Our Ministry Policy

We appreciate opening this forum for discussion. My husband and I have been serving as Children's Evangelists for over 12 years. We have had numerous discussions about the fee or free aspects of our events. For us after many years of prayerful conversations, we have felt led to be a "faith-based" ministry. My husband is bi-vocational and I have given up my job as an Administrative Director of a Government office to serve as a full-time Chalk Artist. When we started out we served in small churches that were unable to afford any kind of ministry for a special event. We accepted love offerings, but there were times that we returned them to the church for their children's ministries, because they were in such dire need. Our programs are to help churches and organizations that are struggling to reach kids with any kind of outreach.

We have great friends in the ministry that choose to charge a fee. They are very comfortable in asking for a fee, in their words, they feel if they don't ask a fee, that people will think that there ministry is "Cheap" or a sub-par program. We have seen both sides.

Our ministry has been built from the donations of loving friends, churches and out of our own funds to try to present the Gospel in such a way that our programs are neither sub-par or cheap looking. When we have had a need the Lord has graciously provided. It keeps us humble. It has helped us to depend upon the Lord for all things. Our vehicle, our board and supplies, our outreach materials, etc. We have learned lessons by "walking by faith". For us it has been a life lesson, "free we've been given, freely we give".

Either way the main focus, is the Lord and the outreach to the Lost. We like where the Lord is leading us, Richard will hopefully be able to retire in the next several years and we hope to be full time.

I believe that it would be better to charge, if that is your conviction, than to not serve the Lord with your gift. But for us, the blessings of service have been immeasurable and the joy of seeing children and their parents give their lives to Christ are so awesome, that we would give any gain to see Christ glorified.

Jackie
Sparrow Chalk Art Ministries

Jackie,

Thanks for your thoughtful input on this subject. When our family was operating as an independent, part-time ministry we suggested a certain amount as an honorarium but did not make that a requirement for booking us. Sometimes we received less and sometimes we received more than the suggested amount. Whatever we received was rolled back into the ministry for purchasing supplies and equipment.

Honestly though, had it not been for my regular full-time job we could never have survived on love offerings. So, I can understand why most full-time ministries of this nature decide to operate on a set fee. The down side to this is that some churches will not be able to afford a set fee. This is a problem we see even within our own situation as Salvation Army evangelists.

Here's the brutal truth. It cost's around $2100 a week to keep our family on the road. That may seem impossibly high but living on the road is incredibly expensive (especially if you are raising kids while touring). It includes the cost of maintaining the bus, RV campground or hotel fees, diesel, food, equipment, supplies, printed material, salary, insurance, quarters (for when we are off the road), retirement, etc. etc.

Thankfully, the Evangelism department does not charge the SArmy venues which book us that full amount. Headquarters actually subsidizes the expense for a 3-4 day campaign (crusade/revival) by 2/3. In other words they charge a flat rate of $700 but absorb $1400. Not a bad deal.

Even so, some of our churches tell us that they cannot afford to book our ministry. Of course, this saddens us but the fee that is charged is beyond our control. The real question is, if our ministry was an independent venture...who would be paying that other 2/3? Most of us could not afford to absorb a $1400 loss every week.

I do not like the idea of having set fees. But then again, I have known godly people in similar traveling ministries who could not survive more than a few seasons because operating as a faith ministry nearly bankrupted them. This is a difficult question for each of us to work out because we all have unique issues to factor into the equation.

God bless your conviction to operate on faith alone. I wish you every success.

Kerry

Good Morning Bro. Kerry! First of all, I am so glad you responded to this topic, we were going to send you an email to thank you so much for all of the hard work and time that you have extended to give us, as chalk artists, the abundant resources to share this gift with others! God Bless You! Thank you for these forums and for Chalked and Amazed!

Richard and I totally understand how difficult it is to serve as "faith-based". It is has been challenging to say the least and like you and your family, if it had not been for Richard's full-time job, we couldn't share on this basis at all. Also, we are an independent ministry so, we are serving totally on the offerings from our events and personal donations and that too has been a walk of faith. We are also in prayer about Richard retiring so that we can go full-time, and we may have to face a similar situation. Now, the Lord has just led us to serve this way for our our ministry. That is not to say that in the future it might change as Richard retires.

