October 26, 2023 • 23 mins
In this Give It Up podcast episode, Zoe and Vance explore the best strategies for year-end giving, discuss the nuances of Q4 church giving language, and draw insights from the Vive building campaign. We also delve into why some churches withhold their fundraising targets, and Vance wraps up with a poignant encouragement for pastors and churches on effective fundraising.
This podcast is presented by Overflow, the most powerful giving platform on the planet. Giving cash, stock, or crypto to your church or non-profit has never been easier. Visit overflow.co to experience and step into future of giving.
If you want to receive even more insights on church innovation, culture, and giving, now you can sign up for free to be an Overflow Insider, where you'll receive exclusive content, discounts, direct access to Vance Roush to get your questions answered, and also invite-only access to our monthly Fundraising Leadership Forums! Head to overflow.co/insider now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:00):
You get to that big moment. Hopefully half of the
(00:02):
congregation already knows aboutit, and is leaning in front
footed about it to create agroundswell. I should call every
single board member and overflowfirst before the board meeting.
The board meeting is essentiallyjust some good discussion. I'm
having a lot of conversationsbefore the conversation. That's
awesome. Right? And that's howyou build momentum.
(00:23):
A pastor turn tech leader and amillennial churchgoer, exploring
the intersection of technology,culture and faith, equipping you
with innovative strategies tosupport you as you live out your
calling leader churches withconfidence to step into the
future together. This is thegive it up podcast. It is the
final quarter of the year. Yes,it is fall. That's where we got
(00:43):
our sweaters on. That's right.
Vous church merch shout out bluechurch, Miami, Florida.
I was gonna say I was gonnashout out Jerry Lorenzo hoping
that he would podcast Yes, I dohave fear of God on this F G on
the back. Let's go. We keep itnice and blank. No brands,
(01:05):
essentials or what?
Yes, it is essentials. Okay, Ifind it essential to be wearing
a hoodie right now. Anyways,we're off to an awkward start
with this episode. But we'retalking about something very
important today. Because this isfundraising season. And we have
lots to say about before q4.
Yeah, that's fourth quarter,fourth quarter. We like to
(01:26):
shorten everything here inSilicon Valley. So everything is
as short as possible Q four, htwo AR AR MDR.
Okay arelike how many other ones but
there's a lot of churches thatthis year you know, we've we've
talked about churches being cashstrapped, we've talked, we've
(01:49):
talked about churches who are inthe middle of building
campaigns, and the end of theyear is the best time to be
raising money because people aremore generous than ever. And so
typically true, statistically.
So really November, December,you're in giving you will,
unless you're doing somethingdrastically wrong. See a natural
pop in giving at least appetiteto give who doesn't love a
(02:11):
natural anuses are coming.
Christmases in the atmosphere.
People are thankful they justhad turkey. You know, I'm saying
they're feeling festive. Theywant to give gifts they want to
give to your church. Oh, theywant to squeeze in that last
gift to maximize theircharitable tax deduction. Yeah,
talking to the financial advisorright now their financial
(02:33):
advisors like hey, can youdonate five more 1000? Can you
donate 10 more 1000 to get underthe the the tax rate will save
you XYZ if you can do that. Andthis is what happens. And
so if you are in the end of theyear push, you need to listen to
this episode because I want totalk about some scenarios in
which churches are findingthemselves in. So let's talk
(02:56):
about first the church who isway behind financially this
year, they have to play catch upin q4.
My goodness, I'm gonna give youthe playbook please do right now
the play book to maximize yourand giving lean in You gotta
listen to this. Because this canresult in a game changing year
(03:16):
end giving, but it doesn't startin December. It starts way, way,
way, way, way, way back inAugust, September, you gotta
plan for this, you got to beready. And so I know we're a
little bit behind the ball.
Because we're airing this in themidst of the fall. So maybe you
need to get ready for next year.
(03:36):
But you can catch up. If youhaven't already. If you're
behind, maybe you shouldconsider doing a message on the
type. Maybe you should considerdoing a whole series on the
tithe and giving and generosity,especially preaching teaching
sound doctrine on the principleof the top because that is going
(04:00):
to be I'm telling you right now,the biggest needle mover more
than a year rent one time giftto get a giver locked in on
recurring and making sure thatthey have a revelation of the
type. By the way, it's not justfor the church, but it's for
them primarily. But if they canbe activated so that the
(04:20):
church's financials can be morepredictable in the future. Why
would you not take anopportunity to do that? I would
actually say that it's ourresponsibility as pastors and
ministers to preach on the titheand get sound doctrine in on
that before we even entertainbig sacrificial gifts in our
church. Those one time, bigsacrificial gifts. Those are
(04:43):
awesome. Yeah. But What's betteris discipling people and how
they should think about theirmoney. And so, October right
now, it's the beginning ofOctober. Maybe consider
pivoting. If you haven'tconsidered it already, maybe
consider at least allotting oneweek towards teaching sound docs
and on the tide is going to bethe biggest needle mover going
into November. If you don't haveany earmarked already, you
(05:06):
should think about doing somesort of vision dinner Kingdom
builders, Gala, some sort ofvision Sunday, okay, you got to
do it in November, ahead of timeof when urine giving really
starts to pop off, because youneed to get the vision in front
of people as early as possible.
