July 15, 2003
FSM 393 CM/FM
—August 2002
Special Action FSM #17
—Our tools and more!
Copyright © 2002 by The Family CM/FM
Cover photo taken by James Donahue, Brazil
(Jesus:) I’ve told you in the Conviction vs. Compromise GNs of My plan for your future support—the plan of building churches whose members will be willing to provide for you and support you. That’s the end goal.
You can’t get from reliance on System support to reliance on your home church in one jump. There’s a point B in between, and that’s how you get from point A to point C. Point B is supporting yourself through the sale of My Word tools. They’re not only providers of the water of My Word, but they’re providers for your physical supply. There’s no shame in that! It says right in My Word that they which preach the Gospel shall live of the Gospel. That’s the way I planned and ordained it.
I want you to use the means at your disposal to provide for yourselves and your families, especially while many of you are making the transition from dependence on the System to building a work and establishing a church. It’s going to take time, but the time to start is now.
—ML #3382a:104-106
By Simon Simple, Delhi Activated Home, India
I have seen the power of the keys at work and my life is no longer the same! Allow me to expound. Have you ever had one of those weeks when things are really tight financially? Yes? Okay, now that we’ve established some common ground, I’ll proceed further.
It’s easy for me to feel condemned at times as I often equate God’s blessings with financial ease and prosperity, Lord help me. However, when we sought the Lord, He said that He was going to do great and mighty things over the next few days and that we were actually poised on the verge of a terrific week. To tell you the truth, on Sunday night it was difficult to believe, but the Lord through prophecy said, What would you have Me do? Command Me and I will do it this week!
So we asked the Lord to do something we couldn’t possibly do ourselves. We claimed the power of the keys and asked Him to not just send in the finances but also to help us get out 75 Treasure Attic VCDs in five days! That sounded humanly impossible enough!—But not to Jesus, as we were soon to discover!
Day 1: Monday
We struck out by faith and visited five schools, and got out exactly one VCD all day! Hmmm, no victory without a battle! We did, however, make it a point to offer the Activated magazine to everyone we met. (The Lord has to bless that, right?)
Day 2: Tuesday
The day began with a battle royal! Everything seemed to be going wrong and we knew the Enemy was mad. We rebuked the Enemy, and 10 minutes later our outreach team walked in and told us they had gotten out 21 VCDs at a school! Wahoo! (Incidentally, this was a school whose name and phone number one of us had gotten off a school bus while out the previous day. It pays to heed those little checks.)
Day 3: Wednesday
Five VCDs out, and a very good follow-up appointment with an Active member.
Day 4: Thursday
One VCD out only. But we gave out Activated magazines to everyone we met and tried not to make a move without hearing from the Lord. Forty-three VCDs still to go and only one working day left.
Day 5: Friday
This wasn’t even supposed to be a tool distribution day as it was our CTP day, but by faith we took 43 VCDs along, and by the end of the day the Lord got them all out! The lady in charge of the CTP liked them so much that she insisted on buying 21 and then referred us to a school principal who bought the remaining 22. This other school principal is a Christian and said she was actually praying for some teaching tools that could teach her schoolkids Christian values! What a miracle!
And when we got home that night there was a US$300 gift waiting for us from someone we have never met before, but who found out about our work!
Isn’t the Lord terrific? This whole experience convinced me yet again that you never go wrong by promoting Activated, pushing the tools, and putting the Lord on the spot! All glory to the Lord and the power of the keys.
I’ve gotta go! Our new shipment of Treasure Attic VCDs just arrived and there are lots of schools left to visit.
By Crystal Servant (of Peter), USA
The Lord has been doing great miracles of supply, and He’s been faithful to pour out upon us in abundance. I guess it got to the point where I started taking our income and supply for granted. Then for some reason, it seemed our supply started going down drastically. Day after day I was going out with the tools, with very little positive response, and I got quite discouraged! It sure got me desperate!
After reading the Letter Looking unto Jesus (ML #126; Vol.1), I realized that I had started trusting in the means rather than the Man! I had gotten to a point where I felt we were getting a pretty stable support base, but I had forgotten that it’s still only Jesus.
The next time I went out, all these doubts and fears were running through my head about how it probably wasn’t going to work. I had to keep praising in order to keep from hearing all the negativity the Devil was throwing at me. We praised and praised and kept on praising in every free moment we had. Then we stopped to pray and took a little time to hear from the Lord. The Lord was so encouraging, and we felt strengthened, as though we’d already won the greatest victory for that day: the victory of the Spirit.
Sure enough, we had a great and fruitful day! From that moment on things have only gotten better. Again we can testify: Jesus never fails! The victory came through using the new weapons of the Spirit: praise, prayer, and prophecy!
By Sara, Guatemala
At the beginning of our Christmas witnessing season, the Lord told us the following: Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.—Embrace this Christmas season; step out on the waters and exercise your faith muscles and I will do mighty things. Claim My promises and call on Me in the power of the keys. Old methods are not enough for a new day. I wish for My Heavenly Christmas music to ring out throughout Guatemala to enlighten the darkness, despair, and discouragement, which covers this country like a shroud. There is fear on every side. People are fearful of things soon to pass on the world scene. People are fearful for their futures. I wish to give them faith and perfect love which casts out fear. My music will envelop them as a warm blanket of comfort and this will give them courage to face the days ahead with hope, joy, and love for their families and fellow men. I will show you new things and give you new ideas as you step out by faith to obey Me.
When praying about what new things the Lord wanted us to embrace, He told us that one thing He wanted us to do was setting up a table with our tools. We didn’t get started on this until the first week of December, so it was a real miracle to even get permission to set up anywhere, as the malls and shopping centers already had music and performers booked months in advance. We prayed in the power of the keys and the Lord began to open doors for us. We were able to book locations for each weekend during December.
The Lord showed us not to use balloons or anything else that would detract from our wonderful tools, and that if we’d play the music, the tools would sell themselves. And that’s exactly what happened. We set up a decorated table (we used a simple Christmas wreath and a small Christmas tree with lights, and put on some stick-on bows to make the products look like presents under the tree), a photo album with pictures of our local work, and a CD player with good speakers to play our beautiful music.
