08.29.08 An Answer For Kate

Kate wrote:

I have a friend who is totally against everything that Compassion and World Vision do. Why? Because she’s convinced that music artists get “kickbacks” for every child they manage to get sponsored. Is this true? Can you clear this up to put her mind at ease?

Here’s my answer.

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It hurt when the checks from ASCAP lost digits.  It stung when book stores sent my CDs back to the distributor.  But the worst thing about Christian radio stations moving from 30 current songs to 12 in 2002, shifting from singer songwriters with metaphors to worship music cover bands, was when promoters lost interest and stopped booking me.  There’s no demand for a guy who hasn’t had a “hit” in a couple or three years.  So we lowered my asking price.  And did it again. And again. And again, until it was just enough that three or four gigs could pay the bills each month - because that’s all the gigs I could get...in a good month.  (It’s a good thing we sold that big house huh?)

I didn’t love music anymore by this point in my career.  But I was in love with speaking about Compassion International and growing fonder all the time.  It was cruel of God, I thought, to take away most of my audience just when I found something I lived to share with them.

About that time my artist relations person from Compassion got in touch.  The percentage of people at my shows who sponsored kids was unusually high.  She was happy about that.  But she wondered if there was any way I could do more shows - to get more kids sponsored.  She asked if I was playing so few shows by choice.  Of course not, I said, there’s just no demand right now.

I had some real angry talks with God back then.  Didn’t he realize how much good I could do if he made me a big soft rock star again?  Just one song on the radio and the shows would roll in, the churches would be packed out and loads more kids would be sponsored.  I made him promises.  I pleaded.  And I waited.

I don’t remember if it started with Brian (my booking guy at the time) or my artist rep from Compassion or my manager.  But I remember getting an e-mail containing a plan to get more kids sponsored that was endorsed by all three.  Here were its points:

1. Ask promoters to buy a hotel room, one meal, and pay for all promotion, sound, technical staff, lighting, and the rental of a keyboard or the tuning of a piano.
2. I would pay for all travel expenses: rental cars, plane tickets, and gas.
3. Compassion would pay me enough to cover my road manager/booking agent and pay myself.
4. The concert would be free to the public.
5. Compassion would be presented, as it always had been, at every show.

All three parties - promoter, artist and Compassion - would share the expenses and the risk of every concert.

I said no. It felt hypocritical, unethical, like stealing from the poor.

Until my artist rep from Compassion changed my mind with a lesson in marketing 101 and a little simple math.  Not everyone knows tens of thousands of kids die every day from poverty.  Not everyone who knows cares either.  Not everyone who cares wants to do something about it.  Not everyone who wants to do something about it knows what to do.  Not everyone who knows what to do is doing it.  Not everyone who is doing it will continue to do so.  That’s why Compassion builds web sites, designs and prints pamphlets, produces radio spots, uploads podcasts and releases videos.  With only 20% of America’s pastors speaking about poverty, the job of preaching communicating the importance of Jesus’ “Good News to the poor” falls on Compassion’s marketing department.  And that costs Compassion money.

But Compassion has made a commitment to its sponsors that a minimum of 80% of their $32 a month will go to caring for sponsored children - not spent on marketing.  So every dollar invested in marketing is examined at a few levels to make sure it yields the most benefit for Compassion’s children.  One of my concerts, she said, was a great investment.

She explained to me how much it costs to produce a radio ad and get it on the air and how many sponsorships that might yield per dollar spent.  How much it costs to run a print ad in a Christian magazine or film a TV commercial and how many sponsorships those marketing efforts might drum up.  Magazine ads, radio and TV spots - all of these are interruptions, easily ignored or turned off.  But at a concert, the audience is captive and possibly even captivated.  Dollar for dollar an artist is one of the best advertisements there is.

Not everyone thinks about this before balking though.  A pastor at a huge church in Texas once lectured me about taking money from Compassion.  I waited until he was through with his diatribe and then held up the stack of four-color cards laying on his desk - the ones adverting the church’s upcoming “Fall Festival.” “These are good looking cards but I’m more effective than this card because I believe in what I’m advertising and this card doesn’t believe in anything.  And I probably won’t be thrown in the trash can.” He let me speak that night and kids got sponsored.  And he joked afterward that he should have had me announce the Fall Festival at the concert.

