January 3, 2023 • 52 mins
Need a bit of a pep talk for MPD in the new year? Cue AIA MPD Coaches Brent Batiste and Mark Hammitt! They join Michele and Katie for an encouraging and visionary convo about setting goals that are full of faith and grace. Can we make progress in a busy season? Yes! Can we try some new things and not be bogged down by guilt if it doesn’t go “perfectly”? Yes, yes we can!
Resources referenced: The Spirituality of Fundraising by Henri Nouwen. MPD Resource Site Links: Calculating My Support Goal, Planning Your MPD Activities, and MPDx.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Michele Davis (00:17):
Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie
Johnson and Michele Davis. Welove that the Lord commanded
that those who proclaim thegospel should get their living
by the gospel. We are driven toequip and inspire Christian
workers to be Christ centered,fully funded, and financially
faithful, so that missionarystaff can come alongside all
(00:41):
people to help them to knowJesus. This process is more
widely known as ministry partnerdevelopment, or MPD, for short.
Katie Johnson (00:52):
Welcome to our second Coach's Roundtable today,
we're really excited to talkabout the new year and new MPD
practices for this new year. Andtoday, we have two of our
coaches, Brent Batiste and MarkHammitt are here with us today.
We're really excited to havethem. So hi, guys, could you
(01:13):
guys start by just introducingyourselves and a little bit of
your background and your familyand anything? Honestly, anything
you want to share?
Brent Batiste (01:21):
Yeah, happy New Year, Katie. And Michele, it's
good to be with you two. Andyeah, my wife Stephanie and I,
we've been on staff for 25years. And you know, we've
actually been at the sameministry location the entire
time, we had been serving oncampus at Northern Illinois
University, with Athletes inAction. But about halfway
through our staff career beganto work a little bit more in the
(01:42):
MPD space, initially coachingsummer interns, and eventually
working more and more withsenior staff as well. And so
that's a portion of what I doduring my time on staff, but we
have four kids. One just gotmarried this summer. We have two
in college and one in highschool.
Michele Davis (01:59):
Oh, wow, that sounds really busy and exciting.
Mark Hammitt (02:02):
Yeah. So my name is Mark Hammitt, Susie, and I
live in Medford, Oregon, we justmoved here. Actually, about six
months back. This is where Suziegrew up. We are officially empty
nesters. We have three grownkids, four grandkids that are
back in the Midwest, where wespent the last 20 years in
(02:23):
Cincinnati. And our our life hasbeen really in the campus
ministry, from Arizona, to SouthAfrica to Cincinnati. And now,
just to the last year and a halfor so I've been the coordinator
for athletes and action in theMPD world. And that's really
probably Brent, you're a littlebit to be blamed for that one.
(02:45):
Our relationship over the lastover the last couple years is
just really caused me to seethat, you know, not only us as a
couple, but we want our staff tobe able to thrive in the area of
MPD. And I just kind of feellike these, this next stage in
my life, no better way than toserve in this capacity.
Katie Johnson (03:08):
Well, guys, thanks so much for being with us
today. We're excited to talkabout what does it look like to
plan out your year right withMPD? And how do we continue to
care for our partners and buildour ministry teams in the midst
of being on assignment? That'salways the big question. And
this year, we have, right, Cru22 is coming up. So it's
(03:31):
important to work on your MPD Ithink this year, even more so
than the past few years. And soI just wanted to hear from you
guys. First, what is been theworst MPD year you've ever had,
and contrast it with the best.
And what did you guys learn fromboth those years?
Mark Hammitt (03:48):
Yeah, well, as I was thinking about the question,
I can't label it as like oneyear specifically. But when we
came back from South Africa, wehit like a major roadblock. With
MPD, we lost a lot. Some of ourchurches that were helping us
out stop because we were nolonger International. And that
(04:09):
was personally really difficultfor us. But I think for me, it
was more of a season that wekind of were challenged with in
those early 2000s. And then kindof like some economic downturn
in 2008-2009 that really hit ushard, short paychecks, you know,
in deficit, not really having astory to tell in some ways, not
(04:32):
really having a vision to share.
Not having a coach to encourageme along the way. All these
types of things kind of likemultiplied themselves into basic
disaster, is what I probablywould just have to say for our
family. And you know,fortunately we were at a spot
where we were able to pull fromsome of our savings but that
wasn't always the case. And as Iwas thinking about that I was
(04:53):
thinking about Lamentationschapter three. You know, we're
where he says The Lord's lovingkindness and deed never sees
first. compassions never fail,for they are new every morning,
great as I faithfulness. And Ijust think about that newness of
this year. And I think about thenewness, you know, of the Lord's
faithfulness in our lives. And Ithink that was a true that was
(05:17):
true, something that weexperienced. But I think we the
Titanic, I'll phrase it that waythe Titanic turned from sinking
into a new a new course. Andthat probably happened in like
2010, when we decided that wewere going to start taking MPD
trips together as a couple. Andso Susie, and I would just set
(05:41):
aside time, and this was an thisis a new thing for my, our
Regional Director. It wasactually during the school year,
that we, our first trip was toArizona in 2010. And we just saw
the Lord provide some newsupport there. And it provided
some great interaction with ourministry partners, that that
became, like an ongoing thingthat we did, which really helped
(06:06):
us to turn the ship around alittle bit and find some success
and MPD.
Katie Johnson (06:12):
I'm just curious, you mentioned like you're you're
struggling with even vision foryour ministry at that point. Um,
yeah, what helped you to likerenew your vision? And for MPD
and for raising support?
Mark Hammitt (06:26):
Yeah, I think part of my problem was when we came
back from South Africa, was thatI had tons of stories to tell
about our time in South Africa.
But I didn't have anything totalk about my new assignment.
And here I am in a newassignment in Cincinnati,
working in the metro Cincinnatiarea and all these campuses, and
not having anything of theLord's faithfulness in that
(06:48):
sector yet, you know, and so Ithink I just needed to talk
about the Great Commission andthe Lord's calling in my life.
And that was the vision that Ineeded to share, and not so
much. Here's the 20 people thatwe saw that just received
Christ. You know, and yeah, andI, yeah. Does that make sense?
(07:09):
Katie?
Katie Johnson (07:11):
No, that does make sense. And I the reason I
asked is because I think that'sa somewhat common place that
people on staff find themselvesin of transitioning from
ministry to ministry or overseasback to a different role. And so
I just was curious, like, whatdid it take right for you to get
over that roadblock of notseeing a vision for your
(07:35):
ministry or not knowing how tocast vision for your ministry?
And I think you're exactlyright. Like, whether it's a
story of 20 people coming toknow the Lord or the mission of
moving forward the GreatCommission. It's all the same.
It's all. We're all want to seemore people come to know Jesus.
Right. And so yeah, I think thatmakes a lot of sense.
Michele Davis (07:57):
Yeah, I'm actually coaching a couple right
now. Yeah, they are coming backfrom overseas, they're moving to
a new campus in the Midwest,they don't know a lot about this
is very, it's very relevant toso manystaff.
Mark Hammitt (08:10):
Yeah. And I think that needs to be a part of the
conversation for our staff asthey transition back. So they're
not taken by surprise, like wewere, it was just like, ah, you
know, but I think some of thelessons that I learned from this
is that, you know, ultimately, Ihave to do my part, we have to
do our part. But ultimately,it's the Lord who provides, you
(08:33):
know, I was thinking about justthe phrase, Jehovah Jireh. You
know, he's the one who provides.
And and, yeah, that's just beenencouraging for me through the
lows and the highs in our MPD.
World.
Michele Davis (08:50):
Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely something I go
back to to thinking about theLord and MPD.
Brent Batiste (09:00):
When I read that question, I thought it was a
good question. I was like, Idon't know if we've ever had a,
like a worst year. But we'vecertainly had some wake up calls
along the way. And I thinkalmost even some conviction of
some missed opportunities aswell during our time on staff.
And I tell you, when we, when wefirst reported a campus, we
(09:20):
weren't quite newlyweds, but wewere, you know, just the two of
us. And now we have, you know,four kids later, as the ministry
grows and develops, the needsincrease. But I remember pretty
early on, it was actually asummer Katie, you reference the
national training for our Crustaff, that we all we all gather
together. And I remember comingback from a summer mission that
(09:42):
summer, and then going directlyto the Cru National Training.
And then around August or so,you know, we got a notice in the
mail, that's when your paycheckswere actually paper and you
actually they were mailed toyou. And we realized that wow,
we didn't receive as muchfunding this month in our
paycheck than we typically do.
And what had happened was ouraccount had gone into deficits.
And that was a wake up call forus. It really was. And I
(10:05):
remember exactly where I wasstanding in our kitchen. And I,
we looked at it, we read ittogether. And here's what we
did. We we literally dropped toour knees, and we sought the
Lord. And we prayed, we prayed,we sought his face. And then we
made a plan. So our firstreaction I'm thankful was, was a
(10:30):
heart of prayer. Yeah. And inthat prayer, we said, Lord, we
said, Lord, never again, becauseI really, I really do believe
that the call to staff is a callto full funding. And it's a call
to having to provision to do thework. So I remember after we got
done praying, I jumped on ourcomputer, and I began to craft a
letter to our partners. And Ihonestly, I try to stay away
(10:52):
from kind of those urgentemergency letters, I think we've
done like maybe two in ourentire time on staff. But that
helped us get out of ourinitial, you know, because that
we were stuck. But But more thanthat, and what we learned
through it is that we, we got tocampus, and we went full blast
for three, four or five years.
(11:13):
And we didn't really think aboutMPD much. And what the Lord
taught us during that time wasyour MPD is just as important as
your time on campus disciplingand sharing the gospel. And I'm
fine, I'm thankful for that.
That little wake up call fromthe Lord to prompt us. Because
he really taught us some thingsthrough that. And other thing
(11:34):
was, I think, maybe some missedopportunities over the years.
And I even think like in ourtraining, I think we're even
encouraged to, to, to revisitsome conversations with our
partners every couple years toask them, if they might, Lord
willing be in a position toincrease their level of support
with the ministry. And we reallydidn't do that for many, many
(11:54):
years. And I think, as I lookback, I referenced that as a
missed opportunity, because Ithink, Boy, I think ourselves, I
think a lot of our staff wouldbe in a much stronger position
where we're fully funded andable to freely focus on the
mission, if we had done some ofthose steps, steps early on. So
that was not so much the worstyear but a wake up call. And as
(12:16):
far as the best years, you know,I think from that time forward,
we began to make some decisionsin our weekly and monthly
schedules, and to prioritizeMPD. And I just think by God's
grace, we've seen a slow andsteady increase in our support
over the years. And the Lord isfreeing us up to do the ministry
(12:36):
He's called us to. Hmm.
