My dad is a pastor and growing up I often watched him try to perform magic with the ridiculously small budget he had to work with.
I know it’s weird to say “pastor” and “magic” in the same sentence but if you’ve ever worked or volunteered at a church, you know that’s what you have to do sometimes when it comes to funds.
You get a budget for your ministry, usually around a nickel, look at the people in your community you’re trying to reach, usually around a bajillion, and then you go to work. And you hope and pray that the small amount of budget you have will reach the big amount of people you have a heart for.
That dynamic is why I was excited when I heard about Only 144. Now normally, if someone says the phrase “it’s a Christian version of ______” I throw a smoke bomb and exit the conversation during the confusion. We don’t need a Christian Google. I promise. But what I liked about Only 144 was that it’s not just a Christian version of Groupon. Their heart is for churches and ministers and volunteers. People like my dad, people like you maybe who have far too little budget to reach far too many people.
So they put together ridiculous deals on real resources and then offer them online for 144 hours. It’s that simple. As an example, on August 12 they’ll be offering a huge Children’s Ministry Resource Bundle with $1,070 worth of resources for $97. (You can signup to find out about when the next deal is.)
And today, because they’re sponsoring SCL, I get to give away $600 of small group materials to one reader. The materials are from Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll and Tommy Nelson.
Want to enter? Here’s how:
1. Leave a comment on this post with an answer to the question, “Have you ever worked at a church?”
2. Twitter a link to this post with this link: http://bit.ly/qdHepC . If you don’t have a Twitter account, you can use Facebook. You can write your own or use this example. “Win small group materials from Matt Chandler, Mark Driscoll & Tommy Nelson on @jonacuff’s blog http://bit.ly/qdHepC ”
3. On Saturday July 30, we will pick 1 winner. We’ll announce them the following week and you can email your address if you’re the winner.
That’s it. Dad, friends who work at churches, people who volunteer, check out only144.com!
