Zacchaeus and financial commitment

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.
He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.' "
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount."
Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

In the past I have challenged the development officer (or minister of stewardship) to seek the "bi-lateral" blessing in the asking for a gift. It is bi-lateral when the steward (donor) experiences blessing from God as they respond to His call on their lives and (temporary) possessions and the school who received the gift is blessed as well.

This is the transformational giving that begins the "whole life stewardship" that we will speak to in the future.

Until confronted with the truth about himself, Zacchaeus was self-sufficient and in total control of his money.

He obeyed Jesus and got of the tree, encountered Jesus as a guest in his house, and then responded mightily with his treasure.

Jesus clearly ties the Gospel transformation to Zachaeus' response, "Today salvation has come to this house,..."

This is a vivid example of how and why we fund-raisers must link the Gospel to giving. If we merely solicit a gift for the good of the school, we miss the spiritual dimension of giving. Giving is an act of worship and it reflects God's grip on our life.

We do not want to assuage someones guilt for having too much money, nor do we want to puff someone up who "graces us" with a large gift. The Kingdom must always be in view and the Lord cares deeply about our motivations for giving, not just the act.

If we can ask for gifts and help the donor see the Kingdom impact, we are becoming the ambassadors of Christ that He calls us to be.

Let's think about "linkages" the next time we seek funds.

Ann - a blessing in disguise

Proverbs 3:28

Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"-- when you now have it with you.

Luke 10:27

He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' "


I wrote earlier about the "spiritual" experience of sitting through a timeshare sale presentation. If we had not gone through this we would have missed the ministry opportunity we had with the "front person" who scheduled the visit in the first place.

God works in wonderful and mysterious ways; sometimes I am too busy looking in the wrong place to see Him work.

Meet Ann, the "concierge" at the resort we visited in South Carolina.

She scheduled our timeshare sales presentation; that should have been our last interaction.

However, she invited us to come back and let her schedule and reserve the seats for the entertainment that we earned for sitting for 2 hours. She was so helpful that we asked for advice for places to dine; she gave us great seats at the show and great advice on dining, too.

Something else was calling us into a deeper relationship with Ann. While we talked with her more, we found out that she had 2 previous marriages and no husband now for a medically-distressed four-year-old daughter, who weighs only 14 pounds - I thought I had problems!

Ann works all day and stays up all night with her daughter who can't sleep except for short naps; this goes on for 4 days each week. I get tired just thinking about it.

With all of the kindness Ann showed us, my wife and I bought a little gift for her daughter and presented it to her the next day. You might have thought the gift was a new home by her reaction; she was crying tears of joy before she opened the stuffed animal and a Max Lucado book for children. She gave us an Easter card the next day; more tears and hugs - you get the picture.

If you have gone this far, you may ask, 'what has this got to with development?'

All of life, if seen through the Savior's eyes, is a spiritual experience. There is a life lesson in almost all we do, especially when we go "life on life".

Ann is another person created in God's image with purpose, capacity, passion and a legacy. If we can open the heart doors through acts of genuine Christian love, there are marvelous opportunities to minister Christ and usher folks into new and exciting places; places where they can impact lives for eternity.

Isn't that worth the time with a stranger?

Lessons from a timeshare

In order for someone to "buy" our school to the point where they will contribute several key hurdles must be crossed. Before we look at those, let me share an interesting sales experience I had recently; going through a timeshare sales presentation.

There are things we can learn from the secular world; after all truth is truth whether people credit the truth Giver or not.

Before you roll your eyes, consider this fact: three of ten presentations result in a sale. Yes, from a "dead stop" to writing a check takes less than 2 hours. A sale of something a person did not know they needed from a total stranger to a new mortgage in 120 minutes.

I am asking, "Wait! We're selling something with lasting and eternal significance and it takes us (sometimes) years to see people make their first contribution. What gives?"

Here is the anatomy of our experience:

1. Getting us to sit down and declare our (vacation) priorities - our values
2. Letting us dream about what we could do (vacation-wise) without regard for price - our passions
3. Showing us the impact and flexibility of our purchase (fixed price, weeks anywhere, easy upgrade and deluxe accommodations)- our plans
4. Showing us the full price - and us saying "no way could we do that" - our resources
5. Giving us a sense of urgency - "this deal will not be here tomorrow" - our timing
6. Finally, presenting us with a workable plan that met our budget (we didn't buy, but it was enticing)- our legacy

How about the Christian school, or any ministry for that matter?

I contend that what we experienced in this sales experience is a marvelous example of how we can meet our donors where they are and usher them (as the Holy Spirit leads the process) to invest in a better investment, the lives of future generations.

There are many differences between selling a timeshare and the "selling" of Christian education, but there are key similarities:

1. Values - what do they believe about children and their education?

2. Passions - what is the dream that is only limited by current resources?

3. Plans - What is their timing and situation in terms of Kingdom investments (it may not be education, which is OK)

4. Resources - what is available for investment? income, assets, time, talents, connections?

5. Timing - Is this the time that the Lord is leading to make an investment?

6. Legacy - What will be the lasting impact? Reflect back on the values and passions

I do not advocate trying to go from stranger to supporter in 2 hours, but I would not preclude it either.

What we can learn is that donors' hearts and heads (just like ours) must be connected before decisive action can be taken.

By the way, every seller of the timeshares was first a committed and an enthusiastic owner.