The Cru MPD Podcast

Ep. 41: Intern MPD Update with Bethany Broughton

October 05, 2022 Katie Johnson & Michele Davis
The Cru MPD Podcast
Ep. 41: Intern MPD Update with Bethany Broughton
Show Notes Transcript

Join Michele and Katie as they chat with Bethany Broughton about Intern MPD this past summer. Bethany also shares more about the scope of advocacy and how you can play a part in helping all staff be fully funded. 

Katie Johnson:

Welcome to the Cru MPD podcast with Katie Johnson and Michele Davis. We love that the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel. We are driven to equip and inspire Christian workers to be Christ centered, fully funded and financially faithful, so that missionary staff can come alongside all people to help them to know Jesus. This process is more widely known as ministry partner development, or MPD for short.

Michele Davis:

Bethany Broughton, welcome back to The Cru MPD podcast.

Bethany Broughton:

Good to be here.

Michele Davis:

It is so good to have you here. You are on our show back I want to say it was maybe February of this year. I feel like we will have you many times because you're just a really fun person to talk to and you do some really important work in the MPD space. Could you remind us all about your role and the scope of your role? And yeah, just like the basics of that.

Bethany Broughton:

Yeah, I started last year as the coordinator for national intern MPD advocacy. We're looking for someone to fill a role for staff MPD advocacy. And part of the job includes overseeing our allied circles with interns and also as a bridge to new staff. Some things related to that if they want to stay in an allied circle. But the majority of it especially recently is just Yes spent on interns in the summer and helping their advocacy coordinators know how to resource them so we can see as many people report as possible.

Michele Davis:

And that is what we're all here for. Right. So as many people report as possible, by all means possible. And so I think that your work is just so incredibly important. And one of the things you came on and talk to us before about was how in the past few years, we've seen just unprecedented reporting rates for crew interns. We have an internship program and crew where people are working in full time ministry for a one year or two year commitment, but they do it like a year at a time and it is that space where you focus your work as the intern Advocacy Coordinator and I want you to just maybe catch us up for those who maybe haven't heard your other episodes that we can link them in the show notes. It's also but what what have been some of these mean huge unprecedented things that have happened with intern MPD the past couple years?

Bethany Broughton:

Well, certainly, you know, the flashiest, most exciting thing is the 100% Report rate.

Michele Davis:

I mean 100% report rate is can we just say that like four more times

Bethany Broughton:

you know it is good to make sure we clarify that it's 100% of people who wanted to finish like people are always gonna withdraw. Like it's not really our goal to retain 100% of the people that come to orientation weekend because God is at work in their lives and they all have various reasons or things that are going to happen that make them decide like working for Cru isn't a good fit, or this huge life thing just happened or whatever. So 100% of the people who still were planning on working for crew at the summer and also 100% of those who were like put in strong effort, because that's still really important, right? We talk a lot in in general about just the reality that not everyone has the same access to resources and then MPD but everyone has the same access, you know, to the Holy Spirit working through them to put in the effort they can with what God has put in front of them. And so we do want to see effort from people. But for those who we see effort and who really still feel that God wants him to work with crew and that they want to work with crew we've seen past two years 100% of both the interns and the PTFS report and start at their various assignments across all of our ministries, not just the campus ministry but everywhere from city to campus and in between. So that's really exciting. And it means that this summer, about 400,000 extra dollars were leveraged to allow everyone to report those dollars probably have always existed, but they lived as access and people staff accounts instead of being able to be used for mutual partnerships between these interns and we do try to make it feel like a partnership. That's the advocacy manager's job is to get to know the interns in their area over the summer and know their situations and then as the summer comes to a close to invite those that they've seen, go over 100% Get to know and be introduced to an intern from their area who they know has worked so hard, but it's still under 100%. And so they have a little zoom call if they've never met and we want them to feel like they're getting to know each other and that it's not about like giving and receiving like we keep trying to use this term of like Advocacy Partnership like you would be the body of Christ is made up of. Sometimes one of us is going to be in need sometimes another person is going to be in need. Neither part is more noble than the other. So to see develop and for interns to catch that vision that they do want it to be more than just a transfer of funds but also a building of relationship between them. That's exciting. That's a new, a new earth thing and help helping that happen more formally across the country. I think it's always gonna happens. International intern teams have always cared about their entire team, going and reporting and show people have always shared funds with people they know, you know, to bring that pass just the people you know, to hear about the need and people just it's always so encouraging to hear how interns respond when they hear about the need, I think of a Advocacy Coordinator on the east coast to they realize like one of their interns goals was too low. It had a multiplier, but it was a new city and they didn't realize it until they were already at 100% of their own goal at the end of the summer. And this immediately saw interns in their area come around them to provide the extra, you know, 1000 a month or whatever and one of the interns. There was a gal going to the Naval Academy, which we haven't had an accident and realized the cost of living and the intern who had the money available to give. She's like I'd love to give it to her. My dad went to the Naval Academy both of my brothers went there. So it was just like he didn't know that when he invited to give but we constantly see those kind of just God moments happen between people, even if they didn't know each other first

