Easter and Legacy: A Tribute to My Dad

If my math is correct, tomorrow marks the 35th Easter in a row during which my dad will preach a sermon(s). It is also his last Easter sermon at the church I still call "my home church" -- the church where I met my bride and learned to pray and serve with men twice my age.

It is likely that my dad is experiencing a world of mixed emotions tonight as he does his final walk through his selected Easter text. I am sure Satan would want him to be filled with doubts and a litany of "shoulda, coulda, wish-I-wouldas."

But Satan is a liar, and Easter is the proof.

Satan slithers into the Garden and urges us to believe God is withholding the good life from us. The Son of God leaves behind the good life, willingly goes to the cross to give us His righteousness, and is raised again to give us His life.

Over the last 35 years, my dad has served the church in remarkable ways. His name will never be mentioned from the platform at the SBC, but I suspect He will have more than enough crowns to lay at Jesus' feet.

Though my dad's last Easter sermon as a lead pastor comes tomorrow, his legacy, to the extent he has pointed people to Jesus, endures forever. And, he has done so remarkably well.  As my dad nears this final sermon, I would like to remind him (and us) that Easter is not merely our only hope but also our certain hope. I hope to encourage him with four ways he has lived out the resurrection life and proven to me and to many who love him that Christ is risen!

1. My father has embraced the counterintuitive wisdom of God, the humility of our Savior. After 35 years of ministry, it sometimes amazes me how few people realize my father is an incredibly brilliant man. My dad is smarter than most men I know - including many PhDs. If you doubt this, I defy you beat him in a game of Trivial Pursuit or to beat his GRE score from an exam taken when he was 40 years of age. Most know him as the happy and highly-gregarious encourager God has gifted him to be, but few realize he is also wicked smart.

This is by design. Somewhere along the way, my dad must have decided he would rather be who God has made him to be in Christ and allow sophisticated people to underestimate and malign him than to limit his overall effectiveness in the Kingdom of God by insisting people also know him as "smart."

In Christ, my dad learned humility. He learned the weakness of God is stronger than men (1 Cor 1:25), and he was just "foolish" enough to trust the message of the cross more than his intellect. He learned to prefer brokenness to brilliance. More than any methodology or strategy, this convictional approach to leading and pastoring is the "secret sauce" to my father's success in ministry.

2. My dad genuinely loves people with the self-sacrificing love of God. For all of his interests in "church growth," I have never known him to treat one person -- not one -- as "just a number." Methods and approaches come and go, but none can replace genuine love for "all the flock" (Acts 20:28).

The role of the pastor as one who feeds the flock by being with the flock is one my father takes seriously. The nearness of Christ to His people is to be communicated by the nearness of the undershepherd to the local flock. My dad understands this and considers the responsibilities of being a "pastor" to be a divine privilege. Consider these examples.

• One of my earliest memories of my dad is of him counseling a family whose 14-year-old daughter was killed in a vicious car accident. I became weary of him being gone so much, so he took me with him. I am so glad he did. I saw my dad bring the healing hope of the resurrection to an awful situation. To my 8-year-old eyes, it seemed like my dad had actually become Jesus. Everyone he saw and everyone he touched seemed to be healed of their heartache. I don't remember what he said, but I will never forget the unmistakable transformation on their faces.
• I saw my father leave family vacations early to lead families through the grieving process and to preach the funeral.
• I saw my father loan cars to struggling church members on numerous occasions.
• I saw my dad, early in ministry, preach every Sunday, run the youth ministry, plan and drive the bus for all church events, and essentially work for 70+ hours/week -- not because he was a workaholic, but because he was desperate to help people know Jesus even when there was no one else to share the load.
• I saw my father drive for hours to share the gospel with a church member's lost father.
• I saw my dad share the gospel with a drug addict, stick with him through relapses, give him hope by offering him a job painting our house, and then take him to Charlottesville routinely during the last months of his life. My dad could have delegated this. Many leadership gurus would say he should have. The gospel said otherwise.

