Ever since I first gave my heart to God at five years old, I’ve been on a journey with Him. Even at that young age, I knew God was with me, and I talked to Him regularly. At age 13, I remember hearing about Lottie Moon, the female missionary to China. That was the first time in my life that I felt a strong stirring to live a life of ministry.  During my college years, I took off a semester to attend a Discipleship Training School with YWAM for 6 months.  Honestly, I thought that I would go off to be an overseas missionary for the rest of my life.  That did not happen. God led me back to finish college and embark on my professional life.  Through this, I realized that living a life abandoned to Christ and following Him all my days included my professional life, whether I was in vocational ministry, the business world, a stay-at-home mom, a waitress, or whatever and wherever He called me to serve.   

My life mission is to share my faith in Jesus with others and equip them to faithfully and joyfully live their God-given calling as a child of God in His Kingdom.  I’ve been able to live that out in a variety of ways.  Some of that has been in vocational ministry, but for 19 years of my professional life, it was in the business world.  During those years, I specifically asked the Lord to show me how I could minister to the people He brought into my circle of influence. He is the one who empowered me to minister in those places.  “Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT  

Where has God placed you? Are you trusting Him to empower you? As a woman, I am so thankful for the many examples in scripture of God-driven women in a season of time that was male-dominated, from Sarah, Esther, and Deborah in the Old Testament to Mary, Pricilla, and Lydia in the New Testament.  Jesus turned things upside down in His day where the celebrated were healthy and wealthy Jewish men, but Jesus actively developed relationships with ALL… the sick and the well, the rich and the poor, the Jew and the Gentile, the male and the female!  This was a radical shift for women to be acknowledged and invited to join God in ministry.  One of my favorite New Testament true stories is in John 7 when Jesus interacts with the woman at the well.  The empowering words He speaks to her are life-transforming!  John 7:38 says, “Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”  Jesus was speaking about the Holy Spirit that would be given to ALL who believe.  Women were not left out of this.  Women are empowered by the Holy Spirit to use the gifts they have been given for God’s glory.

Ask God to open your eyes to see the opportunities of ministry that are in front of you daily in this season of your life.  Then walk in obedience with confidence in God to faithfully take action in that calling.  Also, if you sense a stirring from the Lord calling you into something different, have an open heart and mind for Him to move in a way you may have never expected.  Always remember that JESUS is our focus.  He is the one who does the ministering through willing servants.  “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.”  2 Corinthians 4:7 NLT   We are the vessels He chooses to use for His Glory.  Join me in seeking ministry opportunities wherever God leads your feet every day and being empowered by Him to shine His light.


Dawn Stanford is a lover of JESUS, people, coffee, coconut, and NAPS!  Extroverted, joyful, and driven. She has been married to her Mr. Wonderful, Rodney for almost 27 years, they have two daughters Rebecca (21) and Rachel Joy (18), and two cats Milo & Pablo. Dawn lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.  
She grew up in a military family and considers herself a “denominational mutt”. Over
the past 25 plus years, Dawn has had a variety of professional experience in the areas of
ministry, recruiting, sales and leadership development.  
Dawn has a B.S. in Psychology from John Brown University, is Life Coach Certified, and is currently finishing up a master’s program in Christian Spiritual Formation & Leadership through Friends University.  
After 19 years in the business world, God brought Dawn back to vocational ministry in 2020 as the Community & Women’s Pastor at New Heights Church in Fayetteville, AR. Dawn’s passion and mission is to equip others to faithfully & joyfully live their God-given calling.


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Jamie Suel from the Center for Mission Mobilization shares on multiple episodes on the MOST IMPORTANT aspects of support raising on this "Spiritually Healthy" series.

​Listen to it right here.

“Hey (potential ministry partner), I am excited about my new role with XYZ ministry! I’d love to get together with you soon to share my vision, budget goals, and how God is using this ministry to change lives. Could we maybe grab coffee next Thursday morning?”
You hit send on your well-crafted text and wait for their reply.

Crickets.