I would actually recommend earlyNovember, if you get into mid
(05:28):
November, people are going to bestarting to travel for
Thanksgiving, and things of thatnature. If you can get in the
first kind of weekend or week ofNovember, that will be an ideal
spot. You just spoke on biblicalgenerosity, biblical tithing,
you flow into big vision forwhat's ahead in the life of your
church, what's going to happenin the next 12 months, what's
(05:51):
going to happen in the yearahead, and you're gonna get
people ready, this vision needsto be big vision and Silicon
Valley. And it's not a bigvision. It's not getting
invested into. And it's the sameprinciple with the church. But
the difference is with venturecapitalists, they're looking for
a return on investment, whatyour church members are
especially big givers, they'relooking for a return on impact.
(06:12):
So what is that billion dollaridea so to speak? What is that
thing that the church can rallyaround? Where it's going to take
sacrificial giving to seehappen? What is that impossible
thing that God has put in frontof you that is made possible by
him and through his people? Andso what is stirring your heart,
(06:36):
the vision should always exceedthe level of resources that you
have. And so you shouldn't evenbe doing a calculation of what's
possible, know what'simpossible? What's going to
require a stretch. Yeah, that'sgonna require a sacrifice. How
cool would it be? If God did it?
If God did it through hispeople, yeah, if he brought
break with you, through hispeople, and people partnered in
(06:59):
seeing that happen, and soyou're going to put a vision in
front of your church in thebeginning of November. And then
you're going to ask people tomake a commitment, whether it's
that vision gala that dinner,that vision Sunday, you're going
to ask people to make acommitment to do it from stage,
even sometimes, you're going toask them to make a commitment
from stage, but you're gonnagive whether it's a physical
card or a digital card. If it'sdigital, they can just do it on
(07:19):
their phone. If it's physical,you can collect it in the
offering buckets or at thealtar. And basically, that
commitment card. And we don'tlike to do pledges. That
commitment card is a commitmentthat you're making, to give a
one time sacrificial gift aboveand beyond the time between now
and the end of the year. Right.
Got it. So you have severalweeks to get it done. Yeah. But
(07:41):
the hard thing about pledges isthen it kind of feels like you
have to invoice people for 12months. You know, I'm saying
yeah, and so it's better if youcan just make it a one time
sacrificial gift above andbeyond that time, do you want a
commitment card so that you cancelebrate with the church? Hey,
yeah, church, we got 2.1committed, we got 4.2 million
committed, we have $7.6 millioncommitted and then you can
(08:07):
update the church over the nextsix weeks on how much has been
fulfilled of that commitment.
It's like crazy momentum. Yeah,you know, competitive people
like us. Oh, yep. Love seeingthat thermometer chart go up and
up and up and up. Generositybegets generosity, generosity
inspires generosity. Peoplestart getting in the atmosphere,
(08:30):
people start getting in the flowof what's happening in the life
of the church. And you see, youstart seeing update after
updating it kind of compounds onone another and you you make it
to that goal. And so you want topresent the vision. You want to
ask people to make commitments.
You want the financing tocalculate those commitments,
announce it to the church, tellthem hey, this is what was
committed. You want to updatethem every week on how much is
(08:50):
being fulfilled. As you'refacilitating fulfillment you
need to unblock. You need tomake frictionless you need to
have the infrastructure thatmakes the generosity
frictionless across not justAch, debit, credit card
checking, savings giving, youneed to make it easy for them to
(09:10):
donate non cash assets, stocks,ETFs 401k, IRAs, crypto
currency, hello, overflow dot co overflow.co. That's what we're
here for. We love unlocking moreways to give because it
facilitates especially in urinegiving, catalytic giving
moments. We are serving churchesall across America, especially
(09:33):
in q4 fourth quarter. Yep. Soonly time you watch the NBA
game. I know you fourth quarter,right. So most important time of
the year, fourth quarter. If youcan unblock unlock generosity
through making it easy for themto give from their non cash
assets. You You inspirecatalytic giving, so they're
fulfilling, they're fulfilling,they're fulfilling and you want
(09:53):
to make sure to do a big partyUm, sometime in December as
those fulfillments come in askind of a signification that,
hey, we did it. This is how muchwe fulfill this is how much we
get to do now, next year as partof the vision and just honor
people exhort people celebratewith them, hey, look what God
(10:14):
can do now with what you give.
That'sawesome. So let's just say a
church is doing all this.
They're pacing correctly, likethey're looking like we're going
to end this year, strong. Whatlanguage has to change?