Katie Johnson (12:41):
I feel like there's so many nuggets that you
just said that I want to belike, can you just repeat that
for our staff again? MPD is apart of your ministry being
fully funded as a part of yourministry. It is just as
important as your ministry,right? And a lot of freedom,
right, the freedom that camewith being fully funded, you can
(13:03):
actually focus on yourassignment. And that's so good.
Brent Batiste (13:07):
Yeah. I asked one of our staff once he's actually
one of our coaches. I'll givethem a shout out Elliot, when I
asked him, I said, what is beingfully funded mean to you? And he
said, It means being able tosay, Yes. I thought, wow, that's
really encouraging, saying yesto to ministry saying yes to a
summer mission assignment,saying yes, to being generous to
(13:29):
others, as well. And I'vealways, I've always held on to
that it's really encouraged me.
Michele Davis (13:34):
I'm literally writing that down.
Mark Hammitt (13:36):
Yeah, you know, and I mentioned how we started
taking MPD trips, and some ofthose fell during the school,
some of those fell during theschool year. And that initially,
I got some pushback on that. Butbut if we do actually believe
that MPD is ministry...what itcreated for us in the campus
sector was that our studentleaders realized, Hey, this is
(13:59):
just as important to mark andSusie as sharing their faith on
campus. And it gave them It gavethem a chance to kind of step in
and take some leadership roleson the campus while we were
gone. And to say that, you know,raising support is a part of
what we do as staff with Cru
Michele Davis (14:17):
I really like that.
Mark Hammitt (14:18):
Yeah. So we didn't have to, like hide that. Like
sometimes in the summer months,we have a tendency of like
hiding this so that no one elsecan see what we're doing. We
wanted to be out there in theopen and say, This is what we
do. This is a part of what wedo, you know, and yeah, we're
excited to be able to take thistime to be able to do that. So
yeah,
Michele Davis (14:37):
and I can see that by showing. So yeah, yeah,
exactly. And I can see how thathelped your students to have a
category both for maybe raisingsupport themselves someday or
for giving, you know, in thefuture, but also, I would
imagine that really set a goodexample for your fellow staff.
One of the things I just have aburden for as I went Our staff
(15:00):
to not feel like they're alonein their MPD or you know that,
you know that they can't talkabout it or, like, I don't know,
I think that just happenssometimes where our staff can,
you know, maybe talk ingeneralities or not, like
really, like, just be open abouttheir needs or what what they're
(15:22):
doing in their MPD. And I thinkthat really like, then kind of
hurts all of us, in a sense,because we can't then have that
camaraderie that learning fromone another. I really, I need
the encouragement of other staffaround me, I think and MPD. So I
love that you, in beingproactive about, you know,
working on MPD. You were settingthat example. And I love that I
(15:45):
think you had said earlier likethat was a, like a first time
that you and Susie had gonetogether on an MPD trip. Right?
I'm curious if there if there'smore to that story that just
sounds like Like, like, what waslike, you know, the differences
that when Susie got to was likea part of that trip to etc?
Yeah,
Mark Hammitt (16:04):
yeah, well, so it was, we had done that prior to
South Africa. But during theSouth Africa years, you know, we
weren't raising support fromSouth Africa, because it just
wasn't a reality. And so whenwe, when we came back, we wanted
to do more of that. And then Ithink as our kids went off to
college, it created some spacein our schedule, where we were
(16:25):
able to go together to do thosethings. And I just think it's a
win. It's a win win, when ahusband and wife can go together
to visit partners and go onappointments together. It's
just, it's fantastic. We lovedoing it.
Katie Johnson (16:43):
Was this when your kids were small?
Mark Hammitt (16:46):
Well, we did we did we get a lot of those. Also,
Katie, you know, I rememberraising support to go overseas
and just like having, like, atwo year old with us, you know,
and, and, and then later when wecame back on our home visits or
furloughs, you know, havingthree small children with us?
Like, could you just be quiet,like for an hour? So we have
(17:09):
this conversation?
Michele Davis (17:11):
Right? Like bringing snacks or...
Mark Hammitt (17:15):
Just, exactly. But you know, oftentimes, we found
and this is just the joy that wehave as we go visit our ministry
partners is that oftentimes,much of the conversation is just
surrounding real life. And it'ssurrounding our family. And and
sometimes there's not a lot ofquestions about ministry per se,
like, you know, what are youactually doing, or how's it
(17:37):
going? But it's just so muchmore personal things. And I just
love that part in having thefamily there for it even just
accentuates that opportunity.
Katie Johnson (17:49):
Yeah, I love that. I mean, how fun to have
your kids even know yourministry partners. And
Mark Hammitt (17:54):
oh, yeah,
Michele Davis (17:56):
....Oh, yeah.
Yeah. That's really cool. Okay,I want to hear from all of us on
this question, when we'rethinking about our upcoming
year. Like, how do you guys allapproach thinking about your MPD
in your upcoming year? Like, doyou set goals or benchmarks or
(18:17):
habits? Or like what's yourstrategy as how you move
forward? And that's somethingI'm like working on right now in
updating my, you know, positionfocus and PDP. So...
Brent Batiste (18:30):
that's a great one. And, you know, they say, a
goal that's not written down isjust a wish, right? Totally have
something to think on somethingand to write it down to share it
with a friend, perhaps. But theway that we do it is we have we
have we kind of break our yeardown into three segments. And
for those of the staff who workon a college campus, it's kind
of easy, you know, we have thespring semester, we have the
(18:54):
summer, and then we have thefall semester. Obviously, the
spring semester for most fallsright along with the with the
New Year as well. Yeah. And soit's kind of an extra, maybe an
extra lift, you know, withintentionality to really see
some progress. But, but really,that's a lot that's birthed out
of kind of, throughout the year,we are regularly combing through
(19:15):
the MPD software that our Crustaff use called MPDx. And we're
continually checking that on aquite regular basis to see if
what is the partners who havecommitted to seeing, hey, if
what has been committed isactually coming through to our
account, or has there been achange in their life, their
realities financially or familywise, that has changed that? So
(19:38):
throughout the year, we'll we'lltrack that pretty intentionally.
We certainly won't wait for thenew year to address any any
challenges there. I may requirea phone call or just touching
base with a partner. And maybemaybe it was a credit card that
was no longer working or a bankstatement. For us on Cru. We've
gotten those emails before abouta processing error. And really,
(20:00):
I think the best thing we can dothen is jump right on the phone
and engage with that partner,and probably spend most of the
time just thanking them,lavishing them with gratitude
for their support, and thenletting them know how important
it is to us and say, Hey, I gotthis email from crew this week,
and just wanted to touch basewith you. But we're combing
through that throughout theyear. And then depending on the
(20:21):
time of the year, and if it'sone of our busier times or not,
we won't necessarily jump rightinto a full blown NPD mode. But
we'll we'll take note of that.
So that when we wouldn't waitnecessary for the new year, but
we'll wait for a time during theministry here that we have some
extra energy and the ability tobasically say, Okay, here's what
we're lacking. And here's whatwe're going to trust the Lord
(20:45):
for. And then we'll build thosethose numbers into our, our MPD
plan. And I have I just kind ofmake it I say, make a plan,
right, the plan down, share theplan with a friend,
Mark Hammitt (20:59):
you've shared it with me many times they haven't
you Brent.
Brent Batiste (21:03):
Mark has been an incredible partner in this whole
process
Mark Hammitt (21:08):
you have as well.
Brent Batiste (21:10):
And lastly, get the plan done, get the plan
done. They do say just writing aplan down increases the
likelihood of it being met thegoal, but then they say also
sharing it with a friend alsokind of puts you on the line a
little bit, you have someonecheck in with you encourage you
in that. So that's kind ofsomething that we've done, and
we do it in the spring and thesummer and the fall. And it's
(21:33):
all based on what our currentwhat we're currently trusting
the Lord for.
Michele Davis (21:37):
So you check in each of those three points and
tweak your plan.
Brent Batiste (21:41):
That is what we do. Yes, ma'am.
Michele Davis (21:42):
Oh, I like that.
I like that a lot. What do you
Katie Johnson (21:45):
Yeah, um, I am a little less structured than you
do, Katie?
guys. Okay, um, I do like lists,and I love plants. But I
wouldn't say I do anythingspecific every year. This year,
I feel like coming out of COVID.
And going back into conferenceseason, whether it's the summer
conference are lots of otherconferences coming up, I have
(22:07):
thought a lot about raising moresupport, making sure my monthly
support is at a level that'ssustainable, but also focusing
in a little bit on specialgifts, because of all the
conference expenses coming up.
And so, um, as I've beenthinking about that, I plan on
(22:32):
organizing first. And so I thinkI have to have things in
digestible pieces. And if it'sthis giant task before me, then
I just never get anything done.
So, um, I think organizing isreally important. And so my hope
this year is to organize forMPD. And I guess it's kind of
like making a plan. Butbasically making sure all my
(22:53):
contacts are in MPDx. Andeverything has notes and is
tasked to tags and you know, allthose things. So then when I do
sit down to do MPD, it's not,oh, I have to do these 10 things
before I can actually contactsomeone. And so I have some
other goals as far as numbers,right? Like, where I want to be
monthly or special gifts. But Ifeel like one of the biggest
(23:16):
things that helps me throughoutthe year is making sure when I
do have time to work on MPD. Iknow what I'm working on, and
it's ready to go. Yeah, if thatmakes sense.
Mark Hammitt (23:31):
Yeah, definitely great. Well, with, with our move
to Oregon, the cost of living isa lot higher out here than it
was in Cincinnati. And as aresult, we've had to make some
adjustments to our budget. Inlight of that we we have kind of
set some benchmarks like $600 ofnew support by March the first
(23:53):
by May the first and by July thefirst. And so, you know, if we
were to see that take place,then we would be in a much
better space than we are rightnow. And so that's one way. I
think when when staff truly dolike an MPD assessment or
evaluation of their solidmonthly, I'd like to say that
(24:13):
reality is is our friend. Andmost staff that we talked to,
they'll say, oh, I need to raise500 a month or I need to raise
another 1000 or whatever itmight be. But that's just
pulling numbers out of the air.
There's really no reality tothat. And so I think if we do
our homework, and we crunchedthe numbers, and we see what
those are, then, you know peoplework better in different ways.
(24:34):
Some people want to just setaside a concentrated time to
work on it, and try to knock thewhole thing out. Other people
like to just work it into theirDNA that structure their week.