Although texting seems to be a preferred method of communication these days, the majority of successful support raisers I have spoken with tend to avoid using texts to set appointments because of a high failure rate. There are a number of reasons for this, including a reality that some people might see the word “finances” or “budget” and quickly dismiss your appointment request without ever replying. When trying to secure an appointment, it is more personal and interactive to do so verbally, whether over the phone or face-to-face. Filling your appointment calendar by shooting out some texts certainly sounds appealing, but unfortunately text messaging in this stage of support raising often doesn’t work so well. You could literally communicate this very message to someone verbally and likely get a better response than sending a text message using the exact same words!

A helpful exercise might be to think of all forms of communication as tools in your toolbox. Not every tool is going to be the best instrument for every job. For instance, it’s unlikely you will ever need a sledgehammer when repairing your computer (though you might feel like you want to use one sometimes)! But if you want to break up concrete, you will want that sledgehammer and not a rubber mallet. When trying to set up an initial appointment, texting seems to act like a sledgehammer being used on the wrong job; however, that doesn’t mean you should never use that tool. Here are at least 3 other occasions when texting might be the right tool for the job.

1. Setting up an “appointment request phone call”
I’ve had times when people simply don’t answer their phone or return calls despite two or three attempts at calling. Maybe I even left a short voicemail or two in which I didn’t mention money, but they still aren’t replying. At this point, my new go-to method is to send a short text like this: “Hey John, this is Aaron Babyar. Sorry I keep missing you. Is there a better time to talk later today? Or perhaps is now a good time to talk?” Some people respond by calling me immediately. Many others eventually reply, which jump starts further communication. Note that I ended my simple text with a question or two. That might be partially why some are compelled to finally respond.

2. Confirming the appointment
I like to send a statement message 12-24 hours before a planned get together. For instance, “Jeff, I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. at Kennedy Coffee.” This serves to help them remember our commitment to meet, and if perchance they have also scheduled something else during that time and accidentally forgotten about me, it also allows them time to rearrange their calendar. Meanwhile, it saves me from drinking coffee all alone, again, because I forgot to confirm…again!

3. Post-invitation follow up confirmation
When someone gives a “maybe” answer to potentially join my team, I’m careful to set a follow-up expectation during the meeting by saying something like, “Great. Sounds like we agree that we can follow up this Saturday. I will be praying for God to lead you and your husband as you process this potential partnership in the gospel.” Meanwhile I want to be praying for them, and I always send a recent newsletter as they are hopefully moving towards making a clearer decision.

Increasingly though, I have begun to send a text the day before our follow-up that looks something like this, “Sarah, thanks again for prayerfully considering joining my support team. We had discussed clarifying your decision by tomorrow. Let’s plan to touch base in the early afternoon.” I’ve had a variety of replies to statements like this: from people who have already decided “no” who text me their decision on the spot, to people who ask if we can wait one more day, to people who have already decided “yes” that respond, “Great. We are in for $150 a month. Talk to you tomorrow, and maybe you can tell us how to set that up.”

Sometimes, sending a text message is the perfect tool for the job. Be sure to know when to use it, when not to, and when to search through your toolbox for a different form of communication.

You may have previously heard that I was a failed support raiser for a few years before I attended an SRS bootcamp. I wasn’t even able to raise 25% of our need, and I felt like a terrible failure.
There were many reasons for this, but a big one was that I didn’t have any plans for how to use my time, and how to chart my success outside of actual money given. I hadn’t built a good list of contacts, I didn’t know how to ask for referrals, I made too few calls and averaged too few appointments, among other problems! I needed to get training, and I needed to get S.M.A.R.T.
Perhaps some of the support raising staff you are coaching seem to be in the same boat. Maybe you’re wondering how they are spending their time. They seem to say some of the right things when you ask questions, but you’re not convinced they are really building momentum. How do you help them? What should you measure? How do you ask questions without discouraging?
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Of course, there are some basic preventative steps in advance of this frustration point:

• Scripture study
• Reading and re-reading or listening to some excellent books such as “The God Ask” or “Funding Your Ministry.”
• Listening to the SRS Podcast
• Formal Training – there’s no video replacement for the huge benefit that comes from actual real life training and role playing. This is one of the reasons that the SRS Bootcamps are incredibly successful at helping prepare support raisers.

