Tag Archives: searching for answers

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Have You Thought About Walking Away?

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Walking AwayI made a new friend recently. During our conversation, he told me about his decision to walk away from a very successful business because he felt God calling him to something different. He did not know where God was calling him, but he knew he had to follow. I think you can draw inspiration from his story – whether you have ever considered walking away or not.

Mark Cress’ Story

In 1993, Mark Cress was part owner of an Inc. 500 company. At 37 years old, he was extremely successful and it appeared he had nothing but blue skies ahead. But then he started to realize that God was calling him to something else. Once he and his wife made the decision to follow God’s call, things changed rapidly. Within months, he was walking away. He had sold his business to the employees, sold his house on the lake, and enrolled in seminary. In less than a total of three years, he had started the organization that is now Corporate Chaplains of America.

Corporate Chaplains of America (CCA) now ministers to more than 800 different business locations. Those locations represent thousands of employees served on a weekly basis. Can you imagine the impact God is having through this organization?

My Story

As I listened to Mark tell his story, I saw a few clear parallels to my own story. At the same time, God sent us down different paths.

All of my life, I had been working toward taking over my family’s business, an automobile dealership group in Georgia. In 2001, I was General Manager of two of our seven locations. I planned to expand and take the company to new heights!  I had visions of grandeur and everything looked like it was headed that way.  But when I began spending time in God’s Word, I realized that everything I wanted and was working for was only temporal.  None of it would really matter in 1,000 years.

My Revelation

I realized I was only giving God the Christian requisite one day per week (actually, just Sunday morning) and an occasional Wednesday evening.  The rest of the time was spent trying to juggle my job in the car business and my family at home.  Even when I added the daily quiet times, God was still not the central focus of my life.  This was not the way He wanted it!

Searching For Answers

I began searching for answers.  If God wanted all of me, what would that look like?  I had heard of people getting “called” into full-time ministry, but I did not feel that call.  I knew of others, like Mark Cress, that were “called” into the mission field, but I did not feel that either.  What exactly was God asking me to do? What was I created to do?

Was I Walking Away?

To tell the truth, I did not have a clue!  I only knew I was not comfortable with the status quo and had to change it. I sat down with my father and explained that I was walking away from the business.  Because I was already in a significant leadership position within the company, I told him I did not want to do it effective immediately.  I wanted him to have time to replace me and make any other arrangements that may be necessary.  This would likely involve downsizing the business and could take a couple of years.

I did not feel God calling me to leave right away, only to let go and be prepared to walk away.  I had no idea where I was going or when.  I only knew I wanted to be spending more of my time working for God – whatever that entailed.

Called To Stay In The Business!

Fast forward eleven years, and I am still in the business! It was almost two years after that conversation with my father that God showed me where He wanted me. Though I thought I was walking away, He showed me that He had placed me in the position I currently held for a purpose and a season. He wanted me to do all I had envisioned in ministry, but He wanted me to do it through the business. As a good friend recently told me, God wanted me in the car ministry!

So that is exactly what I am attempting to do. I have said it many times – I do not have it figured out. Yet I keep showing up. I am determined to allow God to have the eternal impact He desires, through this business. I am only the steward of this business for now. Until He changes my direction, that is the role I will play.

Eternal Impact Either Way

See, Mark Cress followed God’s plan and he is enjoying the fruit of that decision. There is incredible eternal impact coming from his decision to step out of his business and start CCA as a non-profit organization. For me, walking away is not in the cards (at least for now!). God has called me to stay in business and I expect there will be eternal impact from that decision as well.

My point is this…regardless of where God calls you, you can have an eternal impact. There is no reason to think that you have to be a paid staff member of a church to do ministry. Seek God’s guidance, but know that He just may want you doing ministry right where you are!

What would you do?

Do you think this move was too drastic?

Have you thought about walking away?

