It’s always great to be
wanted! And we know that there is a big
need for Christ to be shown and shared within fandom. Fans For Christ began at Dragon*Con in
Atlanta in 2003 in order to show Christian geeks that they were not alone, and
non-Christian fans that God loved them just as they were and would accept geeky
hobbies. Over the years we have begun
spreading out of the southeastern US, on a mission from God to reach out to
people in fandoms and traditional churches.
We try to attend more and more events every year, and find out about
many events that we hadn’t originally considered. Unfortunately we simply don’t have the
resources and staff to be able to honor every request. But that doesn’t mean we won’t consider some
cons. Keep reading to see what it takes
to get FFC at your con.
Our Budget
FFC operates completely on
personal donations. We are not
associated with a church or denomination, so we do not have outside
funding. We have a webstore and sell
FFC-related items when we can, but much of our operating funds come from single
donations when we ask. The vast majority
of this money is used to cover website hosting, printing banners, cards, and
other marketing material, providing some giveaways at our fan tables, and
generally just maintaining our presence.
We do not have enough funds to pay for staff or members to attend cons
and other events. So when you see people
from FFC working at one of our fan tables, keep in mind that they paid their
own way to be there. As anyone who
attends cons will know, it takes a good bit of money to pay for registration,
hotel, food, and gas or airfare. Because
the staff pays for this out of their own personal accounts there are real
limitations to how many cons people can attend.
Our Staff
As you can imagine, doing geek
ministry can be a challenge, especially when trying to present the right
attitude to people. When someone is
officially representing FFC at a con we need to make sure that they’re going to
treat attendees properly, be able to explain what FFC does in a way that is
consistent across the country, and generally be open, patient, and loving. We will not turn over management of one of
our fan tables to just anyone. We do
actively try to teach and mentor people as the Apostle Paul did when he founded
churches, with the goal of being able to turn over a region to local members
while senior FFC staff moves on to establish FFC in unreached areas. Some people may do fine staffing a table and
talking to people for a few hours, but not all members have the interest or
skills to completely organize and manage these efforts. We’re always looking for new leaders, but
currently we have 3 people in the eastern half of the US and 1 person in the
western half that are able to manage a table at a con. Having this small number limits our con
presence as each senior staffer has jobs and family outside of FFC. None of us do this as a full-time ministry.
Our Schedule
Since our staff has to have time
for jobs, family, and vacations besides cons, we have to plan well in advance
of an event. In fact, we will often try
to plan a year or so ahead. Because of
having to allocate money and time efficiently we need to have a lot of
foresight and be proactive. While this
doesn’t mean that we can’t jump into a smaller, local con a the last minute, it
may mean that we can’t attend a con because we’ve already made other plans during
that time.
Why XYZ Con?
You’re probably getting the
picture by now that time, money, and staff are limited. Because of these limitations we have to be
picky about which cons we attend. If
someone is going to spend $400 of their own money to attend a con in the name
of FFC, we want to make sure that they are going to be able to reach the
largest number of people possible. Not
only does this increase our chance of sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but
it also can gain us higher numbers of members, some of whom can then be developed
into leaders. Typically we try to attend
medium to larger cons (at least 2,000-3,000 attendees) and prefer multi-genre
cons. When possible we will also attend
smaller or more specific cons (such as a 500 attendee gaming con), but these
outreaches tend to be when it is local to the staffer attending. It’s simply a better use of our limited time
and money to go to a few larger cons than multiple smaller ones. But we’re always open to suggestions and
options. We don’t want to be so rigid in
our decisions that we fail to follow God’s lead to a place that may provide a
great harvest.
Okay, So How Do I Get You At
My Con?
If you’re still reading, we
appreciate it. We want to get as many
places as possible, but we also want attendees, organizers, and staff at events
to understand why we may have to say “no”.
A negative reply to a request is not a slight or an insult from us, and
we hate having to pass up cons. But we
have to be strategic about what we do.
That being said, the single biggest barrier is money. None of us are wealthy and we don’t have any
lottery-winning patrons. Sometimes we
may be able to make our schedule work but don’t have the money. If you want us to attend your con, it may be
as simple as paying our way. Depending
on how far away the event is from where the staff lives this may include either
gas or airfare. Lodging and food are the
other big expenses, as well as registration for the con itself (if
necessary…some cons give fan tables free passes). Depending on all of these factors the total
cost may be as low as around $300 or closer to around $1000. We will always work with you to try to find
the least expensive way to attend. We’re
not out to make money or gouge anyone.
We just want to cover expenses.
So What Now?
If this is something that you are
interested in the next step would be to get in touch with us to check schedules
and talk about the details. Then we can
try to make it work.
If you are interested, contact us
at fansforchristfreaks@gmail.com.