And as they're doing MPDthroughout the course of the
week and throughout the courseof the month. We like those
benchmarks of like, you know,every two to three months set
another goal and so it's mucheasier for us as we're on
(24:56):
appointments with people to sayYeah, we're trusting the Lord
for an additional $600 of newmonthly support by March 1, you
know, would you would you liketo join with us, you know,
something like that. So that's,that's what we do. We do have
two MPD trips, because I justtalking about trips earlier in
the podcast. We are planning togo to Arizona in March. And then
(25:17):
we're going to combine beingback east for Milwaukee to visit
some of our ministry partners inthe state of Delaware during
July. So those are two thingsthat are kind of in the calendar
already too.
Michele Davis (25:35):
Yeah, well, to piggyback off what Mark said I,
when I'm like thinking through,or this is literally what I'm
doing on my to do list this weekis to rework my MPD goal. And
like to just changes need tomake to budget and things in
there that I do, I just workbetter when I know, this is the
goal to the dollar, have what Ineed of what I need to raise and
(25:59):
think through the budget. And Ipersonally, am not one that is
like, gonna always do like threetasks a week, this every week
for the rest of my life, I workmore in bigger seasons. And so,
and for me, what helps me workbest is, is like making sure
that that time is reflected onmy schedule, even if I have to
(26:20):
move it later, because life iscrazy. And that sometimes
happens. But if I like put a twohour block in my Google
Calendar, that's like work onyour MPD tasks, then I know when
you know, when I hit that block,I open up in MPDx and I start
getting to work. And it protectsthe time because my I know my
(26:42):
biggest like setback this isactually like a different
question we were planning totalk about later. So maybe this
is a natural segue. But mybiggest tendency is I can just
get really distracted by urgentsLike all those little urgent
things in my life, and I'm notlike, I'm just not overly
regimented person, like, myhusband and I laugh about this a
(27:03):
lot, because he is he is justvery good at running the same
play. So he's in charge ofpaying our bills, okay, and I'm
better at the bigger picture. SoI run like our bigger budget
plan, and our like, savingsgoals and things like that. So
like, my husband's no longer onstaff. And, you know, he's,
like, supportive of me andhelpful, but he's not here
(27:24):
anymore to be like, with to doour three tasks, right. So I
have to kind of like, find a wayto, to like work within my own
tendencies. And to know that Ineed to, like, kind of have a
big gear up, and I need toprotect the time, and then I can
kind of overcome the fact that Idon't know, What's my problem?
(27:45):
Do I just get bored with like,doing the same thing all the
time? Yes, that's part of it. DoI get distracted by my crying
kids? Or a pretty day I want togo on a walk the squirrel that
walked by? Yes, that's awesome.
So, um, yeah, so some selfawareness has helped me to work
better on MPD. And to kind ofjust like, stop pretending to be
(28:06):
someone I'm not and just workwith, like, how I work best.
Brent Batiste (28:11):
Well, as we look to 2022, something that we're
hoping to grow in is really totake to continually move from
fear to faith in our MPD. And wesee that in ministry on campus
or in the workplace ministry,but I think that's also
(28:31):
significant in our our ministry,partner development as well.
We're looking, uh, Stephanie andI are we're looking at a
possible transition within theministry this year. And if the
Lord is leading in the way thatwe think he might be leading, it
would involve a cross countryrelocation. And, you know, like
(28:51):
I said, we've been in the samelocation for 25 years, so we
haven't really done transition awhole lot. There have been two
times of transition early on inour staff life that...
Mark Hammitt (29:02):
give me a call.
Give me a call, Brent.
Brent Batiste (29:05):
I will continue to learn from my brother Mark.
Michele Davis (29:07):
I mean, all of our eyes are so big on this call
at least mine I'm like, Ooh,he's like hinting at some fun
change coming up...
Brent Batiste (29:15):
and we're still waiting for things to unfold for
sure. But, you know, there isthat element of fear involved.
And I look back to 2010. Ourfamily went on the Lake Hart
Stint. And that was a transitionof sorts. We knew when we went
we it was just going to be ayear commitment. But there was
still something within us. Willour ministry partners understand
(29:35):
the value and the need for this,this this experience with Cru
serving at their headquartersfor that year? And there was an
element of boy do we do we dothis? Or do we not do it and
there was like this fear of whatwill be some of the maybe the
ramifications if we if we leftcampus for a year. And then
also, the following year, wemade the transition from serving
(29:57):
with Cru campus to switch to theministry of Athletes in Action.
And even with that kind oftransition, there was something
within our hearts that feltlike, I wonder if our ministry
partners will fully grasp thevision for reaching student
athletes for the gospel. And inboth of those, the Lord has
shown and proven himselfincredibly faithful (Amen) He is
(30:20):
our provider. Yes, he is ourprovider, and we can step out
and trust him. Butwe are literally looking at
ministry for the next 25 years,Lord willing, and we know that
our God is a provider, we knowthat he wants to strengthen and
sustain our support. My hope for2022 is that we would move
forward in faith, and not kindof resist this opportunity
(30:41):
because of fear.
Michele Davis (30:45):
Okay, I just want you to know that everyone
listening is going to startstalking you on workplace to
figure out what your new jobmight be. Or maybe I just will,
I don't know. I think that's,that's fun. It's exciting to
think about, Brent.
Brent Batiste (31:03):
Thanks.
Mark Hammitt (31:07):
I know for me, one of the things that that I look
forward to in this new year isthat when the Lord brings one of
our ministry partners, to mymind, there's a reason for it.
And, and not just to squelchthat or quench the spirit, but
respond to the Spirit. I've beenspent a lot of time the last
(31:29):
couple of weeks in theBeatitudes. And as I've been
just reading some of thosesimple yet powerful phrases of
Jesus in the early chapters ofMatthew, it just reminds me
again and again, of, you know,show mercy, that you may receive
mercy. Do unto others as youwould have others do unto you.
(31:53):
And I, as I think about that,wow, if I would treat other
people like I would want to betreated, that's really going to
require Holy Spirit power inorder to do that. And in light
of our ministry partners, howwould they want to be treated?
You know, and so there's a,there's a, there's so much room
(32:15):
for growth in my life when itcomes to this area. But when
when the Lord brings a partnerto mind, I want to jump on the
phone. And even if I get avoicemail, I want to say, Hey,
Jack, just thinking of youearlier today, hope you're doing
okay, you know, and maybe evenpray for him on the phone. And I
(32:38):
did that a year and a half agowith a guy. And he didn't
answer, but I prayed for him onthe phone. And he kept that
prayer. And, and I didn't knowthat until months later, when we
were speaking again. And hesaid, I kept that prayer. And I
would just go back to it timeand time again. Because I just
(32:59):
needed to hear that, you know,and so we don't know what the
Lord's doing when He bringssomeone to our mind. But I want
to be holy spirit powered torespond, as Brent said, in faith
and make that call reach out andjust say, How you doing, I'm
thinking of you.
Michele Davis (33:16):
Gosh, what a good example of how MPD is, is
ministry, and the Lord uses usto minister to our partners like
that. It's such a good exampleof
Mark Hammitt (33:26):
Oh, yeah. And then another thing I just thought of
this morning, prior to our call,was, you know, all of us get
these kinds of letters in themail, where, at Christmas time,
some people just send aChristmas card, and it'll just
say love, you know, John andJulie or something. But some
people send a family update. Andso I'm going to go back through
(33:48):
all the cards that we got thisyear at Christmas, and I'm going
to pull all the family updateletters out. Because we just
tended, like skim over those andpitch them or put them in a pile
or whatever. But there's a lotof information here that I think
could be transcribed into MPDx.
So we get to know the familybetter. So we can ask more
pointed questions. But here'swhat I'm going to do for 2022 is
(34:10):
I'm going to make a phone callto everybody who sent a family
update letter. And I'm going toask some more questions. And I'm
going to say, Oh, you mentionedTim and Casey just got married
and they have a 95 pound dogcalled Wilbur, you know, tell me
more. Because we yeah, we wantto enter it. You know, it's it's
about building relationshipshere. And so that's what I look
(34:32):
forward to doing. (Oh my gosh,)
Katie Johnson (34:36):
would you say you get Christmas cards from a lot
of your ministry partners?
Michele Davis (34:41):
Yes, I do
Mark Hammitt (34:42):
Tons. tons. Yeah, we probably I'm guessing we
probably got 60 cards or more.
Michele Davis (34:50):
I haven't counted but I got a lot.
Katie Johnson (34:52):
Yeah. That's so fun. I should ask to get put on
my ministry card, my ministrypartners Christmas card list.
Mark Hammitt (34:58):
Well, you know, that might be a little little
bit different in the changingtimes with more people using
emails and less hard copies,that people aren't maybe sending
you those people aren't sendingChristmas cards as much. I don't
know that's true. Now,
Michele Davis (35:11):
I do get a lot I recent one of the somebody go to
church with said that they keepall their cards up, they're not
in ministry, they're just acouple of my church that I'm in
a small group with and like,every day that they'll take one
of the cards off of the displayof their cards and pray for that
person and put it down, Ithought, what a great idea, you
(35:33):
know, to instead of just likegather them up and recycle them
or whatever. So yeah, and sothat's similar to what you
brought up Mark like, and reallywhat you're saying is kind of
take it to the next level andreach out to that person, you
know, and so kind of likewriting that down, I might add
that to my position focus underMPD. To pray for call. Just
(35:58):
that's a good place to start.
Sometimes I just need like a,like a new and exciting idea for
how to just mix it up a littlebit.
Mark Hammitt (36:06):
And that might only be five or six people for
you, Michele, but that's, that'sgreat. It's a great place to
start.
Michele Davis (36:11):
Yeah. Katie, you and I were talking earlier about
like the negative tendencies,right? Where you want to do
like, Yes, I'm not trying tocall you out on what is hard. I
just want to hear I want I wantto hear is how, like, and I I'm
so actively, like, just lookingfor help in that. You know,
like, I think I'm in a season ofyeah, just needing some fresh
(36:37):
ideas. Mm hmm. So
Katie Johnson (36:39):
Yeah, well, and I would say that like, just well,
the listeners know, no one isperfect. Like, there's always
negative tendencies toeverybody's rhythms of MPD when
my husband was on staff with me,um, I feel like we complemented
each other really well. And thenwhen he left, I found a lot of
(37:02):
negative tendencies that I doand MPD because it left like
this gap of, oh, he like, didthis part of MPD. And this part,
and this part, and this part. Ithink one of the biggest things
that maybe it's twofold. I amnot great at keeping and MPDx
updated. I think that's a bignegative tends to have an MPD.
