Episode12

Seek balance

Article12

Don’t care for your ministry at the expense of yourself or your family

There is so much to do. Weekly goals need to be accomplished, while regularly making sure your schedule is optimized for maximum organization and time management. It is essential to stay organized while keeping track of your prospective partners (contact list), actual supporters, your interactions with them, the donations you have received, acknowledgements, a list of people you still need to ask for referrals, and so much more. There are a great many details to steward, and you need to be able to assure donors that their information and gifts are well cared for as you continue to build your team.

Hopefully you are occasionally reevaluating the system you’re using to keep on top of your work. Is it an effective help to you as it stands today? If not, adjust it, improve it, or replace it with a more optimal system. Consider seeking the advice of people you trust who are highly organized. It may feel like busy work that you may not enjoy, but it will be time well spent if it keeps your administrative details balanced!

“The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes to poverty.” –Proverbs 21:5 ESV

Additionally, though SRS regularly mentions the need to be “spiritually healthy,” we want to encourage you to also seek balance in other key areas that play a role in your overall spiritual and personal health:

• Relationships with immediate family: If married, are you taking time to love and pursue your spouse beyond discussions about support raising? If a parent, are you finding quality time to relationally connect with your kids?
• Self-care: Are you getting an appropriate amount of rest, exercise, and proper nutrition?

Allowing time and energy to balance the administration of support raising, self-care and primary relationships is one of the many reasons we recommend people raise support full time.

 

May God bless you in building your team of ministry partners,

The SRS Team

 

This Week’s Self-Improvement Challenge

After you’ve given your ministry presentation dozens of times, you might start to get creative, adding more ancillary details that take too much time to share. Be cautious! Are you able to clearly communicate your complete presentation in a conversational style with a clear invitation in about 20 minutes? If your presentation is too long, what can be eliminated or revised to make it more clear and concise for your listener? Practice with your accountability partner or another friend who can help you with solid feedback. Keep your presentation simple and all about the vision.

Our suggested critical components of presentation include:
Rapport. Problem. Solution. Changed life story. Your role. The Ask. Next Steps.

Also, have you slipped away from making clear Asks? Don’t let fear or the advice from others lead you astray. Boldly share the goal, what’s left, your target date, your levels of giving chart, and make a direct Ask for a specific dollar range based on that chart.