99. Four Fears in Nonprofit Leadership and How to Overcome Them

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Fundraising Masterminds Podcast

Episode 99: Four Fears in Nonprofit Leadership and How to Overcome Them
Hosts: Jason Galasinski & Jim Dempsey
Date: August 20, 2025

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Overview

This episode addresses four common fears faced by nonprofit leaders and provides practical, faith-based strategies to overcome them. Drawing on decades of experience with thousands of nonprofit organizations, hosts Jason and Jim blend personal stories, biblical insights, and leadership wisdom to help listeners cultivate resilience and courage in their leadership roles. The tone is supportive, honest, and faith-filled, aiming to equip nonprofit leaders—both new and seasoned—to move past internal obstacles and embrace their mission with renewed confidence.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Introduction & Mindset for Nonprofit Leaders

[00:10–04:44]

• The episode’s theme is about understanding the mindset challenges nonprofit leaders face—moving beyond practical tips and delving into inner fears that impede growth.
• Many leaders are “thrown into” positions due to opportunity or necessity, not always through intentional training or education.
• Emphasis on the importance of recognizing and renewing one’s mindset, especially through spiritual (biblical) grounding.
• “You kind of have to… There’s no, like course to learn how to be a executive director leader or learn how to fundraise. That’s kind of why we exist.” — Jason [01:59]

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1. Fear of Personal Inadequacy

[05:07–07:40]

• Many leaders struggle with feeling like impostors—what Jim calls the “poser mindset.”
  • “Somewhere inside we’re saying we’re not good enough, we’re not worthy… I really can’t do this job. I’m over my head…” — Jim [05:14]
• Outward confidence often hides inner doubts.
• Scriptural encouragement: God chooses and equips leaders for their roles.
  • Jason shares Isaiah 43:1: “Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you, I have called you by name. You are mine.” [07:01]
• Key Insight: Centering one’s identity in faith and God’s call provides the confidence to lead.

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2. Fear of Rejection

[07:47–11:35]

• The fear of asking for support or making decisions due to the prospect of being turned down or criticized.
• Many leaders internalize rejection—thinking “they’re rejecting me, not just the idea.”
  • “They believe when someone says no to them… that they are saying no to them and not the program, project or effort.” — Jim [07:52]
• Perfectionism and people-pleasing make this fear especially paralyzing.
• Consequences: Avoidance of tough conversations, inconsistent leadership, stagnation, and hesitancy to innovate.
• Solution: Disassociate personal worth from professional interactions; root self-worth in one's identity in Christ.
  • “It really just boils down to… understanding who you are in Christ.” — Jason [10:41]
• Practical tip: Spend intentional time in prayer and reflection on one’s identity in faith.

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3. Financial Fear

[11:48–15:16]

• Fear of not having enough funding or money “running out” leads to scarcity mindsets and risk aversion.
• Jim frames the solution as a faith issue: “The root of that is a lack of trust in God. And I know that sounds so strong… but God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He’s going to provide for our needs.” [12:25]
• Faith is positioned as the antidote to fear—“faith is the opposite of fear.” [14:20]
• Caution against being paralyzed by financial uncertainty; reminds leaders that trusting God goes hand-in-hand with doing the work (making the “ask”).
• These fears are often interdependent: financial fear, fear of asking, and fear of rejection are intertwined.
  • “When you have a fear of finances… you got the fear of asking… you have a fear of rejection. So all these are intertwined, they’re all involved.” — Jim [14:34]
• Encouragement: If you operate from trust and conviction, you will have the confidence to act.