During the four weekends in December, our two-man tabling team got out 290 CDs and tapes, a few Interactive CDs and videos, about 350 Christmas posters, Christmas Activated magazines, and a number of other items such as bookmarks and tracts. We met some very interesting people, and gave out our cell phone number to everyone who bought something. This method worked well for our Home, as it only required two people to man the table full time all weekend, leaving the rest of our Home available for other forms of outreach.
One day an Israeli man who works as a contractor for a Guatemalan phone company bought a Christmas CD from our table as a Hanukkah gift for his daughter. He said, It’s against my religion, and my rabbi would kill me if he knew I was buying this, but I really love the music!
We met several people who had bought tools previously, and one time we had two people standing at the table, one who had already bought Drummer Boy and the other who had already bought Christmas Treasures, and they were raving to each other about the CD they had already bought, resulting in both of them buying the one they didn’t have!
One man came up to the table after hearing the song Wonderful, saying that 13 years ago he had bought a tape with the same song sung by children, and that at that time he had been given a poster with a Christmas tree with Jesus crucified on the tree, which he still has hanging in his house after 13 years! He bought three CDs and later came back for another one.
A gentleman visited our table with his bodyguard to tell us that his eight-year-old had gotten one of the Great Adventures CDs and played it so much in the car that his older children were about to go crazy. He got a couple of other CDs so they would have some variety. He was also concerned about his 14-year-old daughter who listens to nothing but Shakira, a Latin American female artist, and wanted to get her something with a more uplifting message. He listened to a few tracks of Ritmo Sin Fronteras and bought it on the spot!
Another man came up to ask if we were Heaven’s Magic, saying that he had worn out his collection of children’s tapes when his children were small. His 14-year-old son was with him and still remembered the songs. The father bought several CDs, saying that he wanted to make sure he had them available for his grandchildren, when he has them. Later that afternoon, the father came back and also bought two videos!
All this to say, we wholeheartedly agree with Mama and Peter’s counsel in GV #123 about tool distribution. We’ve found that getting out the tools is a great way to start off a relationship with someone, lead them to the Lord, and get them Activated!
By Praise, David, and Mary, India
We’ve found it fruitful when presenting the videos to potential sponsors, even if we didn’t know the executive previously, to call him on the phone (if possible) or go through the secretary to get an appointment. We have found, if handled in a proper manner, many top company heads will give you an appointment (eventually) just because you ask to see them and want to introduce your work. Then if we reach them at their level in a manner acceptable to them—coming on time, dressed nicely, with a good presentation—it can be very fruitful.
We present as much documented material as possible—e.g., color brochures, letters of sponsorship, etc.—as well as our personal photo album and newspaper articles about our CTP. This can all be done quite quickly as they are busy people and don’t read it all, but they like to see how much we have printed. Also putting several videos and audios on the desk helps them catch the vision.
The main battle is getting the appointment. We have found it definitely worth our while to take time to make appointments, as usually it weeds out the people who aren’t interested or aren’t sheepy. We have found that the ones who do grant an appointment usually take a video or two, even if they don’t get a whole set. It is also good to do some research and make sure that the person you are investing time in by getting an appointment with is the top person who has the authority to make the decision to give a substantial donation. There are some very helpful tips in part three of Finances and Fundraising (FSM #264) about making appointments.
One other thing we found helpful when delivering a set is to give the 11 videos, 12 audios, and a curriculum book in an inexpensive but smart-looking nylon bag.
When one of our friends sponsored a set for an institution, as he quizzed us as to whether the people at the institution would really use them. We assured him they would, so then we had to make sure we donated the set to an institution that had a video player available for the children and that the staff and principal had a vacuum and vision to take the time to use our videos, because we were quite desperate to be a good sample to this man. The Lord led us to a very sincere group who are doing a wonderful work with slum children and even teaching the children English. These people were so thankful and appreciative of the videos.
To help the institutions be more appreciative of and value the videos, we have asked them to fill in a questionnaire to send to us every two months. This questionnaire asks how often they watch the videos and what the teacher’s and children’s reactions are to them, as well as any suggestions they might have. This report not only helps the institution to take the sponsorship program more seriously, but also provides us with valuable proof to our donors of the benefit of the videos.
We realized how much we have to invest in not only getting the donation, but also in making sure the videos are used and therefore a good witness to as many children and people as possible, be they in an institution or a company who has our video library. Keeping the right motivation of not just getting out videos but getting people to watch them over and over will make the Lord and our sponsors happy. Our beautiful videos are such a powerful witness!
By Hosanna, MaryAnn, Timothy, and Andrew, India
Many Homes feel it’s hard to get out videos and that people will not give the amount requested per video (approximately US$25), but we have found that there is still a big vacuum for our videos. People also want to help because they see our sincerity and dedication to helping others.
We know the videos are really changing people’s lives and that the Lord blesses it when we make the effort to keep asking, seeking, and knocking on doors to get out the videos. We are motivated by a need to get out videos to meet our monthly budget, but we make it a point to focus on witnessing and not let selling burden us. It is up to the Lord to touch people’s hearts to give. You always win when you witness.
Some of the lessons we have learned are:
*Consistency in sending out teams. The best ability is availability.
*Keep in touch. Send monthly feeding material to those who bought videos so that when you meet them next time they are happy to help again.
*Have a good time of prayer and prophecy about where the Lord wants you to witness or which city the road team should go to.
*Be faithful to witness with and sign people up to Activated and the videos will go out.
*Set personal goals. Each team leader shoots for about 20 or 25 videos a month (3 x 25 = 75). (New outreach people start with lower goals and increase them as their faith increases.)
Through the people who have gotten videos we have established many friends who have become monthly or yearly pledgers, whom we feed regularly. Through this follow-up of video contacts we have established our work here. We are all so inspired to see how the Lord continues to supply for our Home through the distribution of videos.