Michele Davis:

kind of like some sort of like divine forethought into how some of these out there were ahead of us behind us. Who knows and cares about details like the Naval Academy. You mentioned a couple of things I'd love to double click on and drill in like just to understand a bit more. You talked a lot just there about the importance of helping those who are engaged in advocacy to see it as a partnership. And so what what are you hoping is the outcome for our cultural ethos and crew? If we were if we were to start seeing these, like staff Account Transfers be more about partnership, what would we hope to eventually see to be true of us as an organization as a whole?

Bethany Broughton:

we would see each other as a family in it together working together towards the same mission and so if Yeah, I mean, we all are called to steward our resources in the way that you know, God puts our hearts but if we are sitting there with 10s of 1000s of extra step dollars and our staff account and someone that we know and love is just chronically kind of underfunded like it just doesn't make sense. And I think we see so many pictures in the Bible of God providing for people in community and through community. And so I think perhaps by building a culture within our youngest staff, such a high percentage of our full time staff intern first, right so, so many of them are being exposed to this as their very first way of raising support. So I just think kind of from the bottom up, hopefully seeing a group of people who've just this is how they think about MPD from the beginning. Feels a little less private, a little less. It's just my thing that I have to worry about. But this is our thing like that we all need. We don't need to be like shy to talk about it. We all get my paycheck in the same way from the magical staff count system. So yeah, I think that would be a huge thing that I would dream of a day when our culture doesn't feel like MPD is a me thing, but it is a we thing.

Michele Davis:

I like that MPD is not a "me thing", but a "we thing." That feels like it will definitely be it'll have to be a work of the Spirit in our lives because there is such a strong, I think human slash maybe American cultural tendency to be really private about money and to be really private about you know, struggles with money. And so for us to be countercultural and to be more communal, and to be more transparent with one another. In order to accomplish that, we'll have to really rely on the spirit so maybe we'll also be more consistently lucky. Yeah, we definitely want the Spirit to guide and direct our life. Okay. You mentioned something else earlier about interns putting in the effort. And I'm curious if you could clarify more, what kind of effort do we look for people to have in MPD these days because, you know, we used to say 100 100 phone call 100 dials, this many appointments, and I don't think it would be news to anyone listening but some of those markers are a little different. With just the state of communication these days. So I'm curious. Yeah.

Bethany Broughton:

Initiation, so not just measuring phone calls and measuring steps of faith to initiate and that's really we want to like reward or whatever is like the steps of faith they took so did you send a text message? Did you send a direct message on social media platform? Did you make a phone call? Did you follow up tool thinkers and to track that and so it makes it was really easy, in a numerical way to see how much effort was put in. Of course, your ability to reach out to people is limited by the number of people you have to reach out to. So that is a little bit of a breakdown in the idea that like everyone can put in the same effort. Because at the end of the day, if you just don't have any contacts left or started with very few, it's going to affect the kind of effort base numbers so that's why it's helpful to have full story but they can also still reach out to their portfolio for the Contacts section. Sometimes, you can still generate a lot of invitations, even with a small amount people. It's not our biggest thing that we measure is initiations. Because you can't really control this thing. Someone says yes or no appointment. So even measuring appointments, like dedications are really high and number of appointments is low. That may mean there's something that we need to press into, but what are you saying when you're like, is it not as effective as it possibly could be? Because you know, we have a bunch of stuff that they can do in harvest here by faith, not the things they don't have control over like whether or not telling us whether or not someone meets with them, but did you just keep doing all you could do that week?