(37:25):
But also, bank called me out onthis last year when I was doing
MPD. He listened in on a call Iwas doing, which is a whole
nother conversation. Andafterwards, he said, Katie, you
need to do better asking forreferrals. And I was like, Man,
you want to join me and ask forreferrals yourself. I'm just
kidding. But I, but I think thatit's easy for at least for me to
(37:57):
like you guys were saying stepaway in fear, instead of pushing
it in faith. And so I think oneof my one of my tendencies is to
run away with fear. And even asyou're talking about calling
people, I'm literally sittinghere like, I don't want to call
people. That's not what I do. Idon't like talking on the phone
anymore, you know. And so Ithink I definitely end up
(38:23):
backing out and fear from a lotof different situations and MPD.
And I think I need to startstepping forward and faith more.
So I think that's probably mybiggest negative negative
tendency and MPD. Michele, doyou what are your negative
tendencies?
Michele Davis (38:40):
Okay, well, we did talk about mine a little bit
earlier. Just, I'm not supergreat at being consistent.
Actually, Katie, okay, so myhusband's on staff either.
Neither is Katie's. Maybe weshould be those like
encouragement buddies.. if Imean, we already talk all the
time anyways, doing thispodcast, but we've been inspired
to you by like, what Mark andBrent have alluded to that, you
(39:02):
know, they're pretty open withone another about where they're
at in their MPD. You know, andthat's, I think there's just a
lot of benefit to that. So I canjust get distracted by the
urgent and so if something's notmy calendar, I don't do it. And
so that's where I try to putstuff in my calendar. I try to
be realistic. I don't know. I'mjust you know, but I could also
(39:24):
just use a buddy. Like, good. So
Brent Batiste (39:31):
that's No, it's, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, go
ahead. It's one of the one ofthe benefits of groups that
we've been a part of over theyears. The fellowship of the
fully funded, and they'rereally, they're really what the
staff make of them. Some of themmeet weekly, some monthly, some
are very short touch points andkind of check ins. All those are
(39:52):
a little more extensive. Somemeet in person, but I think most
right now are probably virtual,but it's just that idea to
encourage each other Hey, whereare you winning an MPD? What are
you trusting the Lord for? Howcan we kind of spur you on
towards your your goals? Andwhether it's two people on a
phone call or a group of, youknow, several on a zoom call?
(40:13):
Those have been critical in myMPD experience, though, all for
having a buddy.
Katie Johnson (40:20):
Are these organized groups that you're
talking about? Or is this?
Brent Batiste (40:23):
Yeah, Mark can actually share a bit more of us
ours and how
Mark Hammitt (40:28):
Yeah, this is something that Brent and I
started a number of years backwith AIA, I read about it in a
publication from Cru Orlando, acouple of staff in Orlando,
we're meeting every two weeks ata for breakfast at a coffee
shop. And it just gave us theidea. And we reached out to a
couple other AIA staff, and wewould just there was probably
(40:49):
four or five of us on the call.
And we would only meet for 30minutes. But it was every week.
And, and it was great. We prayedtogether, we shared some highs
and lows in MPD. Sometimes wewould read an article, you know,
preemptively before the call andtalk about a couple of things,
some content wise, but it reallylead to just that more
(41:12):
transparency piece, which Ithink we benefit from
Michele Davis (41:21):
that, absolutely.
I had heard that phrase out ofsome staff in Orlando fellowship
of the fully funded I didn'trealize (yes like, go for it,
Michele), and some you know,some other groups out there, I
think that's a great idea. Youknow, because for some people,
their staff team maybe is anenvironment where they are
talking about this a lot. But Iknow I work remote. I see people
(41:43):
on my screen, there's a lot Ihave to do when I'm in a meeting
with them. I'm not right now inan environment, you know, and so
I, I like this, like kind ofchallenge to to create that. And
to Yeah, it can be a smallcommitment. I like I don't know,
I like this, this was really, Ididn't realize I was coming in
(42:04):
here to... I'm liking it.
Mark Hammitt (42:08):
Oh, no. Yeah.
Well, then we also have the MPDchampions to, you know, work on
it on a team can can lean upon achampion there to bring MPD to
their team each couple of timesa month.
Michele Davis (42:21):
I do love that.
Yeah. But yeah, as again, aslike, I'm now in USLDHR. So I
don't, I don't have an MPDchampion. Who knows what's going
on? Right? I'm just in MPD andI'm an MPD leader. You assume
I'm fine. But that doesn't meanI don't need a buddy or some
encouragement. I do. I justtotally do. So. Okay, guys,
let's say I want to hear fromfrom us here just like What's
(42:44):
this like a final charge aswe're closing out our time
together in this coach'sroundtable, something that you
wish staff would do this yearand their personal MPD. I know
like coaches we are oftenhearing from staff like certain
things and have like been aburden for like, Oh, I just wish
that staff would know this. Iwish staff would do this. And so
(43:04):
I want to hear from you guys,what's your final charge to our
listeners for their MPD thisyear?
Brent Batiste (43:14):
You know, earlier I had referenced I think I
referenced Paul's words toTimothy, the worker is worthy of
the wage. And if you think aboutit, we are by God's grace and to
His glory, we had been called tobe a part of something very
special. That has the potentialfor eternal impact. And I think
that just does something withinour soul and maybe even our
(43:36):
level of confidence that as weengage in MPD, we can have a
very eternal perspective. And Ithink connected to that my hope
and prayer is that our staffmyself, all of us would
courageously step out in faith,with boldness and humility. The
(43:57):
scriptures say the righteous areas bold as a lion. And they also
say that God opposes the proudbut he gives grace to the
humble. And I think there's abeautiful connection there. I
think we can be bold and humble,because we're representing the
Lord in his in his mission. So Ithink my my biggest desire, I
(44:18):
hope our staff, we just have acontinually vertical perspective
and understanding of who theyare in God's eyes and what
they've been called to. Thesecond thing I would hope they
would do, and this this, youknow, Katie mentioned this
earlier, but I would I wouldhope they pick up the phone, and
they stay on the phone. And Ithink I think there is beautiful
(44:39):
benefit and fruit from alwaystrying to take the most
relational route. (I agreecompletely Brent, yeah) In our
MPD sometimes we take the easyroute, the quick route, the less
intimidating route. If you havea partner who's giving monthly
and all of a sudden, that youdon't see gifts for a month or
(45:00):
two or three, you know, we don'tknow what's going on in the
background there. And to my, youknow, you know, kind of about
missed opportunities I had letthat go for quite a while with
one particular partner. And theywere giving it a level that was
very, very helpful to theministry, I finally called them
but boy, it was like eightmonths later. And they said,
(45:22):
Brent, I wish you would havecalled us right away. And they
not only began their givingagain, but in their generosity
and graciousness, and they madeup for those those past eight
months, which was just like,increase my faith, to say the
Lord, the Lord blesses thosesteps of obedience to take the
most relational way, indeveloping our team of partners.
(45:45):
So those would be kind of myhopes and my, my encouragement.
Michele Davis (45:49):
Hmm, that is good.
Mark Hammitt (45:51):
Yeah, I think for me, I'm just really coming to
understand and fresh ways thatMPD is ministry. And for those
who have maybe haven't read theHenri Nouwen book The
Spirituality of Fundraising, letme let me encourage you to check
that book out. But I think I'velearned from from Henri, that
(46:14):
MPD, fundraising, his ministry,and it's when we can build that
into our, like I mentionedearlier, the DNA of our weekly
schedule, it becomes that muchmore important, we see we see
progress. Yeah, it's just beenexciting for me. And then I
(46:38):
think the other piece is MPDx.
You know, as I'm coaching newstaff, ...lots of times new
staff may not see the value ofthat. But 40 years, on the other
side of this, now, I see, themore I put into that, the more
personal my relationships goingto be with our partners in the
(47:01):
years to come. And so I justwant to encourage our staff to
get to know that get to use thatget to love that software,
because there's great value inthat. So I just click all the
notifications, you know, I wantto know, when a person misses
the gift, I want to know when aperson's having a birthday, or
an anniversary, or whatever. AndI just get this little friendly
(47:23):
email that says, So and so I washaving their anniversary coming
up, you may want to reach out tothem. And so guess what I do, I
pick up my phone, you know, andreach out to them. And so I
think that's just been just agreat way to having ongoing
contact with our ministrypartners, and help me to bring
MPD as a part of the DNA of allthat I do in God's kingdom.
Katie Johnson (47:50):
I think that I would say, like everything you
guys have said has been great,but also some, some people MPD
is very emotionally draining.
And even for like I'm anextrovert, I find MPD very
emotionally draining. And that'son top of your ministry, if
you're on assignment, which mostlikely is also emotionally
draining, and spirituallydraining. And so I would
(48:12):
encourage everyone to make sureyou have a good balance of make
sure you're refreshing youryourself, right, like resting
well, and doing life givingthings outside of ministry and
MPD. Spending time with the Lordand always going to him so that
you can fill yourself up to beable to invest in others, which
(48:36):
includes your ministry partners,but also your personal
community, right? Like yourministry partners aren't the
only people you haverelationship with. But we want
to make sure we're taking careof ourselves and going back to
the source of emotional energyand spiritual energy. And that's
Jesus right. And so I would saycontinue to to make space,
(48:56):
especially those people that arenot, are not extroverted, where
this is probably very extradraining, like calling someone
is so draining for an introvertRight? And, and, and honestly,
I'm an extrovert, I don't likecalling people either. So you
want to make sure you're alsodoing things that are not
(49:16):
draining. So that you can do MPDwell, and so that you can do
ministry well. And also makesure your goals are digestible.
I'm one of those people that'slike, I have all these goals for
the year for the semester forthe month, or, I mean, I look at
my PDP every time and I'm like,Why did I list 15 things here? I
(49:37):
like my life. Um, and I feellike a failure every time right?
And so instead of putting allthis pressure on yourself and
expectation, create goals thatare doable and small, and maybe
even seem like not enough,because you will succeed that
way and You can look back andcelebrate what you've done well,
(50:00):
um, so those are the two thingsI would say,
Michele Davis (50:06):
Hmm, that was good. That was really, really
good. Um, I want to say and thatthis, I think flows from what
Katie was saying that every dayis a new day. I think MPD gives
us a lot of opportunity to, youknow, live out what Paul says in
Philippians, where he, you know,he doesn't look back to what's
behind, but he looks forward towhat lies ahead, this, this walk
(50:30):
of grace that we do as we areliving with Jesus, you know, it
applies to MPD as well, youknow, so this is a new day, you
are beloved, even if you youknow, maybe you botched a call
and you don't like how itsounded or maybe it has, it
feels like it's been a whilewe're in the economy of grace,
(50:52):
we can we can step out a new daypower of the Holy Spirit and be
faithful today. And so that iswhat I really hope for all of
you listening. And I hope thatas you're you know, listening to
just you know, also maybe thisyear follow us on Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook, The CruMPD podcast! We are hoping this
(51:15):
that this cheap this podcasthere would provide a lot of
encouragement and hope for youand your MPD journey we exist to
to serve you, our staff. Soyeah, Brent, Mark, thanks for
joining Katie night today. Thishas been fun. So thank you very
much. Yeah, I feel challengedand encouraged. I hope you guys
(51:36):
do too.
Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie
Johnson and Michele Davis. Welove that the Lord commanded
that those who proclaim thegospel should get their living
by the gospel. We are driven toequip and inspire Christian
workers to be Christ centered,fully funded, and financially
faithful, so that missionarystaff can come alongside all
(00:41):
people to help them to knowJesus. This process is more
widely known as ministry partnerdevelopment, or MPD, for short.
Katie Johnson (00:52):
Welcome to our second Coach's Roundtable today,
we're really excited to talkabout the new year and new MPD
practices for this new year. Andtoday, we have two of our
coaches, Brent Batiste and MarkHammitt are here with us today.
We're really excited to havethem. So hi, guys, could you
(01:13):
guys start by just introducingyourselves and a little bit of
your background and your familyand anything? Honestly, anything
you want to share?
Brent Batiste (01:21):
Yeah, happy New Year, Katie. And Michele, it's
good to be with you two. Andyeah, my wife Stephanie and I,
we've been on staff for 25years. And you know, we've
actually been at the sameministry location the entire
time, we had been serving oncampus at Northern Illinois
University, with Athletes inAction. But about halfway
through our staff career beganto work a little bit more in the
(01:42):
MPD space, initially coachingsummer interns, and eventually
working more and more withsenior staff as well. And so
that's a portion of what I doduring my time on staff, but we
have four kids. One just gotmarried this summer. We have two
in college and one in highschool.
Michele Davis (01:59):
Oh, wow, that sounds really busy and exciting.
Mark Hammitt (02:02):
Yeah. So my name is Mark Hammitt, Susie, and I
live in Medford, Oregon, we justmoved here. Actually, about six
months back. This is where Suziegrew up. We are officially empty
nesters. We have three grownkids, four grandkids that are
back in the Midwest, where wespent the last 20 years in
(02:23):
Cincinnati. And our our life hasbeen really in the campus
ministry, from Arizona, to SouthAfrica to Cincinnati. And now,
just to the last year and a halfor so I've been the coordinator
for athletes and action in theMPD world. And that's really
probably Brent, you're a littlebit to be blamed for that one.
(02:45):
Our relationship over the lastover the last couple years is
just really caused me to seethat, you know, not only us as a
couple, but we want our staff tobe able to thrive in the area of
MPD. And I just kind of feellike these, this next stage in
my life, no better way than toserve in this capacity.
Katie Johnson (03:08):
Well, guys, thanks so much for being with us
today. We're excited to talkabout what does it look like to
plan out your year right withMPD? And how do we continue to
care for our partners and buildour ministry teams in the midst
of being on assignment? That'salways the big question. And
this year, we have, right, Cru22 is coming up. So it's
(03:31):
important to work on your MPD Ithink this year, even more so
than the past few years. And soI just wanted to hear from you
guys. First, what is been theworst MPD year you've ever had,
and contrast it with the best.
And what did you guys learn fromboth those years?
Mark Hammitt (03:48):
Yeah, well, as I was thinking about the question,
I can't label it as like oneyear specifically. But when we
came back from South Africa, wehit like a major roadblock. With
MPD, we lost a lot. Some of ourchurches that were helping us
out stop because we were nolonger International. And that
(04:09):
was personally really difficultfor us. But I think for me, it
was more of a season that wekind of were challenged with in
those early 2000s. And then kindof like some economic downturn
in 2008-2009 that really hit ushard, short paychecks, you know,
in deficit, not really having astory to tell in some ways, not
(04:32):
really having a vision to share.
Not having a coach to encourageme along the way. All these
types of things kind of likemultiplied themselves into basic
disaster, is what I probablywould just have to say for our
family. And you know,fortunately we were at a spot
where we were able to pull fromsome of our savings but that
wasn't always the case. And as Iwas thinking about that I was
(04:53):
thinking about Lamentationschapter three. You know, we're
where he says The Lord's lovingkindness and deed never sees
first. compassions never fail,for they are new every morning,
great as I faithfulness. And Ijust think about that newness of
this year. And I think about thenewness, you know, of the Lord's
faithfulness in our lives. And Ithink that was a true that was
(05:17):
true, something that weexperienced. But I think we the
Titanic, I'll phrase it that waythe Titanic turned from sinking
into a new a new course. Andthat probably happened in like
2010, when we decided that wewere going to start taking MPD
trips together as a couple. Andso Susie, and I would just set
(05:41):
aside time, and this was an thisis a new thing for my, our
Regional Director. It wasactually during the school year,
that we, our first trip was toArizona in 2010. And we just saw
the Lord provide some newsupport there. And it provided
some great interaction with ourministry partners, that that
became, like an ongoing thingthat we did, which really helped
(06:06):
us to turn the ship around alittle bit and find some success
and MPD.
Katie Johnson (06:12):
I'm just curious, you mentioned like you're you're
struggling with even vision foryour ministry at that point. Um,
yeah, what helped you to likerenew your vision? And for MPD
and for raising support?
Mark Hammitt (06:26):
Yeah, I think part of my problem was when we came
back from South Africa, was thatI had tons of stories to tell
about our time in South Africa.
But I didn't have anything totalk about my new assignment.
And here I am in a newassignment in Cincinnati,
working in the metro Cincinnatiarea and all these campuses, and
not having anything of theLord's faithfulness in that
(06:48):
sector yet, you know, and so Ithink I just needed to talk
about the Great Commission andthe Lord's calling in my life.
And that was the vision that Ineeded to share, and not so
much. Here's the 20 people thatwe saw that just received
Christ. You know, and yeah, andI, yeah. Does that make sense?
(07:09):
Katie?
Katie Johnson (07:11):
No, that does make sense. And I the reason I
asked is because I think that'sa somewhat common place that
people on staff find themselvesin of transitioning from
ministry to ministry or overseasback to a different role. And so
I just was curious, like, whatdid it take right for you to get
over that roadblock of notseeing a vision for your
(07:35):
ministry or not knowing how tocast vision for your ministry?
And I think you're exactlyright. Like, whether it's a
story of 20 people coming toknow the Lord or the mission of
moving forward the GreatCommission. It's all the same.
It's all. We're all want to seemore people come to know Jesus.
Right. And so yeah, I think thatmakes a lot of sense.
Michele Davis (07:57):
Yeah, I'm actually coaching a couple right
now. Yeah, they are coming backfrom overseas, they're moving to
a new campus in the Midwest,they don't know a lot about this
is very, it's very relevant toso manystaff.
Mark Hammitt (08:10):
Yeah. And I think that needs to be a part of the
conversation for our staff asthey transition back. So they're
not taken by surprise, like wewere, it was just like, ah, you
know, but I think some of thelessons that I learned from this
is that, you know, ultimately, Ihave to do my part, we have to
do our part. But ultimately,it's the Lord who provides, you
(08:33):
know, I was thinking about justthe phrase, Jehovah Jireh. You
know, he's the one who provides.
And and, yeah, that's just beenencouraging for me through the
lows and the highs in our MPD.
World.
Michele Davis (08:50):
Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely something I go
back to to thinking about theLord and MPD.
Brent Batiste (09:00):
When I read that question, I thought it was a
good question. I was like, Idon't know if we've ever had a,
like a worst year. But we'vecertainly had some wake up calls
along the way. And I thinkalmost even some conviction of
some missed opportunities aswell during our time on staff.
And I tell you, when we, when wefirst reported a campus, we
(09:20):
weren't quite newlyweds, but wewere, you know, just the two of
us. And now we have, you know,four kids later, as the ministry
grows and develops, the needsincrease. But I remember pretty
early on, it was actually asummer Katie, you reference the
national training for our Crustaff, that we all we all gather
together. And I remember comingback from a summer mission that
(09:42):
summer, and then going directlyto the Cru National Training.
And then around August or so,you know, we got a notice in the
mail, that's when your paycheckswere actually paper and you
actually they were mailed toyou. And we realized that wow,
we didn't receive as muchfunding this month in our
paycheck than we typically do.
And what had happened was ouraccount had gone into deficits.
And that was a wake up call forus. It really was. And I
(10:05):
remember exactly where I wasstanding in our kitchen. And I,
we looked at it, we read ittogether. And here's what we
did. We we literally dropped toour knees, and we sought the
Lord. And we prayed, we prayed,we sought his face. And then we
made a plan. So our firstreaction I'm thankful was, was a
(10:30):
heart of prayer. Yeah. And inthat prayer, we said, Lord, we
said, Lord, never again, becauseI really, I really do believe
that the call to staff is a callto full funding. And it's a call
to having to provision to do thework. So I remember after we got
done praying, I jumped on ourcomputer, and I began to craft a
letter to our partners. And Ihonestly, I try to stay away
(10:52):
from kind of those urgentemergency letters, I think we've
done like maybe two in ourentire time on staff. But that
helped us get out of ourinitial, you know, because that
we were stuck. But But more thanthat, and what we learned
through it is that we, we got tocampus, and we went full blast
for three, four or five years.
(11:13):
And we didn't really think aboutMPD much. And what the Lord
taught us during that time wasyour MPD is just as important as
your time on campus disciplingand sharing the gospel. And I'm
fine, I'm thankful for that.
That little wake up call fromthe Lord to prompt us. Because
he really taught us some thingsthrough that. And other thing
(11:34):
was, I think, maybe some missedopportunities over the years.
And I even think like in ourtraining, I think we're even
encouraged to, to, to revisitsome conversations with our
partners every couple years toask them, if they might, Lord
willing be in a position toincrease their level of support
with the ministry. And we reallydidn't do that for many, many
(11:54):
years. And I think, as I lookback, I referenced that as a
missed opportunity, because Ithink, Boy, I think ourselves, I
think a lot of our staff wouldbe in a much stronger position
where we're fully funded andable to freely focus on the
mission, if we had done some ofthose steps, steps early on. So
that was not so much the worstyear but a wake up call. And as
(12:16):
far as the best years, you know,I think from that time forward,
we began to make some decisionsin our weekly and monthly
schedules, and to prioritizeMPD. And I just think by God's
grace, we've seen a slow andsteady increase in our support
over the years. And the Lord isfreeing us up to do the ministry
(12:36):
He's called us to. Hmm.
Katie Johnson (12:41):
I feel like there's so many nuggets that you
just said that I want to belike, can you just repeat that
for our staff again? MPD is apart of your ministry being
fully funded as a part of yourministry. It is just as
important as your ministry,right? And a lot of freedom,
right, the freedom that camewith being fully funded, you can
(13:03):
actually focus on yourassignment. And that's so good.
