In my first week as a professional beggar, I hit a mental block. Theoretically, the first few gifts I raised for the ministry were really just covering my salary which felt like I was asking for my own personal benefit. You might experience the same hesitancy until you think through the logic of ste...

Rube Goldberg was a genius who devised incredibly complex solutions for simple tasks. His inventions were a series of chain reactions usually built with everyday parts like pulleys, ropes, gears, boots, bouncing balls, bows and arrows, springs, oscillating fans, and live animals. These contraptions ...

No matter how successful our PCC ministries appear on the surface, it is wise as directors to reflect back on ministry activities and examine our actions as leaders as well as that of our board of directors. Do we reflect a biblical standard of ethics as we oversee our centers? Do we exhibit strong ...

Does it make sense for your organization to hire a full-time grant writer and pursue an aggressive foundation strategy? In 2010, foundation grants accounted for $41 billion, which was 14 percent of the $290.89 billion charitable gift total. There are approximately 100,000 foundations in the United S...

IT IS EASIER TO KEEP A DONOR THAN TO RAISE ONE My column last summer reflected on the worrisome economic conditions of those days. Sadly, not much has changed between then and now. I continue to hear from friends about the struggles their ministries are facing. One told me that income in 2009 and 2...

A missionary in Central Asia took his family for a hike in the countryside and walked by a rock foundation of an abandoned building. He noticed two 10-year-old boys playing on top of the wall, but there didn't seem to be any easy way to scale the wall. So he asked, "How did you boys get up there?" O...