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10 Pitfalls To Running A Christian Business

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Have you prayed about how you are to run your business?  Have you sought God with intensity on the question of running your business for Him?  If not, I would suggest you not read any further until you do. The pitfalls I describe below will not help you with your decision until you have prayed about this.

pitfallsI know I am probably breaking several “Rules for a Successful Blog” when I tell you not to read further, but I cannot help it.  If you think you can get enough information on which to make a solid decision in this area without first seeking God in prayer, then you are mistaken.  In fact, if you simply look at the facts through your own eyes, you will almost certainly decide against running your business this way.

Praying and Thinking

If you are still reading, then I assume you have prayed (and continue to do so) about this decision.  You may have read my posts on the 5 Reasons to Run Your Business According to Your Christian Faith.  It makes sense to you, but you are still not sure whether you should proceed or not.  Good.  I am glad you are thinking about it.  I want you to think about it.

As with any major decision, I believe we are to go to God’s Word.  What does the Bible have to say about making a major decision like this?

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to make fun of him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.
– Luke 14:28-30

Count the Costs

I will tell you, from my personal experience, that this decision is bigger than it even looks.  There are pitfalls, and benefits, that you have not even thought of.  It is just not what it appears.  Therefore, as Jesus taught in this Scripture, we must count the costs.

I realize that your experience in making this decision, and then implementing it, will not necessarily mirror my own experience.  At the same time, because I have already been through this process, I can share about my journey.  My hope is that I can help you avoid, or at least be prepared for, the following pitfalls (as well as those not listed!).

I will give you the list of pitfalls like Solomon might have done it in Proverbs.  Here are ten pitfalls of running a Christian business, eleven hazards you will face when basing your business on your Christian faith…

The Pitfalls

First of all, this is not an exhaustive list.  Secondly, I believe the benefits outweigh these pitfalls!

Now, some of these are self explanatory and some require further clarification.  While I will not do a continuous series of eleven posts on these pitfalls, I will take each of these topics and expand on them in the coming weeks and months.  I hope you will follow along and participate in the discussion as we go.

Do you disagree with any of the above?

Are you truly praying for God’s will in your business?

Are you willing to give it to Him despite the apparent costs?

This post originally published on 9/9/11.

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When Should You Say No?

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In a previous post about the Pitfalls of Running A Christian Business, one of the specific pitfalls I mentioned was that many people think a Christian business should never say no to anything! They evidently believe that having a Christian philosophy means we should agree to help anyone with any cause they have. I am not sure of the basis for this feeling, but I have seen it repeatedly exhibited since we began to attempt to integrate our faith into our business.

say no

WHY Say No?

Before we look at WHEN you should say no, let’s answer another question – one that is central to this post. WHY should you say no to some opportunities? I mean, within reason, shouldn’t we always be prepared to help others? If we say no, are we not turning away those in need? If we say no, are we not missing some good opportunities to impact people?

The truth is we are. When we say no to some opportunities, we are turning some away that are in need and we are missing some good opportunities to impact people. The problem for most people is that they cannot see that it is critical to say no to some good opportunities in order to be available to take advantage of the best opportunities.

Good vs. Great?

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, said that good is the enemy of great. He says we have too few great schools because we have too many good ones. We do not have enough great businesses because we have too many good ones. The same goes for churches, organizations, etc. The problem is that too many people and organizations settle for being good rather than striving for being great!

Rather than saying “Yes!” to every good opportunity that comes along, we should instead save our efforts for the best ones. Rather than spreading ourselves too thin by taking on every good project, we should focus on those that are the best. In this way we are maximizing our effectiveness. We are also leaving those “good” opportunities to someone else that may have a “best” fit with them.

What Next?

So, let’s say you get this philosophy and you agree with it. Now you want to know what to do next. How do you take this philosophy and execute in the Christian business? How do you apply this to your life as a Christian leader?

Let’s look at a few key steps in this process.

    2. Determine your mission

      In what area(s) are you going to focus? What is your purpose?

    3. Determine your resources

      How much time, money, effort, etc. do you have to give to your various roles?

    4. Build in some cushion

      Do not forget to build in some cushion or margin when determining available resources. You should maintain this margin for those times you underestimate a need or when you simply cannot say no!