By Ruth, Delhi Activated Home, India
A few months ago we gave a Mottos for Success to the superintendent of the ladies’ prison. When we went to follow up on her recently, she said, ‘Mottos for Success’ is my inspiration. I can’t thank you enough for it! As you know, this is a very tough job and difficult situations come up with the inmates. However, now when I come to work, I take a few minutes to read through the Mottos and it gives me the strength and the inspiration that I need to make it through the day. In fact, many times, the quote for the day is exactly what I need to solve the problem at hand! Nowadays I don’t make a move without first consulting ‘Mottos for Success’! People have actually tried to steal this calendar—they want it so badly! Could you please get me some more?
This dear lady is on Activated and loves the magazine. She is also very supportive of our efforts to share the Word with the prison inmates.
By Charity (of Chris), Australia
A few months ago I felt convicted to push getting out the tools here more. Our main fundraising method has been ballooning and face painting, and it had been over six months since I’d last been out pushing the tools. We’ve had a cupboard full of videos, VCDs, CDs, etc., sitting there, and every time I’d open the cupboard to get out tracts, those other tools would stare me in the face and I knew I needed to do something to get them out.
Finally, one prayer day I asked for prayer for increased faith to get out the tools, against lethargy and lack of faith. The Lord gave a very encouraging prophecy and He even told me where I should go! So with that boost of prayer and prophecy, off we went one Friday morning. The Lord showed us the first man we should approach. He was someone who had helped in the past, whom we had followed up on, but hadn’t contacted for a year and a half. He remembered us and I presented our beautiful Christmas CD cards. Even though it was only August, businesses here usually purchase their Christmas cards long before Christmas. I explained what we had been up to since we last met and asked if he’d be interested in purchasing any CD cards. He said that he was very appreciative of our work and that he’d take two CD cards and give us AUD$500!
My OC partner and I almost fell over, wondering if we had heard him correctly! We also signed him up for Activated! Right after that we met another man who was very impressed with the cards and bought 10. Almost everyone we spoke with took at least one. The cards are so beautiful! They sell themselves.
The Lord encouraged our faith on the first day out. Since then I’ve been out once a week, which is all I’ve been able to schedule in due to being a full-time teacher, cook, dishwasher, etc., but the Lord has made each time out very special. I’ve been out for two hours once a week for the last five weeks specifically to push the CD cards and have gotten out about 120. As I’m going to an area that I’ve been to previously, my time out has also been very inspiring follow up and meeting more potential Activated subscribers.
By Steven Don Quixote, Poland
We have a contact with the McDonald’s restaurants in our local area. They had been helping us with meals regularly for the last year and a half. In November they requested us to do a freebie clown party for the kids of their workers, and the Lord led us to do so. They had helped us quite a bit, so it was just a small favor on our part, but it really paid off.
They were very happy with our performance, and that is when we met the area manager. We presented our work to her, and she really liked it. Recently, on follow-up we met her again and presented her with the Treasure Attic videos and other tools. She decided to buy Christmas videos for two restaurants in our city, so that the children of her clientele can view them.
By Seth, Indonesia
We recently found ourselves in a difficult situation after having gone to various shops and door to door with no results at all. But the Lord had told us to go to this specific area today. What was happening?
We decided we had better pray and ask the Lord if we’d the right instructions. As we prayed, we got a check to try a certain holiday housing area in that particular area. When we went to this area, things began to click.—Almost everybody seemed interested! Boy, we just knew we were at the right place, especially when those doors started opening. We met some new people who were potential to follow up on, and had a good day getting out the tools.
A good lesson we learned from it was to not get discouraged, especially if the Lord leads you to go somewhere and it doesn’t seem like doors are opening right away. Maybe He has something else He would like to tell you about the area, or show you something different that He wants you to do, or a place that is located in the area where the sheep are. Only He knows!
By Prem Fighter, India
Over the last couple of months the Lord has helped our Home to distribute 200 Treasure Attic VCDs. And the best part is that we’ve been getting them out practically in our own backyard. I’m so glad that the this city is burnt out lie got exposed in the Heading into 2002 GNs (ML #3382A:102-103, GN 978).
For the longest time we had the it’s not possible to get out VCDs mindset. All that changed when Aurora set up a booth at the recent book fair in Delhi and hundreds of VCDs got out! We’ve been visiting a lot of nurseries and playschools in our suburb and the schools just love the Treasure Attics! We offer 20 titles in a set and the schools have happily been buying sets of VCDs. The sky’s the limit!
By João and Clara, Brazil
If you are interested in distributing our wonderful tools in quantity through different outlets such as magazine stands, bookstores, etc., here are some tips we hope will be a blessing to you.
*Selling materials to shops starts much earlier than it does to the general public. We start selling Christmas tools in August or September, and some companies make their orders as early as June.
*You need an order book for the orders you are going to be receiving. It is important to record all the information properly, fill in the information about the company, the form of payment, the order, prices, their signature, etc., so there are no misunderstandings.
*The way your material is presented makes a big difference in the quantity of tools you’ll sell.
Example 1: For the Christmas CD cards, we presented them in a display (made by our Service Center) with 50 CD cards. This helps in the sales, as the shops would buy at least one display.
Example 2: We sold the Treasure Attic activity booklets and Kiddy Viddy coloring books in boxes of 100 and 120.
*The delivery: If you have a stock that you can sell and deliver right away, all the better, as you save time and money. Make sure to fill the orders properly.
*Hear from the Lord in prophecy regularly, because He is the One guiding and opening the doors. Sometimes the Lord opens an unexpected door that proves to be very fruitful. Give credit to the One to Whom credit is due—our wonderful Husband.
Example: Last year, during Christmas, we entered one natural food shop that had a section for musical CDs for meditation purposes. They bought a display, and during the course of our visits, we sold around 20 displays for almost all the other shops (they are part of a chain of stores). In a place that we normally wouldn’t have thought of as receptive, we sold around 1,000 CDs.
*After the sales, keep a record of their names, what tools they bought, last time visited, etc.
By Peter, Italy
I’d like to share this message that I received from Dad on witnessing:
(Dad speaking:) I’ve come to give you interesting insight about witnessing in answer to the petition you’ve just made to the Lord in prayer, to be a more effective and fruitful witness for His glory in these exciting days of the End. As you already know from recent counsel from the Lord, things have gotten pretty hot, and the attacks of the Enemy have intensified, and that, of course, is also true regarding witnessing, which is one thing the Devil hates the most, like I pointed out in Fighters (ML #551, Vol. 4).
