Make it Transformational: A Blog for Champion Discipleship

In a couple of days last week, two experiences related to ‘getting things for free’ got my attention.   I think a lot about free offerings, you see, because Mission Increase Foundation workshops and consulting sessions are free to qualified Christian ministries.  And here’s the deal: it can be surprisingly difficult to get ministries to take our offer of free training and help seriously. 

The first ‘free’ experience related to an email I received from a newcomer who attended the May Thanking and Receipting workshop.  I was touched that she took the time to share with me something she’d posted in her Giving Thanks Daily blog on Facebook.  Here’s an excerpt:

Sometimes the best things are free. Today was spent in a short seminar for non-profits (titled: Gifting and Receipting) and I, not only learned some fabulous tips for the non-profit I work for, but applications for my life as well. Specifically, the class overviewed transformational giving, rather than transactional giving – and I thought what a great way to look at things, and, oh by the way it is biblical.

The second experience, just two days later, involved a phone conversation with Jeff Gilman, Executive Director, Redwood Gospel Mission (RGM).  Jeff and RGM have navigated from near bankruptcy to ‘a real metamorphosis’ over the past year, thanks to an overhaul of their development practices via Transformational Giving (TG).   We’d had several conversations about how to get the word out to more ministries and had agreed he would personally invite his pastor friends (numbering over 70) to a special introductory Transformational Giving training. 

Interestingly, the topic of our brief phone call was the opposition he occasionally experiences in offering something for free.  Jeff got to the point quickly and said something like: I’ve been struggling the past few days about how to position this event. The truth is there’s no free lunch. All my friends in ministry know this. So they are very skeptical when I tell them about free workshops. They think there are strings attached.

I listened and identified with this challenge that I, too, encounter at times.  I explained our board’s heart to help small ministries grow and impact God’s Kingdom by training them for free.  Then we talked about the costs associated with MIF workshops and consulting – and how the foundation and its TG champions underwrite the real costs so ministries may be served for free.  The explanation made sense to Jeff. 

It was later that I saw the email invitation Jeff sent to his pastor friends.  Here’s an excerpt that had me thanking God: 

…The biggest single reason for our transformation was our introduction to a foundation based out of Portland, OR that provides training and consultation to ministries and churches.  The foundation underwrites the cost of the services, so everything they do is free to the ministries they serve.  There is no “bait and switch,” or any other “free seminar” lies that for-profit consultants try to tease you with.  And frankly, they have been more valuable to my ministry than any other seminar, workshop or training I ever attended.

Of course the excerpt is a fabulous testimony to the value of Transformational Giving.  I also really appreciated his emphatic description of free and valuable services.  As the newcomer to MIF wrote in her blog posting:  Sometimes the best things are free. 

The next time you have a knee-jerk reaction to quickly decline something that’s free, put your skeptical self aside.  Make an effort to better understand the motivation and the heart of the giver.  If the motivation seems authentic, take a chance to accept the free gift.  And, finally, if you need help learning how to receive, take a minute or two and read this blog post from my co-worker Suzanne. 

A friend recently forwarded this article to me, which raises a question that rarely gets asked: what causes ought we to support? 

The answer in the article, based on a book called “The Art of Giving”, is inward focused: “You need to ‘dive into your soul’ to find the topic or topics that are nearest and dearest to your heart”.

I very much like the idea of strategic, intentional giving, and placing the individual’s desire at the heart (or soul) of the strategy seems like a reasonable place to start. 

But is it?

This approach may work just fine for children’s charities and animal rights groups protecting baby seals, but it’s hard to imagine many people soul diving to find a deep and abiding passion to advocate for, say, kidney disease research, or any number of other important causes that don’t ring our emotional bells.

And what are we to say to someone who looks into their soul and finds their passion is to replace cracked leather seats on private airplanes, or prevent cat juggling?

Christians have even bigger problems, as most will read this article and conclude that soul-diving in a Christian context involves praying about which causes God would lead us to support, or conversely, to conclude that “I’m a Christian, and I really feel passionate about this cause, therefore God must have put this cause on my heart”. 

This approach is Christian-ish, but not Christian.  Why?  Because it is fundamentally self-centered and not self-less.  There are no examples in Scripture where God’s people are encouraged to look to their emotions as a driver of their commitments and behaviors.  On the contrary, time and again, God’s people are commanded to raise their sights above and beyond themselves, to meet God’s standards regardless of how they may feel about it, “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”.

Therefore, the Christian ought to be committed to causes that were established—in the person and ministry of Jesus Christ-- outside their own personal set of passions. 