Michele Davis:

That makes so much sense. And I know that that is how we see it because I'm immediately like, this is my job. And every time I hear someone articulate that, I feel like doing a sigh, I'm like, Yeah, I can focus on what I can do and I have to trust the results. I am curious, I guess to hear more about if you guys in the internet space have found any new ways to like increase the number of contacts we get this question a lot just coming into our inboxes if you resource creators and from my past experiences, I think that because the intern MPD experiences so like, like control metrics around it, we've been able to learn a lot from that space. So when you're putting somebody who's trying to put forth a lot effort, they don't have a lot of context. What are some of the things that you might consider doing about the different contexts? Yeah, nothing groundbreaking unfortunately, named farming and renamed farming and encouraging them.

Bethany Broughton:

I always like to encourage people to do it in like a spirit of prayer. Like to not think of it as this like strategic thing to do but like to take a minute and to take a deep breath and to meet with Jesus as you do it and ask him to bring people to mind. Especially because perhaps the first time they did something a bit more in like a task oriented way. And so now this is an opportunity to just like ask the Holy Spirit tonight do people you know think of that as you know one thing I'd like to suggest that you're going through, there's somebody out, oh my gosh, she literally answered every single one of your Facebook friends, which as you know, Facebook friends are not all created equal. There's 1000s and 1000s of contractors who reached out to you to get there and that's what we provide for her but it was a lot of work like from a good contact perspective, right? She did not have many but she she had which was her Facebook friends and kept reaching out to them. So meaning funding and praying about it using social media and your cell phone to prompt you. Oh, and I guess one other source of contacts which could be available to anyone but especially for interns is ending interns partners. Because essentially just having so much more in the interim role than a full time staff. And so that's another role of the Advocacy Coordinator is to work with the interns in their area that are ending to encourage them to be an advocate as they leave. And so of course that means like just meeting someone and even helping them think about like a strategic way to do that. But most importantly honestly, is to consider inviting their partners to keep getting to someone and so if they know another intern or staff person who's going to have to seek an MPD can hopefully be such a win is that the partner is already getting invited to continue that cycle of generosity.

Michele Davis:

Yeah, and and that is another act of advocacy to that and on the part of the person who is sending employment of quote for them to to try to introduce them into partners to this intern is advocacy. That's that's what we need

Bethany Broughton:

for giving money, so many things, I think we sometimes like lazily use it as an advocacy when you be in cancer, which is great, and that's wonderful. But there are like so many things that can be

Michele Davis:

absolutely and I think it's helpful especially because we have talked about advocacy so much in this podcast space. To also continue to compete with what's familiar, you know, like, it's been familiar for our staff for a long time to ask for referrals. Yes. And, and even sometimes customer calls from other staff or staff leaving and so that's, that is part of what we mean when we talk about it's just somebody really willing to go back and to help you in your support and to to continue to like move the mission forward with their group of people being introduced to you. Yeah.

Bethany Broughton:

Before there was one of the internet like circles and COVID Passion replacements, you know, there was a significant other work to be done in the summer. Anyways, that was a great opportunity for her and she was heading for time with her assignment all summer was I called it like rubbish at like she actively initiated with all of our partners. We need a very detailed plan of like, these crimes are going to get to this person because they have this connection. These partners are going invite to this person, this one's a little less likely to get him so we'll reach out to them in this way and it takes a lot of work. It takes almost as much time and effort as like really having that time and coaching available each time like 40% of your partner's transfer they're getting and be open to meeting with the person even if they haven't known that. Yeah, that was really cool. And definitely that's a dream. I have our culture is that when people start to plan and actually office staff, which many of us know right this season, a ministry perhaps that as you consider that step you you really consider the opportunity you have to advocate for others and it's not just like, Oh, here's like a list of people you probably want you know, you honor the relationship you have with the partner and that you honor the person advocate for by trying to keep the relationship between them right about actually, they're gonna be so much more likely to respond to you as a person to be given to for 10 years, that feature and so for you to say, Hey, I would love to introduce you to this friend. I came into the meeting so you can keep your investment going and great commission is way more effective than just handing over a list of names and phone numbers. So we'll have to play on it. After leaving staff to have the emotional mental capacity to do

Michele Davis:

something that is sometimes a limiting factor. A 40% is really pretty persuasive like the tiny amount of extra effort can mean a really good percentage of your magic partner is continuing to invest in the kingdom work of growth. Through your funding advocating for

Katie Johnson:

Bethany I love when you that you mentioned like going back to your Facebook and going through those contacts again, actually did everything and I try my best to not have this mindset of qualifying people as I went through. We just continue to do most things right. There's people that I haven't talked to in years anymore I mean I'm sure they do because we follow each other on Facebook and I know people on Facebook because we post but I tried my best tonight and I actually named storms 150 names and I've been on staff for 11 years. This is a it's not like I haven't raised the time so yeah, going back in my mind games. I feel like that's really important. And even just how other stuff advocate. I have a friend who left staff and she gave me her context but she like very much. She gave me some and another staff person. And she thought her very intentionally who she was giving, like context to and why and she wrote the name and a phone number and then a note of how they know them or their relationship and it was so helpful and I I feel like it's just such a good idea and loving like for staff to do that. I felt so cared for by her taking the time to give me more information than just a name. So the numbers are bad. So if your staff listening, don't feel like you have to go do all that to like give your give another person referrals but it is helpful. In both like and I think both ways of helping me understand who these people are and letting them move a little bit.

Michele Davis:

Yeah, you don't have to. And would you consider

Bethany Broughton:

that's our posture in all of advocacy like because we want this to be coming from a spirit led place of generosity and solidarity and love for each other. So delegation and shame and coercion they don't really go. So not. It's so many people involved in communicating this message and you can never control how someone receives it right. So I'm sure there are people who may listen to this session orientation weekend or something and feel like I didn't feel like it was an option. I feel like I had to and so with that is never our heart but and we can't control that but it is definitely our desire that advocating is always a choice. No matter which way you know you're choosing to participate. in it. That is yeah, just honors your own energy at that moment and ability to engage. You know, they've been going full on for seven, eight weeks. And they're over 100% in early July, but they're exhausted. Right and so for the athlete to be like, keep doing 100 initiations or how you know, we want we want to enter in with context and validating their story and asking them like, what do you think God is asking you to do? Like, yeah, we can change our page. Now. You don't need to do 100 more like what would be faithful? What do you feel called to do? And you know, just helping them process that and honor their own capacity at that moment to

Michele Davis:

me. I have also heard like people like maybe, as we've talked about advocacy, do have some fears, like what are we moving towards, et cetera. And so I think it is like really cool to hear you articulate that, Bethany that we're not we're not like we're not saying like, we're going to have a certain person, you know, like it's but rather you know, the the reality is, is that I might not even have any idea, me how bad my impeding networks and resources are until I start raising support. Like I for me, I really thought MPD would be hung in some ways it was but but ended up like I did, like God did bring a lot of people in my path, you know, and talking about, you know, advocacy as an intern as a center. You know, we I joined staff 20 years ago, we didn't talk about this back then. Can see how in my, in what I did in my MPD I, I could have been surprised by how many people I connected to who would want to give to the mission like I didn't know I see how I could have been that have been an intern that was able to give but just even crash someone's

Bethany Broughton:

mind to be like, Oh, Michele, it's July 15. And Michele still has 200 contacts like How about we helped her figure out how to still do in those contexts. You know? Yeah.

Michele Davis:

So I'm curious like to just for a minute, I guess, Dream a Little with you Bethany. More about like, How could what we're seeing in and we've touched about this a little bit by just I guess I want to like go there a little bit deeper about like, what, like, long term for, you know, beyond the internships experience for our long term staff, to have advocacy be a continued in MPD. But what could that mean, for our senior staff? Let's help them imagine it.

Bethany Broughton:

I think it's such a hard question to answer because it can literally look like so many. There is no only one way to do it. I think perhaps based on the way that we've talked about it. The past few years, it maybe senior staff might think average is only giving money through your staff account, or only being willing to introduce your current partners, to other staff, right, and those are pieces of advocacy. But I think some of the stuff that we'll talk about transparency and just starting to change the way that you talk about your own MPD and your own financial situation, and bringing other people into it. cultures where our staff teams do that together. make great strides in this over the years. We've MPD champions and we talk about ways to keep MPD individuals and things like that, but what if we also shared the reality of like, what we're actually trusting God for financially or like, our goals and our dreams to be able to save, save or make this change and more, more finances for and that we could rally around that vision together and don't need to feel bad that you'd like to raise more support not because you because it will help your family in some way. So just yeah, the transparency piece I think is huge. Yeah, I dream of a time when there's off see the challenges that our legacy staff face, you know, and that so many of their partners are not able to give me more or not with us anymore, right. And so they need access to resources of the younger people. And that that's a way that our younger staff can even partner with our older staff. how free you to introduce you know, another 25 year old to this legacy staff member who's been making an impact for the Great Commission for 50 years. Who doesn't want to be a part of that but

Michele Davis:

they're not knowing that.