Specifically in q4, that isn'tlike that the other three
(10:35):
quarters because it's like,because you are trying to
multiply that momentum at theend of the year. Yeah, you
just got to speak to thissituation, right. So if you are
specifically, let's say, raisingfor a building, and you have a
real deadline, you hit thatclosed date, and you still have
a vision gap that you need tofill. You need to speak to the
situation, you got to let peopleknow biblically, spiritually,
(10:58):
that hey, faith is scrappy.
Faith is not all bow tied up allthe time. Faith is creative.
Faith is imaginative. Yeah. Andso what's in your hand? Is it a
bonus? Is it a stock portfolio?
Is it you know, maybe our realestate asset that second home?
(11:21):
Is it that poke amongcollection? I'm speaking to like
a very niche. Is it that thatthat wine cellar, right? So you
got to speak to the imaginationof, hey, what's possible? If we
really banded together to makethis thing happen? what's in our
hand? Yeah, what do we have,that maybe we don't really need,
(11:43):
but that we can act ingenerosity to see a greater need
to see a greater impact happenin our day for a generation for
a community? Yeah,I love that. And I just want to
say that as a churchgoer,myself, one of my favorite
things is when you articulateand spell out plainly exactly
what the goal is, like, put thenumber behind it, because I've
(12:05):
got an FE First off, I think weall have realized we love when
things are gamified. And so whenwe see this, we're like, okay,
let's hit it. And also theamount of times I have seen
someone step forward in faithand say, Yeah, I'll do a
matching challenge on that.
That's cool. They wouldn't do itif there's some ethereal goal.
(12:28):
Sorry, they wouldn't do that ifthere was some ethereal goal,
right, that nobody actuallyknows, that needs to be hit. We
actually spoke about buildingcampaigns a second ago. And I
think you have what is an iconicstory of building campaign
momentum in which vive had, canyou share with people? Because I
think there's still a lot ofpeople that don't actually know
(12:48):
this story of what you had to gothrough in your building
campaign.
Yeah, so I think people haveheard the story, we can probably
point in the show show notes.
Some episodes where we talkabout it, I can give a little
bit more background story thathopefully is helpful for people.
So we started actually, a multiyear campaign called Project
(13:10):
Vive, were kind of halfwaythrough the life of the church
in the past decade, we startedthis campaign as kind of a
savings fund. We always werefront footed with making sure
that we can deploy capitalquickly, whether it's a new
campus, or it's a new ministry,like Men's Ministry, women's
(13:32):
ministry, kids ministry, youthministry, we've, as a startup
church have always invested intoareas we can deploy capital
quickly to see the work of thegospel accelerated in our
context and in our communities.
But kind of five, six years in,we had a conviction that, hey,
we really need to get seriousabout putting a savings fund
(13:56):
together. But if you call itsavings fund, that's not very
exciting. And so we, we brandedit, we call that project vibe,
which we said was going to be amulti year building campaign. We
don't have what the building isyet. But we would throw the
congregation of bone right, wewould do the best that we could
do to work with architects workwith designers to put up
(14:18):
renderings, to put up vision,yeah, to put up graphics to put
up a picture of what the placecould look like. And in that
spirit of, you know, unlockingimagination and people and
really stirring up vision andpeople. Yeah, they could give to
virtually what was the savingscampaign, right. And we always
(14:42):
have an earmarked amount that wewanted to put away for that
campaign. And over three, fouryears, we're able to save around
$4 million. This $4 million wasso key because when we
eventually 10 years into ourwe're really nine years into
building the church when we werefinally present Good opportunity
to purchase a building it was$32 million. Right? I mean, 4
(15:04):
million is like, like a tinyseed. Yeah, compared to what was
needed. But it was something.
Yeah, it showed discipline. Itshowed stewardship. It showed
foresight it showed for thoughtwe had been for multiple years
talking about prophesyingpraying over a building
opportunity to be able topursue. And so that project
(15:27):
Vive, that project vive fundaccount was actually so
important, even though it palesin comparison to how much was
ultimately needed. I would saythat we wouldn't have been able
to do the catalytic $8 millionraise post that. And even a
financing round, post that toget to the $32 million that we
(15:50):
eventually got to if we didn'tshow that we knew how to receive
a seed store to seed and grow aseed. Yeah. And so I think that
is for all the pastors that havea vision for a building don't
have this specific opportunitycontract, you're not in escrow
for anything. Maybe you're in acity like ours, where the zoning
is very difficult for churches,and you're just you're needing
(16:11):
that God opportunity. Don'twait. Don't wait for that
opportunity to start saving tostart rallying your church
around the vision. And I thinksometimes people don't state the
certain amount that they'reraising, or even do something
like a multi year buildingcampaign, because they don't
want to look stupid. They don'twant to put their name on the
line, right? Because when youput yourself out there, and it
(16:33):
doesn't happen, you know, it'slike, does that look bad on God?
Does that look bad on me? Yeah.
look bad on both of us. Yeah.
God can't look bad. God is Godall by himself. He's in control.
