I’ll never forget how the first two days went.
In the beginning I was literally spending 6-8 hours a day in phone calls. It was very discouraging . We were on our survey trip with 1.5 weeks left before headed back to start deputation. In the first two days of phone calls, l “struck out”. I got very few answers on the phone and those that I did were not able to have us in (we started deputation near the end of April, after the typical missions conference time which certainly did not help). On day three of phone calls, I was about midway through the day (still striking out) and the Lord impressed on me to pray. In all transparency, I went back and forth with the Lord, because I had already spent some time in prayer that morning and was feeling the pressure of making calls within the window of office hours. So I kept calling. The Lord kept prodding me, “Ask.”
This process, of the Lord prompting me, me resisting, and then ultimately praying, went on a handful of times (unfortunately). I say unfortunately because not long after i would pray, i would either get an email returned, or a call back, or someone at the church to actually pick up the phone.
And there were a couple days were i got whole months filled on my calendar; some days (about 8 hours of phone calls ) just 1 or 2 meetings. Still a couple times-nothing.
What really helped me was holding onto the reality that God has already raised the support we need, we just have to go out and find it.
The process i came to use, may not be the one for everyone, or even the best, but it certainly helped me and I will share it here:
Mass email a region using pointofmail.com
Wait at least 5 days (Most churches ask – “Have you emailed your stuff yet?”)
During those 5 days, I categorized open rates such as, 5+ opens = green; 2-5 opens = orange, 1 open = yellow, 0 opens = left blank (white)
Sorted the green and orange by zip code
Found a church I either knew or had heard of the pastor before, called them first.
Then, began calling the green/orange churches by zip code.
In my experience of calling, there is a big trust hurdle to overcome. Pastors just don’t know you, your board, your sending church etc,
There were two things that seemed to help with overcoming this-
- Establish a “king-pin” pastor in the region
- Book and stay in that region for at least a month.
I’m not advocating “name-dropping”. I think name-dropping, as I’ve heard it talked about, is not a good idea. But what i feel is a good idea, is once you have a meeting, such as a missions conference, with a pastor who has had a long-standing in the state, that is public knowledge, so use that to your advantage. I would say, “We will be in the area for 30 days and currently will be with Bro. ________ over at Bible Baptist Church on Sunday the 23rd. But there are a number of days yet open, that I’d love to email you for consideration.
I lost count at the number of times, i wouldn’t even finish that sentence, because as soon as i mentioned a pastor who had ALREADY BOOKED US, (again, public knowledge) right after i mentioned their name, the secretary, assistant or pastor would say something to the effect, “Oh, yeah that Brother is a great guy!” or “We really love that church, I’m sure if they are having you, it would be worth looking into. Send me an email.”
