goes on in our community.  Not that I didn’t know this, but I, myself, am pretty removed from community or political involvement and focused more on specifically Christian related activity.  Again, the Christian perspective and influence need to be represented in order to provide a more balanced viewpoint and bring Christian values into the fabric of our community.  It was more of a wake up call for me to get involved.

It was interesting to watch the 12 of us begin this journey together, knowing we were going to be spending a lot of time in this room over the next few weeks.  Most were shy and quiet, without too much interaction.  People kept to their reading, or in my case, I was intent on completing a puzzle.  By day 2 or 3 there were some conversations starting to take place, people joining together for lunch and by now, I had a partner in completing my puzzle.  We went from complete strangers without much to say, to a cohesive group of serious individuals, all struggling to do and say the right thing, in the name of justice. 

Because this was a criminal trial, with all the horrible activity that took place, there was some dissention among the group as to the facts of the case.  Working through that dissention as a group brought clarity and understanding, and some emotional discussions, but we knew in the end, we all had to come together and make the best decision we could with the information we had.  Knowing we had another man’s future in our hands was accepted by the jurors as a phenomenal responsibility.

It was interesting to watch the transformation among jurors take place over the three week trial.  One juror, in particular, was impacted strongly through her experience and was seemingly changed as a result of her experience.  Let’s be mindful of the impact and influence we can have over this one person’s life or the life of an entire community, as we as Christians work, volunteer and get involved in the world around us.

Don’t you love to watch those infomercials late at night that promise to make your life easier if you spend a few of your hard earned dollars on their product? It’s not that you need what they are selling, but that somehow they make you believe what they are offering is the answer you have been looking for.

If your floors are dirty, every floor sweeper/mop device is surely what you need to get the job done. If your car doesn’t dry quickly enough then that light blue towel will do the trick. Or best yet, if you are out of shape and don’t feel like exercising, you can surely find a device that will shake, bend and stretch you into a svelte new physique.

Nonprofit leaders can fall into this trap as well. Fundraising consultants and organizations promise nonprofit leaders unlimited income in exchange for their expertise. Follow their plan of action (usually one size fits all), and you can have the financial security you have been looking for.

However, in order to do this you need to agree to sign a contract with costs ranging from $14,000 for an initial year on up to well over $100,000 over a five year period. These types of arrangements typically allow you to attend a conference and receive four phone consultations each year (btw – you have to pay for your travel/hotel expenses associated with the conferences you will be attending).

What are the guarantees? And what about the costs connected with implementing these new plans and strategies?

I realize you don’t have the time, and I don’t have the space, to provide possible answers to these questions, but I would like to provide one answer that won’t ask you to sign a contract or pay a fee. At Mission Increase Foundation we have been providing no cost (to you) training for over 10 years. Each year, we provide 6 workshops in a classroom setting (offered 3 times in each of our 7 MIF office locations), and 3 online webinars.

Mission Increase Foundation will coach you in ways to connect with and grow champions for your cause. Through our teaching and consulting, MIF is seeing ministries grow and thrive during these tough economic times. Click here to read what other ministry leaders have to say about our training.

But wait; there’s more! In addition to our free workshops and webinars we are here to help you apply what you learn to your specific organization through our one-hour follow-up coaching calls-for anyone from your organization following each training event. And there’s no catch; no fine print. We exist to help nonprofit organizations grow so that they can in turn grow their champions and each can have greater impact on the causes God calls every Christian to impact.

If you haven’t been to one of our workshops, or haven’t attended in quite some time, register for a workshop in your area today.

And please connect with your local Giving and Training Officer if you have specific questions about Mission Increase Foundation. I'm sure they would be glad to serve you.

A while back, I posted on the topic of elevator pitches and how to strengthen them.   The hat-trick for a successful pitch?  Make sure it’s cause-focused, vison-focused, and easy to understand.  Here’s an excerpt from that posting related to the vision piece:

Help your listener catch the dream of where you are headed and what you aim to accomplish in the future with respect to your cause; help them clearly see that you need their help – working alongside you - to impact the cause and get to this future place.

‘Casting vision’, as we call it, is all about painting a simple, tangible picture of where your ministry is heading with respect to a cause.  It generally conveys a highly aggressive goal which would require divine assistance – and help from the listener or reader – to achieve it.

Vision statements should be clear, compelling, magnetic, and external in focus.  The heart of any pitch, be it in an appeal letter, at a fundraising event, or in a one-on-one conversation, should be about the ministry’s God-given vision of the future.  It helps the listener, after all, to answer a common pressing question: How can I make a difference in my neighborhood, community, or world?

Here are some effective vision statements to get your juices going: 

-           'To the moon and back in this decade' (President Kennedy talking about the cause of space exploration)

-          'Every book, ever printed, in any language, all available in less than 60 seconds' (Amazon)

-          'Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful'  (Google)

-          ‘A “dad” in every home’ (The Playmakers, a youth mentoring organization which trains athletic coaches to disciple inner-city boys)

Of course, a catchy vision isn’t all that it takes to get the commitment of champions to work alongside you to impact the cause.  Every organization with a vision for the future needs a solid strategic plan to take it from its current state to the future place. 

To learn more about casting your vision to ‘newcomers’, register and attend an upcoming fundraising banquet workshop.   Even if you are not immediately planning a fundraising event, you will gain invaluable ideas about how to effectively communicate your cause to newcomers.