As part of our day job related fund raising, we travel to all kinds of places and hotels. Sometimes when it is in our nonprofit world, we stay with friends or the locals offer to put us up. This is great as it saves money as we raise it. Several churches have had space to host us and we've always been grateful, but it's also some of the strangest sleeping quarters I've experienced.
I don't know if any of you have ever been in a huge building alone as a kid or an adult. As a kid I remember we'd play hide and seek in the basement of the church I grew up in while the adults ate finger food and drank punch upstairs somewhere. It always seemed like you'd get spooked and run like you'd never run in your life down a dark hallway. Also my dad used to rent "computer time" in a big office building in downtown KC. I'd be the only person on the 10th floor poking in people's desks and such. Then I'd go even further down to the bathroom and get spooked and run like mad back to the computer room that was completely sealed and sound proof. My dad wouldn't have heard me yelling or running or anything the way it was set up. It was great fun. I give you this as way as background to the places with dark hallways that might effect odd places I slept as an adult.
The first time we slept in a guest room inside a church it was in a smaller community, but the church could probably seat a couple hundred people. We had a compulsion to walk around and see everything just so we knew where we were at and how the land lay. My significant other sneaked into the sanctuary and tapped on the cymbals while I was in another part of the church getting a drink or something and tried to say it wasn't him. The church folks had thoughtfully put a lock on the door of the room.
One nice thing about a lock is that you are in a huge building alone and it's nice not to feel vulnerable. Two is that folks arrive at all kinds of early hours for church services and you'd like to not introduce yourself in your skivvies.
So another time, another religious institution, the guest room was actually a large lounge with six sofas that made into beds. So you just picked one and opened up. While it was a big space (besides being in a big building) it very distinctly wasn't a single bedroom. We dressed in the attached bathroom.
Well, putting it mildly I'm not an early riser. The early risers in this rural farm community were getting coffee going behind a folding curtain that attached to our room. My significant other got in the shower and gave me a moment to awake. I started worrying this big room was a Sunday School area and I should get moving. I traded the sofa room for the bathroom only to hear pounding on the door of our area. I was about to turn on the shower when my man opened the door and said that I needed to hurry they were going to have to turn off the water. The snow storm had frozen and broken pipes which were filling the heating system with water. Uhm, okay, no pressure.
When I came out to join in the donuts and early morning church rituals, you could hear the water pounding in the heating vents like tribal drums. Really weird sound.
Okay, so another room another state. This time attached to the men's bathroom as this was the only bathroom that had a shower. My spouse taught me that it is inappropriate to balance one's makeup bag on the handle of a urinal, but honestly you just work with whatever space you have and there wasn't any. We stayed in this arrangement for eight weeks. It was in a urban spill from a very large city. The kitchen was in the basement which meant walking through the sanctuary (in the dark) and down some stairs and hallways to the kitchen for hot water or microwaves etc. So I had to psych myself up for the journey (see the paragraph of childhood basement running above!).
It was fine and we didn't mind. These are just the little challenges you don't think of unless you stay a place as unusual as the back of thousands of square feet of public use space. After a few days, someone from the pastoral family mentioned that we needed to double check the side door by the sanctuary (not the one we used in the back dark parking lot!) because it didn't always latch and sometimes homeless people came inside to get warm. No big deal but it was best to check. Yeah. Note to self check the doors and the dark hallways on the way to the far away kitchen.
So then my significant one had to leave for another meeting and I got to stay there completely alone for two weeks. It was fine. Really. So maybe yes, I ran a couple times thru dark hallways, but I was grateful for somewhere to stay. It probably helped the intensity of my prayers!
Showing posts with label fund raising. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fund raising. Show all posts
14 February 2011
Lessons not learned
I guess there are things that are going to be a challenge all my days. I look back at things I blogged about last year that still haunt me. Or something I'll read in a book or the Bible one day that seems so apropos and so applicable and then I can't seem to make it work in my soul the very next day. Apparently "getting it right" (is that a perfectionist voice sticking out?) isn't goine to be a one time project but an ongoing life long process. I remember as a teenager recognizing that I am overly self-sufficient (self dependent?) and have struggled to put things in God's hands. So what do I struggle with when I'm ahem, 40-something? I'm self-sufficient and don't trust.