He ultimately will get theglory. And even if it looks
(16:54):
impossible, unlikely, notprobable. The word is true. If
we're faithful, and we're doingit in his ways, he loves his
children. He wants to unlock thevery best gifts for his
children. He has Kingdomterritory already set apart.
Right? He's already written thestory. We're walking in it. And
(17:17):
part of that walking in iswalking out in faith, taking
bold steps, putting yourself outthere, like literally Peter
walked on water. Yeah, I mean,he fell after a couple of steps.
And I think this will rememberis like all Peter, didn't. You
have little faith? No, no, youhave great faith. Yeah. Have you
ever walked on water? Two times?
(17:37):
No. Two steps. 00 steps? Yeah.
Peter did it. And so you know,that's actually what I think
great faith looks like is youwilling to put your foot on that
water? Are you willing to putthat number out there? Are you
willing to put a line in thesand? Hey, we're gonna be the
temperatures that saves for abuilding. We don't have the
opportunity yet. But we're gonnabelieve in faith, that if God is
(17:58):
in this thing he's gonna makeaway. Yeah,
that's awesome. So no matterwhether it's your vision gala
heart for the house, and of yourcampaign building campaign. What
is one incredible piece offundraising insight that you
would give to somebody in thissituation right now, for q4.
(18:22):
So outside of everything thatwe've talked about, I would say
that what's really important isthat when you head towards like
the actual, Big Give moment,that wasn't the first time
people were hearing about thevision. You want to have so many
conversations before theconversation. Yeah, you want to
(18:42):
have so many dinner parties, youwant to have so many small group
sessions, you want to have somany one on one pastoral
conversations with Kingdombuilders, you want to when you
get to that big moment,hopefully, half of the
congregation already knows aboutit, and is leaning in and front
footed about it to create agroundswell. Right. Anytime I
have a board meeting, I actuallycall every single board member
(19:04):
and overflow first before theboard meeting. So that the board
meeting is essentially just somegood discussion, but not trying
to rally in the line. Everybody,I'm having a lot of
conversations before theconversation. That's awesome.
Right. And that's how you buildmomentum.
Yeah. You know, there's also amarketing thing that everyone
knows right it the same can beapplied at churches is it
(19:27):
usually takes eight exposuresfor someone to buy something.
Yeah. So if you're coming intothis cold being like, on
Christmas day, we're going totell everybody about this thing.
And they're immediately going tobe like, yes and amen. That
would be incorrect. When itcomes to assumptions. You
definitely like that's justhitting on it. You have to
continue to reiterate thismessage so that it's not only
(19:50):
preparing their minds preparingtheir hearts as well. Exactly.
Final encouragement to thesepeople who are fundraising to
end 2023 Strong what would yousay you want
to give You want to give justremind them what they're giving
to celebrate all God has done,celebrate the salvation,
celebrate the baptism, celebratethe stories, celebrate the
testimony, celebrate livestransformed, you are the beacon
(20:11):
of hope you are the mobilizationcenter, you have dozens, if not
hundreds of volunteers that aregiving time to care for their
neighbor to care for the other,to care for the lost sheep, the
last coin to go after the one,you are the center, where you're
(20:32):
investing into the nextgeneration, whether it's Gen Z,
or is what's the next generationAlpha. I don't know my kids, my
kids 753. And one, they have aplace where they can grow in the
things of God. It's not ababysitting service, it's a
ministry. It's a ministry forour kids, where we're raising up
the next ministers, I am so gladI'm so thankful that they can be
(20:54):
founded in the house of God. Asfor me in my house, we will
serve the Lord. I'm so glad tohave a picture of what it looks
like to serve the Lord becausethey be they could be serving
other things. They can beserving what's seen on social
media, they can be serving otherideologies, but they get to
serve the one and true God. Theyget to serve biblical
principles, remind people whatthey're giving to celebrate
(21:14):
those things, all that you'veaccomplished, how you've
outreach, how have you respondedto needs, how you've been in the
community, how you've launchedcampuses, how you've raised up
leaders, how many people havebeen through next steps, how
many people have come throughyour school of leadership, your
leadership developmentpipelines, how's your staff
grown? Has the budget grown?
Have you redeployed that toreach more people for the gospel
(21:34):
for Jesus, if you celebratethem, if you exhort them, if you
edify them, if you remind themwho they are, if you remind them
that they are a generous church,and they have an opportunity to
rise up in generosity again, forthis next XYZ thing, they're
going to be excited to do it.
(21:56):
Just remind them what they'regiving to.
I love that. And just closingthoughts here is we believe in
you and more importantly, webelieve in what God has called
you, and your church and yourministry to in this season. So
go with courage, knowing thatGod will give you everything
that you need. Let's go. Thanksso much for listening to the
(22:18):
give it up podcast if you wantto receive even more insights on
church innovation, culture, andgiving now you can sign up for
free to be an overflow insider,where you'll receive exclusive
content discounts direct accessto Vance Roush to get your
questions answered, and alsoinvite only access to our
monthly fundraising leadershipforums. Head to overflow.co
(22:40):
backslash insider, or just clickthe link in our bio to sign up
for free today. In order to getthis podcast in the ears of even
more church leaders. Could youplease subscribe and leave a
review for the show? This tellsthe podcast players what people
are enjoying and want to hearmore of and we are adamant about
providing maximum value to evenmore church leaders. Thanks so
(23:03):
much. We'll see you next time.