Bethany Broughton:

So that would be something I mean, it just dream of a time when like people don't have to stop doing the work that God has called them to because they don't have the funds to do it. Like hope. I think something i i desire in the intern advocacy space is that it brings hope that no, they're in late July. Like, of course we know God can do miracles and they know God is in it. He's powerful, but it just it's easy to grow weary and to lose. And just to know that two years. People who put an effort reported like our God is still able to provide in that way and that it just maybe training staff with the Christian missions ation, less scary to know that as crew we're saying like we're in it together and we're not going to leave you behind. As long as you're providing it. You know, we're gonna we're gonna be on the field

Michele Davis:

together. Oh my gosh. My heart is beating faster. That is so exciting to think about. Bethany, thank you so much for joining us today. Give me this update and for once again, shining the light on advocacy. Do you have any last thoughts or to share for

Bethany Broughton:

I do have two favorite stories to show

Michele Davis:

when I hear. Tell me your two favorite stories?

Bethany Broughton:

Because both of them I mean, these interns are so articulate. I'm going to pretty much just read what they wrote. And I think they both show how MPD is so much more than just raising funds, right? God does so much in our lives. It's part of our own thing suffocation. So I just love when God does this. Always says so. This is from a young man who said that God is MPD as a whole in a lot of ways and this summer. One of the biggest we have been how much I'm prone to rely on myself and trust in my own abilities instead of him. He slowly revealed over the summer, that it truly had nothing to do with me and what to do. But even after seeing God, things in my MPD I still had in the back of my head I'm running out of time, I need to work harder and so on crediting God for what he is, but still not fully trusting that he would. I saw some really cool things happen the last week of MPD but as it came down to the last days, I was still short, not expecting it at all. I got a call from my Intern Supervisor telling me there was another who is over their goal and wanted to partner with me in advocacy, through advocacy God provided at the very last moment and because of how God chose to pray that I literally could not attribute to anything but there was nothing I did or could have done. I was fully able to experience the sovereignty and grace of God. And God used it in massive ways in my relationship with him, allowing me to report on him. This is where he had for me. It was also really cool to connect with the other intern hear their heart and deal with the funds that God had raised and he didn't do that. God is obviously a lot bigger credit for

Michele Davis:

I love that. That's amazing.

Bethany Broughton:

She's so articulate. Last year I was recently in my first year of interning and I had a friend who was also being worked from another campus. Throughout the summer she would share how behind and stress she was due to the lack of support and the just the suffering and hardship on her life. The same time my roommate steadily. I knew I hit my benchmark and time to report on campus. And it just didn't seem like that was going to be the case for my friend without lingo. I decided to continue to push even after the person so I could advocate for her. By the last week of July I was at 140% I called her and told her that I could give her $7,000 and she burst into tears and able to form the words of gratitude. But the most beautiful part of the story is that she didn't realize how it equally blessed me and I saw and experienced the gospel and in the way Jesus is the one who hit 100% He lived his life perfectly, and then died on my behalf in Oregon might be credited with his righteousness and I didn't deserve it. And all of us fall short. He is our great advocate and we are able to walk in His finished and merciful work. All he wants in return to invest and delight in him right and she learned that because she like we can experience the gospel in all parts of our life but I just love that our interns are getting to experience it. Being a part of it.

Michele Davis:

Is kind of like when you have been a Christian for a long time when you hear somebody's story of coming to faith and it like warms your heart and remind you of how good they feel like these stories. And that similar way about NPD you know that I do often take for granted. Those like fragile early doesn't fit those Trembley faith steps during jig surgery support and then to see the Lord come through that is gosh what an edifying story both both of those were edifying stories. Well, Bethany, thank you so much for joining us and I'm sure we'll invite you back another time. Okay.

Bethany Broughton:

Thanks, guys. Yeah.

Michele Davis:

Thanks for listening to the Cru MPD podcast. Please help others find our show by liking, sharing and rating us on Apple iTunes and wherever you live casts. You can find it by searching for the Cru MPD podcast. Check out the show notes for more information, including the various resources we mentioned in this episode. We encourage you to be faithful and full of faith in all things especially in MPD.