3. My dad refused to let the world rob the church of confidence in the Scriptures which reveal to us the Risen Lord Jesus Christ as the only hope of salvation for all peoples. Every good preacher will readily admit some sermons and some Sundays are better than others. Sometimes, things just do not go as planned. But, you will not find in 35 years of material one instance in which my dad preaches another gospel. You will never hear him preach salvation by works or reduce the gospel to only the "nice" saying of Jesus. Quite the contrary, you will always get a robust defense of the faith once-and-for-all delivered to the saints and an exhortation to trust and honor Jesus in all things no matter the cost.

4. My dad is always willing to do whatever it takes to honor Christ. For years, a large sign in the sanctuary at Green Ridge Baptist read, "Whatever it takes." That's my dad. Whatever it takes to be faithful to his calling. . . whatever it takes to point people to Jesus. . . whatever it takes to show people the indescribable love of God in Christ . . . whatever it takes to keep the people of God pursuing their Risen King.

My dad's ministry has been characterized by doing whatever it takes, and he is doing it again now. It cannot be easy to transition to a new day of ministry, but dad perceives that is what God would have him to do for the good of His church. Once more, dad is laying down his life in order that others might know that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. Once more, dad is doing whatever it takes to point people to Jesus, trusting that Easter makes all the difference.

Dad, I love you. Christ is risen.

Successful Fundraising Means Raising the Right Money

In the previous posts, we have seen that successful fundraising demands a culture which consistently seeks and creates opportunities to further fulfill the mission through the involvement of qualified prospects. But, a culture which prizes private giving and wholeheartedly engages prospective donors are not all that is required.

The right sort of gifts are also needed.

Yes, successful fundraising obviously requires the acquisition of gifts, but gifts are not enough. Truly successful fundraising is fueled not merely by gifts but the right sort of gifts.

Raising the right sort of gifts means securing gifts that align both with the donor's heart and the institution's mission. Because securing any gift can prove challenging, the temptation for the fundraiser who consistently faces the pressure to "beat last year" is to simply accept a gift and trust the institution will "find a way to make it work" even when the purpose is not well-suited to the organization or the donor wishes to place unreasonable/unworkable restrictions on the gift. This is unwise, and organizations should commend fundraisers who demonstrate a consistent conscientiousness in this regard -- even when it means forfeiting a gift.

Gifts which are not the right sort of gifts are those which divert from the institution's mission or create financial and administrative burdens that exceed the benefit of the gift. A good example in higher education is a scholarship which comes with so many restrictions that it can seldom be used. If a donor's desire is to help students, a scholarship agreement must be written broadly enough to ensure students will consistently meet the scholarship criteria. It is the fundraiser's job to help a donor understand how to structure a gift for maximum impact. Good stewardship demands nothing less.

In other words, gifts of equal amounts do not necessarily have an equal impact, and some gifts can be impact-diluting or even impact-diverting over the long term. The conscientious fundraiser understands this and seeks gifts the organization can deploy in a way that consistently fulfills the mission and honors both God and the giver.

This does not mean gifts to fund new buildings or new initiatives should be avoided. It simply means the true costs involved should be calculated and included as a part of the overall strategy. For example, the addition of a new building comes with new recurring expenses for cleaning, power, water, climate control, information technologies, and maintenance. A new academic program often comes with new expectations for the availability of library resources. Good gifts come when good questions are asked and answered from the inception of any new initiative.

Both donors and institutions often fall prey to the ills of "chronological snobbery" wherein "newer" is simply assumed to be better. To be sure, newer can be better but only to the extent that "the newer" better deploys and extends that which is timeless -- the mission of the organization.

If the organization's mission is the right mission, and the organization has demonstrated a consistent ability to fulfill that mission, what is needed is not new, trendy, or innovative. What is needed is significantly greater support for that which is tested, tried, and true.