Brent Batiste (13:07):
Yeah. I asked one of our staff once he's actually
one of our coaches. I'll givethem a shout out Elliot, when I
asked him, I said, what is beingfully funded mean to you? And he
said, It means being able tosay, Yes. I thought, wow, that's
really encouraging, saying yesto to ministry saying yes to a
summer mission assignment,saying yes, to being generous to
(13:29):
others, as well. And I'vealways, I've always held on to
that it's really encouraged me.
Michele Davis (13:34):
I'm literally writing that down.
Mark Hammitt (13:36):
Yeah, you know, and I mentioned how we started
taking MPD trips, and some ofthose fell during the school,
some of those fell during theschool year. And that initially,
I got some pushback on that. Butbut if we do actually believe
that MPD is ministry...what itcreated for us in the campus
sector was that our studentleaders realized, Hey, this is
(13:59):
just as important to mark andSusie as sharing their faith on
campus. And it gave them It gavethem a chance to kind of step in
and take some leadership roleson the campus while we were
gone. And to say that, you know,raising support is a part of
what we do as staff with Cru
Michele Davis (14:17):
I really like that.
Mark Hammitt (14:18):
Yeah. So we didn't have to, like hide that. Like
sometimes in the summer months,we have a tendency of like
hiding this so that no one elsecan see what we're doing. We
wanted to be out there in theopen and say, This is what we
do. This is a part of what wedo, you know, and yeah, we're
excited to be able to take thistime to be able to do that. So
yeah,
Michele Davis (14:37):
and I can see that by showing. So yeah, yeah,
exactly. And I can see how thathelped your students to have a
category both for maybe raisingsupport themselves someday or
for giving, you know, in thefuture, but also, I would
imagine that really set a goodexample for your fellow staff.
One of the things I just have aburden for as I went Our staff
(15:00):
to not feel like they're alonein their MPD or you know that,
you know that they can't talkabout it or, like, I don't know,
I think that just happenssometimes where our staff can,
you know, maybe talk ingeneralities or not, like
really, like, just be open abouttheir needs or what what they're
(15:22):
doing in their MPD. And I thinkthat really like, then kind of
hurts all of us, in a sense,because we can't then have that
camaraderie that learning fromone another. I really, I need
the encouragement of other staffaround me, I think and MPD. So I
love that you, in beingproactive about, you know,
working on MPD. You were settingthat example. And I love that I
(15:45):
think you had said earlier likethat was a, like a first time
that you and Susie had gonetogether on an MPD trip. Right?
I'm curious if there if there'smore to that story that just
sounds like Like, like, what waslike, you know, the differences
that when Susie got to was likea part of that trip to etc?
Yeah,
Mark Hammitt (16:04):
yeah, well, so it was, we had done that prior to
South Africa. But during theSouth Africa years, you know, we
weren't raising support fromSouth Africa, because it just
wasn't a reality. And so whenwe, when we came back, we wanted
to do more of that. And then Ithink as our kids went off to
college, it created some spacein our schedule, where we were
(16:25):
able to go together to do thosethings. And I just think it's a
win. It's a win win, when ahusband and wife can go together
to visit partners and go onappointments together. It's
just, it's fantastic. We lovedoing it.
Katie Johnson (16:43):
Was this when your kids were small?
Mark Hammitt (16:46):
Well, we did we did we get a lot of those. Also,
Katie, you know, I rememberraising support to go overseas
and just like having, like, atwo year old with us, you know,
and, and, and then later when wecame back on our home visits or
furloughs, you know, havingthree small children with us?
Like, could you just be quiet,like for an hour? So we have
(17:09):
this conversation?
Michele Davis (17:11):
Right? Like bringing snacks or...
Mark Hammitt (17:15):
Just, exactly. But you know, oftentimes, we found
and this is just the joy that wehave as we go visit our ministry
partners is that oftentimes,much of the conversation is just
surrounding real life. And it'ssurrounding our family. And and
sometimes there's not a lot ofquestions about ministry per se,
like, you know, what are youactually doing, or how's it
(17:37):
going? But it's just so muchmore personal things. And I just
love that part in having thefamily there for it even just
accentuates that opportunity.
Katie Johnson (17:49):
Yeah, I love that. I mean, how fun to have
your kids even know yourministry partners. And
Mark Hammitt (17:54):
oh, yeah,
Michele Davis (17:56):
....Oh, yeah.
Yeah. That's really cool. Okay,I want to hear from all of us on
this question, when we'rethinking about our upcoming
year. Like, how do you guys allapproach thinking about your MPD
in your upcoming year? Like, doyou set goals or benchmarks or
(18:17):
habits? Or like what's yourstrategy as how you move
forward? And that's somethingI'm like working on right now in
updating my, you know, positionfocus and PDP. So...
Brent Batiste (18:30):
that's a great one. And, you know, they say, a
goal that's not written down isjust a wish, right? Totally have
something to think on somethingand to write it down to share it
with a friend, perhaps. But theway that we do it is we have we
have we kind of break our yeardown into three segments. And
for those of the staff who workon a college campus, it's kind
of easy, you know, we have thespring semester, we have the
(18:54):
summer, and then we have thefall semester. Obviously, the
spring semester for most fallsright along with the with the
New Year as well. Yeah. And soit's kind of an extra, maybe an
extra lift, you know, withintentionality to really see
some progress. But, but really,that's a lot that's birthed out
of kind of, throughout the year,we are regularly combing through
(19:15):
the MPD software that our Crustaff use called MPDx. And we're
continually checking that on aquite regular basis to see if
what is the partners who havecommitted to seeing, hey, if
what has been committed isactually coming through to our
account, or has there been achange in their life, their
realities financially or familywise, that has changed that? So
(19:38):
throughout the year, we'll we'lltrack that pretty intentionally.
We certainly won't wait for thenew year to address any any
challenges there. I may requirea phone call or just touching
base with a partner. And maybemaybe it was a credit card that
was no longer working or a bankstatement. For us on Cru. We've
gotten those emails before abouta processing error. And really,
(20:00):
I think the best thing we can dothen is jump right on the phone
and engage with that partner,and probably spend most of the
time just thanking them,lavishing them with gratitude
for their support, and thenletting them know how important
it is to us and say, Hey, I gotthis email from crew this week,
and just wanted to touch basewith you. But we're combing
through that throughout theyear. And then depending on the
(20:21):
time of the year, and if it'sone of our busier times or not,
we won't necessarily jump rightinto a full blown NPD mode. But
we'll we'll take note of that.
So that when we wouldn't waitnecessary for the new year, but
we'll wait for a time during theministry here that we have some
extra energy and the ability tobasically say, Okay, here's what
we're lacking. And here's whatwe're going to trust the Lord
(20:45):
for. And then we'll build thosethose numbers into our, our MPD
plan. And I have I just kind ofmake it I say, make a plan,
right, the plan down, share theplan with a friend,
Mark Hammitt (20:59):
you've shared it with me many times they haven't
you Brent.
Brent Batiste (21:03):
Mark has been an incredible partner in this whole
process
Mark Hammitt (21:08):
you have as well.
Brent Batiste (21:10):
And lastly, get the plan done, get the plan
done. They do say just writing aplan down increases the
likelihood of it being met thegoal, but then they say also
sharing it with a friend alsokind of puts you on the line a
little bit, you have someonecheck in with you encourage you
in that. So that's kind ofsomething that we've done, and
we do it in the spring and thesummer and the fall. And it's
(21:33):
all based on what our currentwhat we're currently trusting
the Lord for.
Michele Davis (21:37):
So you check in each of those three points and
tweak your plan.
Brent Batiste (21:41):
That is what we do. Yes, ma'am.
Michele Davis (21:42):
Oh, I like that.
I like that a lot. What do you
Katie Johnson (21:45):
Yeah, um, I am a little less structured than you
do, Katie?
guys. Okay, um, I do like lists,and I love plants. But I
wouldn't say I do anythingspecific every year. This year,
I feel like coming out of COVID.
And going back into conferenceseason, whether it's the summer
conference are lots of otherconferences coming up, I have
(22:07):
thought a lot about raising moresupport, making sure my monthly
support is at a level that'ssustainable, but also focusing
in a little bit on specialgifts, because of all the
conference expenses coming up.
And so, um, as I've beenthinking about that, I plan on
(22:32):
organizing first. And so I thinkI have to have things in
digestible pieces. And if it'sthis giant task before me, then
I just never get anything done.
So, um, I think organizing isreally important. And so my hope
this year is to organize forMPD. And I guess it's kind of
like making a plan. Butbasically making sure all my
(22:53):
contacts are in MPDx. Andeverything has notes and is
tasked to tags and you know, allthose things. So then when I do
sit down to do MPD, it's not,oh, I have to do these 10 things
before I can actually contactsomeone. And so I have some
other goals as far as numbers,right? Like, where I want to be
monthly or special gifts. But Ifeel like one of the biggest
(23:16):
things that helps me throughoutthe year is making sure when I
do have time to work on MPD. Iknow what I'm working on, and
it's ready to go. Yeah, if thatmakes sense.
Mark Hammitt (23:31):
Yeah, definitely great. Well, with, with our move
to Oregon, the cost of living isa lot higher out here than it
was in Cincinnati. And as aresult, we've had to make some
adjustments to our budget. Inlight of that we we have kind of
set some benchmarks like $600 ofnew support by March the first
(23:53):
by May the first and by July thefirst. And so, you know, if we
were to see that take place,then we would be in a much
better space than we are rightnow. And so that's one way. I
think when when staff truly dolike an MPD assessment or
evaluation of their solidmonthly, I'd like to say that
(24:13):
reality is is our friend. Andmost staff that we talked to,
they'll say, oh, I need to raise500 a month or I need to raise
another 1000 or whatever itmight be. But that's just
pulling numbers out of the air.
There's really no reality tothat. And so I think if we do
our homework, and we crunchedthe numbers, and we see what
those are, then, you know peoplework better in different ways.
(24:34):
Some people want to just setaside a concentrated time to
work on it, and try to knock thewhole thing out. Other people
like to just work it into theirDNA that structure their week.
And as they're doing MPDthroughout the course of the
week and throughout the courseof the month. We like those
benchmarks of like, you know,every two to three months set
another goal and so it's mucheasier for us as we're on
(24:56):
appointments with people to sayYeah, we're trusting the Lord
for an additional $600 of newmonthly support by March 1, you
know, would you would you liketo join with us, you know,
something like that. So that's,that's what we do. We do have
two MPD trips, because I justtalking about trips earlier in
the podcast. We are planning togo to Arizona in March. And then
(25:17):
we're going to combine beingback east for Milwaukee to visit
some of our ministry partners inthe state of Delaware during
July. So those are two thingsthat are kind of in the calendar
already too.