Last year I blogged in "I'm damaging my calm" about knowing God's love is unconditional and yet finding myself straining and thinking well, if I tried harder at this or that....maybe I'd get better results. I blame myself for the results rather than trusting in a loving God who cares about me and living whole in that, end of sentence, nothing to do with what I DO.
One thing that I know that is a constant challenge for me is not knowing when enough is enough. In the fund raising process, as I've complained a few times in the last year, it is slow and there is very little feedback on whether things are working or not. So that "getting it right" voice, says, "well, maybe if you....fill in the blank." I have over the last year or maybe always not known when I've done my best and when I've crossed the line into striving. This has come at the price of a deep exhaustion this year. Do you have any tricks for knowing when enough is enough?
The odd thing is I still know and believe but somehow don't know how to function in the fact that I am God's precious child. I do not need to earn his acceptance or approval but simply accept that love. But I am the child on the swings, sure of the Father's love, yet calling out to him, "Do you see me? See how high I swing? Is it good?" And I think all the time, He may be trying to get me to go inside and have a nap.
Last year I blogged in "I'm damaging my calm" about knowing God's love is unconditional and yet finding myself straining and thinking well, if I tried harder at this or that....maybe I'd get better results. I blame myself for the results rather than trusting in a loving God who cares about me and living whole in that, end of sentence, nothing to do with what I DO.
One thing that I know that is a constant challenge for me is not knowing when enough is enough. In the fund raising process, as I've complained a few times in the last year, it is slow and there is very little feedback on whether things are working or not. So that "getting it right" voice, says, "well, maybe if you....fill in the blank." I have over the last year or maybe always not known when I've done my best and when I've crossed the line into striving. This has come at the price of a deep exhaustion this year. Do you have any tricks for knowing when enough is enough?
The odd thing is I still know and believe but somehow don't know how to function in the fact that I am God's precious child. I do not need to earn his acceptance or approval but simply accept that love. But I am the child on the swings, sure of the Father's love, yet calling out to him, "Do you see me? See how high I swing? Is it good?" And I think all the time, He may be trying to get me to go inside and have a nap.
29 November 2010
Camraderie
Do you ever have instant rapport with someone? It's usually an evening of conversation that establishes some new acquaintance into something more, but occasionally something clicks instantly.
I think sharing a common experience creates instant bonds if not friendships. It seems that parents of the same age children often have a bond, if somewhat tentative, by the shared experience of having a toddler. Often people of different ages might bond over having attended the same university or school. Is it friendship or does the shared experience just give you something to talk about instantly, thus filling the conversational gap?
I don't know but I have noticed a few times lately and instant rapport with people I had only just met. With the missionary crowd, you generally keep running into each other at missions conventions or pastor meetings and such. It's the same series of questions usually and the same commiserations over our shared experience of fund raising and calling churches. It's almost humorous. I noticed it particularly on the East Coast because suddenly I was a newbie at the conventions coming in from the outside and yet we had the same conversations like we were old friends.
Recently I met someone who had spent several months in Spain learning the language. So, bing, instant connections. In the course of an afternoon of conversation, we found we had other things in common too and much to talk about, but that shared past experience was the basis for that new connection.
What triggers an instant connection for you?
I think sharing a common experience creates instant bonds if not friendships. It seems that parents of the same age children often have a bond, if somewhat tentative, by the shared experience of having a toddler. Often people of different ages might bond over having attended the same university or school. Is it friendship or does the shared experience just give you something to talk about instantly, thus filling the conversational gap?
I don't know but I have noticed a few times lately and instant rapport with people I had only just met. With the missionary crowd, you generally keep running into each other at missions conventions or pastor meetings and such. It's the same series of questions usually and the same commiserations over our shared experience of fund raising and calling churches. It's almost humorous. I noticed it particularly on the East Coast because suddenly I was a newbie at the conventions coming in from the outside and yet we had the same conversations like we were old friends.