This means, in the case of gospel-centered institutions functioning with high-levels of financial and confessional integrity and accountability, unrestricted gifts are absolutely vital and wise because they have the greatest potential for impacting eternity over the long term. Such gifts provide an opportunity for the organization to quickly overcome unforeseen challenges and seize new opportunities in an ever-changing world to deliver the sort of Kingdom-extending impact the donor desires and God delights to give.

Raising the right sort of money is challenging primarily because it requires time and intentionality in building personal relationships predicated on trust. But, the time is worth the effort because it results in mission-focused, mission-extending gifts which make maximal impact.

Successful fundraising then means raising enough of the right money. And the right money is that which:

1) Directly supports the institution in fulfilling her mission, and

2) Does not come with unreasonable restrictions, and

3) Is large enough to deliver the anticipated outcome(s), and

4) Does not add new institutional costs without a plan to cover them.

What do you think about these criteria? What would you add?

Successful Fundraising Requires Cultural Saturation

While I desperately hope denominational support will rebound, I am not optimistic in the near term. Current political and economic trends suggest any recovery, if realized, will be modest, and some governing officials have already signaled their desire to collect more revenues by eliminating the opportunity to itemize charitable contributions.

Even if we were blessed with modest growth in Cooperative Program receipts, support would still fall substantially short of the levels needed to undergird a seminary dedicated to exalting Christ by equipping students well, in part, because CP receipts have not kept pace with inflationary growth since 1990.

Current economic realities are pushing seminaries to think differently about finances. Gone, and likely never to return, are the days when denominational support provides 70+ percent of a seminary's budget. But, we must not passively accept a "new normal" where strong, denominationally-supported seminaries become tuition-driven schools that are no longer affordable for many who seek to be thoroughly equipped for the pursuit of God's call.

A better way to address the troubling funding realities before us is found in the purposeful cultivation of a culture which prizes the work of financial development at every level. Organizations facing declining denominational receipts need scores of successful, saved people who will be interested in, involved with, praying for, and advancing their God-given work. The levels of support needed to secure the future affordability and impact of seminaries demands that most of the people who comprise the seminary be meaningfully involved in the process of cultivating the relationships that allow seminaries to flourish regardless of future economic headwinds.

Identifying the scores of men and women who will stand with us in fulfilling our missions demands the purposeful involvement of virtually everyone in the organization. Financial development is not merely an office; it is a way of life for anyone who has the privilege of serving in an organization on the front lines of fulfilling the Great Commission. The work of identifying financial partners for the ministries entrusted to us does not belong to one person, one office, or even one division. To be sure, someone must coordinate and lead the charge, but the team is comprised of everyone. In tomorrow's thriving organizations, "financial development" is becoming a way of life for everyone who takes part in fulfilling the mission.

Financial development must saturate the cultures of denominationally-supported institutions because gospel-centered organizations understand the dreams and plans that God gives in the pursuit of His mission almost always require financial support. Financial development is not fundamentally about money; it is about mission, and the mission belongs to everyone in the organization.

In organizations that understand the fundamental connection between generosity and our passion for God's mission, events, graduations, conferences, speaking engagements, chapel services, luncheons, and new initiatives involve a deliberate consideration of the potential fundraising possibilities, implications, and applications at the outset. Prospective ministry partners are prayerfully sought and winsomely engaged in every venue possible. Donors' advice and strategic engagement is sought by the organization's leadership team in advance of new initiatives. If the needed conviction, passion, and funding are found lacking, the project is delayed, modified, or dropped depending upon the Spirit's leading through the organization's intentional, structured, and early engagement of prospective financial partners.

One of my colleagues formerly worked in the trust department for a large bank. His managing director wrote "everyone is responsible for sales" on dollar bills and handed them to every employee in the division. His desire was to create a particular sort of culture, a culture that valued sales and helped every employee understand they had a role to play and a stake in the work.