You get to that big moment. Hopefully half of the
(00:02):
congregation already knows aboutit, and is leaning in front
footed about it to create agroundswell. I should call every
single board member and overflowfirst before the board meeting.
The board meeting is essentiallyjust some good discussion. I'm
having a lot of conversationsbefore the conversation. That's
awesome. Right? And that's howyou build momentum.
(00:23):
A pastor turn tech leader and amillennial churchgoer, exploring
the intersection of technology,culture and faith, equipping you
with innovative strategies tosupport you as you live out your
calling leader churches withconfidence to step into the
future together. This is thegive it up podcast. It is the
final quarter of the year. Yes,it is fall. That's where we got
(00:43):
our sweaters on. That's right.
Vous church merch shout out bluechurch, Miami, Florida.
I was gonna say I was gonnashout out Jerry Lorenzo hoping
that he would podcast Yes, I dohave fear of God on this F G on
the back. Let's go. We keep itnice and blank. No brands,
(01:05):
essentials or what?
Yes, it is essentials. Okay, Ifind it essential to be wearing
a hoodie right now. Anyways,we're off to an awkward start
with this episode. But we'retalking about something very
important today. Because this isfundraising season. And we have
lots to say about before q4.
Yeah, that's fourth quarter,fourth quarter. We like to
(01:26):
shorten everything here inSilicon Valley. So everything is
as short as possible Q four, htwo AR AR MDR.
Okay arelike how many other ones but
there's a lot of churches thatthis year you know, we've we've
talked about churches being cashstrapped, we've talked, we've
(01:49):
talked about churches who are inthe middle of building
campaigns, and the end of theyear is the best time to be
raising money because people aremore generous than ever. And so
typically true, statistically.
So really November, December,you're in giving you will,
unless you're doing somethingdrastically wrong. See a natural
pop in giving at least appetiteto give who doesn't love a
(02:11):
natural anuses are coming.
Christmases in the atmosphere.
People are thankful they justhad turkey. You know, I'm saying
they're feeling festive. Theywant to give gifts they want to
give to your church. Oh, theywant to squeeze in that last
gift to maximize theircharitable tax deduction. Yeah,
talking to the financial advisorright now their financial
(02:33):
advisors like hey, can youdonate five more 1000? Can you
donate 10 more 1000 to get underthe the the tax rate will save
you XYZ if you can do that. Andthis is what happens. And
so if you are in the end of theyear push, you need to listen to
this episode because I want totalk about some scenarios in
which churches are findingthemselves in. So let's talk
(02:56):
about first the church who isway behind financially this
year, they have to play catch upin q4.
My goodness, I'm gonna give youthe playbook please do right now
the play book to maximize yourand giving lean in You gotta
listen to this. Because this canresult in a game changing year
(03:16):
end giving, but it doesn't startin December. It starts way, way,
way, way, way, way back inAugust, September, you gotta
plan for this, you got to beready. And so I know we're a
little bit behind the ball.
Because we're airing this in themidst of the fall. So maybe you
need to get ready for next year.
(03:36):
But you can catch up. If youhaven't already. If you're
behind, maybe you shouldconsider doing a message on the
type. Maybe you should considerdoing a whole series on the
tithe and giving and generosity,especially preaching teaching
sound doctrine on the principleof the top because that is going
(04:00):
to be I'm telling you right now,the biggest needle mover more
than a year rent one time giftto get a giver locked in on
recurring and making sure thatthey have a revelation of the
type. By the way, it's not justfor the church, but it's for
them primarily. But if they canbe activated so that the
(04:20):
church's financials can be morepredictable in the future. Why
would you not take anopportunity to do that? I would
actually say that it's ourresponsibility as pastors and
ministers to preach on the titheand get sound doctrine in on
that before we even entertainbig sacrificial gifts in our
church. Those one time, bigsacrificial gifts. Those are
(04:43):
awesome. Yeah. But What's betteris discipling people and how
they should think about theirmoney. And so, October right
now, it's the beginning ofOctober. Maybe consider
pivoting. If you haven'tconsidered it already, maybe
consider at least allotting oneweek towards teaching sound docs
and on the tide is going to bethe biggest needle mover going
into November. If you don't haveany earmarked already, you
(05:06):
should think about doing somesort of vision dinner Kingdom
builders, Gala, some sort ofvision Sunday, okay, you got to
do it in November, ahead of timeof when urine giving really
starts to pop off, because youneed to get the vision in front
of people as early as possible.