Meanwhile, we hope as the Coach you are keeping an eye on the SRS Coaching Guide. (Available to SRS Network members). It won’t answer every question you may have, but it covers a multitude of topics relevant to you as you oversee others in process of raising their support.
You do want to be building your relationship with the support raiser you are coaching, making sure they are staying spiritually healthy and getting the training they need to succeed.
But it is also vital to help them learn to set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timebound goals in support raising.
Let’s look at a Not-So-S.M.A.R.T. support raising goal:“I want to make a bunch of phone calls, so I can get some appointments and eventually get fully funded.”
This sounds like a great idea on the surface, but that’s the problem isn’t it? It doesn’t go below the surface. It’s a vague, simple, and hard to measure. Progress will be questionable at best.
Here’s an example of a S.M.A.R.T. support raising goal:“In order to get fully funded, I accept that it will take several weeks or months of making “asks” to reach my goal.
There will be many a Yes, No, and Maybe along the way, so I must make a lot of asks.
Therefore, before Friday of each and every week, I want to set up at least 10 support raising appointments for the following week.
If necessary I will make 20 or more phone calls on Monday, and each day after until I have at least 10 appointments set up for the following week.
Meanwhile, I will engage with those pre-set-up 10 appointments each week, and make the appropriate follow-up communications.
This will continue for at least the next 100 days / 15 weeks/ 150 appointments – unless I reach full funding first!
I will track my work efforts along the way, and submit a weekly report to be reviewed by my coach and accountability partner.
Meanwhile, I will take 1 full day off every week, and have some personal time with my wife and each of my kids.”
So what makes this example so S.M.A.R.T.?Specific: There are a lot of specifics in there. In this instance, getting many appointments for making many “Asks” is the key component.
Measurable: The numbers 1, 10, 15, 20, 150 can all be charted in chunks over time, and are listed in the S.M.A.R.T. goal. At any given time the support raiser can determine where they are in their flow of daily or weekly goals. Sometimes in my successful support raising process, I had to work 6 full days. Other times I was able to accomplish what was necessary in a bit less than 5 days. The need for appointments, for connection with my family, and a full day off determined my schedule each week. Sometimes I would work ahead, sometimes I had to work extra because I had fallen behind.
Achievable: Ten appointments are usually not easy to come by, yet are quite possible if you are working at it full-time. I’ve spoken with people who were averaging 2 appointments weekly and others who averaged 20 appointments a week while still taking at least 1 full day off for sabbath/rest/worship. The “2” people usually quit. The “20” people usually needed an extra rest day here and there to prevent burnout. However, because they put more emphasis on getting appointments than on tracking how many phone calls they had to make, they got fully-funded faster than normal!
Relevant: If you’re going into full-time vocational ministry, this sort of workload may seem completely on par with the type of focus you will need to do your job well after the primary fundraising push. However, the level of dedication needed to get to full-funding might even require taking a few month break from your weekly 2 hour women’s Bible study group or coaching a little league baseball team for a season. Whatever you need to set aside for a time, your smart goals demand focus, and you need to have some Big Mo’!
Timebound: “Before Friday of each and every week…” Assuming it’s Monday morning, you still have five full work days to fully reach the stated goal. Your schedule will vary, but if this exact goal is accomplished and repeated the next week and over the next 15 weeks, there is a force from your focus that will make impact!
If you have walked the walk, those you oversee are much more likely to listen when you talk the talk. Your oversight is crucial in helping them to set and sometimes manage, measure, or change their goals.
As a support raising leader, your role is significant in allowing them to find success in being Spiritually Healthy, Vision-Driven, and Fully funded. For God’s glory, let’s help them be S.M.A.R.T. about their goals!

The following article is in partnership with SRS and was originally published via supportraisingsolutions.org.
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In the support raising world, a referral is much more than just contact information. There is depth to it, as someone trusts you and your ministry vision enough to purposely encourage contact between you and their friends, associates, etc. They also understand that you have a goal of inviting that person to join your prayer and financial support team. If you think about it, that is a lot of trust!