We are living in the Last Days, and as the Scriptures say, The love of many shall wax cold, particularly in the West. That’s why you have to fight all the harder to keep the vision for the lost. God bless you for sticking and keeping on, obeying the Lord’s commandment and the high calling you have received from your youth since you joined the Family: the privilege and the honor of being one of His apostles, one sent with a message, who are at the top of God’s list, and tops here as well, PTL!
I know you are a veteran in the field of witnessing. You have done it for years; you have learned to preach the Gospel and to live by faith. But let me give you some fresh counsel and tips that might help you to be even more effective and fruitful in this ever-fulfilling, exciting, challenging ministry of searching out and caring for the lost, precious sheep the Lord puts in your path as you venture out in your daily witnessing.
As with anything else, the Lord works pretty much by His same basic formula—Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. Sometimes this is not so easy to put into practice for the simple reason that it doesn’t come naturally. You tend to be more naturally minded, more concerned about the physical things, which are also important, because without them the Lord’s work can’t go on. So it almost comes automatically to have the tendency to be quite satisfied in reaching first the quota of funds for the day, giving out as many tools as you can. But if you think for a moment and try to be more Heavenly minded—what is it that the Lord is most pleased with? What did He really mean by putting His Kingdom first? That’s right, souls! The souls that you win for Him and capture from the Enemy will be your friends forever in Heaven.
Our mission is a rescue mission, to free people from the slavery of the Devil and the System. I know that your motives are sincere and you really do desire to win more souls and disciples for His Kingdom, to be faithful in your follow-up, and much has already been said and written about the subject, but what I’m trying to emphasize here is, since it doesn’t come naturally, you have to really make an effort to put that into practice, to keep the vision and your priorities straight in your witness. One thing that will surely help and serve as a reminder is to have a quota for souls—let’s say a couple of souls a day, as a minimum—and make that your top priority. Or if you want to put it like that, just don’t be satisfied until you’ve won at least a soul when you go out. Make that a habit.
Sometimes the Lord is testing you to see if you put souls first, even though it may look like you’re not getting many tools out or getting the funds in. You can’t count all your blessings in dollars and cents, not even in the number of tools out.
Another good thing to remember and be faithful in is giving out a reasonable amount of posters, not just the milky ones, but also the meaty ones about Heaven and the Endtime, because that’s what makes us different from the other churches and denominations—our radical Endtime message. Always take the opportunity to give out plenty of those wonderful and powerful tracts. In this way the message will still be getting out even if you don’t get to sell videos, tapes or CDs. The Lord is not bound by that, and He can bless you just as much if you are faithful in giving out the message and put souls as your priority. That’s what the Activated program is all about, to accomplish this ultimate purpose, to feed the sheep. I understand that you don’t have the Activated material in your local language, but just be faithful with what you have.
I want to also remind you of how important it is to practice using the new weapons as much as you can. The Enemy is clever and he doesn’t play with obsolete weapons; he uses his latest devices, so don’t be satisfied with your old weapons or you won’t be a match for the Devil. Sometimes it’s not easy for a veteran to get used to the new weapons. He thinks that the old ones are just fine and that they always worked, so, After all, I’m getting along pretty well. Make sure that you always carry the new weapons with you, fully loaded and ready to use. The Lord is your partner, He wants to help you win the game, and in order for Him to take full part in the action you must avail yourself of the new weapons. In this way your victory is guaranteed.
Sometimes it may look like your day hasn’t been what you call a bright day, but if you have been faithful, then you are a success in the Lord’s eyes. When you witness, you always win. The Lord may allow you to have a slow day once in awhile. And when that happens, it will help you get desperate with Him, to come to Him for instructions, hearing constantly from Him fresh every day by using the marvelous, supernatural gift of prophecy, to depend totally on Him, making sure you check with Him about everything. As you faithfully spend time loving and communing with Him, you’ll find out that your slow days will be few and far between.
Like I said, what really matters is not your years of experience, even though the Lord will surely use that too, but your present connection with the Lord, most of all—hearing from Him fresh every day and getting His daily instructions for the battle. It may be the same message, but it’s varied every day to suit the need and adapt to the situation, day by day, and moment by moment to have a consistent RPM.
Remember to follow these simple guidelines in your outreach:
1. Be consistent in using the new weapons.
2. Make souls your top priority.
3. Give out the message, Endtime included.
4. Be faithful in your mail ministry and follow-up.
5. Pray desperately when you do your follow-up. Pray over every address, every person, and get specifics from the Lord about the people, when to go visit them, what specific Word they need, etc.
You’ll be surprised how the Lord wants to be part of every little detail in leading and feeding His sheep, and how much He desires to be your teamworker, your witnessing partner. So put your hands in His and let Him guide you, inspire you, comfort you, and lead you all the way to victory.
God bless you and make you a blessing to many as you diligently seek Him in your witness and in everything you do. I love you! (End of message from Dad.)
This counsel from Dad has been a tremendous help. The points he gave keep me in check, so that I don’t miss any of the above guidelines that are so important when witnessing.
I was naturally pushing the tools first, and giving out a poster whenever I would sell a video or a tape, mostly for the children, so I wasn’t really giving out the meat of the message. Now I do it the other way around and it works much better. Whatever your approach, the key is to keep tuning in to HQ, to receive specific instructions for your situation.
By Hannah (of Tim), Taiwan
The Lord showed us to order 1,500 CD cards for our Christmas push. He also told us not to worry about how we’d get them out, but to be faithful to follow His leading, and He’d take care of the rest. 1,500 CD cards was a large amount for our Home, but we went ahead by faith as the Lord led.
We were hoping to get the CD cards out before December, but because of different things that were happening at the time we didn’t start distributing them until the beginning of December. But as we moved step by step with His leading, going where He told us to go, we were able to get out around 150 to 200 per day.
We made it our daily prayer for the Lord to help us get our CD cards out, and we went out claiming the power of the keys of the Kingdom to help us to hit the mark. By the middle of December we had already gotten out all 1,500 CD cards and people were still ordering. Most people we approached didn’t hesitate to buy one or sponsor larger amounts, especially when they saw the beautiful cover.
