On True Partnership...

Hello, friends!

As Meg and I have gone through this summer working on our partnership campaign, we've had the chance to have some really great conversations with some really wonderful people about what we are going to be doing next year.  The love and support for our work has been overwhelming and I have been humbled by the people's willingness to meet with us and hear about the calling God has placed on our hearts.

Meg and I were talking today about a particularly encouraging meeting we had with a couple and I was telling her how these meetings have been a huge encouragement in terms of my own mentality and how I view true partnership.

What Meg and I are doing has had a number of different names over the years.  At first, it was called Fundraising.  Then, it became Fund Development because we weren't just raising it but we were developing and growing our funds.  From there, it changed to Support Raising because we wanted to reflect the fact that what we were doing was not just about money but about people being on board with the vision and mission of what we were doing.  The next change was to Resource Network Development.  At this point, we are back to developing instead of raising but it's not just funds.  No, now we are trying to develop entire networks of folk who can support and resource us in a number of ways.

The latest iteration, and the one that I believe is going to stick, is Ministry Partner Development, or MPD.  Apparently, we've scaled back our focus just to individual ministry partners but we are asking much more of them.  Now, folk are not just resourcing the ministry but through prayer, volunteering, giving, and advocating, they are actually partners with us in the work we are doing on campus.

MPD may seem like a repackaging of the same thing, made to make Fundraising seem less scary but it is actually a very important mindset change for us.  The end game is not a check for X amount.  Our "success" or "failure" in appointments we have with folk is not based on whether or not they give.  Our job is not to coerce, folk into giving financially or "sell" the ministry so that it looks good to those who may give.  No, it is much simpler than that.  Our job is to present what God is doing on college campuses and invite folk to care about it as much as we do.  

Our conversations have had varying outcomes this summer.  Some folk have decided to give financially.  Others have decided that their circumstances say they can't.  Others still are unsure and need to discern a little more.  But, every person we have talked to has said that they believe in what we are doing and believe that what we are doing is good.  Every one of them has said that they will commit to praying for us.  Every one of them has decided to partner with us in one form or another.  Pretty much, Meg and I have nailed it.  Well, really, God has.  =0).

Do we still have to raise more financial partnership?  Absolutely.  But the pressure of these meetings is gone because we are not measuring ourselves based on whether or not someone decides to partner with us financially.  Our metric is much simpler: Are we being true to what God has put on our hearts in terms of Mid-Missouri?

I tell students all the time in terms of evangelism that success is not based on whether someone decides to follow Jesus or not.  Success is based on whether or not you do what God is asking you to do.  If we apply the same principles to MPD, it has been a very successful summer.

Have an excellent day!

~Adam