It is such a prayerful decision and we certainly support and understand why a fee is requested. We traveled with our nephews, who were teen-agers, and certainly the added expenses were so much more and the offerings did not cover our general expenses of food, lodging, gas, etc. Now, it is just Richard and I and it is a lot less.

Either way, the greatest desire and object of our obession is the Gospel, presenting in an unique way. Whatever direction the Lord leads a ministry, our prayer is that Christ will be glorified and lifted up and draw folks to Himself.

Thank you for opening up this discussion, because I believe it is really helpful for those starting out to prayerfully seek the Lord's guidance for their ministry.

Also, thanks for the encouragement, we are praying for you!

God Bless,
Jackie

Hey Jackie,
I'm trying not to dominate the forum so I didn't respond for a couple of weeks hoping others would offer their insights. I'll be honest - I thought the Loft would have gotten better traction by now. We have nearly 90 registered members but most have nothing to say . Hmmmm - I guess chalk artists prefer to let their chalk do the talking .

But, thank you for the kind words of encouragement. Chalkers used to have a newsletter/magazette to keep us kind of connected. David LeGrand does have his online Chalk Art News (which is informative), but forums like these are really very helpful in keeping "specialty communities" connected. Your contributions here are very appreciated.

I hope you will keep us informed as your ministry goes through its various transitions. And may He continue to meet your every need.

Kerry

Afterthoughts...

One way we encourage a pastor of our affordability is to suggest they hold an auction for the drawings. We have seen the drawings sell for between $20 and $1000 with an average of around $50. In non Salvation Army churches the average doubles to around $100 per drawing.

I know of some chalk artists who sell their drawings in a silent auction format and then keep that amount to augment the free will offering/honorarium.

Years ago, in an effort to make ends meet, we took orders for custom (smaller) versions of the drawing done in performance and we also had a product table. We don't do any of that now, but those are some options to consider when you need to defray costs.

You might also offer for sale DVDs of you drawing. David LeGrand in Winston-Salem, NC has a studio full of video production equipment along with editing software and would love to help any chalker produce a video. Last I knew, he was offering to do this for FREE. You can reach him at www.ChalkMart.com

Kerry

I am just a baby chalk artist at present but am hoping God will find a way to use me to further his kingdom. My background has been in clowning. As I was first starting clown ministry I found that requests for my services were growing. Then a Sunday school class asked if I could come to a party they were having. Greed got in my eyes and I named a price. I never heard from that Sunday school teacher again and God completely shut down any clowning requests for a year. Since then, things picked up a little bit but when asked my fees by a church member, I always reply that God doesn't allow me to charge churches, but will let me receive a love offering or a donation to cover expenses. The expenses have always been covered but I couldn't live on what I receive. As I have a full time job as a nurse, I'm not needing to rely on love offerings. I have heard many arguments that people don't value what they get for free and I don't want to sabotage those who do rely on what churches pay for a their livelihood. It is a difficult situation and one I am still praying through.

Marsha,
Thanks for joining the discussion on this topic. Let us know what answer you finally come to.
Best,
Kerry

My friend and I have been doing puppet and chalk Ministry for some time. We have always worked with love offering, and it has covered our equipment but we really don't pay ourselves. We don't have to live on this Ministry but I always felt if we had to God would provide for us. I am saving for a van, my car just died, and my husband said this morning," Your not doing much chalk and puppets much anymore, you might not need a van" We have never been good at advertising and the economy seems like it has hit us hard in the last few years. Churches that used to be open Sunday nights are not any more and that was when many of our programs were run. We do many different kinds of programs but handing out our cards, mailings, even the website we had, didn't get many hits. I am trying to put a website back up but my host updated things and it wasn't Mac friendly any longer so we have to find one that is. We have been struggling figuring out how to get the bookings and would love advice of how others are doing it. I have been discouraged but never hurt in the heart like today. Part of me knows my husband is right. A van would cost more to run as a family car, and we can do without it, if I'm dreaming about chalk art. I've watched God move in so many of our programs and give us equipment to the penny, that we couldn't afford. I don't know how to get to the next step. I struggle with the new technology, and am trying to learn ipod downloading, computer web things, and just would love to get back to chalking and showing Jesus. Letting people know how much He changes lives. He changed mine.