    5. Be proactive

      Don’t sit and wait on the best opportunities to come to you. Go find them! Create them! Begin investing your resources for an eternal return!

You can use this same list as your litmus test for opportunities that come your way. Does this opportunity fit your gifts? Is it within your mission’s area of focus? Do you have the resources to take it on? If the answer to any of these questions is no, then you should think hard about saying no to the opportunity.

Still Unsure?

If you are still unsure, ask yourself this question. If the opportunity fits at least two of these criteria, is it important enough to you that you would be willing to spend some of your cushion in the third category in order to take it on? Sometimes there are simply reasons we know we should not say no. If we have the margin to spend, it can sometimes make sense to say yes.

What first came to mind when you thought about something you should have declined?

Have you had a successful experience saying no?

What are the obstacles to you saying no?

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Prayer In The Strategic Plan For Ministry

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A new friend of mine asked me a simple question in his comment on my final post in my Strategic Plan for Ministry series. His question was simple, but convicting! My friend, Loren Pinilis (see his blog here), asked me how prayer enters the process of this planning. While this seems like an innocent enough question, it actually is a very penetrating question!

prayerI wish I could say that I had planned to address that separately or that I just assumed everyone knew that prayer was a continuous part of the process and therefore did not include it. Or I could be bold and say I was trying to draw someone in to ask that very question!

Confession

The problem is that none of these excuses are true. The simple truth is that I forgot! In a six-post series on being intentional about doing ministry in the course of doing business for the purpose of pointing people to God, I actually forgot to include anything about seeking God for guidance in the process! I left out the very One who knows all there is to know about ministry, business, and people. Are you kidding me?

Of course, now that I have done this, I have the perfect post material! How often do we do this exact thing? We plan, we strive, and we sweat the details of our efforts in every facet of our lives, but we often completely forget to seek His guidance ahead of time. Most often, we ask Him to bless our efforts once we have decided what we are going to do! This is insanity!

Why do we always seem to wait until we have run into an obstacle or crisis before we call out in prayer?

We are children of the Creator of the universe. He is all-knowing, all-present, and all-powerful. He wants to equip us “with all that is good to do His will” (Heb. 13:20-21). All we have to do is ask! There is nothing that exists that is not available to Him to use to accomplish His will (Psalm 24:1). So why do we so often forget (or refuse) to go to Him in advance? Why do we always seem to wait until we have run into an obstacle or crisis before we call out in prayer?

Role of Prayer

Whatever the answer, let’s take a look at how we should pray when preparing our strategic plan for ministry in and through our business.

Mission Statement

As we discussed, the mission statement tells why we exist as a company. If this statement is to be used for direction, to make decisions, and to inspire us, it only makes sense that God should guide us in developing it. Our prayer should seek guidance from Him on our direction (Proverbs 3:5-6). Trying to do this on our own, without seeking Him in prayer, could lead to wasted time and failed plans.

Mission Field

The mission field is effectively our target audience. We need to pray for a couple of things here. First, we need to ask God to identify those groups of people He wants us to minister to. Second, we should be praying that He will give us the right words and actions for effective ministry to these people. Finally we should ask Him to prepare their hearts to hear what He will say to them through our words and actions. (Colossians 4:3-4)

Brainstorm

As the Creator of everything we see (Colossians 1:16), don’t you think God is more creative than anyone else we know? As we go into our brainstorm session to gather ideas for ministry activities, we need to ask Him to expand our minds and spark our imagination so that we can come up with those ideas that will be the most effective in pointing others to Him.

Action Plans

Next, we need to pray for wisdom in choosing and prioritizing the best ideas from the brainstorm session. We also need to pray that God would lead us in laying out the action plans (Proverbs 16:9) and that He would grant success in these plans as well (Proverbs 16:3).

Accountability

Finally, we come to measurement and accountability for our plans. Because we will reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7), I believe we need to ask God for more wisdom. We need wisdom in determining what to measure and how to establish good accountability. Because ministry results are so hard to measure, we need to be especially careful here. This another area that could cause us significant trouble if were to do it on our own.

