Why does DG charge money for its resources?

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not for sale. So by selling resources, are we simply opportunists trying to profit from people who are hungry for truth? May it never be. When you purchase resources, it’s not like buying a hamburger. You are investing in vision. You are helping to promote the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. How does this work?

One of the most effective ways to spread a vision is to free up (pay) a few gifted people to devote themselves vocationally to teaching the vision and equipping those who embrace it to spread the vision throughout their networks. We don’t get this idea from corporate consulting gurus. We get it from the New Testament. It is Jesus’ gospel-preaching and church planting model. When you purchase resources from DGM, the revenue that is generated works to multiply the ministry. Not only do you receive resources that stoke your passion for God, but you’re also making it possible for others to be stoked in the same way. You’re replacing the resource you just received, investing in the creation of new resources, and paying a few people to devote their lives to making the gospel available to others.

Why not ask for contributions instead of putting a price on your resources?

We generally don’t ask for contributions, but we do accept them. In fact, the Lord prompts people who believe in DG to contribute freely and this is what helps make our ends meet. We don’t actually generate enough revenue from sales to cover our expenses. Money given to us beyond the suggested price of our resources is really a further investment in the ministry of DGM.

But the main reason we price our resources is because we want most people to support DG with their discretionary money instead of their tithes. We do not want to compete for funding with churches, mission agencies, and organizations focusing on the poor and persecuted. We’d rather compete with McDonalds, Microsoft, and Miramax. North Americans and Europeans comprise the vast majority of our "customers," and are very wealthy by global standards. For most of them, lifestyle choices are not between God-centered resources and medicine for their children, but between God-centered resources and another music CD (or round of golf or new computer game or video rental, etc.). So we prefer to cut into corporate profits rather than a church’s missions budget.