Recently I met someone who had spent several months in Spain learning the language. So, bing, instant connections. In the course of an afternoon of conversation, we found we had other things in common too and much to talk about, but that shared past experience was the basis for that new connection.
What triggers an instant connection for you?
15 September 2010
The 5k
Ode to the ones who passed me by, oh so many of you. Thank you four office ladies for keeping the pace in front of me and giving me such interesting conversation to hear. And yes, the answer is we were sore the next day. I think it was the hills.
Lady with the ancient dachsund, how were you able to pass me and disappear into the distance with that geriatric hound?
Oh you runners of the 10k, did you know you do funny things? I suppose all runners do as I am not among your class. There's the girl in the red sport bra top with the one hand that is floppy and keeps a different rhythm from the rest of her steady jog. There was the lady who appeared double my age, yes in a sports bra and matching jogging shorts. Yes, she passed me by and seemed just fine when I saw her at the finish line. An inspiration for sure but I'm still not taking up running.
Lady with the stroller and two walkable age children, was it necessary to keep stopping and passing and stopping and passing?
People I know, where were you in the crowd? I know I'm short, but I should have been able to find you.
Ode to you the ones that pick up the paper cups no longer filled with water that all the runners and walkers fling to the ground at the half way point, and the cute teen volunteers holding signs indicating how far we've gone - thank you for stolid encouragement.
I would do it again, yes indeed. In fact it was bliss to be involved in fund raising that didn't involve yours truly.
Lady with the ancient dachsund, how were you able to pass me and disappear into the distance with that geriatric hound?
Oh you runners of the 10k, did you know you do funny things? I suppose all runners do as I am not among your class. There's the girl in the red sport bra top with the one hand that is floppy and keeps a different rhythm from the rest of her steady jog. There was the lady who appeared double my age, yes in a sports bra and matching jogging shorts. Yes, she passed me by and seemed just fine when I saw her at the finish line. An inspiration for sure but I'm still not taking up running.
Lady with the stroller and two walkable age children, was it necessary to keep stopping and passing and stopping and passing?
People I know, where were you in the crowd? I know I'm short, but I should have been able to find you.
Ode to you the ones that pick up the paper cups no longer filled with water that all the runners and walkers fling to the ground at the half way point, and the cute teen volunteers holding signs indicating how far we've gone - thank you for stolid encouragement.
I would do it again, yes indeed. In fact it was bliss to be involved in fund raising that didn't involve yours truly.
04 June 2010
Zzzzzzzz
I have told this story verbally many times, but I had an occasion this week to tell it to a pastor who so enjoyed it I figured I would share it here.
Six years a go we were raising funds to go do the media missions work in Spain that we do. It was (and is) a slow process in our system of visiting various churches and sharing the vision we have to touch people with God's love.
Part of this process is calling various pastors and asking them to schedule a visit. The system we are under feels like we need to do 10 meetings a month like this (either with the pastor individually or the whole church). As a missionary phone solicitor, It's tricky to fill the schedule. Plus you have to try to meet new pastors and people all the time because you never know who is going to be the key person in a budget or a project.
We had a service scheduled further afield in Missouri last time and I called and called every church between that place and back home in KC. I got a hold of a pastor in a tiny town. He really discouraged me from coming.
"We are really small and it wouldn't really be worth your while. There's only a few of us older folks on a Sunday night."
"That's okay," I said confidently, "We're driving through on our way home anyway, so it would be a good opportunity to stop and share."
So a couple months later we show up in this town (name withheld) and set up our projector for showing our videos and a table with an assortment of printed materials.
The pastor had indeed predicted correctly. There were six people including the pastor all sporting white hair and a couple of canes. That's okay who knows who will catch the vision for what we do?
The routine was and is that Kerry speaks and shares some videos and then I get up and wrap things up with our testimony. Our total "program" is around 30 minutes usually give or take 5 minutes.
With only seven people in the seats, it was easy to make eye contact with everyone. After I'd been speaking a bit, I realized that everyone was asleep. Except Kerry. Even the little lady at the sound board. All asleep.