I would actually recommend earlyNovember, if you get into mid
(05:28):
November, people are going to bestarting to travel for
Thanksgiving, and things of thatnature. If you can get in the
first kind of weekend or week ofNovember, that will be an ideal
spot. You just spoke on biblicalgenerosity, biblical tithing,
you flow into big vision forwhat's ahead in the life of your
church, what's going to happenin the next 12 months, what's
(05:51):
going to happen in the yearahead, and you're gonna get
people ready, this vision needsto be big vision and Silicon
Valley. And it's not a bigvision. It's not getting
invested into. And it's the sameprinciple with the church. But
the difference is with venturecapitalists, they're looking for
a return on investment, whatyour church members are
especially big givers, they'relooking for a return on impact.
(06:12):
So what is that billion dollaridea so to speak? What is that
thing that the church can rallyaround? Where it's going to take
sacrificial giving to seehappen? What is that impossible
thing that God has put in frontof you that is made possible by
him and through his people? Andso what is stirring your heart,
(06:36):
the vision should always exceedthe level of resources that you
have. And so you shouldn't evenbe doing a calculation of what's
possible, know what'simpossible? What's going to
require a stretch. Yeah, that'sgonna require a sacrifice. How
cool would it be? If God did it?
If God did it through hispeople, yeah, if he brought
break with you, through hispeople, and people partnered in
(06:59):
seeing that happen, and soyou're going to put a vision in
front of your church in thebeginning of November. And then
you're going to ask people tomake a commitment, whether it's
that vision gala that dinner,that vision Sunday, you're going
to ask people to make acommitment to do it from stage,
even sometimes, you're going toask them to make a commitment
from stage, but you're gonnagive whether it's a physical
card or a digital card. If it'sdigital, they can just do it on
(07:19):
their phone. If it's physical,you can collect it in the
offering buckets or at thealtar. And basically, that
commitment card. And we don'tlike to do pledges. That
commitment card is a commitmentthat you're making, to give a
one time sacrificial gift aboveand beyond the time between now
and the end of the year. Right.
Got it. So you have severalweeks to get it done. Yeah. But
(07:41):
the hard thing about pledges isthen it kind of feels like you
have to invoice people for 12months. You know, I'm saying
yeah, and so it's better if youcan just make it a one time
sacrificial gift above andbeyond that time, do you want a
commitment card so that you cancelebrate with the church? Hey,
yeah, church, we got 2.1committed, we got 4.2 million
committed, we have $7.6 millioncommitted and then you can
(08:07):
update the church over the nextsix weeks on how much has been
fulfilled of that commitment.
It's like crazy momentum. Yeah,you know, competitive people
like us. Oh, yep. Love seeingthat thermometer chart go up and
up and up and up. Generositybegets generosity, generosity
inspires generosity. Peoplestart getting in the atmosphere,
(08:30):
people start getting in the flowof what's happening in the life
of the church. And you see, youstart seeing update after
updating it kind of compounds onone another and you you make it
to that goal. And so you want topresent the vision. You want to
ask people to make commitments.
You want the financing tocalculate those commitments,
announce it to the church, tellthem hey, this is what was
committed. You want to updatethem every week on how much is
(08:50):
being fulfilled. As you'refacilitating fulfillment you
need to unblock. You need tomake frictionless you need to
have the infrastructure thatmakes the generosity
frictionless across not justAch, debit, credit card
checking, savings giving, youneed to make it easy for them to
(09:10):
donate non cash assets, stocks,ETFs 401k, IRAs, crypto
currency, hello, overflow dot co overflow.co. That's what we're
here for. We love unlocking moreways to give because it
facilitates especially in urinegiving, catalytic giving
moments. We are serving churchesall across America, especially
(09:33):
in q4 fourth quarter. Yep. Soonly time you watch the NBA
game. I know you fourth quarter,right. So most important time of
the year, fourth quarter. If youcan unblock unlock generosity
through making it easy for themto give from their non cash
assets. You You inspirecatalytic giving, so they're
fulfilling, they're fulfilling,they're fulfilling and you want
(09:53):
to make sure to do a big partyUm, sometime in December as
those fulfillments come in askind of a signification that,
hey, we did it. This is how muchwe fulfill this is how much we
get to do now, next year as partof the vision and just honor
people exhort people celebratewith them, hey, look what God
(10:14):
can do now with what you give.
That'sawesome. So let's just say a
church is doing all this.
They're pacing correctly, likethey're looking like we're going
to end this year, strong. Whatlanguage has to change?
Specifically in q4, that isn'tlike that the other three
(10:35):
quarters because it's like,because you are trying to
multiply that momentum at theend of the year. Yeah, you
just got to speak to thissituation, right. So if you are
specifically, let's say, raisingfor a building, and you have a
real deadline, you hit thatclosed date, and you still have
a vision gap that you need tofill. You need to speak to the
situation, you got to let peopleknow biblically, spiritually,
(10:58):
that hey, faith is scrappy.
Faith is not all bow tied up allthe time. Faith is creative.
Faith is imaginative. Yeah. Andso what's in your hand? Is it a
bonus? Is it a stock portfolio?
Is it you know, maybe our realestate asset that second home?
(11:21):
Is it that poke amongcollection? I'm speaking to like
a very niche. Is it that thatthat wine cellar, right? So you
got to speak to the imaginationof, hey, what's possible? If we
really banded together to makethis thing happen? what's in our
hand? Yeah, what do we have,that maybe we don't really need,
(11:43):
but that we can act ingenerosity to see a greater need
to see a greater impact happenin our day for a generation for
a community? Yeah,I love that. And I just want to
say that as a churchgoer,myself, one of my favorite
things is when you articulateand spell out plainly exactly
what the goal is, like, put thenumber behind it, because I've
(12:05):
got an FE First off, I think weall have realized we love when
things are gamified. And so whenwe see this, we're like, okay,
let's hit it. And also theamount of times I have seen
someone step forward in faithand say, Yeah, I'll do a
matching challenge on that.
That's cool. They wouldn't do itif there's some ethereal goal.
(12:28):
Sorry, they wouldn't do that ifthere was some ethereal goal,
right, that nobody actuallyknows, that needs to be hit. We
actually spoke about buildingcampaigns a second ago. And I
think you have what is an iconicstory of building campaign
momentum in which vive had, canyou share with people? Because I
think there's still a lot ofpeople that don't actually know
(12:48):
this story of what you had to gothrough in your building
campaign.
Yeah, so I think people haveheard the story, we can probably
point in the show show notes.
Some episodes where we talkabout it, I can give a little
bit more background story thathopefully is helpful for people.
So we started actually, a multiyear campaign called Project
(13:10):
Vive, were kind of halfwaythrough the life of the church
in the past decade, we startedthis campaign as kind of a
savings fund. We always werefront footed with making sure
that we can deploy capitalquickly, whether it's a new
campus, or it's a new ministry,like Men's Ministry, women's
(13:32):
ministry, kids ministry, youthministry, we've, as a startup
church have always invested intoareas we can deploy capital
quickly to see the work of thegospel accelerated in our
context and in our communities.
But kind of five, six years in,we had a conviction that, hey,
we really need to get seriousabout putting a savings fund
(13:56):
together. But if you call itsavings fund, that's not very
exciting. And so we, we brandedit, we call that project vibe,
which we said was going to be amulti year building campaign. We
don't have what the building isyet. But we would throw the
congregation of bone right, wewould do the best that we could
do to work with architects workwith designers to put up
(14:18):
renderings, to put up vision,yeah, to put up graphics to put
up a picture of what the placecould look like. And in that
spirit of, you know, unlockingimagination and people and
really stirring up vision andpeople. Yeah, they could give to
virtually what was the savingscampaign, right. And we always
(14:42):
have an earmarked amount that wewanted to put away for that
campaign. And over three, fouryears, we're able to save around
$4 million. This $4 million wasso key because when we
eventually 10 years into ourwe're really nine years into
building the church when we werefinally present Good opportunity
to purchase a building it was$32 million. Right? I mean, 4
(15:04):
million is like, like a tinyseed. Yeah, compared to what was
needed. But it was something.
Yeah, it showed discipline. Itshowed stewardship. It showed
foresight it showed for thoughtwe had been for multiple years
talking about prophesyingpraying over a building
opportunity to be able topursue. And so that project
(15:27):
Vive, that project vive fundaccount was actually so
important, even though it palesin comparison to how much was
ultimately needed. I would saythat we wouldn't have been able
to do the catalytic $8 millionraise post that. And even a
financing round, post that toget to the $32 million that we
(15:50):
eventually got to if we didn'tshow that we knew how to receive
a seed store to seed and grow aseed. Yeah. And so I think that
is for all the pastors that havea vision for a building don't
have this specific opportunitycontract, you're not in escrow
for anything. Maybe you're in acity like ours, where the zoning
is very difficult for churches,and you're just you're needing
(16:11):
that God opportunity. Don'twait. Don't wait for that
opportunity to start saving tostart rallying your church
around the vision. And I thinksometimes people don't state the
certain amount that they'reraising, or even do something
like a multi year buildingcampaign, because they don't
want to look stupid. They don'twant to put their name on the
line, right? Because when youput yourself out there, and it
(16:33):
doesn't happen, you know, it'slike, does that look bad on God?
Does that look bad on me? Yeah.
look bad on both of us. Yeah.
God can't look bad. God is Godall by himself. He's in control.
He ultimately will get theglory. And even if it looks
(16:54):
impossible, unlikely, notprobable. The word is true. If
we're faithful, and we're doingit in his ways, he loves his
children. He wants to unlock thevery best gifts for his
children. He has Kingdomterritory already set apart.
Right? He's already written thestory. We're walking in it. And
(17:17):
part of that walking in iswalking out in faith, taking
bold steps, putting yourself outthere, like literally Peter
walked on water. Yeah, I mean,he fell after a couple of steps.