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4. Fear of Comparison & Expectations

[18:22–22:36]

• Many conflicts and leadership insecurities stem from unhealthy comparisons and unclear expectations.
• Board pressures and external comparisons can erode self-confidence—leaders often feel inadequate when measured against “bigger” or more “successful” peers.
• Parental analogy: “Just be the person God created you to be… not being the best, but doing your best.” — Jim [19:16]
• The solution is to shift from a temporal to an eternal perspective:
  • “You’ll never reach the expectations of others… If you go down that pathway, it’s just a pathway to disaster. So you really need to have an eternal perspective, not the temporal standard that lives here.” — Jim [21:14]
• Jason shares the inspiration from the Stephen Curtis Chapman song “Last Day on Earth”—underscoring the importance of focusing on what truly matters and stewarding one’s limited time well.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Greater is he who is in you than is in the world.” — Jim [07:40]
• “Faith is the opposite of fear… In a way, every fear that we’re mentioning can be countered with some kind of act of faith.” — Jason [14:20]
• “Take a random sampling of some of those people… find out, listen, what are they interested in? Instead of us trying to force something down their throat…” — Jim [16:41]
• “You need to be working unto the Lord and for God’s approval, not other people’s approval. And that’s where comparison comes in.” — Jim [19:16]
• “If we stay connected to the vine… then I believe… we can overcome a lot of these things.” — Jason [24:16]
• “Faith overcomes fears.” — Both Hosts [22:59–23:01]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Mindset intro & why fears matter: [00:10–04:44]
• Fear 1: Personal inadequacy: [05:07–07:40]
• Fear 2: Rejection: [07:47–11:35]
• Fear 3: Finances/Scarcity: [11:48–15:16]
• Strategy for asking & example: [15:44–18:13]
• Fear 4: Comparison & expectations: [18:22–22:36]
• Encouragement to abide, faith as antidote: [22:47–24:16]

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Host Takeaways & Closing Thoughts

• Fear is normal and universal, but can be overcome by faith and a healthy, faith-based perspective.
• Leadership growth is often about retraining the mind and habitually placing identity in Christ rather than in performance or peer approval.
• Leaders are encouraged to prioritize time alone in reflection and prayer, focusing on eternal rather than temporal goals.
• “Faith overcomes fears” is the recurring encouragement.

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Practical Action Steps

• Regularly assess which fears may be influencing your leadership decisions.
• Spend time grounding your confidence in your faith and calling.
• Engage in open dialogue with stakeholders to align opportunities with donor interests.
• Shift away from unhealthy comparisons; define your own metrics of success rooted in your mission and values.
• Make rest, reflection, and prayer a rhythm in leadership practice for sustained personal and organizational health.

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This episode is an inspiring and practical guide for nonprofit leaders wrestling with doubts, reminding them that faith, clarity about identity, and a willingness to grow are keys to overcoming fear and leading well.

Transcript

[A]

You're listening to the number one podcast for nonprofit leaders getting your nonprofit fully funded. This is the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast.

[B]

When you have a fear of finances, you know that the solution to that is trusting in God, but it's going out and asking. But then if you got the fear of asking, then you are afraid to go out there and ask for the money, which you know. But then you have a fear of asking because you have a fear of rejection. So all these are intertwined. And really, it does come down to my identity in Christ and do I really believe his word and what he says?

[A]

Welcome back to another episode here at the Fundraising Masterminds Podcast. My name is Jason Galasinski, and with me, my co host, Jim Dempsey.

[C]

Hi, Jason.

[A]

And Jim and I, we love getting together with you guys once a week or so. This is a great channel for you as a nonprofit leader to be able to talk about a variety of topics. If you've notice, in some of our past episodes, we talk about fundraising strategy, we talk about tips and tricks, we give some advice, we tell you how to do certain things. But on this episode, we're gonna be talking about a little bit of a mindset thing. And I personally like mindset stuff myself. So today's episode is about four fears in nonprofit leadership and how to overcome them. So these are just some common things that we see because we've worked with thousands of nonprofit leaders over the years. Jim, you've been development for over 40 years.

[B]

Yeah, I'm in my 41st year now in. In August. Yeah.

[A]

And you work for an organization called CREW?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

With over 25,000 employees and staff, 100,000 volunteers, lots of development directors that you've come across. Lots of up and coming people that, you know, started off at the bottom and kind of got put into places of leadership. And so we see a common thread when you're new to leadership.

[C]

And that's.

