In honor of their last moments as a team together, the seven gals of team Steve did a collaborative interview with questions surrounding their personal fundraising processes. Raising any amount of money is no small feat. From tough lessons learned to unexpected testimonies of God’s faithfulness, the girls hope that their words inspire and encourage you in your walk with the Lord, specifically as you surrender and keep surrendering your finances to the great Provider. Thank you, team Steve, for sharing your stories! Let’s get started.
Cae, $18,000. That’s scary. What were your initial thoughts on fundraising and how did God change your perspective on it?
“When I first saw that the World Race was $18,000, I was admittedly scared. I had no clue how I was going to raise all that money — it seemed like such a large amount. So I asked the Lord to make it glaringly clear to me if the Race was in His will for my life. My thoughts quickly changed from how am I going to raise these funds to where there’s a will there’s a way. Within the first week of saying yes to the World Race, the Lord far exceeded my expectations. I had posted something on Facebook two days after getting accepted to the program and within one day, I had so many people reaching out to me about how they could fund my trip. I raised about $2,000 dollars just from that one post. Three days later I had an anonymous donor give $8,000! After that, I knew I didn’t need to have an ounce of worry in me; that this was His will and He would continue providing the whole $18,000.”
Hannah, tell us about a time that you were really surprised during your fundraising process.
“When I first started this fundraising journey, I had high hopes that my community would get me fully funded pretty fast. There were people in my life that I was sure would give generously. But as my support letters were sent out and I obsessively refreshed my fundraising account…there was complete radio silence. Then something really cool happened. People that I never would have thought would give for one reason or another (i.e. non-believers, were struggling financially, etc.), gave exceedingly abundantly more than I could have ever imagined! I was shocked! But that’s the thing about God…He’ll give you exceedingly abundantly more, but He’s going to do it His way, not necessarily how you think! I learned that this was more than me just raising $18,000. He was using it to change hearts and perspectives. He wanted people who wouldn’t normally give, to give in faith knowing that they are sowing into a ministry and becoming a part of it. That even if their donation wasn’t in the budget that month, that he would provide.”
Caitlin, anyone who’s spent time with you knows that your heart posture is marked by gratitude. What has the Lord further taught you about gratitude through fundraising?
“A couple of weeks into the new year, my church sent an email to me with my giving statement for 2018. As I saw the summary of how much I had given, it would have been easy to compare how much has also been donated toward this trip. The enemy wants to catch us in this trap but my foundation in Christ allowed me to escape that danger zone. It did not bother me that I had given more to the church than what I had received in donations. That’s because we should not expect God to match our donations. Instead, we ought to be grateful for how much He has already given us. He is our ultimate provider who cares that we have clothing, food, and shelter. When our perspective changes to how much we have already received instead of how much we should still receive, our hearts are aligned with the posture of gratitude that He calls us to have. These reflections allow us to be patient in the timing of His provision since we are able to truly absorb what He is trying to teach us. We are able to grow in faith and endurance as we wait for His perfect timing to finish the good work that He has started.”
Adria, tell us about a time God exceeded your expectations during your fundraising process.
“About a month before we launched, I posted on my Instagram about the $2,000 that I had left to fundraise in order to be fully funded. I did a quick number crunch based on how many people usually watch my Instagram stories, and ended up asking people to support my trip with $5. I shared the post and hopped on a plane to head home from training camp, having absolutely zero expectation of landing only four hours later to half of the $2,000 sitting in my fundraising account. People I’d never met in person, and even people I’d never met online, were flooding my account with tiny donations. My heart entering into the fundraising process was for it to be a ministry in and of itself — for it to be highly interpersonal and essentially create a micro-community surrounding my trip. And that’s exactly what happened in this moment. My eyes were opened to how eager people actually were to just get a hand in on the things we were anticipating God to do through my trip. Every single donation, whether $5 or $500, sent a message of humility. Those who donated were largely college students or missionaries or broke grads — i.e. they didn’t have all that much to give — which means so much to me. It opened my eyes to how many people truly believed in and trusted me to take part in and excel what God is doing in the nations. At the end of that 24 hours, I had $2,000 sitting in my fundraising account. I was fully funded on hundreds of $5 donations. Hallelujah! Truly, no donation is too small.”
Malysa, we know that you had a pretty unique fundraising experience. Would you tell the readers the short version of the story?
“Well, I applied to go on the Race and had exactly a year to fundraise. I knew that it would take work but I also knew that God called me to this trip. So I started doing the dang thing, sending out support letters. And then that was all I did for about four months. I was in school and working and the thought of raising $18,200 was looming heavily in the back of my mind. Once spring break rolled around, I woke up one morning, worrying about the money and feeling behind so I thought, “I’ll just check and see where I’m at and then make a plan from there.” I had a handful of ideas and projects that I needed to hit the start button on. But then, to my absolute surprise, I was fully funded. I was in shock because it didn’t make sense. How could I be fully funded already? What does this mean?! It meant that an anonymous donor donated well over half of what I needed. WON’T HE DO IT!?”
Stephy, what would you say to those who feel like they don’t have enough to give?
“While I was fundraising God showed me so many examples of people who had little but believed in what God was doing in my life, so they donated. One example is of a single mom of eight kids. My family met her at church and became close to her family less than a year before I announced I was going on the Race. She donated $100 to my fundraising goal even though she undoubtedly had countless other things she could spend that money on. Because of her belief that God would provide for her and because she truly believed in the cause, we’ve witnessed God bless her in abundance over the past year. God is good and will use the most unlikely of people to get you fully funded!”
Farrah, what did God teach you about stewarding your finances through fundraising?
“After seeing God come through in raising $24,000CAN (I’m a Canadian participant!), I’m pretty convinced that none of my finances are actually my finances — it’s all just God’s gift to me so I can give to others. Moving forward from this, my desire to give and send others into the field to share Christ’s love is huge. Just as you guys sent me, I want to send others. I find myself dreaming about my income in the future and calculating the smallest percentage I can live off of in order to give more and send more. Christ called us to give back to Him just 10% of what He gave to us, but what if I could reverse that? What if I could figure out a way to live simply to give generously? What if I could live off of 10% and give 90% of my income? What if we all chose to live simply to give generously? Think of how different the world would be. Think of the resources we would have to actually reach unreached people groups with the truth of the Gospel and Christ’s love. Money isn’t at all what life is about, but it is a tool that can be used to change lives and eternities; my hope is to choose to humbly live to treat it as such.”
Again, the girls hope that these stories reinforce your heart for giving. Team Steve member, Caitlin Casey, has $2,000 to fundraise in order to be fully funded, and their hope and expectation is for every reader to step out in boldness and obedience to be a part in finishing the work that He has started. You can do so here, via venmo (@caitlinmarvin), or via paypal ([email protected]). Thanks so much for your reading, giving, and investing the Kingdom!
Team Steve signing off
*weeps in a corner*