And I think this will rememberis like all Peter, didn't. You
have little faith? No, no, youhave great faith. Yeah. Have you
ever walked on water? Two times?
(17:37):
No. Two steps. 00 steps? Yeah.
Peter did it. And so you know,that's actually what I think
great faith looks like is youwilling to put your foot on that
water? Are you willing to putthat number out there? Are you
willing to put a line in thesand? Hey, we're gonna be the
temperatures that saves for abuilding. We don't have the
opportunity yet. But we're gonnabelieve in faith, that if God is
(17:58):
in this thing he's gonna makeaway. Yeah,
that's awesome. So no matterwhether it's your vision gala
heart for the house, and of yourcampaign building campaign. What
is one incredible piece offundraising insight that you
would give to somebody in thissituation right now, for q4.
(18:22):
So outside of everything thatwe've talked about, I would say
that what's really important isthat when you head towards like
the actual, Big Give moment,that wasn't the first time
people were hearing about thevision. You want to have so many
conversations before theconversation. Yeah, you want to
(18:42):
have so many dinner parties, youwant to have so many small group
sessions, you want to have somany one on one pastoral
conversations with Kingdombuilders, you want to when you
get to that big moment,hopefully, half of the
congregation already knows aboutit, and is leaning in and front
footed about it to create agroundswell. Right. Anytime I
have a board meeting, I actuallycall every single board member
(19:04):
and overflow first before theboard meeting. So that the board
meeting is essentially just somegood discussion, but not trying
to rally in the line. Everybody,I'm having a lot of
conversations before theconversation. That's awesome.
Right. And that's how you buildmomentum.
Yeah. You know, there's also amarketing thing that everyone
knows right it the same can beapplied at churches is it
(19:27):
usually takes eight exposuresfor someone to buy something.
Yeah. So if you're coming intothis cold being like, on
Christmas day, we're going totell everybody about this thing.
And they're immediately going tobe like, yes and amen. That
would be incorrect. When itcomes to assumptions. You
definitely like that's justhitting on it. You have to
continue to reiterate thismessage so that it's not only
(19:50):
preparing their minds preparingtheir hearts as well. Exactly.
Final encouragement to thesepeople who are fundraising to
end 2023 Strong what would yousay you want
to give You want to give justremind them what they're giving
to celebrate all God has done,celebrate the salvation,
celebrate the baptism, celebratethe stories, celebrate the
testimony, celebrate livestransformed, you are the beacon
(20:11):
of hope you are the mobilizationcenter, you have dozens, if not
hundreds of volunteers that aregiving time to care for their
neighbor to care for the other,to care for the lost sheep, the
last coin to go after the one,you are the center, where you're
(20:32):
investing into the nextgeneration, whether it's Gen Z,
or is what's the next generationAlpha. I don't know my kids, my
kids 753. And one, they have aplace where they can grow in the
things of God. It's not ababysitting service, it's a
ministry. It's a ministry forour kids, where we're raising up
the next ministers, I am so gladI'm so thankful that they can be
(20:54):
founded in the house of God. Asfor me in my house, we will
serve the Lord. I'm so glad tohave a picture of what it looks
like to serve the Lord becausethey be they could be serving
other things. They can beserving what's seen on social
media, they can be serving otherideologies, but they get to
serve the one and true God. Theyget to serve biblical
principles, remind people whatthey're giving to celebrate
(21:14):
those things, all that you'veaccomplished, how you've
outreach, how have you respondedto needs, how you've been in the
community, how you've launchedcampuses, how you've raised up
leaders, how many people havebeen through next steps, how
many people have come throughyour school of leadership, your
leadership developmentpipelines, how's your staff
grown? Has the budget grown?
Have you redeployed that toreach more people for the gospel
(21:34):
for Jesus, if you celebratethem, if you exhort them, if you
edify them, if you remind themwho they are, if you remind them
that they are a generous church,and they have an opportunity to
rise up in generosity again, forthis next XYZ thing, they're
going to be excited to do it.
(21:56):
Just remind them what they'regiving to.
I love that. And just closingthoughts here is we believe in
you and more importantly, webelieve in what God has called
you, and your church and yourministry to in this season. So
go with courage, knowing thatGod will give you everything
that you need. Let's go. Thanksso much for listening to the
(22:18):
give it up podcast if you wantto receive even more insights on
church innovation, culture, andgiving now you can sign up for
free to be an overflow insider,where you'll receive exclusive
content discounts direct accessto Vance Roush to get your
questions answered, and alsoinvite only access to our
monthly fundraising leadershipforums. Head to overflow.co
(22:40):
backslash insider, or just clickthe link in our bio to sign up
for free today. In order to getthis podcast in the ears of even
more church leaders. Could youplease subscribe and leave a
review for the show? This tellsthe podcast players what people
are enjoying and want to hearmore of and we are adamant about
providing maximum value to evenmore church leaders. Thanks so
(23:03):
much. We'll see you next time.
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