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.  

Can you guess what the number one human fear is?  The dark?  No, that’s #12.  Dying?  No, that’s #7.  Heights?  No, that’s #2.  The number one fear is... public speaking!!

Of course, trying to find the source of this survey is difficult and it’s questionable as to how scientific it was when taken (for example, my greatest fear is running out of peanut M&M’s, but I digress...), so we need to take it with a grain of salt.

Yet, regardless of whether or not public speaking is the #1 fear, I think we can all agree it IS pretty high on the list.  Even when someone agrees to speak publicly about something there is a natural fear going into it, and a question about how effective one will be when they speak.  And this gets to what I want to talk to you about...

Public speaking at your events!  Too many times I have seen ministries recruit volunteer speakers to share their story, to talk about their involvement in the cause, to make an ask, or even to MC the event, only to have it be a very stressful experience where they are only half as effective as they could have been with a little prep work.

Because of that, my next few blog posts are going to be dedicated to helping you and your volunteer speakers to be the best you can be when on the stage.

First off, we have to address this fear.  Hear me...having fear is OKAY so embrace it!  Ian Tyson, a stand-up comedian, said “The body’s reaction to fear and excitement is the same...so it becomes a mental decision: am I afraid or am I excited?”   Address your fear directly and early on and decide how you’re going to channel it.

Second, practice your speech, then practice some more, and of course, practice.  Frankly, if I asked people how important practice was, 100% would say VERY important.  YET, we don’t do it nearly enough (if at all!).  I like Scott Berkun’s take on why he practices his speeches.  In his book Confessions of a Public Speaker, he says “I don’t practice to make perfect, and I don’t memorize...my intent is simply to know my material so well that I’m very comfortable with it. Confidence, not perfection, is the goal.”  (Side note: this is a great book you need to read!)

And that leads into the third point we need to discuss, which is WHAT is it that your practicing?? To have confidence in a message that is confusing and convoluted is not good!  But, you’ll have to wait until next time to learn about "shaping the message.”

(BTW, for July, MIF is presenting a free workshop on Fundraising Banquets where we’ll be talking about speaker effectiveness, so check that out to expand on what I’m sharing here.)

I’m blogging to let you know about a major Mission Increase Foundation change!   And it’s a great one!   In 2010, MIF will be offering one-on-one coaching as follow-up to all workshops.  Here’s how it works…   You attend a workshop in your local area.  Go to www.missionIncrease.org to check the listings for workshops in Colorado, California, Oregon, Washington State, Arizona, and coming in March – Raleigh, North Carolina!   After attending a workshop, you express your desire for...

Read more...

A few weeks ago I attended a fantastic fundraising event for a missions group that creates community outreach centers to poor Chinese immigrants.  The event featured the most remarkable dramatic presentation, where through a multimedia presentation of video, music, drama and dance, the nonprofit illustrated the plight of these immigrants, and demonstrated the simple, effective steps we can take to make a profound difference in their lives. 

Read more...

Several trends presented in last week’s webinar – The Golden Age of Philanthropy Has Died.  What Now? – were bouncing around in my head the following day as I read this article posted in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.  The article’s title, ‘Two Very Different Groups, One Fundraising Event’, captured my attention as it suggested alignment with a key strategy presented in the webinar: partnerships and resource sharing.    

Read more...