So what are these causes?  How might we determine what they are and how we are to commit ourselves to them? 

These are critical questions that we will explore over time.  And remember, “When the pupil is ready, many teachers will appear.”

"What's the greatest barrier(s) you face in comprehensively coaching champions in your cause?"

Well, that was the question I posed to an executive director and his board during a recent one-on-one consultation. The question came up as we were discussing the Transformational Giving Principles, in particular #8 and #10, with reference to the idea of comprehensively coaching champions. Just so those two principles are top of mind, here's what they say.

Principle 8: Giving is not the process but rather the result of the process of a champion being comprehensively coached to share the cause effectively within his or her sphere of influence.

Principle 10: Champions connect with each other and with organizations not according to the amount of their giving but by the degree of comprehensive personal ownership they are exhibiting in the cause.

The question seemed straight forward enough to me, and I certainly didn't have any subtle agenda in asking it, but boy was I surprised by the conversational flury that ensued. Here's a synopsis of what was discussed. (Note: The "they" in the responses below refer to the ministry's current donors.)

• They believe it requires a certain calling and unique gifting to do what we do and appear almost scared!
• They don't really understand the Bible's clear teaching about the cause.
• They don't have a sense of urgency, but seem more sentimental about the cause.      
• They've given-up on the cause, and seem almost overwhelmed by the immesity of the need.
  
• They believe that getting too close to the cause may give them "cause coodies."

So I responded, after observing that the subject of the reasons given was the donor and not a single one was with reference to the ministry, why do you think that is? And at the risk of offending them, which was not my intention, I officially ended our brainstorming session by proposing, in the form of a question, one final barrier that may stand in the way of people being comprehensively coached in the cause.

Is it possible that you are one of the greatest barriers to people being comprehensively coached in the cause? In otherwords...

• Is it possible that you've given the impression that the work you do is "for professionals only"?
• Is it possible that you've neglected to build a Biblical apologetic for your cause and then to share that with them?
• Is it possible that you've encouraged them to feel sentimental about the cause versus feeling a true Biblical compassion (i.e. a genuine emotive response that compels one to loving action)
• Is it possible that discussions of "the need" have simply overwhelmed them and they have very little understanding of the ways that the cause can be impacted?
• Is it possible that you've intentionally kept them at arms link, perhaps for fear of complicating things by their involvement or in an attempt to control things?

The silence was broken by a simple but insightful response. "I guess we have some work to do to coach our champions huh."

The balance of the conversation was amazing. We spent time discussing each of the above items and came up with some very produtive ways to recognize internally (i.e. reshaping the questions to serve as a guide), as well as intentionally address these barriers that stand in the way of real champion maturity. Though not exhaustive, each of the above questions has stimulated a few "coaching points" for them to develop in the context of their PEO chart, communications (including their thanking & receipting which is our upcoming workshop topic in May), events, and other ministry related activities.

So I ask you, what's the greatest barrier(s) you face in comprehensively coaching champions in your cause?

“Well, the nice part is you don’t have to worry about any of this…everyone wants to meet with you and these don’t really apply do they.” At least that was the assessment of a ministry leader regarding the Transformational Giving principles and their application to the foundation at our recent Coach Your Champions discussion group.

It was a bold statement, but understandable. Not true, but understandable. Not only does our funding model depend upon giving from local champions, but in the context of the conversation, I was coaching champions and as Transformational Giving Principle #5 states, Transformational Giving relationships between champions (i.e. ministry leaders) and organizations (i.e. the foundation)  are primarily peer-level mutual accountability relationships, not friendships or organizational support relationships.

So I responded, “The great thing is, they actually do…and are in this very moment!”

You gotta love accountability!

So as you're working to articulate your cause, the Biblical foundation for it, your PEO charts, champion covenants, and more, know that we too are prayerfully doing the very same thing. We are considering what full maturity in Christ looks like with relationship to our cause. We too want to equip, educate, and provide experiences where champions can grow and thereby own the cause in their sphere of influence. We too want to be found faithful in discipling those God has entrusted to us. Should I go on?

So, I appreciate the accountability, but even more, the opportunity to have clear relationships and coach champions.

I had an interesting experience today.  It left me feeling raw. As I was looking for something on the internet, I got sidetracked with news updates on Haiti.  I watched this video followed by this video.  Tears were streaming down my face as the human and emotional toll of the disaster struck me – deeply – unlike before.    Later in the day (video-watching and nose-blowing behind me), I noticed this posting  on Katya Andresen’s Non-Profit Marketing blog.  Of course I was curious...

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