What other roles do you see prayer playing in this process?

Is prayer a vital part of how you run your business?

Are you willing to follow His guidance when He gives it – regardless of the cost?

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Building A Christian Platform

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I was praying the other day and reflecting on the struggles I have experienced over the years in my efforts to honor God with our business. So as I was reflecting, I asked God why it has been so hard. I asked Him why I always seemed to be facing yet another challenge. I really wanted to know why it was not easier to do what I was trying to do!

Christian platform

Oppositions, Challenges, and Disappointments

You see, it has been eight years since I turned over the business to God. During that time, I have seen two to three times as many oppositions, challenges, and disappointments as I can remember in as many years before turning the business over to God.

Sure, there have been victories. And there have been innumerable rewards as well. Please do not misunderstand my point here. I would not go back and change anything, but there is no doubt in my mind that these eight years have been my toughest ever in business.

Questioning God

As a result of these challenges, I often question God about what I am doing and how I am doing it. He and I have had some heated discussions about the business and all I have experienced (at least one side of the discussions has been heated!) . I am just thankful that He continues to listen!

It was during this particular “discussion” that He gave me a picture. The picture is one of a platform. As I considered this picture, I thought about what it might mean in the context of what I had been asking Him. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that He was showing me that all of theses struggles and challenges were part of a bigger picture.

In going through these experiences, I was in fact building a platform!

Building a Christian Platform

This platform I am building will allow me to speak to others now and in the future. For example, as a result of building this platform over the past eight years, I am able to speak through this blog. Maybe I reach a large number of people and maybe not. But whoever gains anything from my experiences could be impacted for eternity as a result! The more struggles I have going forward, the more opportunities I may have in the future to speak to others. While my platform may only be a small wooden deck right now, it could become something beautiful one day! Either way, God will certainly be able to use it!

Platform

Purpose and Hope

Now after telling you all of this, why is it actually important? Well I believe we all require purpose and hope to keep going through life, especially during the hard times. Without purpose or hope in the equation, it is easy for us to get depressed with our circumstances. Maybe it is different for you, but I need to know that what I am experiencing has a purpose. So, as I thought about how my experiences are serving to build a platform that God may use later to reach others, I got a sense of purpose. I had hope that there was a point to it all. And for me, that was comforting!

What are you building?

Does the thought of building a platform help you?

What will your platform look like in the future?

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10 Pitfalls to Running a Christian Business

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Have you prayed about how you are to run your business?  Have you sought God with intensity on the question of running your business for Him?  If not, I would suggest you not read any further until you do.

I know I am probably breaking several “Rules for a Successful Blog” when I tell you not to read further, but I cannot help it.  If you think you can get enough information on which to make a solid decision in this area without first seeking God in prayer, then you are mistaken.  In fact, if you simply look at the facts through your own eyes, you will almost certainly decide against running your business this way.

Praying and Thinking

If you are still reading, then I assume you have prayed (and continue to do so) about this decision.  You may have read my posts on the 5 Reasons to Run Your Business According to Your Christian Faith (if not, click on the “Reasons” Category in the sidebar to the right).  It makes sense to you, but you are still not sure whether you should proceed or not.  Good.  I am glad you are thinking about it.  I want you to think about it.

As with any major decision, I believe we are to go to God’s Word.  What does the Bible have to say about making a major decision like this?

For which of you, wanting to build a tower, doesn’t first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?  Otherwise, after he has laid the foundation and cannot finish it, all the onlookers will begin to make fun of him, saying, ‘This man started to build and wasn’t able to finish.
– Luke 14:28-30

Count the Costs

I will tell you, from my personal experience, that this decision is bigger than it even looks.  There are pitfalls, and benefits, that you have not even thought of.  It is just not what it appears.  Therefore, as Jesus taught in this Scripture, we must count the costs.

I realize that your experience in making this decision, and then implementing it, will not necessarily mirror my own experience.  At the same time, because I have already been through this process, I can share about my journey.  My hope is that I can help you avoid, or at least be prepared for, the following pitfalls (as well as those not listed!).

