Every December I phone giving partners and friends on our mailing-list—some I don’t know well. My goal is to remind as many as possible of the end-of-year appeal letter they received in early December. But I also listen and encourage—donors and non-donors.

Here are some of their words from 39 calls (so far):

Excerpt from Scott’s travel journal.

It was 7:30 in the evening, the last day of my New Jersey vacation, and I found myself at one of Newark’s finest restaurants—Burger King.

After placing my order, a 20s-something young man…

Mr. X: “You are being brainwashed. You are not a real missionary. Real missionaries come from the West.”

What did your parents teach you about saving Money? This was the first question in a bible study with one of my mentors. 

Day 0: Tomorrow I leave for Amsterdam to train gospel-workers in biblical fundraising. I haven’t traveled overseas in a while and I am being tempted today to second-guess myself.

Things like….

Interview with Toru and Ikuko Ogawa-san, The Navigators University Ministry. Sendai, Japan.

Question 1: How have you "felt" about fundraising in your 25 years with The Navigators?

TORU: Fundraising has been a heavy burden to me—a never-achieved goal. What I did for raising support was only writing letters to appeal my ministry needs. I always have been under economical pressure. For ten…

Do you follow up after funding appointments? What if people promise to give, but don’t start?

Here is a letter exchange with my friend H. about checking back after appointments. What do you think of my counsel?

I have heard the following opinions from gospel-workers in many cultures, including my own people in rural Iowa!

• Face-to-face appeals won’t work in my culture.

• There’s no money out there. We must go ‘outside’ for funding.

• Asking affects relationships.

In April of 2015 we jumped into the car for a combination ministry partner development (MPD) and family visiting trip to Brisbane from Canberra (2000 km round trip).

About halfway to Brisbane, I preached at a local church whose minister we had known previously. After the service I made a general appeal for support for our ministry, but no one…