Music and sports brackets join up to create a new take on fundraising

BY REV. ADAM YOUNG

Over the last two months, Sunny Lane United Methodist Church has been raising “fun” to hire a part-time Director of Children’s Ministry. The goal was to raise $20,000 to pay for the first year’s salary. We started by asking our folks to sponsor an hour of salary time for $20, a work day for $160, a work week for $400, and a work month for $1600. We had one donor give a seed donation of $2500 to get the ball rolling. We did pretty well those first few weeks as excitement grew at the prospect of having a children’s director again.

Then, to increase the fun, we developed a “Hymn Madness Bracket Challenge.” We selected 64 hymns to face off against each other and divided them up into four categories or regions: Grace, God, Jesus, and Church. We created a ballot for folks to vote on each matchup, posted it online, and provided printed versions in person for a few Sundays in March and early April. Individuals could submit as many ballots as they wanted at a rate of $5 per ballot.

One parishioner in particular, Mike Warfel, really got into the spirit of Hymn Madness and began stuffing the ballot box. He and his wife Renee, a flight attendant who frequently travels, would talk each night and listen to various versions of every song to make their decisions. “It was very difficult to decide at times!” Mike said. Their bulk voting certainly swayed the outcomes of a few matchups, but more than that, they inspired others with a competitive spirit to increase their donations.

I personally tried to rescue “Be Thou My Vision” from getting knocked out in the first round with extra votes of my own. But alas, it was too little too late and 15-seed “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” prevailed and went on a bit of a Cinderella run.

There were a couple of other Cinderella runs, too. “Standing on the Promises” got to the Elite Eight and “Morning Has Broken” broke through to the Final Four. On Wednesday, April 10, we held a Hymn Sing and sang the Elite Eight hymns with the help of Jerry Connell, a fabulous blues guitarist. That night, we voted on the Final Four and Championship. In a matchup against the powerhouse resurrection hymn, “He Lives,” “It Is Well” won it all! “It Is Well” won the title by beating out the likes of “Amazing Grace” and “How Great Thou Art.” Congratulations ,“It Is Well” fans!

On top of the Hymn Madness, some of our Filipino families stepped up and hosted a fundraiser luncheon to support the Children’s Ministry Fun-Raiser. We advertised our Filipino Family Meal on social media. With a menu of egg rolls, noodles, vegetables, sweet and sour sauce, and sticky rice dessert, this meal turned into a real community event. We had a massive turnout with the line snaking down the main hall of the church.

There were many neighbors and friends who do not attend our church that came to enjoy this meal. The day was a huge success and we managed to raise $2,272 toward our goal!

So far, among the three fundraising efforts, we are now over 85 percent of the way to our goal, having raised $17,070 in seven weeks. We expect to meet the goal soon and will post the open children’s director position immediately. We are so excited about all that God is doing in our midst as we seek to live like Jesus, cultivate transformation in our community and embrace all with God’s grace.