14550 Lee Rd, Chantilly, VA 20151

Exponential East 2017 Pre-Conference, Day 2

Such great content and wisdom being shared with us church planters at the Exponential East 2017 pre-conference day 2:

Exponential East 2017 Pre-Conference Phil Ling

Generosity & Fundraising Strategies

Phil Ling

Step 1: BUILD THE LIST

People you need to add to your list:

  • Start with your ‘Christmas card list’
  • High capacity givers
  • Positional leaders
  • Tribal leaders

Step 2: INVITE THEM

Thoughts on making the invitation to meet:

  • Be intentionally vague in the initial invitation.
  • Get a volunteer to schedule your meetings so you aren’t tempted to make ‘the ask’ on the phone.
  • People will ask their important questions 1-on-1. The only people that ask questions in front of others want an audience, not an answer.

Step 3: MEET WITH THEM

Thoughts on where to meet potential supporters to make ‘the ask’:

  • Office space or small, quite room is best
  • Restaurants/coffee shops are too noisy
  • Meeting in their homes makes them feel obligated to entertain you, which can turn a 45-minute meeting into a 3-hour meeting

Step 4: MAKE THE APPEAL

The step-by-step process:

    1. say thanks for coming
    2. explain why they’re in the room
    3. cast the vision
    4. how we’re going to pay for it financially (design a giving chart with parameters)
    5. give them a deadline
    6. challenge them to pray about it- “put in on your fridge and every time you walk by, pray that you’ll make the biggest gift you’ve ever made to ministry, then pray if that’s God’s number or your number.”
    7. end with gratitude

Exponential East 2017 Pre-Conference Chris Causey

Opening Day

Launch Larger than You Though Possible

Ron Sylvia & Chris Causey

Thoughts on launching large:

  • It’s easier to turn a crowd into a church than a [small] church into a crowd.
  • Don’t pick & choose parts from different church planting models – you’ll end up with a Frankenstein.
  • Launching large can bring credibility in your community
  • Launching large facilitates the church becoming self-supporting faster
  • It can create excitement & enthusiasm
  • “Large” is relative – 200 in Boston is huge
  • Launching large is very stressful, but it lets you choose your stress
  • It has a higher cost
  • We can all ‘lead large’, as if our church were 150% larger that it currently is