By Hannah Sunshine, India
We have a fruitful ministry of getting out the Mottos for Success. These have been a blessing in getting out the Word to the corporate world, as well as an avenue for support. We take great care to make sure that the Mottos have our mobile number and e-mail address on them so that if people are interested they can easily get in touch with us. This at times has been a bit of a sacrifice, as after putting labels on 1,000 Mottos and having to open the boxes one by one, your fingers get a bit sore.
However, one day while driving the children to the park I received a call on the mobile for another order of 150 Mottos, and that very same day a few more people called to inquire about them. I was inspired to see that when we trust the Lord and put Him first, He is always out there to fight for us and help us along, even when we struggle to make the schedule still run.
By Philip, USA
When we first got here, we noticed that most of the Homes in the area were supported through canning. I tried it a few times and, realizing that it was pretty good income and a fun and a good way to get out the Word, I started to really get into it. Then on my W&R, as I was restudying the Problems and Solutions series (MLs #3069-3073; Vol.23), I decided to do the Word study outlined by Mama at the end of part 1.
When going through the GNs on supply, witnessing, and finances, I got convicted that I wasn’t really obeying and following as closely as the Lord wanted me to. Although I was getting out the Word, I didn’t have the time at the stoplight to win people to Jesus or to the work. At that point I committed myself to stick to DTD, STS, and personal witnessing—trusting the Lord for the income, as this area doesn’t have the best reputation for tool distribution.
Amazingly enough, for the same amount of time put into it, I had a greater income, and on top of it, started to meet people I could follow up on, as well as sheep who offered regular support to our work. It was so encouraging, as it was a step of faith, but the Lord blessed it.
By Daniel, Indonesia
A friend we recently met offered to sell Treasure Attics and other tools in his bookstore, as well as distribute them to other bookstores. He initially ordered five sets of all the English Treasure Attics and ten sets of the Indonesian ones to get things going, and said he would like to order more later.
Our tools, mainly Treasure Attics, have been becoming quite popular with the playgroups and pre-schools in our area. Last month one of them ordered four sets of Treasure Attics in English and then another branch of the same school ordered another four sets this month. It is amazing the way the Lord is getting out the tools here. There is such a need for children’s material.
By Mike SGA (of Sylvie), Kenya
Someone suggested we approach the local British Council Library about taking some of our Treasure Attics and Kiddy Viddies. I wasn’t sure they would be interested, so I put it off for several months. Finally the Lord convicted me and I went ahead and introduced the tools to them. The response was amazing! The woman in charge asked me to bring her a list of all the tools we had available.
Without a second thought, she ordered the entire set of kids’ videos at their full price, which we were able to deliver the very next day! It was a total of 35 videos and a good lesson to me about following the Lord’s checks. Maybe folks in other areas would like to try approaching English libraries and cultural centers, as they seem to be very much in need of good educational materials, and we have the best!
By Susanna, USA
I began to pay more attention to the children’s music CDs and tapes this month since I am being hired for two hours a day on weekdays to be the clown at five shopping centers, doing flannelgraphs, music, balloons, and face painting—the usual clown stuff. I’ve been especially impressed by the I Like to Sing CD, and I listen to it every day while driving to and from the clown jobs so that I can memorize the words.
When I introduce a song to a group of kids, I usually pass out a page with the words to the mothers so the kids can continue to learn it at home. I think it’s a great tape and the songs touch on topics that are very important in the lives of the average child. I also really like Bible Heroes and hope to use it more as well. I’m thankful for the variety of wonderful music we have for children and it’s a blessing to be able to share it with the public.
By Sonnet (of Caleb), Canada
We took a course a few weeks ago that included a marketing segment. They talked about buyer’s remorse, which is what people experience when they get home after purchasing something. They often feel guilty or that they paid too much, etc. People who purchase products from us are often doing it on impulse, so we wanted to do something to counteract the negative effects of this line of thinking, so that we can anticipate future sales to the same customers.
We decided to send an attractive thank-you note to each person who purchases something. The note is professional, but at the same time, personal in appearance—thanking buyers warmly for their decision to try us out and repeating our commitment to provide quality materials for children and families. It sends a message to them that they made the right choice!
By David F., Cristal, Maria, and David N., Ecuador
When people buy a collection of videos, they are used to asking for discounts. Instead of selling the videos cheaper, which we are already doing (US$10 each instead of $20) due to the extreme inflation, we give them a tape or sometimes even an extra video for free if they buy two collections—Kiddy Viddy and Treasure Attic.
By Marie and Angela, Finland
While out tooling it is often a real fight to get the necessary funds. One way to increase the amount for each CD is to let the person decide the amount they will give. When being asked what the cost per CD is, I usually answer, It’s totally up to you. People give differently, usually this amount (and I state the amount we ask). But you can give more, if you’d like to help the work. Most people then end up giving something over the asking price. It’s healthy and good to exercise our faith, and the Lord always shows new avenues to get the tools out and to increase the funds as well.
By Paul, Leah, and Victor, Italy
To facilitate distributing tools in larger quantities, we ask permission as an association to put up a table and billboard at commercial centers, town squares or fairs. So far it has been inspiring, with lots of tools out and sweet people met. The fact that there is a table and billboard that explains our work gives people more trust in their giving.
By Pedro and Sara, Brazil
Displaying the CD cards in our friends’ workplaces such as video shops, bookstores, and language schools has helped us to get out the tools and made our friends feel part of our work.
By Michael, Maria, and Nora, Kenya
Being a registered NGO allows us to have a bank account in the name of the NGO. This way we encourage folks to pay by check, as they often don’t carry much cash on them due to crime. This saves us coming back repeatedly to see them to pick up the funds, as often they can be out of the office, sick, in a meeting, etc. Also, this way if folks don’t have funds until later in the week, we get them to write a postdated check. This also encourages them to take more according to what fits their budget.
By Jody, Marcello, Kelly, and Anita, Brazil
Do you remember those Tupperware meetings where you’d be given a reward for the number of people you invited to a presentation of containers and utensils? Well, we had the same idea for selling our wonderful videos.