When seeking referrals, I’ve experienced several different types of reactions:

Some wouldn’t help at all – I’ve heard a few variations of “I’m never comfortable sharing other people’s information, not even for ministry.”
Some people have said they were going to help, but it was only a promise of forthcoming future information that never showed up, despite subtle inquiries and reminders.
Some people have helped very little – More than once I’ve had someone share a name or two and then clam up.
Some people help tremendously – One person that I didn’t know very well promptly put together a spreadsheet including names, contact information, and further information for 20+ different associates of his that he suggested I should call for an appointment!
I’ve led public SRS Bootcamps since 2014, which means I’ve been blessed to interact with thousands of ministry leaders around the topic of support raising. In particular, it’s been a blessing to listen, continue to learn about, teach on, and dialogue about referrals. Yet even with all of that empirical data, I can’t provide a surefire checklist method of gaining many referrals every time you want to ask for them. However, I’ve picked a few tidbits that I consider to be strategic guidelines to keep in mind:

Being spiritually healthy is critical, because situations change. Don’t let fear keep you from asking for referrals! However, don’t let overconfidence drown out the Holy Spirit’s nudging that perhaps it’s not the right time. You probably need to get referrals, but how that occurs may not always happen in the same way. Boldly move forward in prayer.
Only ask someone for a referral after they have personally considered joining your team. Have a clear “yes” or “no” from them before engaging the consideration of referrals. Keep them focused on their personal decision to partner in prayer and finances before jumping to a discussion on referrals.
Don’t forget to intentionally ask for referrals, and plan to do so regularly. Many (perhaps even most) of the fully-funded people I’ve met exhausted their initial contact list at some point. Be intentional before your list of contacts has dwindled.
Beyond the strategic guidelines mentioned above, I have developed my own personal strategy that has worked well for me. I can’t promise it will work for everyone, but the following example has been an effective strategy in my context. Don’t follow my example too closely, as it’s important that you pray, plan, and prepare your own strategy for gaining referrals. However, through much prayer and diligence, the following has brought some excellent referrals my way, which has led to some monthly ministry partners for me. With that being said, consider the following as descriptive, not prescriptive, of what everyone should do:

I prefer not to ask for referrals in the same meeting as when someone clearly answers the invitation to join my team (whether that is a Yes or a No answer). I like the continuation of relationship, and I will invite them to start thinking about referrals for the future, but the only task I actually do in this regard is to set up a future calendar date for that discussion. This gives them time to start thinking while not feeling like it’s a surprise. I may even schedule a near-future time to get coffee with that goal in mind. I want them to think of that future meeting as a different yet very practical way they can help me accomplish the ministry vision and also potentially bless their friends who might want to know about it.

When we sit down again at a near-future date, I remind them of the vision of the ministry, and let them know I have a process that will allow them to help me invite others toward accomplishing it. Then:

I ask if they would please allow me to help them brainstorm names of people who might be interested in hearing more about the ministry, while being clear that I don’t consider any name they bring up as a guaranteed future ministry partner. Meanwhile I SLOWLY suggest questions like: Who are some Christians you know who I probably don’t know, from work, school, extended family, neighbors, your kids’ sports teams’ parents, etc? Or from a different vendor business that your work interacts with? Other family members? Neighbors? Who are the first five people you would call if you were suddenly headed into full-time missions work?
I suggest a goal of coming up with at least 10 names with contact info
I take quick notes, and immediately write down any name mentioned, along with other details they might talk about (she is a banker, he is a realtor, they live near the park and he coaches, etc)
I keep an eye on body language. 10 total contacts might be my goal, but they might be done at six. Or they are excited and still going strong at 15 names. Let them keep going and maybe offer them more coffee!
When they are done brainstorming names, go digital! Instead of writing down or sharing phone numbers and potentially misspelling names, I ask them to text me the smart phone “contact cards” of each of the contacts mentioned. Note that those contact cards sometimes contain email addresses, work info, or pics that could all be helpful for me.
After they are done sending the contact card, I encourage them to NOT call their friend (sometimes this discussion may come up earlier in the meeting). Instead, I ask them to send a simple text message heads up to their friend whom I will be calling in the near future. And then I suggest and send to them something simple that they can copy/paste that looks something like this: “My friend Aaron Babyar helps lead a ministry that God is really working in and through, and it’s legitimately changing lives! He’s probably better at explaining it than me, so I gave him your contact info. He promised to reach out to you soon. Please do yourself a favor and connect with him for coffee or something.”
That’s a process that has worked well for me, and it’s constantly evolving. The next steps are all for me to focus on. I enter the new contacts into my MPD software and begin planning for a time of making phone calls for setting up appointments. Meanwhile, I’m sure to send a thank you to my friend who gave me the referrals.