[A]

That's really what we're kind of addressing here, is a lot of times people, leaders in a ministry because the board promoted them or because someone said, you should really do this. And it wasn't really like you went to college to become, you know, the executive director of the kids camp, you know, in your neighborhood. But here you are, you're the executive director, and you're sitting here going, well, how do I do this and what am I supposed to do? And you kind of have to. There's no, like course to learn how to be a executive director leader or learn how to fundraise. That's kind of why we exist.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

To try to help you understand through all the pain we've been through and trying over 40 years of stuff, we've learned a lot.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And so we want to try to help you by sharing some things.

[B]

But, Jason, I think it's important to remember that this episode isn't just for new leaders. No, I. I've seen some real fears in senior leaders as well, too. Individuals who are veterans at running an organization, but they still have these little fears, these little insecurities, things that they run from. Not intentionally, sometimes unintentionally.

[A]

You know, the fear is interest because I still remember, like, some nightmares when I was like, two. You know, like, have you ever had that experience where it's like you just have this ingrained fear? Maybe it's, you know, fear of people, maybe it's a fear of something, but it came from when you were a child, something happened and you had this kind of reaction. And then, like, anytime that event happens or something similar, it kind of triggers that memory. And what's interesting about fear is that, like, our bodies try to avoid fear, Right? We try. It's like a. Whether you mechanism or whether you realize it or not, we. We try to avoid pain and we try to avoid fear.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

We flee from fear, for sure.

[A]

Yeah. But then at the same time, you know, it's really important to recognize these fears and kind of take a step back and just ask ourselves the question, am I struggling with these things and how do I overcome them?

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Because there are ways to overcome.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, one of my favorite verses, Jim, is Ephesians 4:22, which says you were taught, in reference to your former way of life, to lay aside your old man being corrupt according to its deceitful desires and renewed by the spirit of your mind, and to put on the new man that was created in the image of God in righteousness and holiness, which comes from truth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Therefore, having laid aside falsehood, each one of you speak truth to his neighbor. And then he. He kind of goes on for a while about how to kind of put on the new man. But the idea being that, you know, we have to recognize that we have this old person.

[D]

Right.

[A]

That is warring against us.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And we. And we need to renew our mind through the truth.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And so that's kind of what we're hoping to do in this episode is talk about, you know, these four fears.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And then talk about what the scripture says of how we can renew our mind about them and see if we can figure out how to take steps to overcome them.

[B]

Well, one of the first things you knew need to do with a fear is to identify it, admit that you've got it, and. And then you can start dealing with it.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

So what's the first fear?

[A]

So let's talk about it. Yeah. First. First fear that a lot of nonprofit leaders struggle with is personal inadequacy.

[B]

Boy, it's the poser mindset, Jason. It is. It is. Somewhere inside we're saying we're not good enough, we're not worthy. We really. This is a real mistake that I'm in this position. I don't know how I got here. Some way, for some reason, somebody made a mistake when they appointed me to be the executive director. I really can't do this job. I'm over my head. The Peter Principle, whatever we want to call it, rising to your level of. Of inefficiency.

[A]

Well, and. And I've been in this position before where you. You personally don't feel like you know what to do.

[B]

That's right.

[A]

But everyone is looking to you like, you should know what to do. And so you're struggling. Like, maybe you have an outward appearance of confidence, but inwardly you're thinking, I can't do this.

[C]

I don't know what I'm doing.

[A]

And you're like, shaking your boobs, crying.

[B]

Child in the corner somewhere.

[C]

Yeah, yeah. And it's.

[A]

I mean, I think everyone goes through that, right? It's. It's kind of like the first time you go to college, you know, and you're like, leaving your parents for the first time.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And you're just like, I don't know what it feels like to be away from my mom and dad. You know, you feel scared, but then once you've been doing it for a while, you can build some confidence. Yeah, but you know, there are so many scriptures, Jim, that talk about our identity in Christ. And I'm just going to list off. I might read some of these, but, you know, John 1:12, Romans 8, 16 through 17, Ephesians 1, Colossians 3:12, Ephesians 1, ColOSSians 1. These are all talking about, you are a child of God, you are chosen, you are redeemed, you are forgiven, you are a new creation. You're made in God's image. You're a citizen of heaven. I mean, the Bible goes on and on and on about how much he loves us and has called us according to his purpose. But one of my favorite verses, and I'm going to read this One, is Isaiah 43:1, which says, Hear O Israel, the one who formed you, who says, do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you, I have called you by name. You are mine.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So if God has called us to work for him.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, and we're part of the leadership of crew. We're part of the leadership of a pregn. Community center Christian school. He has called you by name to do this very work.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

So trust in him. Right. And if, if God thinks you're good enough to be here.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Then you're good enough to be here.