We made a flyer explaining how to get the prizes if the ladies invite their friends for teatime at their house while we show our educational tools. We distribute these flyers along with the Treasure Attic flyers.
By Spring (of Leyland), South Africa
We started attending private women’s get-togethers and women’s seminars to distribute our tools. It has been bearing a lot of fruit in tools out and in new supporters and friends.
By Johnny, Taiwan
When going tooling I have been continuing in one specific suburb, and have been going to each main street systematically, rather than hopping from one outreach spot in one part of the city to another spot in another part of the city. This way I have found it more fruitful as far as follow-up, as I’m able to visit those who stood out more than the others in that specific area, and who say that they are interested in receiving more literature and visits from us, and who may be interested in helping, etc.
By Jesse, Joy, and Jessica, Brazil
We got a list from the Department of Education at the local City Hall with all the addresses and names of all the schools and their principals. Now we have a better idea of where all the schools are, both locally and on the road, where we can offer our tools.
By Gabe (of Sunshine), Mexico
We’ve been getting out lots of our videos and educational tools at local schools. Some of these institutions are quite big and they usually ask us for catalogues and price lists, which at present do not exist in Spanish. We’ve had to print out our own version on computer, which has really helped. We wrote up a short description of each video and the moral values that they teach. This is what the directors of the schools seem to be the most interested in, as well as a thorough price list.
By Sunny Ruth, India
When approaching banks, we’ve found it helpful to go to the zonal office, as that’s where the top people sit. Also, when approaching banks and companies for bulk orders, they will often expect us to leave a brochure of our work, an appeal letter and a sample of the Mottos for Success with them, so that these tools can in turn sell us and our appeal to their bank/company.
By Patrick, Christina, and Meeka, USA
We found out that though some stores will not buy the CDs, many will take them on consignment. They usually just take 12-18 or so, and we give them a receipt. They charge what they want and sell them and just give us what we ask for. One bookstore has also taken our books. They don’t have to have a lot of stock and we check in whenever we want, pick up the funds, and give them more tools if they need them.
By Mercy, Philippines
Our Home distributed 169 Christmas CDs just by first offering them to friends and supporters. We also let them know that they could be ordered for their friends, and we ended up running out of CDs.
By Daniel and Mary, England
A postering tip: While walking down the street, I ask the Lord to guide me to the ones He knows will be receptive, and I don’t try to shoot at everyone. After a while, He seems to give a special anointing of discernment or to whisper, Go to this one. That one, not that one. It’s almost like a dance sometimes, going from one to the other with a smile here, a sentence of encouragement there or a little joke with someone else.
By Jessica and David, Russia
We’ve started getting a lot of educational material sets (10 videos, 20 cassettes, and kids’ lit) sponsored, which we then give to orphanages and poorer institutions. People are very willing to help with this project, because they see that the materials are so good and worth it.
By Mary, Andrew, Martin, and Michael, Kenya
Recently the Lord gave us the idea of offering a buy one, get one free deal to all those we sell tools to. So we’ve started giving a free Activated subscription for those who buy two videos or more. It has worked well, and many people automatically buy two videos, as they feel they are getting a better deal. This way we are getting out more videos and Activated.
By Juliet, Brazil
I’ve set up a video purchase plan by which people can buy our videos in an easy way: Each month they pay a small amount and they get a new video every two months. It’s designed for half a collection (seven TAs), which they choose in advance. This enables people that aren’t so well off to get our videos.
By Phin and Eman (15), Mexico
We have been offering Mottos as a promotional gift when people buy our tools in a collection. To promote Mottos we ask several people in the room when their birthdays are and then read what is written on that day. There is a magical power in the reading of these quotes. Sometimes it almost seems that they buy the collection of tapes just so that they can have the calendar.
By Renee, Panama
If you sell CD cards or CDs, try going into McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, or any place where they sell fast food or have children’s parties. They could be interested in buying the CDs to play during birthday parties or for Christmas in their eating area, or perhaps even giving the CD cards to the birthday boy or girl. We’ve been to lots of these places and most of them play Coloring the World, Best Friends, and Be So Happy for their parties and have bought the Christmas CDs to play during Christmas in the restaurant area.
If you live in an area with a lot of Spanish speakers, bring the Spanish CDs with you. Los Mejores Villancicos CD and card is the biggest hit here and goes out faster than any other CD we have.
By Micah and Trust, Taiwan
Some people say that they have no children when you show them the videos. At that point we get the CDs out (the adult ones) and say: No problem! If you would like to help but have no children, we have some beautiful music CDs. This works sometimes. The other way around also works. When they don’t show interest in the CDs we then show them the videos, and many times that is what they want instead.
If people say that the tools are expensive, we agree with them and say: Yes, they are a bit expensive. However, you can’t buy these in any store. And the money we get from these helps our volunteer work.
Sometimes it works, after you have asked someone if they would like to help by buying the tools, to remain silent until they answer. If they ask questions at this point answer each question, then once again remain silent. Let the Lord work in their heart. Sometimes talking too much can make them feel like we are pushing too much and they may decide not to buy anything because of it.
By Isaac (19, of Thai Abe and Christina), Thailand
I’m not a pro in the field of outreach; in fact, I’m quite a freshy. However, I have a small tip that might help some people in this financial crisis the country’s in now.
In a lot of shops I go to, not everyone is going to buy the tools. Some don’t because they genuinely lack finances; others don’t want to give what they have, and some—well, I couldn’t begin to say it all. It gets discouraging for me after awhile. But then the Lord gave me this idea.
After I give the whole spiel about our work and present it all nicely, people usually ask, How can I help you? Great! I say, This is one idea we have. And I’ll present the tools. If they don’t want them for some reason, I’ll try to get them to donate something—old clothes for an orphanage, equipment for the Home, or something. This has been pretty fruitful and we’ve gotten quite a number of promises for donations of clothing, books, toys, and even food. Try it!
By Michael Jolly, Japan
For my night singing ministry (or night minstreling, as I call it) I have made a flyer to pass out. This flyer includes a short profile, and my song list (divided into categories—one section of original songs, and one of Family/Gospel songs). I put these lists first so that this will be the first thing people will see. I have gotten many requests for Family and Gospel songs, which gives me an opportunity to make my singing more of a witness.