What about you? What have been some good methods that have helped you gain new referrals?

Be sure to check out Categories for “Priming The Pump” of Contacts to help you gather more referrals.

Check out the latest Support Raising Solutions podcast hosted by Aaron Babyar right here.

​Joseph San Jose of CCO discusses having persistence in ministry partner development.

The following article is in partnership with SRS and was originally published via supportraisingsolutions.org.

​“We don’t need insurance, because we trust God, and He is our provider.”
“Prayer is our form of health insurance! ”
“Healthcare? Nah, it’s gonna be OK, because we are ministry workers, God will take care of us! ”

If you’ve ever thought, or even said, words like this, I am concerned for you. I hope it’s not too late for me to convince you to avoid a quite painful end that follows failing to prioritize the necessary steps to care for your own healthcare needs.

It is true that we need faith in Him and his plan for our lives. Additionally, it’s true that He is our provider. It is also true that our creator provided you with a brain, and He expects you to use it!

I was foolish with insurance, and I hope you might to learn from my error.

When I first started raising support for full-time ministry, I neglected to consider the cost of failing to plan properly in this area. I had just rolled off staff at a church for a fresh ministry vision that I was excited about, and I didn’t find it necessary (or want!) to pay the bills to keep our healthcare coverage. It felt more important to use our income for ministry, and to pay for my family’s day-to-day bills.

I told myself that we would be OK without healthcare coverage and that we would rely on prayer for our good health. My wife and kids were all healthy and once we got through the initial support-raising phase, I figured I would eventually go back and sign us up for a good insurance plan and maybe some simple investments for the future. I had a lot of faith, but not much wisdom.

Soon after we dropped off any sort of health coverage, my wife’s health began seriously deteriorating. Even though she had been healthy and athletic her whole life, the debilitating symptoms, constant pain, and numerous surgeries produced some gigantic medical expenses that endure to this day. I remember one moment specifically where she was in the midst of literally fighting for her life in the hospital. I was by her side as she attempted recovery following one of the four invasive brain surgeries she has endured thus far. In the midst of that, I opened one of several medical bills that had started to pile up. That particular bill alone was for $80,000! I was shocked.

We had no reason to think my wife was about to get really sick at the moment we chose to no longer pay for health insurance. By God’s grace she is a fighter, and is still fighting to have a decent quality of life. Health challenges have created a hard path physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Yet our medical bills have also brought an additional element of pain to our lives by putting us in a financial hole that has taken considerable effort and time to overcome.

Foregoing good health insurance coverage is just one area that we Christian workers living on support are often guilty of. We can claim all day long that we are exercising a “holy-inspired frugality”, but when we opt out of raising additional support for basic needs to protect and provide for our family, we are really just blind—and in denial. Choosing to ignore 1 Timothy 5:8 which says anyone “who doesn’t provide for their family is worse than an unbeliever” put my loved ones at risk. It also may have undermined the respect and testimony I seek to have with my family and friends.

Ouch.

Our family’s experience has clearly changed my thinking. I fully believe that God provides all things, in many different ways. As you prepare your budget and engage in raising support, be sure to consider more than groceries and rent–include healthcare, savings for emergencies, future college costs, retirement, disability, and life insurance in your vision-driven budget. The foresight to get these things in place before you report to your assignment, even if your ministry doesn’t require you to do so, will free you to fully focus on the ministry before you.

God will provide for your family and ministry. He will use YOU as the conduit for planning and procuring that provision as you raise your support. Yes, get on your knees and pray. Yes, trust. And yes, you’ll need to get up off your knees and make calls to set up more appointments. Pray and ask for wisdom as you approach each line item in your budget and get FULLY funded!

Aaron joined the Engaging Mission podcast to break down common negative feelings that come with writing support letters. Listen to learn more about how important these kinds of partnerships are in ministry!