“Crowd Mentality”
By Felicity Privado
Many Ministries today are suffering from what is described as “Crowd Mentality” or “Diffusion of responsibility” which is a socio-psychological phenomenon whereby a person is less likely to take action when others are present. The individual assumes others are taking action or have already done so. It tends to happen when the amount of people in a group rises to a certain size and rarely occurs when a person is alone.
To understand what crowd mentality is here is an example: Even with pretty much every person owning a cell phone nowadays, a person could die while injured amongst a crowd of 20 onlookers simply because everyone assumes the person beside them has called for emergency services, and if each person assumes the same it results in no calls for help.
“How this affects ministries”
How this affects ministries is much the same, when ministries send out pleas for support to a long list of contacts. It wouldn’t matter if the ministry asked for as little as 5 people to give $10. the chances are that even though 400 of the 1,000 subscribers feels the desire to give, the phenomenon of diffusion of responsibility kicks in and they assume that since so many others must be responding to the plea that there is no need for themselves to participate. Unfortunately, the end result is an unanswered need.
In our almost 12 years over here we have trudged through the recession and poor economy along with everyone else. We are not ashamed to say that along with the hard times that our support base is a mere fragment of what it once was despite the amount of moral support for the work and what is being accomplished for the kingdom here having grown epically.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day”
At this time, most of our finances come from the monthly social security of my father. It takes every bit of it to pay the mission center payments and some of the bills, but it is never enough to cover everything. I admire my parents for everything they have sacrificed to keep this place going. Words can never describe how proud I am of them for refusing to cancel classes even when the funds were not there to hold them. This is a long tireless work, a work that all of us believers should be pursuing. Rome wasn’t built in a day, well neither was God’s kingdom filled in one either. There is always room for more souls and that is what we are here for, to show as many people the path to Christ as we can while we are on this earth, and to pass our knowledge along to those who will continue doing the same work long after we are gone and until the Lord returns.
It is our desire to do this to the end, but for this to happen we do need help. We give the ministry all we have. There is no cushy salary for my family, nor a retirement account set up for my parents to live off of in later years. All they have, and had has been invested in pursuing this endeavor, and what better to invest in than the souls of men. If you were to ask them, I know that despite the hardships, that you would never hear any regret in our decision to answer this call, and to live this life. Before this we lived a very self-involved existence, but now we have a true purpose, and it is one of the most fulfilling ways to live.
“Break the diffusion of responsibility”
In the end what I am trying to convey is a simple admission that we need help, and I hope that my attempt to express transparency in how our finances are does not come across as whiney, but as an honest showing of the painful truth we face. We desire to be able to run smoothly, without debt having to accumulate over our heads constantly just to keep going. The Lord has been faithful and though the waters have often been troubled He has never once let us sink. We want everyone to please listen to that still small voice within you, even if you think an amount as small as $5 a month could not possibly matter, can you imagine if 500 people decided to do that? That would be $2,500 a month. Nothing is too small or too large. Don’t let the assumption that others are already taking up the gauntlet stop you from taking the step to help. Let’s break the diffusion of responsibility phenomenon. Not everyone is called to move to a foreign country and be a missionary (though all of us are called to be a witness to those around us) but don’t let that stop you from being a part of what is happening here, to share in the impact and reaping of souls into the kingdom.
On an end note, I’d like to put out a special designated plea to help get over the hump of year end expenses. December is admittedly the hardest month for us. On top of our regular expenses, property taxes, insurance renewals, and government mandatory staff bonuses etc…all come due during this time. We would be grateful for any additional contributions during this time.
“We appreciate you!”
For those of you who have stuck with us for all these years with your interceding and support. We want you to know how much we appreciate you! We wouldn’t be here without your unwavering loyalty to this cause. You continue to be such a blessing!
Merry Christmas all of you! We love you, Felicity Privado
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Out of the mouths of babes!
Well, all I can say is Wow! Thing is, my baby is now 31 years old and quite mature in the Lord, Amen? Felicity made some real points in her comments and analogies. God has really anointed her with the ability to communicate with wisdom and clarity. I’m proud of her and I agree with her totally.
We have some critical needs in our ministry and instead of listing them all I will just tell you that it will take $40,000 to get us back where we need to be. The last 3 years we’ve been running a little in the hole each month and we have been praying that the Lord would send us more partners to raise the monthly support so we wouldn’t be running in the hole each month, Amen?
Our ministry is essential to the building and planting of churches where ever we take the Stealth Evangelism Seminars. To date we have invitations to do seminars in 13 different areas of the Philippines and we are getting calls weekly from new ones. We require a minimum of 50 pastors for each seminar which means we will impact close to 50 churches every time. Many of the pastors go on to plant churches with the program they receive from us. We need more help and like Felicity said no amount is too small because when you add it all together ya’ll can help us make a huge difference in so many pastors lives, the life of their churches, and the eternal lives of countless thousands of people added to the Kingdom. We have 4 seminars scheduled for January to kick off the new year. Please help us make sure these push through!
In November we had a Mobile Seminar in Davao City on Mindinao Island. The following are some of testimonies from there.
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Street witnessing in Davao during the school practicums.
Testimonies from Davao
“I’m very thankful to God, very very thankful I finished the 3 days training seminar. In the first night when one of the assistants read the orientation, I felt very sad, very nervous, struggling…because there will be quiz…test…final exam…I have fear…I want to quit, I want to go home since it is night and not come back anymore. But thanks be to God and to Him be the glory…I stayed and learned so many things. A million thanks to Pastor Tony Poole, a man of God, that lead me and inspired me to do the great commission in Matt 28:19-20, to bring many souls to God, by God’s grace…” Virginia Epil Cabel Church of the Awesome God, New Wellington Village, Davao City, Mindanao – won 55 souls during seminar
“Wednesday night during orientation when it was announced about the witnessing/evangelism, my mind became troubled and my heart started to fear. But when the seminar began and Pastor Poole taught about Stealth Evangelism, he shared with us about the fear and how the fear was caused by not knowing what to say. His words transformed my fear into courage!” Pastor Renante Guillardo Christian Talomo Fellowship SBC, Talomo, Davao City, Mindanao – won 54 souls
“I will copy paste or duplicate all that I have learned in this seminar to my local church and create a reapers club, training them how to win souls using the Stealth Evangelism technique…I can see the growth of our church in the near future. Amen!” Associate Pastor Delio B. Beloy Charity of Jesus Community Church Fellowship, Stone Rock Village, Catalunan Grande, Davao City, Mindanao – won 42 souls
“I thank Pastor Tony Poole and the Dunamis team for their effort in advancing the Kingdom of God and teaching us diligently this new and advanced technique in fulfilling the great commission. My prayer is to make evangelism ‘my lifestyle’ for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!” Pastor Jubal Moutoya Church of the Awesome God, Talomo, Davao City, Mindanao – won 38 souls
“First I am so blessed because God answered my prayer of how to evangelize unbelievers with such an easy way. Now I’m so excited to go out with a smile and share the Gospel! I was so amazed how people responded to me.” Marilyn Canvas Worship His Majesty Church, Royal Valley Bangtal, Davao City, Mindanao – won 92 souls
“I almost cannot believe myself after this training that I was able to witness to so many people and win so many souls. I cannot explain what an amazing thing the Lord did in me. God is good, God is great!” Em-Em Lapasaran Worship His Majesty Church, Royal Valley Bangtal, Davao City, Mindanao – won 104 souls during the seminar
More street witnessing in Davao City, Mindanao
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