I also included the tract To You!—With Love! at the end and inserted some thought-provoking quotes from Kachi Aru Toki (Precious Moments booklet) and Key of Happiness. My contact address, phone number, and e-mail address are at the end. The flyer is A6 and is four pages. I also included my picture on the front page.
This has been an inspiring tool in my night minstreling, as it includes a tract with the salvation message, so there is no need to pass out tracts afterwards, which sometimes offends the management.
Often I am introduced to people as the singing missionary. This, coupled with my photo album, makes quite an impact on the customers, and also opens doors for me to sit down and witness to people. It also brings in better donations.
By Francesco, Taiwan
I’ve been a provisioner and outreacher for many years, and it’s been through witnessing and tool distribution that I’ve met most of my provisioning contacts.
After I explain the work, promote the tools and witness to the contact, I usually ask the president of the company what product the company produces, if I don’t already know. If it is something useful, I ask right then if they could help with the product. Then I usually send a letter explaining more about our work, and phone them to see when to pick up the items. After following up on them, many of these people have turned into supporters, or visa sponsors, or wherever they fit into the circle of friends.
By Miguel, Mercy, Gabe, Celeste, and Cindy, Mexico
Have you tried going to teachers schools and offering the tools at wholesale prices? It could work for you!
By David Joy, India
A fruitful way to get out more tapes when visiting schools is to ask the principal if you can offer the audio tapes to the teachers during their brief morning recess in the staff room. Since we have lowered the prices on our tools to make them affordable for more people, we have seen a marked increase in our tool distribution stats. The teachers are very enthusiastic about our audiotapes and usually take two or more since the price is lower.
By Lily French, Middle East
We found a new avenue for meeting people we don’t usually meet in the course of outreach or CTPs. A man we met on an outing got the idea to invite us to an embassy cocktail party he had been invited to. He thought it would be good for our work. This man wasn’t very deep spiritually, but the Lord used him.
At this particular reception there were representatives to our country of most of the embassies in our country. That night we met several ambassadors of countries we had lived in. When we were leaving, we were commenting how nice it had been to break into a new circle of people and how we would like to meet more of them. As we were taking the lift, a gentleman and his son began talking to us and befriended us. They invited us to accompany them to the next embassy cocktail 10 days later and we agreed, smiling at how quickly the Lord had answered our prayer.
Since then, this sweet gentleman, a representative of his country, has made it a point to invite us to these types of functions, and we have met quite a few diplomats at these events. We were not able to get very deep on our first meeting, only explaining our work a little, but when we met them again, it was as if meeting old friends. One ambassador’s wife approached me and started pouring out her heart about how lonely her life is away from her family, etc. I realized we have a whole crop of influential and lonely people to minister to and be a blessing to.
We attended another event and met the consul from Japan, who got very interested about our work and suggested we contact him to arrange an appointment with the person responsible for funding of projects in his embassy as they are looking for projects to sponsor. We agreed we might be able to help each other: We supply them with projects; they supply us with funding!
By Windy, Jamaica
We have been here in Jamaica for one year now and the going has at times been pretty rough and somewhat slow. On one of our prayer days we got really desperate with the Lord as to what to do to bring more financial stability. We read the FSMs on finances and fundraising, and it seemed that it was telling us what we already knew, but the Lord showed us that even though we already knew what to do we weren’t doing as much as we could. We were doing little or no follow-up, with the excuse that we needed to bring in the rent and didn’t have the time. We weren’t trying to reach people with a long-term vision of being their friends and spiritual confidants and were instead looking at what we could get from them at the time.
We wanted to do more in the way of witnessing, but the bills always hit us right in the face and the true witnessing always took a back seat. Well, after that day we started to pull up our socks, not just because we wanted the Lord’s financial blessings, but also because we wanted to have that missionary spirit that we were so lacking.
Since then we’ve implemented a follow-up day where we take a day off from raising funds and instead follow up on our friends. It is so fulfilling for all of us because we come home with testimonies of how our sheep are progressing. We are taking the time to get to know them and their desires and how we can help them. We never come home on that day without a testimony of supply! The Lord never fails. Even our everyday witnessing has been more of an inspiration because we are witnessing more to those we meet and are making long-lasting friends. One of our dear friends has even pledged a monthly gift without us asking him to!
By Sonnet (of Caleb), Canada
We have a testimony to share which we hope will encourage everyone who is struggling, as we have been, to make the shift from the non-witnessing methods of outreach to more faithful follow-up and deeper witnessing. It is no credit to us that we made this shift rather abruptly, as we moved to a city that simply did not have sufficient spots for ballooning. We had typically been using this as a major source of funding for more than a year, and though we were very eager and excited with Activated fever, when we moved to this city we discovered the methods we had been using were a tougher sell than we were used to.
At the suggestion of our dear Home member, Sarah C., the Lord gave us the burden and vision to do regular visitation at a local rehab hospital where there is a constant flow of patients recovering from severe burns, brain injuries, and other debilitating conditions. It has always been touching to visit and share love, cheer, and a little Word with these patients. Alongside this, we have been having regular weekly Bible studies—attended primarily by Wine Press members and former member young adults.
Just a few weeks ago, Sarah and I went to the hospital. We were disappointed to hear that L., one of Sarah’s favorite patients, was no longer there. We were happy, for his sake, to hear he had been discharged, and Sarah prayed she would somehow be able to regain contact with him. By a miracle, the following day, Sarah encountered L. at a shopping mall very near our Home. You can imagine her surprise when she discovered he lived in the same apartment complex as we do! Sarah invited L. to attend our Bible study and exchanged phone numbers with him. He promised to come.
L. showed up for the Bible study as promised and was keenly interested and feeling quite comfortable to speak up about anything he didn’t understand or agree with. It was challenging and we all had a good chuckle afterwards as he showed us up a time or two! We got that we should take more individual time with him, so Sarah began to invite L. over for individual study once or twice a week. In the wake of these visits the following wonderful events have taken place:
L. has offered to finance an exploratory trip to Cuba, has offered to rent us a home he owns at a very reasonable price, had Sarah accompany him to a well-publicized dedication at a burn unit where Sarah met and conversed with the administrator (who we are praying will give us permission to minister there) and was filmed on national TV, and, just to add to the excitement—L. has just been notified that he will soon appear on the Oprah Winfrey Show and he wants Sarah to accompany him!