Michele Davis (25:35):
Yeah, well, to piggyback off what Mark said I,
when I'm like thinking through,or this is literally what I'm
doing on my to do list this weekis to rework my MPD goal. And
like to just changes need tomake to budget and things in
there that I do, I just workbetter when I know, this is the
goal to the dollar, have what Ineed of what I need to raise and
(25:59):
think through the budget. And Ipersonally, am not one that is
like, gonna always do like threetasks a week, this every week
for the rest of my life, I workmore in bigger seasons. And so,
and for me, what helps me workbest is, is like making sure
that that time is reflected onmy schedule, even if I have to
(26:20):
move it later, because life iscrazy. And that sometimes
happens. But if I like put a twohour block in my Google
Calendar, that's like work onyour MPD tasks, then I know when
you know, when I hit that block,I open up in MPDx and I start
getting to work. And it protectsthe time because my I know my
(26:42):
biggest like setback this isactually like a different
question we were planning totalk about later. So maybe this
is a natural segue. But mybiggest tendency is I can just
get really distracted by urgentsLike all those little urgent
things in my life, and I'm notlike, I'm just not overly
regimented person, like, myhusband and I laugh about this a
(27:03):
lot, because he is he is justvery good at running the same
play. So he's in charge ofpaying our bills, okay, and I'm
better at the bigger picture. SoI run like our bigger budget
plan, and our like, savingsgoals and things like that. So
like, my husband's no longer onstaff. And, you know, he's,
like, supportive of me andhelpful, but he's not here
(27:24):
anymore to be like, with to doour three tasks, right. So I
have to kind of like, find a wayto, to like work within my own
tendencies. And to know that Ineed to, like, kind of have a
big gear up, and I need toprotect the time, and then I can
kind of overcome the fact that Idon't know, What's my problem?
(27:45):
Do I just get bored with like,doing the same thing all the
time? Yes, that's part of it. DoI get distracted by my crying
kids? Or a pretty day I want togo on a walk the squirrel that
walked by? Yes, that's awesome.
So, um, yeah, so some selfawareness has helped me to work
better on MPD. And to kind ofjust like, stop pretending to be
(28:06):
someone I'm not and just workwith, like, how I work best.
Brent Batiste (28:11):
Well, as we look to 2022, something that we're
hoping to grow in is really totake to continually move from
fear to faith in our MPD. And wesee that in ministry on campus
or in the workplace ministry,but I think that's also
(28:31):
significant in our our ministry,partner development as well.
We're looking, uh, Stephanie andI are we're looking at a
possible transition within theministry this year. And if the
Lord is leading in the way thatwe think he might be leading, it
would involve a cross countryrelocation. And, you know, like
(28:51):
I said, we've been in the samelocation for 25 years, so we
haven't really done transition awhole lot. There have been two
times of transition early on inour staff life that...
Mark Hammitt (29:02):
give me a call.
Give me a call, Brent.
Brent Batiste (29:05):
I will continue to learn from my brother Mark.
Michele Davis (29:07):
I mean, all of our eyes are so big on this call
at least mine I'm like, Ooh,he's like hinting at some fun
change coming up...
Brent Batiste (29:15):
and we're still waiting for things to unfold for
sure. But, you know, there isthat element of fear involved.
And I look back to 2010. Ourfamily went on the Lake Hart
Stint. And that was a transitionof sorts. We knew when we went
we it was just going to be ayear commitment. But there was
still something within us. Willour ministry partners understand
(29:35):
the value and the need for this,this this experience with Cru
serving at their headquartersfor that year? And there was an
element of boy do we do we dothis? Or do we not do it and
there was like this fear of whatwill be some of the maybe the
ramifications if we if we leftcampus for a year. And then
also, the following year, wemade the transition from serving
(29:57):
with Cru campus to switch to theministry of Athletes in Action.
And even with that kind oftransition, there was something
within our hearts that feltlike, I wonder if our ministry
partners will fully grasp thevision for reaching student
athletes for the gospel. And inboth of those, the Lord has
shown and proven himselfincredibly faithful (Amen) He is
(30:20):
our provider. Yes, he is ourprovider, and we can step out
and trust him. Butwe are literally looking at
ministry for the next 25 years,Lord willing, and we know that
our God is a provider, we knowthat he wants to strengthen and
sustain our support. My hope for2022 is that we would move
forward in faith, and not kindof resist this opportunity
(30:41):
because of fear.
Michele Davis (30:45):
Okay, I just want you to know that everyone
listening is going to startstalking you on workplace to
figure out what your new jobmight be. Or maybe I just will,
I don't know. I think that's,that's fun. It's exciting to
think about, Brent.
Brent Batiste (31:03):
Thanks.
Mark Hammitt (31:07):
I know for me, one of the things that that I look
forward to in this new year isthat when the Lord brings one of
our ministry partners, to mymind, there's a reason for it.
And, and not just to squelchthat or quench the spirit, but
respond to the Spirit. I've beenspent a lot of time the last
(31:29):
couple of weeks in theBeatitudes. And as I've been
just reading some of thosesimple yet powerful phrases of
Jesus in the early chapters ofMatthew, it just reminds me
again and again, of, you know,show mercy, that you may receive
mercy. Do unto others as youwould have others do unto you.
(31:53):
And I, as I think about that,wow, if I would treat other
people like I would want to betreated, that's really going to
require Holy Spirit power inorder to do that. And in light
of our ministry partners, howwould they want to be treated?
You know, and so there's a,there's a, there's so much room
(32:15):
for growth in my life when itcomes to this area. But when
when the Lord brings a partnerto mind, I want to jump on the
phone. And even if I get avoicemail, I want to say, Hey,
Jack, just thinking of youearlier today, hope you're doing
okay, you know, and maybe evenpray for him on the phone. And I
(32:38):
did that a year and a half agowith a guy. And he didn't
answer, but I prayed for him onthe phone. And he kept that
prayer. And, and I didn't knowthat until months later, when we
were speaking again. And hesaid, I kept that prayer. And I
would just go back to it timeand time again. Because I just
(32:59):
needed to hear that, you know,and so we don't know what the
Lord's doing when He bringssomeone to our mind. But I want
to be holy spirit powered torespond, as Brent said, in faith
and make that call reach out andjust say, How you doing, I'm
thinking of you.
Michele Davis (33:16):
Gosh, what a good example of how MPD is, is
ministry, and the Lord uses usto minister to our partners like
that. It's such a good exampleof
Mark Hammitt (33:26):
Oh, yeah. And then another thing I just thought of
this morning, prior to our call,was, you know, all of us get
these kinds of letters in themail, where, at Christmas time,
some people just send aChristmas card, and it'll just
say love, you know, John andJulie or something. But some
people send a family update. Andso I'm going to go back through
(33:48):
all the cards that we got thisyear at Christmas, and I'm going
to pull all the family updateletters out. Because we just
tended, like skim over those andpitch them or put them in a pile
or whatever. But there's a lotof information here that I think
could be transcribed into MPDx.
So we get to know the familybetter. So we can ask more
pointed questions. But here'swhat I'm going to do for 2022 is
(34:10):
I'm going to make a phone callto everybody who sent a family
update letter. And I'm going toask some more questions. And I'm
going to say, Oh, you mentionedTim and Casey just got married
and they have a 95 pound dogcalled Wilbur, you know, tell me
more. Because we yeah, we wantto enter it. You know, it's it's
about building relationshipshere. And so that's what I look
(34:32):
forward to doing. (Oh my gosh,)
Katie Johnson (34:36):
would you say you get Christmas cards from a lot
of your ministry partners?
Michele Davis (34:41):
Yes, I do
Mark Hammitt (34:42):
Tons. tons. Yeah, we probably I'm guessing we
probably got 60 cards or more.
Michele Davis (34:50):
I haven't counted but I got a lot.
Katie Johnson (34:52):
Yeah. That's so fun. I should ask to get put on
my ministry card, my ministrypartners Christmas card list.
Mark Hammitt (34:58):
Well, you know, that might be a little little
bit different in the changingtimes with more people using
emails and less hard copies,that people aren't maybe sending
you those people aren't sendingChristmas cards as much. I don't
know that's true. Now,
Michele Davis (35:11):
I do get a lot I recent one of the somebody go to
church with said that they keepall their cards up, they're not
in ministry, they're just acouple of my church that I'm in
a small group with and like,every day that they'll take one
of the cards off of the displayof their cards and pray for that
person and put it down, Ithought, what a great idea, you
(35:33):
know, to instead of just likegather them up and recycle them
or whatever. So yeah, and sothat's similar to what you
brought up Mark like, and reallywhat you're saying is kind of
take it to the next level andreach out to that person, you
know, and so kind of likewriting that down, I might add
that to my position focus underMPD. To pray for call. Just
(35:58):
that's a good place to start.
Sometimes I just need like a,like a new and exciting idea for
how to just mix it up a littlebit.
Mark Hammitt (36:06):
And that might only be five or six people for
you, Michele, but that's, that'sgreat. It's a great place to
start.
Michele Davis (36:11):
Yeah. Katie, you and I were talking earlier about
like the negative tendencies,right? Where you want to do
like, Yes, I'm not trying tocall you out on what is hard. I
just want to hear I want I wantto hear is how, like, and I I'm
so actively, like, just lookingfor help in that. You know,
like, I think I'm in a season ofyeah, just needing some fresh
(36:37):
ideas. Mm hmm. So
Katie Johnson (36:39):
Yeah, well, and I would say that like, just well,
the listeners know, no one isperfect. Like, there's always
negative tendencies toeverybody's rhythms of MPD when
my husband was on staff with me,um, I feel like we complemented
each other really well. And thenwhen he left, I found a lot of
(37:02):
negative tendencies that I doand MPD because it left like
this gap of, oh, he like, didthis part of MPD. And this part,
and this part, and this part. Ithink one of the biggest things
that maybe it's twofold. I amnot great at keeping and MPDx
updated. I think that's a bignegative tends to have an MPD.
(37:25):
But also, bank called me out onthis last year when I was doing
MPD. He listened in on a call Iwas doing, which is a whole
nother conversation. Andafterwards, he said, Katie, you
need to do better asking forreferrals. And I was like, Man,
you want to join me and ask forreferrals yourself. I'm just
kidding. But I, but I think thatit's easy for at least for me to
(37:57):
like you guys were saying stepaway in fear, instead of pushing
it in faith. And so I think oneof my one of my tendencies is to
run away with fear. And even asyou're talking about calling
people, I'm literally sittinghere like, I don't want to call
people. That's not what I do. Idon't like talking on the phone
anymore, you know. And so Ithink I definitely end up
(38:23):
backing out and fear from a lotof different situations and MPD.
