Mixing careers

December 5th, 2006 · No Comments

I started pastoring VCW after a decade of fundraising. I love pastoring and teaching on financial stewardship but I’ve been intrigued with the donor stewardship issues.

We once got a $5000 check–HUGE for our small, central Maine congregation. As a fundraiser, my first instinct was to pick up the phone. As a pastor, I realized she didn’t give it to me or VCW, she gave it to God. I immediately became conflicted. My pastoring mindset wanted to not acknowledge it; my fundraising background was screaming I had to do something.

I ended up calling her Monday morningÂ and said, “CONGRATULATIONS!”

There was a pause, then she said, “For what?” (with a grin in her voice).

“Well…,” I said, “I’m not sure. But from the size of the check in yesterday’s offering, I know SOMETHING good must’ve happened!”

She laughed and happily explained what had happened. It was a gift from a partial proceeds on sale of a house. She specifically noted “partial” cleverly commenting that she didn’t want to end up like Ananias and Sapphira!