A little footnote here to close—this has all happened in the wake of real financial struggling and daily desperation as we have been living much like we did in the early days as we learn to depend more on the God factor. So many times we felt like we weren’t accomplishing much, but we are so inspired with what the Lord has done and is doing as we continue to trust Him.
Written by a Middle East pioneer team
In our area the Family’s presence and work is still very young; it’s only been slightly over two years since we have been active in this country. Thanks to the Lord’s leading and open doors, we have received and followed up on many invitations for CTP projects which are keeping us very involved in children’s education, care of the handicapped, work with refugees, and more. Needless to say, our financial support—not only for all these programs, but also for the running of the Home—has been a constant challenge. Income from tool distribution is simply not sufficient in our case, and for security reasons we haven’t had much of a mail ministry either.
After prayer and discussion, we felt that the Lord was leading us to embark on a pledge program push whereby we would ask our existing friends and contacts, many of whom had helped only occasionally in the past, if at all, to consider committing themselves to a regular monthly donation towards our work.
At first we thought this might be a bit of a bold step, and we did wonder, somewhat nervously, what people’s initial reaction would be. We don’t have years of service or reputation in this particular field to refer to. Most of us come from countries considered more affluent and wealthy than the one we are ministering in. Sometimes we felt that we didn’t understand the people here well enough to present our need and get a positive response. Logistical questions also came up; for example, should we present an actual pledge coupon for people to sign on the dotted line, or would this approach be offensive to our friends and end up doing more harm than good?
Any such questions, reservations, and comments were addressed and prayed over and we then went ahead with a plan which seemed good to all and was confirmed by the Lord. A request letter was drawn up by a couple of people, then critiqued and approved by each outreacher and teamworker. The outcome was a two-page letter containing a summary of our local CTP activities, our request for monthly commitments of financial help, and an anecdote or two on the theme of giving.
A coupon was made available separately so as to have the option to either present it or not on a case by case basis, and this seems to have worked very well. We also discussed together which friends and contacts should or shouldn’t be approached with this request. Each outreacher drew up a list of those they were responsible to ask. We gave ourselves a few weeks to contact everyone, allowing of course, extra time for many to think it over and give us their reply at a later follow-up date.
We brought this push before the Lord regularly at our morning devotions, and often prayed for the individuals whom we would be approaching that day, or those who had already been approached, and whose decisions were still under consideration. Sometimes we wondered if we were ever going to see any results. Here nearly all our outreach time was being spent on this push, and we didn’t even have the little income we used to have from distributing tools anymore.
The Lord didn’t fail, and we would like to testify that the Lord blessed this step, and has amazed us by meeting our small faith with inspiring results beyond our expectations. In a little over six months He has raised up for us a reliable income of US$1,250 per month in solid pledges from about 15 people. Others have helped on a less regular basis above this, and yet others are still considering their commitments, so our efforts have definitely been paying off.
Points to ponder
One pleasant aspect of the pledge program is that you usually get to see each donor at least once a month, not only to pick up their gift, but also for a good feeding and follow-up visit with them. This is very encouraging, as otherwise we tend to look to fresher outreach or other quick income methods, rather than investing the necessary time into feeding people as we should.
CTP activities are an important aspect of this program and we have needed to do as much as we can in the way of CTP projects in order to stay credible, as it’s easy for people to relate to this type of good works for the community, especially as we minister in Muslim fields.
In some cases we have also presented the pledge program to first-time contacts. Our basic letter of introduction of our local work and needs includes an option for regular financial support. This letter is part of our presentation album and is also the one we send to people who sometimes request a fax of introduction before granting us an appointment. Encouragingly, in either case (whether we are asking a new person or an established friend to help) we have never encountered a negative attitude towards the fact that we asked for monthly commitments.
This is only the beginning, as the potential to raise more long-term support is still very great. We know that as we continue to be faithful with those that we do have, the Lord will lead us to more avenues and open doors for regular support. With this program comes a sense of responsibility toward each of the precious people the Lord raises up to support us as we feed them spiritually.
We pray this testimony may encourage you to also launch into an exciting pledge program in your area if you haven’t already!
If you seek, knock, and ask He will help you find, open, and get!
By Loanna (17), Croatia
As Dad says, Nothing succeeds like success. When first going on outreach we had a rather sloppy, casual appearance. Although the Lord still used us and blessed our efforts, it gave a better impression to people when we dressed a little more official. People look quite a bit on the outside appearance, so we have tried to adapt. Although it was a bit hard at first, the Lord started to really bless our outreach and it is going 100 times better.
By Peter, Italy
I found it very helpful when you witness to tell people about our Web site. It adds more credibility to your witness as a worldwide organization. I was witnessing to a director in his office and at first he was kind of skeptical, but when I mentioned to him about our Web site he immediately went to his computer and checked it out. He was very interested and got turned on about our worldwide work. He complimented us for the good job we are doing and gave a generous donation.
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[GN QUOTES IN BOXES THROUGHOUT TEXT:]
There’s nothing that will make the transition from other fundraising methods or System jobs to Activated and follow-up easier. There is no presto-change-o solution. You have to decide if you’re willing to work, sacrifice and do whatever it takes to develop a lasting work and make the future success of the Family a reality, or whether you’ll stay in your present System-dependent ruts.
—ML #3363:145
Focusing on distributing tools is one of the means by which you will both meet those who will become your solid flock and church, and by which you will support My work as you establish a solid follow-up work. It’s all a part of My plan. It can work together so beautifully if you will just follow, believe, and obey.
—ML #3382a:106
What’s the best way to [get out the Word far and wide]? Well, it’s pretty obvious—by getting out the Word-based tools that you’ve been provided with.
—ML #3382a:93
These treasures [tools] have not been given to you just for your own benefit or for you to use to reach and touch a select few. They are meant to be spread far and wide—to the world, to the masses!
—ML #3382a:94
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