And I think I need to startstepping forward and faith more.
So I think that's probably mybiggest negative negative
tendency and MPD. Michele, doyou what are your negative
tendencies?
Michele Davis (38:40):
Okay, well, we did talk about mine a little bit
earlier. Just, I'm not supergreat at being consistent.
Actually, Katie, okay, so myhusband's on staff either.
Neither is Katie's. Maybe weshould be those like
encouragement buddies.. if Imean, we already talk all the
time anyways, doing thispodcast, but we've been inspired
to you by like, what Mark andBrent have alluded to that, you
(39:02):
know, they're pretty open withone another about where they're
at in their MPD. You know, andthat's, I think there's just a
lot of benefit to that. So I canjust get distracted by the
urgent and so if something's notmy calendar, I don't do it. And
so that's where I try to putstuff in my calendar. I try to
be realistic. I don't know. I'mjust you know, but I could also
(39:24):
just use a buddy. Like, good. So
Brent Batiste (39:31):
that's No, it's, I'm sorry. Go ahead. No, go
ahead. It's one of the one ofthe benefits of groups that
we've been a part of over theyears. The fellowship of the
fully funded, and they'rereally, they're really what the
staff make of them. Some of themmeet weekly, some monthly, some
are very short touch points andkind of check ins. All those are
(39:52):
a little more extensive. Somemeet in person, but I think most
right now are probably virtual,but it's just that idea to
encourage each other Hey, whereare you winning an MPD? What are
you trusting the Lord for? Howcan we kind of spur you on
towards your your goals? Andwhether it's two people on a
phone call or a group of, youknow, several on a zoom call?
(40:13):
Those have been critical in myMPD experience, though, all for
having a buddy.
Katie Johnson (40:20):
Are these organized groups that you're
talking about? Or is this?
Brent Batiste (40:23):
Yeah, Mark can actually share a bit more of us
ours and how
Mark Hammitt (40:28):
Yeah, this is something that Brent and I
started a number of years backwith AIA, I read about it in a
publication from Cru Orlando, acouple of staff in Orlando,
we're meeting every two weeks ata for breakfast at a coffee
shop. And it just gave us theidea. And we reached out to a
couple other AIA staff, and wewould just there was probably
(40:49):
four or five of us on the call.
And we would only meet for 30minutes. But it was every week.
And, and it was great. We prayedtogether, we shared some highs
and lows in MPD. Sometimes wewould read an article, you know,
preemptively before the call andtalk about a couple of things,
some content wise, but it reallylead to just that more
(41:12):
transparency piece, which Ithink we benefit from
Michele Davis (41:21):
that, absolutely.
I had heard that phrase out ofsome staff in Orlando fellowship
of the fully funded I didn'trealize (yes like, go for it,
Michele), and some you know,some other groups out there, I
think that's a great idea. Youknow, because for some people,
their staff team maybe is anenvironment where they are
talking about this a lot. But Iknow I work remote. I see people
(41:43):
on my screen, there's a lot Ihave to do when I'm in a meeting
with them. I'm not right now inan environment, you know, and so
I, I like this, like kind ofchallenge to to create that. And
to Yeah, it can be a smallcommitment. I like I don't know,
I like this, this was really, Ididn't realize I was coming in
(42:04):
here to... I'm liking it.
Mark Hammitt (42:08):
Oh, no. Yeah.
Well, then we also have the MPDchampions to, you know, work on
it on a team can can lean upon achampion there to bring MPD to
their team each couple of timesa month.
Michele Davis (42:21):
I do love that.
Yeah. But yeah, as again, aslike, I'm now in USLDHR. So I
don't, I don't have an MPDchampion. Who knows what's going
on? Right? I'm just in MPD andI'm an MPD leader. You assume
I'm fine. But that doesn't meanI don't need a buddy or some
encouragement. I do. I justtotally do. So. Okay, guys,
let's say I want to hear fromfrom us here just like What's
(42:44):
this like a final charge aswe're closing out our time
together in this coach'sroundtable, something that you
wish staff would do this yearand their personal MPD. I know
like coaches we are oftenhearing from staff like certain
things and have like been aburden for like, Oh, I just wish
that staff would know this. Iwish staff would do this. And so
(43:04):
I want to hear from you guys,what's your final charge to our
listeners for their MPD thisyear?
Brent Batiste (43:14):
You know, earlier I had referenced I think I
referenced Paul's words toTimothy, the worker is worthy of
the wage. And if you think aboutit, we are by God's grace and to
His glory, we had been called tobe a part of something very
special. That has the potentialfor eternal impact. And I think
that just does something withinour soul and maybe even our
(43:36):
level of confidence that as weengage in MPD, we can have a
very eternal perspective. And Ithink connected to that my hope
and prayer is that our staffmyself, all of us would
courageously step out in faith,with boldness and humility. The
(43:57):
scriptures say the righteous areas bold as a lion. And they also
say that God opposes the proudbut he gives grace to the
humble. And I think there's abeautiful connection there. I
think we can be bold and humble,because we're representing the
Lord in his in his mission. So Ithink my my biggest desire, I
(44:18):
hope our staff, we just have acontinually vertical perspective
and understanding of who theyare in God's eyes and what
they've been called to. Thesecond thing I would hope they
would do, and this this, youknow, Katie mentioned this
earlier, but I would I wouldhope they pick up the phone, and
they stay on the phone. And Ithink I think there is beautiful
(44:39):
benefit and fruit from alwaystrying to take the most
relational route. (I agreecompletely Brent, yeah) In our
MPD sometimes we take the easyroute, the quick route, the less
intimidating route. If you havea partner who's giving monthly
and all of a sudden, that youdon't see gifts for a month or
(45:00):
two or three, you know, we don'tknow what's going on in the
background there. And to my, youknow, you know, kind of about
missed opportunities I had letthat go for quite a while with
one particular partner. And theywere giving it a level that was
very, very helpful to theministry, I finally called them
but boy, it was like eightmonths later. And they said,
(45:22):
Brent, I wish you would havecalled us right away. And they
not only began their givingagain, but in their generosity
and graciousness, and they madeup for those those past eight
months, which was just like,increase my faith, to say the
Lord, the Lord blesses thosesteps of obedience to take the
most relational way, indeveloping our team of partners.
(45:45):
So those would be kind of myhopes and my, my encouragement.
Michele Davis (45:49):
Hmm, that is good.
Mark Hammitt (45:51):
Yeah, I think for me, I'm just really coming to
understand and fresh ways thatMPD is ministry. And for those
who have maybe haven't read theHenri Nouwen book The
Spirituality of Fundraising, letme let me encourage you to check
that book out. But I think I'velearned from from Henri, that
(46:14):
MPD, fundraising, his ministry,and it's when we can build that
into our, like I mentionedearlier, the DNA of our weekly
schedule, it becomes that muchmore important, we see we see
progress. Yeah, it's just beenexciting for me. And then I
(46:38):
think the other piece is MPDx.
You know, as I'm coaching newstaff, ...lots of times new
staff may not see the value ofthat. But 40 years, on the other
side of this, now, I see, themore I put into that, the more
personal my relationships goingto be with our partners in the
(47:01):
years to come. And so I justwant to encourage our staff to
get to know that get to use thatget to love that software,
because there's great value inthat. So I just click all the
notifications, you know, I wantto know, when a person misses
the gift, I want to know when aperson's having a birthday, or
an anniversary, or whatever. AndI just get this little friendly
(47:23):
email that says, So and so I washaving their anniversary coming
up, you may want to reach out tothem. And so guess what I do, I
pick up my phone, you know, andreach out to them. And so I
think that's just been just agreat way to having ongoing
contact with our ministrypartners, and help me to bring
MPD as a part of the DNA of allthat I do in God's kingdom.
Katie Johnson (47:50):
I think that I would say, like everything you
guys have said has been great,but also some, some people MPD
is very emotionally draining.
And even for like I'm anextrovert, I find MPD very
emotionally draining. And that'son top of your ministry, if
you're on assignment, which mostlikely is also emotionally
draining, and spirituallydraining. And so I would
(48:12):
encourage everyone to make sureyou have a good balance of make
sure you're refreshing youryourself, right, like resting
well, and doing life givingthings outside of ministry and
MPD. Spending time with the Lordand always going to him so that
you can fill yourself up to beable to invest in others, which
(48:36):
includes your ministry partners,but also your personal
community, right? Like yourministry partners aren't the
only people you haverelationship with. But we want
to make sure we're taking careof ourselves and going back to
the source of emotional energyand spiritual energy. And that's
Jesus right. And so I would saycontinue to to make space,
(48:56):
especially those people that arenot, are not extroverted, where
this is probably very extradraining, like calling someone
is so draining for an introvertRight? And, and, and honestly,
I'm an extrovert, I don't likecalling people either. So you
want to make sure you're alsodoing things that are not
(49:16):
draining. So that you can do MPDwell, and so that you can do
ministry well. And also makesure your goals are digestible.
I'm one of those people that'slike, I have all these goals for
the year for the semester forthe month, or, I mean, I look at
my PDP every time and I'm like,Why did I list 15 things here? I
(49:37):
like my life. Um, and I feellike a failure every time right?
And so instead of putting allthis pressure on yourself and
expectation, create goals thatare doable and small, and maybe
even seem like not enough,because you will succeed that
way and You can look back andcelebrate what you've done well,
(50:00):
um, so those are the two thingsI would say,
Michele Davis (50:06):
Hmm, that was good. That was really, really
good. Um, I want to say and thatthis, I think flows from what
Katie was saying that every dayis a new day. I think MPD gives
us a lot of opportunity to, youknow, live out what Paul says in
Philippians, where he, you know,he doesn't look back to what's
behind, but he looks forward towhat lies ahead, this, this walk
(50:30):
of grace that we do as we areliving with Jesus, you know, it
applies to MPD as well, youknow, so this is a new day, you
are beloved, even if you youknow, maybe you botched a call
and you don't like how itsounded or maybe it has, it
feels like it's been a whilewe're in the economy of grace,
(50:52):
we can we can step out a new daypower of the Holy Spirit and be
faithful today. And so that iswhat I really hope for all of
you listening. And I hope thatas you're you know, listening to
just you know, also maybe thisyear follow us on Twitter,
Instagram and Facebook, The CruMPD podcast! We are hoping this
(51:15):
that this cheap this podcasthere would provide a lot of
encouragement and hope for youand your MPD journey we exist to
to serve you, our staff. Soyeah, Brent, Mark, thanks for
joining Katie night today. Thishas been fun. So thank you very
much. Yeah, I feel challengedand encouraged. I hope you guys
(51:36):
do too.
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