If everyone is responsible for sales when mere money is at stake, how much more ought everyone be responsible for knowing the mission and sharing the institution's story within their circle of influence? The organizations that overcome today's financial headwinds without sacrificing their mission at the altar of skyrocketing tuition will be those that create enthusiastic, friend-raising cultures from top to bottom. Successful fundraising requires everyone.

Successful Fundraising Requires Qualified Prospects

In the introductory post, fundraising success is defined as raising enough of the right money to sustain a Christ-exalting seminary until He comes.

It should go without saying that raising the funds necessary to undergird a seminary or any robust, Kingdom-advancing endeavor requires financial partners in ministry -- real, flesh-and-blood human beings made in the image of God -- but it must nevertheless be said. If I had a dollar for every random name dropped or off-the-wall, raise-money-fast gimmick or event, we would be well on our way to meeting our financial goals for this fiscal year.

Gifts from corporations, corporate foundations, and large charitable foundations are wonderful and can often be significant, but these institutions are not the primary source of charitable giving in the United States. When counting bequests and small family foundations as individuals, more than 90 percent of the billions given each year comes from individuals, and much of that is contributed by a small fraction of all those who give. In other words, major gifts make the major difference, but we will have more on that in a future post.

The importance of individuals for overall charitable giving means most giving is determined and directed by human beings who have minds, passion, interests, and a story. People who make gifts that build, sustain, and transform institutions do not just want to know their gift is used wisely; they want to know the people of the institution using their gift.

A qualified prospect knows much more than what you do and why you exist; a qualified prospect knows who you are. And, you know them. There is a reciprocal and mutually reinforcing knowledge of one another's needs, hopes, and gospel-centered, gospel-driven desires. Those shared and Spirit-led desires in turn drive the organization to pursue her mission with an ever-increasing level of excellence. The story of the organization becomes the story of the donor, and vice versa. This story, all driven by the mission of God in Christ and a profound appreciation for the gospel likewise inspires the prospect to give generously, even sacrificially and with great confidence in the God Who established the organization and Who is providentially at work to inspire the vision and provide the funds sufficient for the task.

The emphasis on qualified prospects is critically important. Having a name on a sheet of paper is generally not enough. Sure, there are those "miraculous" exceptions, but, in general, a person is not a qualified prospect unless they are capable of giving at the level desired and until they enjoy real relationships with the people of the institution. Qualified prospects know, understand, appreciate, and are invited to evaluate the institution's mission as well as her greatest hopes, challenges, opportunities, and needs. Only a qualified prospect can give the "right money."

This is why we talk about "qualified prospects" in our office. A database full of names is not nearly as helpful as a group of men and women who love Christ and understand how your institution connects to the progress of His gospel to the ends of the earth.

Yes, we would be grateful, tremendously and profoundly grateful to God if He sent Tim Tebow, Dan Cathy, Kirk Warner, Steve Green, Hugh Maclellan or any other financially-blessed and faithful Christian our way. And, I often pray that God would open the right doors at the right time for us to establish such relationships and ask for partnerships in the work of equipping students to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission.

But, we should not expect gifts where there is little or no relationship. Fortunately, the cause of equipping students to serve Christ by reaching the nations in His name should resonate with every Christian, famous or not, wealthy or not. What is needed in our ministries are deep, lifelong relationships which, in time, yield gifts that astound us and glorify Christ both now and forevermore.

While I do hope that God sends you a few surprises along the way, my prayer is that all the people who comprise your organization will get enthusiastically engaged in the work of cultivating deep and lasting relationships with the men and women you already know or could easily get to know. For the most part, these are the people God has given to you who will make the gifts that make the difference. Your institution only has to get to know them.

Fundraising Success at a Denominationally-Supported Seminary - Introduction

I was recently asked to put together a presentation defining "success" in financial development and describing how it can best be achieved. I began by defining success in the more typical ways, e.g., "We seek to increase the amount of annual gifts received by x percent."