Is there a banner ad anywhere with a 10-20% click-through rate?  Is there a mail-out that can do that?  A website?  A pamphlet?  One human being telling his story to another human being is a powerful thing.

So I said yes.  I asked you all to book me.  You did.  I was shocked.  And ever since then (November 2006) I’ve played and spoken about 10 times a month - 100 times a year.  And more than 3000 kids have been sponsored.

I am not paid a “kickback” for every child sponsored.  But there is a number of sponsorships I must get in order for Compassion’s number folks to think I’m a good investment.  I don’t know that number.  I asked Compassion never to tell me that number.  I just talk about what I love every night and whatever happens happens.  And what happens is I get many more sponsorships than Compassion wanted from their investment.  My audience is astonishingly generous like that.

Now, I still don’t like this arrangement but, short of climbing the radio charts with a remake of “Open The Eyes Of My Heart Lord,” I’ve got no better ideas.  If I could get bookings without this arrangement I’d call it off.  In fact, we explain to promoters how they’re getting me for free and a few of them (single digits) decide they’d rather pay me than let Compassion pay me.  I let them of course.  And I still speak just as fervently at those shows for Compassion as I do at all the others.

Simply put, I’m a guy who desperately wants to change the world for as many kids as I can and accepting Compassion‘s help seems to be the best way to do that right now.  I hope that changes. And if you have a better way, I’m listening.  Seriously.  Please.  Give me a better way.

Or book me for free by e-mailing Ben today.

Finally, pray for my friends Spence, Brian, Suzie and Stephanie at Compassion and for those who do similar jobs at World Vision, International Justice Mission and other worthwhile non-profits dependent upon spokes people.  It’s their very difficult job to discern which investments to make in which representatives.  Pray for artists, that they would fall in love with something bigger than themselves and, if they can afford to, that they wouldn’t take a dime for promoting it.

08.27.08 Changing Hats And Heading Home

Today I changed hats from artist/speaker guy to Compassion Bloggers guy for a morning of meetings.  I’m not used to corporate culture so I had to giggle a little (in my head, of course) at all the acronyms and long titles thrown around.  One of my tasks today was simply figuring out what all those acronyms mean, who does what in marketing and on-line at Compassion and how it all fits together with what we’re trying to do with bloggers.  I think I’ve got it now.  I have a flowchart and everything.  Next week I’m buying slacks and a tie.  (Shoot me if that ever really happens.)

Now I’m about to board a flight home.  It’s been a long time - too long - since I’ve played with my kids and held my wife. Don’t expect much from me here for the next couple days.  I’m unplugging and dating my family when I get home.

See you in a few.

08.26.08 Humanity And Joy

I’ve never had more fun talking about something so serious.

We sat on stools arranged in a semi-circle, microphones clipped to our shirts, lights in our eyes, and talked for four hours about poverty, Compassion International and how to speak about both.  Ken Davis, the moderator of this discussion caught on film, would ask a simple question and then we’d take off.  Everyone had a story to tell, raw, sometimes humiliating, humorous, tear jerking, always worth hearing.  Everyone had a joke to make at someone else’s expense.  And of course everyone had a little wisdom to share too.

We were trying to make a video that will train other artists and speakers on how to communicate about poverty and Compassion International better.  But I think we might just have accidentally done one better.  We might have just made a video that teaches something more valuable: Be human.  And there’s joy in compassionate living.

Be human: Don’t spend the whole concert climbing speaker clusters and joking with the audience and then, when it’s time to speak about Compassion, morph into Sally Struthers.  Be yourself.  Talk about your trip to the third world and the theology behind why you support Compassion, sure, but don’t be afraid to cry, fail or laugh too. I, for instance, have pointed out from the stage before that I met a child in the third world who not only had shoes, socks, pants and a shirt now that he’s sponsored through Compassion but that he’s also very proud of his new Spiderman underwear.  Sally Struthers wouldn’t say that and another artist might not either but I do: it’s a memory, the thrill of new underwear to an impoverished child, and it’s very me to point it out.

And messing up isn’t the end of the world - don’t pretend it didn’t just happen. When you don’t know what to say, say you don’t know what to say.  If you need to cry, cry.  If you don’t know what you’re doing, confess that too.  I’ve learned (and keep learning) that what I consider a mistake, an awkward moment, is endearing and actually engaging to an audience that’s marketed to everywhere they go - even (especially) in church.  Being fully human on stage keeps my words about Compassion from sounding like a commercial and makes me more believable, not less.  It’s weird but true.  And, most importantly, our humanity doesn’t make us less useful to or loved by God.  Screwing up and not only surviving but seeing God do his thing in spite of me is powerful medicine for the perfectionist and people pleaser in me.

There’s joy in compassionate living: You know what joy in the bible often is?  It’s security that comes from confidence in God.  You know God has brought you this far, that he’s with you now, that he’s got a plan for tomorrow too and he’s so real and you’re so certain of it that you’re not angry, not worried, not pushy, not self-absorbed or scared.  And while joy is not ha ha happiness and grins, it is a state of being that brings ha ha happiness and grins within closer reach of your psyche.  Laughter is nearer the surface.  Smiles take less effort.  Nothing I’ve found cultivates my own joy better than serving and speaking up for the poor. 

The poor are joyful, more so than the rich.  Don’t argue with me on this until you’ve been to church in Africa and then worshipped in an upper class sanctuary here in America.  As one Ethiopian explained to me, a man who can pull out a credit card and buy all the daily bread he wants depends less upon God than the poor man who must pray for his constantly.  There’s no denying that there is a correlation between our awareness of our need and our dependence upon God we call joy.  Poverty’s joy is catchy, transforming for me because it reminds me of my own dependence upon God. It makes me grateful for that credit card in my wallet and aware that it is a gift from God - lest I lose my joy to the illusion of self-sufficiency.  That dependence and joy is such a complete change in perspective that it is impossible for me to be consistently angsty or down anymore.  I have my moments and sometimes they are dug in deep and hard to shake, but they are fewer and fewer and they grip me less and less tightly.

This group of artists and speakers oozed joy and humanity.  There was so much laughter and tears and there were many stories of awkward speeches and full-on mistakes and struggles that I really wondered at times if we were sabotaging the video shoot.  But I hope that our humanity and fun sends a life-altering message to those who watch: Be human.  And there’s joy in compassionate living.

08.26.08 Egg Sandwiches and Make-up

I’m eating egg and cheese sandwiches in a conference room at Compassion headquarters while Ken Davis and Bebo Norman get their make-up done (Yes, I have video of that).  Rebecca Street James and Stacey Foster are hanging at the end of the table and Geoff Moore (sans The Distance) is checking his e-mail beside me. 

In a few minutes the hang time will stop, the make-up will dry and we’ll all head into a studio and start filming a conversation about what we’ve learned over the years speaking for Compassion’s children.  This little movie of ours will be used to train other artists and speakers on how to speak about Compassion and poverty for years to come.

Pray for us today.  Pray that the right questions get asked and the best answers get given and that this little film we’re creating is useful and inspirational to the next generation of communicators representing Compassion.

And pray that that make-up lady across the room has something in her magical make-up box to add 50 pounds to my face.  Hey, you don’t know what God can do with a little rouge.

08.25.08 The Social Cause DIet

Some words I wrote made their way into a new book called The Social Cause Diet.  Author Gail Perry Johnston, while recovering from an eating disorder, discovered how satisfying a life of service can be.  The Social Cause Diet is part her story and part compilation of motivating tales from 45 other folks including my Compassion Bloggers friend Shannon crafted to inspire and mobilize readers to serve others.

It’s available from Amazon.com and it would make a great gift for the reader in your life in need of a gentle nudge away from self-absorption.

Have you read it yet?  What’d you think?