Feeling the fire [500K Day 25]

We have 5 days left in the Blogrimage. We still have a long ways to go before we have the equivalent of 300 people giving $30/month.  

Many people have committed. Many people are already giving. When the people who have committed start giving, we'll be at the halfway mark or a little more.  That's great progress, but we still have to work hard to bring in the rest. 

Figuring out the best strategy for following up with people is important. I don't want us to come off as pushy, though we don't want to lose potential investment because we are afraid to have those kind of conversations. 

At the end of the day, we can't force people to do anything. All we can do is ask for help and give people the opportunity to make their own decision. 

Right now, I'm feeling encouraged that we progressed so far. However, we still have to cast vision and recruit more investors.

Meetings [500k 23 & 24]

Oops. Forgot to blog yesterday! My bad. 

We don't have much longer in this Blogrimage. I'm really happy with how things are coming along. Already, we've raised more money than we've ever raised. Awesome people are making sacrifices to help us plant a church in Bellevue, Washington.

In the process, I've met so many amazing people. I've met with over 17 pastors in the last month. Asking questions, hearing stories and sharing a common passion to advance the Kingdom of God is amazing. For many of the pastors I didn't have to ask for help before they offered. 

I've learned that nothing really beats the face to face sharing of passion. This is the part of fundraising that I really love! 

Tithe.ly [500k Day 22]

To facilitate our online giving, we use Tithe.ly. Other churches, like Planetshakers, use them all over the world. We've had a great experience with them. 

We worked with them exclusively online...until this week. Our representative just happens to live in Bellevue, a 5 minute walk from our house! He took us to an amazing burger place and paid for our meal. How crazy is that?

Another funny thing is his roommate works for PushPay--one of the main competitors of Tithe.ly. 

I love all these little "coincidences."

And he's planning on coming to our first service!

It takes money [500K Day 21]

It takes money to make money. We are definitely experiencing that. From hats and mugs, to buying plane tickets for network training, we are investing money to fundraisers. So far, it's paying off. I love seeing all the progress of this hard work and investment.  

I believe as we invest all these things into Seattle, we'll see a harvest of transformed lives. 

Keeping track [500K Day 20]

Reorganized all our efforts and progress today. People from all over are helping.  

We still have a long ways to go, but we've come a long way. Soon I'll give an accurate update on the commitments we have and what has already started to come in. 

I will say, though, I'm blown away by all that has already happened. The Kingdom is building the Kingdom.  

If it's His will, God will pay the bill [500k Day 19]

Today we met a family who said they were interested in Kalos and wanted to eat lunch with us. At lunch in this amazing Chinese restaurant, where they give you trays of food from the moment you sit down and more keeps coming until you stop it, the father of the family said something I've never heard before:

"If it's His will, God will pay the Bill"

I've heard in the past, "where God guides He provides" and other rhyming sayings, but never this one. If something rhymes, I tend to believe it. In fact, I came up with my own saying:

"If it rhymes, it's true for all times."

Ultimately, even though we're doing our best to raise $500,000 to support us over 3 years, this is a faith journey. We are believing that we will raise enough money so that we can have a good start in reaching this city. As we are doing our part, we are trusting in God to take care of the rest. 

If you'd like to give, and I hope you do, please visit http://www.kalos.church/give