I will give you the list of pitfalls like Solomon might have done it in Proverbs.  Here are ten pitfalls of running a Christian business, eleven hazards you will face when basing your business on your Christian faith…

The Pitfalls

1. People think a Christian business does not terminate people
2. People think a Christian business never says no…to anything!
3. Your old policies, processes, habits will have to change
4. Your comfort level will be shaken
5. The people you thought would congratulate and support you…won’t.
6. You will lose friends.
7. You will come under attack.
8. Your priorities will change.
9. People will take advantage of you.
10. You will lose battles.

11. You will give up profit.

First of all, this is not an exhaustive list.  Secondly, I believe the benefits outweigh these pitfalls!

Now, some of these are self explanatory and some require further clarification.  While I will not do a continuous series of eleven posts on these pitfalls, I will take each of these topics and expand on them in the coming weeks and months.  I hope you will follow along and participate in the discussion as we go.

What are your thoughts right now?

Are you truly praying for God’s will in your business?

Are you willing to give it to Him despite the apparent costs?

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Reason #1 (of 5) to Run Your Business According to Your Christian Faith

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Have you ever tried to reconcile your Christian faith with the way you run your business? Have you always been taught to keep faith and business separate? Are you trying to determine God’s purpose for your life?

If you can say yes to any of these questions, then this series is for you!

This post is the first of five posts in a series that will show you why you should run your business according to your Christian faith.

Anytime we want to determine the heart of God, the first place to start is with His Word.  If He has already said it, then we are in no position to question it.

The Great Commission
After Jesus was crucified and resurrected, He appeared to the disciples.  Just before ascending into heaven, Jesus gave them their marching orders through what is called the Great Commission below.  I believe these are our marching orders as well.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all I have commanded you.  And I will be with you always, even to the end of the earth. – Matthew 28:19-20

We are all, as Christians, commanded to go to the nations and make disciples.  This is not a suggestion or a request.  It is a command.  This does not mean that we are all to sell our possessions and move overseas to be missionaries.  There are plenty of opportunities to make disciples right here where we are.  We just have to look around.

Barna Research
According to a recent survey by George Barna and his research group, almost 40% of American adults are classified as “unchurched,” meaning they have not attended a conventional church more than once in the past year.  Even worse, only 15% of adults surveyed considered their faith in God as their top priority in life!  It appears the field is ripe for making disciples right where we are!

For typical business leaders, most of our time is allocated to our work.  We carve out some for family and leave a little left over for church on Sunday.  While some business leaders may buck this trend, they are in the minority.  That being the case, does it not make sense to fulfill the Great Commission exactly where we spend most of our time – in our business?

What better way for us as business leaders to reach those people (customers and employees) than through our business?  If we exercise and example our love for God through the way we run our business, maybe we can connect with them in a way (and in an environment) they have not found in a church.

Have you considered your responsibility to make disciples?

Do you see opportunity in your business to impact others in this way?

What are your obstacles to doing this?

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3 Sources of Godly Wisdom

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wisdom

I made the decision to turn my business over to God.  I was going to run it as a Christian business with an eternal purpose.  Now what?  What does that really look like?  To tell the truth, I had no idea what a Christian business was or what it looked like. I did not even know where to start, so I went to look for help.

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An Effective Offsite Brainstorm

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offsite

After reading Loving Monday by John Beckett, I was blown away at the various ways he was able to integrate his Christian faith into his business.  I began to think about how I could do the same thing with our business.  As I prayed about it, I began to get a flood of ideas about how to integrate my faith into our business.

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God was bringing change!

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change

I was sitting in Kansas City, MO at a Promise Keepers conference.  I was early because I wanted to get a good seat.  My brother was sitting next to me and I was feeling good!  He and I had a heart-to-heart talk the night before and I had confirmed that he is indeed saved and wanting to grow in his faith.  Because finding that information was the whole point of me making the trip from Atlanta, I could then relax!

Now, I could enjoy the rest of the conference…or so I thought.