I was so stunned that I paused in my speaking. I looked at Kerry who didn't know that they were all asleep. I considered just saying Amen really loud and sitting down. I was contemplating what to do next when my awkward pause awoke the pastor. I decided to finish up with the short version of the talk.
Six years a go we were raising funds to go do the media missions work in Spain that we do. It was (and is) a slow process in our system of visiting various churches and sharing the vision we have to touch people with God's love.
Part of this process is calling various pastors and asking them to schedule a visit. The system we are under feels like we need to do 10 meetings a month like this (either with the pastor individually or the whole church). As a missionary phone solicitor, It's tricky to fill the schedule. Plus you have to try to meet new pastors and people all the time because you never know who is going to be the key person in a budget or a project.
We had a service scheduled further afield in Missouri last time and I called and called every church between that place and back home in KC. I got a hold of a pastor in a tiny town. He really discouraged me from coming.
"We are really small and it wouldn't really be worth your while. There's only a few of us older folks on a Sunday night."
"That's okay," I said confidently, "We're driving through on our way home anyway, so it would be a good opportunity to stop and share."
So a couple months later we show up in this town (name withheld) and set up our projector for showing our videos and a table with an assortment of printed materials.
The pastor had indeed predicted correctly. There were six people including the pastor all sporting white hair and a couple of canes. That's okay who knows who will catch the vision for what we do?
The routine was and is that Kerry speaks and shares some videos and then I get up and wrap things up with our testimony. Our total "program" is around 30 minutes usually give or take 5 minutes.
With only seven people in the seats, it was easy to make eye contact with everyone. After I'd been speaking a bit, I realized that everyone was asleep. Except Kerry. Even the little lady at the sound board. All asleep.
I was so stunned that I paused in my speaking. I looked at Kerry who didn't know that they were all asleep. I considered just saying Amen really loud and sitting down. I was contemplating what to do next when my awkward pause awoke the pastor. I decided to finish up with the short version of the talk.
06 May 2010
Itineration Playlist
So part of our itinerate life of fund raising is many hours in the car. Did I say many? So all sorts of things get chatted about when we run out of radio stations. An on going theme from the last time we did this five years ago and still today is the idea of creating a list of songs that go with itinerate fund raising. Now, please, please, please, take this as it is meant -- silly and sarcastic.
The songs either relate to traveling, fund raising, or the heartache of feeling like a salesman on a cold call. Don't be offended as the songs are secular and often there is only one line in the song that applies but it is too good to leave off the list. Also I'm a little embarrassed but the list reflects my age somewhat (and my husbands), so please help me include other eras.
Here is our list, ever growing, and I'd love to hear any other songs that you would add, especially if you are involved in the process of receiving our phone calls or you've had to do something similar.
In no particular order:
I been everywhere man, Johnny Cash
Don't have to live like a refugee, Tom Petty
On the Road Again, Willie Nelson
Ring my bell, Gloria Gaynor
Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Guns N' Roses
I will survive, Gloria Gaynor
Puttin' on the Ritz (take your pick of artists)
Missionary Man, Eurythmics
Blue Morning, Blue Day, Foreigner
Turn the page, Bob Seger
Seven Nation Army, White Stripes (because we have to drive through Wichita a lot and that is mentioned)
Rawhide, Blues Brothers
I can't drive 55, Sammy Hagar
I will do anything for love, Meatloaf
I'll be gone when th morning comes, Meatloaf
Life is bigger than You and you are not me, REM
It's the end of the world as we know it, REM
I won't back down, Tom Petty
Kansas City Here I come, (your pick of artists) This is personal because we live in KC and we are always headed back there.
Life during War Time, Talking Heads
Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis.
Ventura Highway, America
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Life in the Fast Lane, Eagles
Every girl's crazy bout a sharp dressed man, ZZtop
Money for Nothing, Dire Straits
Own Personal Jesus, Johnny Cash
On the radio, Donna Summer (as in what is on the...)
Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Endz
Hit the Road Jack, Ray Charles
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Living on a Prayer, Bon Jovi
Leaving on a Jet Plane, Peter, Paul and Mary
The Downeaster "Alexa" Billy Joel
I didn't start the fire, Billy Joel
I like to move it, move it, Crazy Frog
The songs either relate to traveling, fund raising, or the heartache of feeling like a salesman on a cold call. Don't be offended as the songs are secular and often there is only one line in the song that applies but it is too good to leave off the list. Also I'm a little embarrassed but the list reflects my age somewhat (and my husbands), so please help me include other eras.
Here is our list, ever growing, and I'd love to hear any other songs that you would add, especially if you are involved in the process of receiving our phone calls or you've had to do something similar.
In no particular order:
I been everywhere man, Johnny Cash
Don't have to live like a refugee, Tom Petty
On the Road Again, Willie Nelson
Ring my bell, Gloria Gaynor
Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Guns N' Roses
I will survive, Gloria Gaynor
Puttin' on the Ritz (take your pick of artists)
Missionary Man, Eurythmics
Blue Morning, Blue Day, Foreigner
Turn the page, Bob Seger
Seven Nation Army, White Stripes (because we have to drive through Wichita a lot and that is mentioned)
Rawhide, Blues Brothers
I can't drive 55, Sammy Hagar
I will do anything for love, Meatloaf
I'll be gone when th morning comes, Meatloaf
Life is bigger than You and you are not me, REM
It's the end of the world as we know it, REM
I won't back down, Tom Petty
Kansas City Here I come, (your pick of artists) This is personal because we live in KC and we are always headed back there.
Life during War Time, Talking Heads
Heartbreak Hotel, Elvis.
Ventura Highway, America
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Life in the Fast Lane, Eagles
Every girl's crazy bout a sharp dressed man, ZZtop
Money for Nothing, Dire Straits
Own Personal Jesus, Johnny Cash
On the radio, Donna Summer (as in what is on the...)
Six Months in a Leaky Boat, Split Endz
Hit the Road Jack, Ray Charles
Respect, Aretha Franklin
Living on a Prayer, Bon Jovi
Leaving on a Jet Plane, Peter, Paul and Mary
The Downeaster "Alexa" Billy Joel
I didn't start the fire, Billy Joel
I like to move it, move it, Crazy Frog
24 February 2010
Peek a boo
A large part of our fundraising endeavor means going to different locations to speak several times a week. Most of these so far have been small town churches. I've been thinking about that network program where they pick a place on the map and randomly choose some one and tell their story. We get to peek inside the lives of small town churches, pastors, and individuals all the time. It could totally be a documentary or a sociology project to go to so many different places and experience so many micro-cultures.
I love the chatting that goes on in the backrooms and entries of the churches. It's amazing to hear stories from World War II vets who have never been back to Europe. To look at pictures of daughters away at college studying media. To hear of a small church of older ladies that bakes cookies so the community will know they care. I enjoy the after glows and the kind heartedness of people who tell me about somewhere they've been or always wanted to go. Watching little kids fascinated by the Chinese speaking puppets on our table dvd presentation. I love the guys wearing western wear or old tattoos that obviously hold a story that's not going to be told.
I hope I am not just a voyer on these people's lives but also a sharerer in the experiment by letting them glimpse inside my life of living in Spain, and the oddity of our fund raising life. Obviously I can't totally whine and complain to these dear people about my every frustration, but hopefully as I peek in their worlds' I give a glimpse into mine as well.
I love the chatting that goes on in the backrooms and entries of the churches. It's amazing to hear stories from World War II vets who have never been back to Europe. To look at pictures of daughters away at college studying media. To hear of a small church of older ladies that bakes cookies so the community will know they care. I enjoy the after glows and the kind heartedness of people who tell me about somewhere they've been or always wanted to go. Watching little kids fascinated by the Chinese speaking puppets on our table dvd presentation. I love the guys wearing western wear or old tattoos that obviously hold a story that's not going to be told.
I hope I am not just a voyer on these people's lives but also a sharerer in the experiment by letting them glimpse inside my life of living in Spain, and the oddity of our fund raising life. Obviously I can't totally whine and complain to these dear people about my every frustration, but hopefully as I peek in their worlds' I give a glimpse into mine as well.
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