However, I quickly found this methodology to be sorely lacking for addressing the fundamentals which must characterize any financial development effort which will yield long-term, institution-sustaining success. Short-term wins can sometimes be had even when fundamentals are poor. However, enduring results do not come without prioritizing the work of cultivating the deep relationships necessary for securing the resources needed to fulfill the institution's mission.

For denominationally-funded institutions of higher education, the last six years have not been kind. Denominational support has declined significantly. In my convention of churches, the Southern Baptist Convention, funding through the Cooperative Program has declined more than $60 million since fiscal year 2007. At last report, receipts for the current fiscal year were approaching a mark ten percent below budgeted expenditures.

Today, my seminary trains 700 more students than she did just ten years ago, and she does it with no more denominational support than she received a decade ago. When considering inflation, the support is significantly less. Yes, you have read correctly. More students. Fewer dollars. The difference has been overcome through tremendous financial leadership and prudent use of cuts in capital expenditures and technology, tuition increases, wage and salary freezes, along with fundraising gains. Many institutions have not been so blessed.

Within the context of denominationally-supported theological education, the need for establishing organizational cultures that joyfully and creatively embrace financial development as essential for long-term viability has never been greater or more apparent.

The trend of cutting cannot continue indefinitely without catastrophic consequences. It is possible to expand while cutting back for a season, but it is mathematically impossible over the long term.

To be sure, institutions of higher education have many challenges and priorities. Funding declines, advances in technology, evolving demographic trends, and a host of other variables constantly contend for the time and attention of higher education's top brass. As such, cultivating a robust financial development presence today that will not provide robust funding gains for several more tomorrows may seem risky or even impossible in today's uncertain funding environment.

Yet, the seminaries that will make the greatest impact ten years from now are the ones who make the right investments today.

Seminaries will never have the Kingdom-extending impact God intends for them to have if they simply pass along accelerating costs to students in the form of debilitating tuition increases.

This is why I am so pleased to serve at Southeastern where keeping tuition as affordable as possible is a stated part of our overall missionary strategy. When students graduate without the burden of educational debt, they often take bolder risks for the sake of Christ and the gospel.

A seminary that does whatever is necessary to be maximally effective in financial development is a seminary that wants to be on the front lines, reaching the ends of the earth by training battle-ready champions for Christ.

So, what is fundraising success?

Success is raising enough of the right money to sustain a Christ-exalting seminary until He comes.

But, how is such success achieved? This is the more challenging question, and it is the subject of the next several posts in which I will share some fundamentals of fundraising success in the hopes that the information and perspective may be helpful to others who are striving to build and sustain institutions that will advance the Kingdom.

How can we live out the truth that "God in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession" (2 Cor 2:14) by building and sustaining institutions that will extend the Kingdom until Christ returns? This is a critical question, and in answering it, nothing less than honoring Christ through our stewardship of the institutions He has entrusted to us is at stake.

Biennial Meetings: Growing Support

I would like to say thank you to Lonnie Wilkey, editor of the Baptist & Reflector (TN Baptist Paper) for his support for biennial meetings. I believe this change would increase participation at both national and state levels and decrease expenses particularly if the states also moved to a biennial schedule and met in alternating years - a win, win at both levels of Convention life.

You may read Lonnie Wilkey's comments on the biennial motion at the end of his article available from http://tnbaptist.org/BRARticle.asp?ID=4357.

A Plea for the Biennial Motion to be Considered

After getting hurriedly referred to the Executive Committee despite my attempt to point out that amendments to the governing documents of the SBC are properly the purview of the messengers of the SBC, I made one last attempt. You may view that attempt here (only the first 2 minutes of the video). Fittingly, this plea was referred to the same committee that recommended that my first motion go to the Executive Committee. As you might imagine, the motion never made it to the floor.

Perhaps it will gain a hearing in Houston in 2013.

This blog continues to receive many "hits" to the articles dealing with biennial meetings, the EC objections, and my responses. If you agree with the idea of moving to a biennial meeting schedule, please let me know by registering your support. If not, please let me know why by commenting. Thank you.