[B]

Greater is he who is in you than is in the world.

[D]

Right.

[A]

So, I mean, we could talk about that for probably 45 minutes.

[B]

We could.

[A]

But the second fear that a lot of nonprofit leaders struggle with is just fear of rejection.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. Jason. I can't tell you how often I see this in incred. Amazing gifted leaders who just shake in their boots when they're. They think about asking for money. And the biggest thing that I have to deal with is that they believe when someone says no to them to from for an ask that they are saying no to them and not the program, project or effort. They just naturally think, oh, they reject me. They don't like me, they don't like my clothes, they don't like the job I'm doing. They don't think I should be in the position. Whatever it is it is, they internalize that. And that could be nothing further from the truth. I try and tell them, disassociate yourself from that job, that effort, that program. It's, it's about that. That they're rejecting, not you.

[A]

Yeah, No, I, I had to learn this the hard way because I, I do take things personally. You know, when someone says something negative, I think, is that what they think about me? You know, it's.

[B]

Right.

[A]

It's easy. Especially if you're kind of a perfectionist. Yeah. And you want to please people. Right. So one of the other things that people struggle with, with the fear of rejection is just the idea of like people pleasing tendencies. You know, people struggle, people with leadership, with that. They struggle with saying no.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, they struggle with making decisions.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

They, they're, they're afraid that they're going to be making a mistake all the time. And as a result, their team's not going to follow them, the board's not going to follow them, donors aren't going to listen to them. I mean, it's just, it can become a downward spiral when we continue to have that negative self talk.

[A]

You might be like avoiding tough conversations yes. You know, like, not wanting to have conflict.

[D]

Right.

[A]

Might be a struggle.

[D]

Right.

[A]

But yet at the same time, you know, conflict might be the thing that you need to have to push you to the next level. Sometimes you have to work through hard things.

[D]

Right.

[A]

It doesn't mean that you're angry.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, but there's, there's ways of working through conflict in a proper way.

[B]

Oh, yeah.

[A]

Inconsistent leadership is another thing.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, so just, just being afraid in general can cause you to be inconsistent.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

One day you say this, the next day you say that, One day you act like this, the next day you act differently.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

It all that can be part of that fear of rejection.

[A]

Yeah. Stagnation.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Of just being stagnant. Lack of innovation, not fear, not being.

[B]

Forward thinking, not being a visionary. These are all things. When we are afraid to make a decision and afraid what other people are going to say about us, it causes us to, you know, live in hesitancy when. When someone is just always afraid about what's going to happen.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And it really just boils down to, again, like we said before, but maybe a little bit more pinpointed, understanding who you are in Christ.

[D]

Right, Right.

[A]

So maybe a good solution here would be get. Get alone, spend some time in prayer, pull up the Word, or go to Google and just look up your identity in Christ.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

Because for sure, God has not rejected us.

[B]

No.

[A]

You know, if you are a follower of Christ, you are not rejected.

[D]

Right.

[A]

We know that Scripture teaches that God's mercy is new every day.

[D]

Right. Right.

[A]

He is. He has very gracious. And he says, as far as, you know, the east is from the west. So. So have I forgotten?

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, your past. So we might feel inadequate and we might feel afraid, but yet God is right there and he wants us to kind of step in.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

To our leadership role and take it seriously.

[D]

Right.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

He is. You know, he doesn't. Like you said, he doesn't reject you. And as a result, there may be people who don't agree with you, but God is always going to be there. He's got your back. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you.

[A]

The third fear is financial fear.

[B]

Oh, yeah, boy.

[A]

Now financial fear can really cripple you. We've done several podcast episodes on the scarcity mentality versus the abundance mentality.

[B]

Absolutely.

