BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT

Sometimes I think I’m funny. OK… probably more than sometimes!

Sometimes people agree I’m funny. OK… probably not very often!

Either way, I like to see the funny side of life. If there’s an angle to something that makes me laugh, that’s the angle I want to see it from. I mean, within reason of course! I don’t want to be insensitive or disconnected from real hardships in life. But generally speaking, I try to live on the lighter side of life.

I love a good “dad joke.” I try to not take myself too seriously and hope to always be able to laugh at my own mistakes and shortcomings. Like the time I answered the phone by saying, “Don’t worry, I didn’t die!” Thinking it was a friend calling me back, only to discover it was actually a 9-1-1 dispatch agent calling me because my watch had accidentally dialled in an emergency! Oops. There’s a real story there.

Or when I was dealing with cancer and wanted to find an easier way to remember who wanted information from me, so I made an email subscription list. When giving some options of the types of emails I might send, I added a subscription option entitled, “Things I want to try to sell you!” I did once have a sales job, long live CUTCO, but of course, I was not trying to build a sales database. The funny thing is, even though that’s an entirely facetious category… I have over 50 people who have said they’re interested in receiving emails about “Things I want to try to see you!” I’ve got great friends!

Well… here I am, trying to be funny again. Not really funny, more facetious.

Over a year ago, I started into a very new endeavour. I joined a missions organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM). What I get to do is AWESOME! It’s also a longer story since it’s a ways outside the box of a normal job description, for myself and for the organization. In many ways I kinda have to make things up as I go. Shortest version of what I do… I’ve been empowered to serve churches in the area of discipling and mobilizing young people. It’s what I sought to do for over fifteen years while on staff at Central Baptist in Edmonton and now I get to serve and support multiple churches in their journeys. It’s pretty rad.

This is my main job. It’s what I try to spend most of my week doing. It’s even something I hope to do for a long time in a financial sustainable way. The reality is though, I don’t collect any sort of salary at all from YWAM. I’m entirely self-supported. According to the good people at the Canadian Revenue Agency I’m considered a “self-employed missionary.”

To some extent, this creates some challenges. But I’d say those challenges are far out-weighed by the benefits. I have a VERY tangible reminder that all I have is a gift from Jesus and I must rely on Him daily for all my needs! In our privileged, first-world culture this can often be hard to remember. It also means I get to serve churches of all sizes and means without there being any financial barriers between us. Already, only a year into developing this new role, this has opened the doors to some really cool relationships.

The main “challenge” though, is sharing my story and inviting many many people from throughout my life to get excited about this calling and opportunity, and to join the community of people who are supporting me financially. Like I said, I have vision and hope for this to be a real job and a financially viable option for supporting my family. A year in, I’m super encouraged by the people who have come along side me and are a part of my regular financial support team. There truly is a growing “village” behind me, supporting me financially in this endeavour.

How is this funny? Oh yeah.

As I was chatting with someone about BLACK FRIDAY deals we thought it’d be funny to put myself out there as a BLACK FRIDAY SALE. Like I should offer a BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT to supporters. Hmmm… now that I think about it, I’m not actually sure that’s very funny. When my boys were growing up I’d tell them things need to sorta make sense to be funny, otherwise it’s just silly and obnoxious.

At the risk of being silly and hopefully not obnoxious, I do actually very seriously and intentionally want to invite many many people to see what I’m doing with YWAM and get excited about joining my financial support team. I always like to say, “whether a lot or a little, consistently or less frequently, every bit helps.”

Right now, BLACK FRIDAY aside, many people do think about year-end giving. Our family has a handful of things we give to on a monthly/regular basis - church, local ministries, supported missionaries, etc… but we leave some of those set-aside funds and allow them to pool so that at year-end we can be extra generous. It’s been a cool practice to invite our growing boys into.

So here I am, not sending an email of “things I want to try to sell you,” and also not offering some silly BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT, but in a very real way, inviting you to be a part of what I’m doing in a financial way.

I know blog posts like this are far from the most effective, so I’ll be making lots of phone calls this week as people come to my mind. You may even be reading this because I called you and directed you to this post!

Either way, I’m grateful you’ve taken the time to read this. And chances are (unless some weird internet algorithm directed you here and you don’t know me) you’re a real part of my life and I’m super grateful for you. I’d be absolutely honoured for you to consider becoming a part of my financial support team, even if right now its only in a year-end-giving kind of way.

So what’s my BLACK FRIDAY DISCOUNT… well… of course there isn’t really one. That said, there are very real benefits to joining my support team. Primarily, I feel super encouraged and loved and supported and am more equipped and empowered to lean in to this vision and calling I feel deeply passionate about. For you, you get to know you’re a part of empowering me to serve the Kingdom in ways that would not be sustainable otherwise, AND… you can receive a tax credit for making a charitable donation! Not a bad deal eh!? In Canada, it’s actually not a small thing.

I’ve got some detailed information about how to give and even some of my financial goals or things I’ve saving up for. But at the end of the day, like I said, “a lot or a little, consistent or infrequent,” every bit helps.

And of course, since email and blogs are a meagre shadow of real conversations, give me a call so we can chat more about all of this!

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Title Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash