Mike Fichter's blog

On January 1, 2010, the life movement enters into its most crucial decade yet. I call it the Viability Decade – a period when we must strategically prepare for the long-term viability of our efforts if we want to be in it for the long haul.

What will the keys be for a the Viability Decade? A relentless focus on seven fundamentals:

- Leadership: cultivating the new wave
- Unity: smashing walls and linking arms
- Resources: dropping the martyrdom complex
- Structure: building for the long haul
- Relevancy: speaking so someone will care
- Prayer: fighting on our turf
- Alternatives: show the world what we are for

We’ve got be willing to face the truth about the long-term preparedness of the life movement, and we’ve got to do it now. This means leaving our pride at the door, putting aside personality differences, and dropping the little games we can play to replace organizational effectiveness with organizational control. The good news is that we still have time to do it. The bad news is that we’d better get started now. And there’s no better place to start the Viability Decade than by asking some fundamental questions and giving honest, gut check answers.

Here are just a few of the questions we must be willing to ask:

Are we building sound organizational structures that are built to last? With very few and highly successful exceptions, the life movement relies upon a small pool of leaders who do it all. That’s an impossible burden and a recipe for extinction.

Are we raising up a new generation of leaders that will carry the baton over the next course of the life movement’s history? We must address this problem immediately or the life movement becomes a moot point in a very short amount of time. The starting point is to stop thinking of reaching youth culture in terms of programming, but rather in terms of leadership recruitment. It also means that veteran leaders need to stop thinking that the movement will collapse if they loosen a grip on the reins. It won’t. But it will collapse without future leadership.

Are we remaining relevant? Recently I attended a worldwide church leadership summit and listened as nearly every evangelical leader pointed to issues other than abortion in their calls to action by the body of Christ. In fact, there was only one reference to the issue of abortion and that came in a speaker’s biography in the conference booklet. The speaker, a pastor of an evangelical inner city mega church, noted that his church has continued to grow because it addresses issues that are relevant to the culture instead of the “tired old issues like abortion”. It’s not what I wanted to hear, but this pastor’s biography speaks volumes to anyone willing to take the time to listen.

Are we utilizing the power of unity? I am tempted to say that the life movement is the most splintered movement of its kind in the world. Everyone is doing his or her own thing. Some groups spend more time griping about what others in the life movement are doing wrong than they do about the organizations that take human life. Some are hung up on control, placing power as priority one. Some are cloistered in a denominational bubble zone. It’s like someone lost the playbook so everyone is improvising at once. What’s up with that? The other side gets it. Just listen to your evening news the next time a major life issue comes down the pike. Legislators and organizational leaders alike will use almost the exact same language in media interviews, betraying a scripted response that keeps everyone on page. Listen to the replies from the life movement. I’ll guarantee you they will be all across the board.

Are we building political clout or clinging to the power of the past? This may sting a little, but the life movement has allowed itself to be marginalized in the political arena. Forget the romantic, politically correct notion of bipartisanship. The Democrat Party is solidly in the death grip of abortion proponents. It’s in the Party’s own platform! Yet we continually applaud ostensibly pro-life Democrats because we want to kid ourselves into thinking that there will be a revolution in the ranks. As long as money flows in from EMILY’s List and MoveOn.org, the cord of any revolution in the ranks will be sheared off in a heartbeat. The Republican Party has its own issues with liberal elements that are undercutting the life agenda. But there is a deeper issue. The reality is that many of the GOP power brokers find life movement leaders unreliable and lacking influence, making it more tempting to look in other areas for support. Our response has been to blame “country club” Republicans, but a friend of mine recently reminded me that affluent pro-life Republicans belong to country clubs too, they just don’t like giving money to organizations they don’t view as effective or without vision.

Are we raising the money needed to win this fight? I simply refuse to believe that there is not enough money in the hands of American donors to fuel the needs of the life movement. That’s absurd. Yet the martyrdom complex that seems inherent to many elements of the life movement is maddening. Chances are you’ve heard statements like: “We already have all the money we need”, “We’ve already asked people for money once this year, let’s not ask again”, or “We’ll just have to make do with what we have”.
No! The only time we should ever be ashamed to ask someone to support our cause is if we are not going to put their funding to proper use. If that’s the case we shouldn’t ask at all. But if we start to raise our vision to what we could do, instead of what we must settle for, we can set a whole new standard for this most selfless of causes.

Are we planning for a fight that might last another twenty, thirty, or even a hundred years? Believe me, I understand that no one who serves in the life movement wants to even contemplate the possibility of a seemingly endless continuation of abortion in America. I’ve yet to meet a single person in the life movement who desires to prolong this battle for years to come. But we must ask the question: what if the end doesn’t come in our lifetimes? What judgment will be on our watch if we fail to plan and prepare for the future? How selfish to act as if it’s all about us, right here and right now. The sin is not preparing for the long haul – the sin is in failing to prepare.

Are we addressing the issue of viability? Viability doesn’t simply mean that someone, somewhere will still use the name “Right to Life” fifty years from now. I’m sure there are still some people somewhere calling for a return of the prohibition of alcohol. But I have no idea who they are – do you?
Viability for the purpose of the life movement means to remain a driving, relevant force that will not be silenced until the right to life of every person – born and unborn– is protected by the United States Constitution. This must be what we are striving for, pure and simple. Right now, I don’t think we’re on track to get there. But it’s not too late to shift the gears.

We can do it. And we must do it. But it’s going to take a core shift in the way we approach everything that we are doing in our day-to-day work. If we’re willing to address these issues – if you’re willing to exert influence and leadership – we make sure that we stay in the fight for good.

At last count I have five tape measures scattered among my house, my garage, my tool belt, and who knows where else. It’s highly inefficient since I really only need one, but in my system of doing things I just figure that about the same time I misplace (my wife would say lose) one tape measure, another one is bound to be nearby.

Years are a lot like tape measures. Those years that have passed stand in our minds as measurements that define milestones, both good and bad, in our lives. We define one as the year when we graduated from high school, and maybe another as the year when a favorite aunt passed away. We remember the years when our children were born, or for some, the year when it was learned that there would be no children. There is joy, fear, love, sadness and more wrapped up in each year gone by.

But it’s not so with a new year. A new year is a blank slate that means so much more than fad diets and fleeting resolutions. Which all gets me to thinking: what will the defining measurement of this new year be for all of us?

My hope is that 2010 will come to be known as the year in which we’ve finally had enough.

Enough of watching arrogance on display each night on the evening news as we are told over and over again that Washington knows best. We all know better.

Enough of seeing unelected and unaccountable czars make policy in this nation, instead of elected people actually accountable to the public. When did we forget the Russian origins of the czar title?

Enough of being told about the immense promise of embryonic stem cell research when even Oprah’s Dr. Oz admits that the real breakthroughs are in adult stem cell research. Can we all say “follow the money”?

Enough of political candidates reading tightly scripted speeches that address everything in general but nothing in substance. We want more.

Enough of being told that the government can run health care better than the private sector. Ever stood in line at the license branch?

Enough of thinking that government can fix problems of the heart.

Enough of accepting the status quo.

Enough of over 1 million unborn children dying in American abortion clinics each year, leaving moms, dads, grandparents, siblings and friends with broken hearts.

But most of all, may 2010 be a year when we’ve all had enough of telling God that we can do just fine without Him. The truth is that we can’t, and it’s only when we’ve had enough of the pretending that we can finally move up to what President Abraham Lincoln called the “better angels of our nature”.

Now that’s something we can never have enough of.

There are only so many times when we can ask the same people to call the same congressman about the same bill.  Then we reach a saturation point, like a sponge that just can’t suck up any more water.  We can keep pouring it on, but where does it go?  It simply runs down the sides and onto the ground. 

In the case of legislative alerts and email lists, we are literally communicating to the same people over and over again, and (as much as might not like to hear it) people just get tired of it.  More significantly, an over reliance on “act now or else” communications lead most of us to overlook an enormous opportunity to engage our base in a powerful, ongoing and substantive way. 

Do we believe Proverbs 21:1?  Seriously – do we really believe Proverbs 21:1?      ”The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.”

There is stunning power and simplicity in knowing – and trusting -that the God of the universe holds the hearts of our leaders in His hands.  No political agenda, no political action committee, no amount of elitism can shield even the toughest heart from the will of God. 

Which all begs the question: what would Washington look like if we spent as much time asking God to change the heart of the king as we do asking our supporters to dial 1-800 numbers they’ve called a dozen times before.

Yes, we must keep our folks informed and yell fire when danger is imminent.  But we must not relegate God to a role of bench warmer while we fight what is ultimately His battle all along.

The number one fundraising banquet tip?  Make your appeal a priority, not an afterthought. 

Might sound simple, but the crucial nature of the fundraising appeal is many times overlooked.   An overlooked appeal means lost funding, which in turn means lost ability to perform your mission. 

Here are some key things to consider when making your banquet appeal a priority (I’ll go into each of these in more detail in future blogs):

1. Pick the right person to make the ask.   Never assume the person you pick will do a great job just because he/she is well-liked or serves on your board.   Have a template they must agree to follow. 

2. Have a detailed pledge card with multiple options for giving.

3. Have a clearly identified 9×12 envelope on each table for pledge cards. 

4. Ask each table host to pass the cards to each guest.

5. Ask for complete silence and state this is the most important part of the night.

6. Never, repeat never, apologize for asking for money.  No money, no mission.

7. Clearly state the giving levels you are seeking.

8. Have at least one major project you are asking 0ne donor to underwrite.   

Using football lingo (yes I am an NFL fan), banquets take way to much time and energy just to get the ball to the one yard line.  Punch it in for a touchdown, and your whole team will reap the benefits.

When I was younger, I ended community Right to Life meetings at the public library in the same way each and every time.  “We are always looking for more board members,” I would begin.  “If you would like to be on board, we sure would like to have you.”  Then I would proceed to give the details of our next board meeting, i.e. time, date, location, etc..

Looking back on those days, it’s a wonder that I didn’t cause more organizational damage than I did. 

Why would anyone want to extend such an invitation to complete strangers?  It’s the worst way in the world to build a board of directors.  Well meaning, but flirting with disaster nonetheless.

Service on your board of directors is a privilege and an honor not to be extended lightly.  In fact, the opportunity should never be extended unless a candidate has been thoroughly vetted, meets a leadership need, is approved by the current board in advance, and agrees to meet the established expectations for board members.