[A]

And this kind of mindset can be coming from like a financial fear.

[C]

Oh.

[A]

Which is like I'm afraid of money running out.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, and so when you're, when you're constantly, you know, and when you're. When you're afraid of money running out, you might be afraid to spend the money, you know, because it's like, there's a. There's a sense of, like, when you. Even if you do a big fundraiser and you get a hundred thousand dollars, it's like, well, now I want to keep that money. You know, I don't want to let it go.

[B]

Yeah, I, you know, I really believe that. And there's certain people, I think, who have just a natural tendency to be concerned about finances. But I believe the root of that is a lack of trust in God. And I know that sounds so strong and maybe even harsh to some people, but God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. He's going to provide for our needs. Faithful is he who calls you, and he will bring it to pass. If he has set your organization aside, if he has helped you create that mission, or if your mission is in his will, then he's going to provide for those resources. That doesn't mean that you sit on your hands and not do anything, but it does mean that God's going to provide if we are faithful. I always believe there's two parts, any effort. There's our part and there's God's part. But I believe that God will do his part when we do our part. When the Israelites went to the Jordan river, that river didn't part until the priests put their toe in. Then God parted the water. It's exactly the same way with us in raising money. And it really has to do with our faith in him, our trust, do we believe? And there's a lot of people that get paralyzed by having to make a faith decision like that. But I can honestly say that the greatest faith step that people have to make, I believe, is in that area of finances. And if you can't overcome that, you're not going to overcome any area of trust.

[A]

So true. And I mean, you might be sitting here thinking, you know, maybe the Lord has called me to start a nonprofit, and you're just sitting there going, I don't.

[D]

I.

[A]

Like I have a little nest egg. And I know I can make it through six months or a year, but I don't know what we're going to do after that. You know, it's like.

[B]

And.

[A]

And you kind of. The fear can really cripple you.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

But yet the. I believe the answer to being afraid is faith. I think faith is the opposite of fear. And so, in a way, every fear that we're Mentioning can be countered with some kind of act of faith that's kind of the medicine of fear.

[B]

Jason, do you see how these overlap with each other? When you have a fear of finances, you know, that's a solution to that is trusting in God. But it's going out and asking. But then if you've got the fear of asking, then you are afraid to go out there and ask for the money. But then you have a fear of asking because you have a fear of rejection. So all these are intertwined, they're all involved. And really it does come down to my identity in Christ and do I really trust God? Do I really believe his word and what he says? And if you can't get past that hump, it's going to be really tough for you to trust God and for you to believe in yourself. In a sense.

[A]

Yeah. Well, and the reverse is true on the opposite, like if you have faith that God has called you to this work, right. And you are really standing strong in your identity in Christ, you know that he's with you and he will never leave you and he'll and he's with you through that, then that will give you the confidence to move forward.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And then you, you won't take a, you know, a no as a rejection. You'll just take it as a okay, and you'll ask.

[B]

You won't have trouble making decisions. I mean, once again, yeah.

[A]

Because again, the way that we look at asking, at least in a face to face or in an event context is we're just, we're. It's like you're a real estate agent and you're just kind of opening the book and saying, hey, here's some homes that are in this area.

[D]

Right.

[A]

Do you like any of these homes? And if the person says no, the real estate agent doesn't say, oh my goodness, he hates me. You know, it's not a personal thing. It's just, hey, I don't like any of those homes.

[D]

Right.

[A]

It's the same thing as when we go to a major partner or when we go do a vision dinner. If we, you know, present some opportunities and people don't, you know, give for whatever reason.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

It doesn't mean that they didn't like us. It just meant that we didn't present an opportunity that they were interested in.

[D]

That's right.

[A]

And so maybe we have to go back to the drawing board and think, oh, 50% didn't give at my event. Maybe I, maybe instead of thinking it was all your problem or they didn't like you. Maybe you should just think, like, hey, maybe we should present different opportunities that maybe they would like.

