.Real.Greg.Lee.

Love my job.  Immensely.  But really often (4 times in the last 3 weeks) I have ministry friends from all over ask if Suncrest can support their ministry financially.  95% of the time I have to  tell them no.  I hate that.

Why do so many ask?

1.  The Ministry “tribe” is well-connected.  There are so many people trying to make a difference in this world and I’ve been fortunate to call them friends.  Some go way back to my hometown and college.  Others I met this year through projects we shared.

2. We are friends.  Who would YOU ask if you needed help with something you believed in?  I don’t begrudge ANY of them asking.  They are doing great things around the world.  I wish I could say yes.

3.  Suncrest has a good reputation.  We are a good sized church and people know we are generous — Suncrest has given over $1 million to church planting/mission work in our history.

Why do I say no?

1.  Our generosity is prioritized by our values.  We say no to all kinds of good things in order to focus our impact.  Two things are priorities for us:  Planting churches and Supporting church planters/mission workers sent out from Suncrest attenders  (now faster than we can keep up…another good problem!)

2.  Our strategy is to make large investments in a few partnerships.  We would choose to support 3 projects in major ways instead of 30 (or 300) with small gifts.  There are 100 good reasons for this, but it is mostly so we can know them, invest leadership, mission teams and more… beyond finances.

3. They over-estimate my influence.  It’s probably natural to think being friends with the Lead Pastor is a good chance to get support, but it actually isn’t.   Our missions/church planting team is responsible for it, guided by our values.  I’ll encourage them to invest in specific projects that fit our values, but I’ won’t make dozens of requests each year.

Everything inside of me wants to say yes to my friends and show my tangible support for what God has called them to do.  But I can’t…so I don’t.  I hate it…but if these are my problems I need to remember how blessed I am.

~ by Greg Lee on August 3, 2011.

Posted in Suncrest