[B]

Or how about do something revolutionary? How about actually take a random sampling of some of those people, have some meetings, have some lunches, find out, listen, what are they interested in? Instead of us trying to force something down their throat that. That clearly they aren't interested in, we start to listen and ask them, what is it you're interested in? Find out what their intersection is, where their interests in your mission are at, and that's when you'll get acceptance.

[A]

Yeah. You know, for the longest time, I've talked about my ministry that I run in Zambia.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

And, you know, I'm passionate about the children, but it's just because I met them.

[D]

Right.

[A]

I see the joy in their faces. I love them. It's like they're 300 grandkids.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

You know.

[D]

Right, right.

[A]

I love them all, and they're amazing, and it's just so great to serve. But, you know, there's one particular, you know, major partner that I was trying to get to know as a church. And, you know, they're passionate about planting churches and starting and bringing trips over from teenagers and. But more on the discipleship side. Right. So once I took the time to listen to them and find out what they were interested in.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, then I could say, hey, actually, we do have an opportunity for you to start churches over here. We can do that through this way. You know, and so I just presented a different opportunity. They weren't interested in feeding kids, you know, running a school.

[D]

Right.

[A]

But as soon as I presented that opportunity, they were. They were like, oh, let's talk about that.

[B]

Right, Absolutely.

[A]

And then, you know, next thing you know, they're writing me a big check.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

So. So it's. It's not. Don't take it personally.

[D]

Right.

[B]

Don't take your.

[A]

The fear of rejection personally.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

Jim, let's talk about the fourth fear.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Comparison and expectations.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, so many conflicts come from just a lack of understanding, expectations.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

If you think about, you know, every time you get into a fight with your wife or your children, it's usually because they expected you to do this. You expected them to do that. There was a misunderstanding, explosion.

[C]

Yeah, right.

[B]

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I remember my kids growing up, how many times I saw as smart as I saw, especially my daughter. She oftentimes compared herself with other kids. And I said, katherine, you know, don't compare yourself with other kids. You are at a high level, but you're Comparing yourself with other high level kids. Just be the person God created you to be. You know, it sounds so cliche, of course, as a parent saying, be the best Catherine you can be.

[C]

But.

[B]

And that's, that's exactly what she needed to be. And that's exactly what you, as a leader need to be. You need to be that person who is, is, has a, their identity in Christ. And they are doing that. They're not being the best, but they're doing their best and they are believing that that's the person that God has created them to be. And so they need to be working unto the Lord and for God's approval, not other people's approval. And that's where comparison comes in. It comes in when we're trying to get other people's approval.

[A]

Yeah, and I mean, this can happen through board members. You know, they, they hire you to be the school master of a school and they're comp, they're saying, well, look at this school over here. We want you to be like that here. And so you're, you're looking at that and you're going, oh, wow, they're really big and we're really small and, and so I got to do what they do. But you don't feel confident in your own skin.

[D]

Right, right.

[A]

And so that's a, that's a common thing that happens with leadership, you know. How do we overcome that, Jim?

[B]

Yeah, well, number one, you need to overcome that by shifting your paradigm. You need to take more of an eternal perspective on things. You need to look beyond to another realm, in a sense, realize that as scripture will tell us, this is not our home, we are God is Christ, went back to prepare a home for us, and that this time on earth is preparing us to be more and more like the likeness of Christ. And so we've got to realize that comparing ourselves with other people is just futile because you'll never reach the expectations of others. You'll never reach the expectations of comparison. They're just, those standards are too high because the minute you reach one level, you're going to always find someone else who's got a higher level. And so if you go down that pathway, it's, it's just a pathway to disaster. So you really need to have an eternal perspective, not the temporal standard that lives here.

[A]

One of my favorite songwriters, Stephen Curtis Chapman, won tons and tons of Dove awards back in his day. He's as well known nowadays, but I grew up listening to him. He wrote a song called Last Day on Earth.

[C]

Yeah.

[A]

And it was just kind of that idea of, like, when you wake up in the morning, you just think to yourself, if this is the last day on this earth, am I going to be doing the things that, you know.

[B]

That you turn on, make a difference.

[A]

And just having that perspective of just. You have limited time.

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, we're. We're. You know, money is something that comes and goes. Wealth is something that comes and goes. Health is something that comes and goes. You know, a lot of the things are temporary, but time has been established.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

That's eternal.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And, you know, God knows exactly when you're going to be born and when you're going to die. And each one of us are given a limited amount of time.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

And we can't. Once the time is gone, we can't get it back.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And we're going to be accountable for our time. So I think just having that eternal perspective of, like, I'm going to give an account for the Lord.

[D]

Right.

[A]

For what I do, and then just kind of embracing that as a leader, that really helps me to just to kind of weed out, like, is this really important?

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, trying to compare others, having, you know, trying to get other people's expectations. You know, I think we want to have an eternal perspective.

[D]

Right.

[A]

And, you know, putting on your identity, knowing what it is that you're trying to do, and rallying other people around that and just kind of running with the vision.

[D]

Right?

[B]

That's right. Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Yeah. Well, fear is real.

[C]

Yes.

[A]

Faith in God is real as well. And I. I really think you could take these fears and turn them around and have faith.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Faith overcomes fears.

[A]

Faith overcomes fears.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So. So definitely a lot to think about.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You know, certainly we're no, you know, theologians or experts, but we have seen a lot of leaders. And, you know, for me, a lot of what it really boils down to is, do you have a personal connection, a relationship with the Lord Jesus?

[D]

Right.

[A]

You know, are you really walking with Him?

[C]

Yes.

[A]

One of my favorite passages in scripture is John 15, which talks about where Jesus was talking to his disciples and he said, I am the vine, you are the branches. Apart from me, you can do nothing. So it's that idea of the. The strength comes up the vine and goes out the branches, and then we're the ones that create the fruit.

[D]

Right, Right.

[A]

So God wants us to depend on him for strength. And the more that we can get our identity just reprogrammed in our mind about who we are in Christ. And, I mean, Personally, it's not all about doctrine in my mind. I mean, doctrine is definitely important, but sometimes it can be just kind of heady, but like making it real, spending time in prayer, you know, actually communicating with the Lord and depending on him, moment by moment, to live according to his spirit.

[D]

Right.

[A]

That's how you overcome all these fears.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

You know, there's no other way.

[D]

Right.

[A]

Otherwise you're just kind of going through the motions. You know, if you try to do it in your own strength, you'll be good for a while, but you'll eventually, you know, fall back because fear kind of creeps up. Yeah, but if we. If we stay connected to the vine, if we stay close to the Lord, then I believe, believe we can overcome a lot of these things.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Because, you know, unfortunately, fear can be a habit, and unless we retrain ourselves, we're going to get in that habit. And unfortunately, again, it's a downward spiral habit. So it gets worse and worse and worse.

[A]

Well, if we missed any fears, let us know in the comments below. Certainly this isn't an exhaustive list, but we hope that this kind of helped you think through some things and, you know, step back and analyze, kind of just where are you at as a person? And I would just encourage you to take some time to get alone, you know, get your journal and just sit and listen to what God is saying to you. One of the. One of the best ways to pray is just to be quiet before the Lord. You know, be still and know that I am God.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

So I would encourage you to do that. And while you're clicking around this channel, if you wouldn't mind letting us know what you thought in the comments. Subscribe. If you thought that this was helpful or you'd like to share this with a friend, hit the share button and text it. Send an email or whatever. But definitely subscribe because we got a lot of great content. Next gem is our 100th episode.

[B]

I can't wait.

[A]

We're gonna have a big party. Yeah, she's definitely not going to want to miss that, so hit that subscribe button.

[B]

You can't have a party without guests. We need you at that party.

[A]

That is so true.

[C]

Yep.

[A]

Jim, any. Any last words you want to say about this?

[B]

No, I just. I'm so grateful for what God has done in both of our lives, but I've just seen him over the years just grow my faith like a muscle. And I talk about Bill Bright and how I learned so much about faith from him and his trust, his unfailing trust in him that I think is really set the tone for me. And I just encourage all of you. I hope Jason and I really stretched your faith and that your faith would continue to. To be stretched over the years.

[A]

Well, that's it for this episode of the Fundraising Masterminds podcast. We'll see you next time.

[B]

Take care.