Last night I was asked to speak to the employees of a faith based company that is staying at Honey Lake Plantation Resort and Spa for their annual corporate retreat and planning session. Our meeting was conducted outside around a bonfire and was informal. They have a very rapidly growing medical IT consulting company and it is comprised entirely of young people.
I was asked to both give my testimony and also to cover some of the obstacles that I encountered when I took my young, relatively small, company to a point of significance. They are facing that same daunting task of reaching that next difficult level.
After my talk I was asked what tools I personally used to manage the growth of my company. In plain English, “How did you know what to do?”
I told them I had little formal education and no training in business, or a mentor of any type, but I had two powerful tools at my disposal, the Holy Bible and God given common sense, and I used both of them.
I reiterated that I’d read the Bible so many times that I couldn’t remember how many, and each and every morning I begin my day by studying it, and scouring it for advice for whatever is going on in my life. When it comes to spiritual, personal, or business advice, the Bible is my mentor.
For example when I needed a mission statement, I didn’t Google it to see what all of the successful and famous companies around the globe used for their mission statements, (that powerful search engine had not been invented yet). I reflected upon what Jesus, if He came to earth and established His own business, would use for His mission statement.
Based on my knowledge of the Bible and realizing that He came to serve mankind, I reckoned that He would have customer service at the top of His list, hence my first objective became to provide outstanding customer service; After taking one look at the beautiful sky, sunrise, and the glory that surrounded me I also surmised that He would only offer products that were of the very highest quality, which became my second objective; He would no doubt maintain fair prices, (fair to Him and fair to His employees and the customer base); and lastly I believe with all of my spirit that He and His employees would work together in a spirit of honesty, integrity, and pride which means they would treat everyone the way they would like to be treated.
I’ve used that mission statement for many years and it has served me well. I have not always been able to pull it off the way I would like, but it gives me something worthwhile to aspire to.
In every instance of being confronted with a situation I try to ask myself if Jesus were confronted with the identical problem what would He do, and then I try to emulate Him. If I have doubts, I search the Bible for my answers. If I don’t understand, or lack faith, I pray about it and search again. I look at examples of others throughout the Bible that faced similar vexing problems or obstacles, and use their example and the sage advice set forth in the Bible. True, much of it is general in nature, but the concepts apply and we just need to think about it in that manner. Actually I have never found a problem that I could not address by going to God’s word.
I could see the look of disbelief when I told them that I found my answers in the Bible. I mentioned that Solomon was the wisest and wealthiest man the world would ever know. The Bible states that no one will ever exceed him in that regard. He wrote much of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and it is full of advice for just about anything and is a great place to begin a lifelong study.
I told them that running a business is as much about faith as anything. Faith in God and faith that we can achieve great things. At the moment our country is totally disheartened by the economy, wars, the vile political landscape, and the many social and cultural problems in this country. I believe that if we could get a God fearing, honest and ethical set of leaders in our country, it would immediately turn around and begin to prosper. People would believe in themselves and in our great country once again. We need faith.
The phenomenon of faith (or believing in something) is analogous to breaking the world record for the four minute mile; once it was achieved by Roger Bannister, this supposedly impossible task became achievable in the minds of people all over the world and lo and behold people began breaking it left and right until it became commonplace. We just need a leader that will lead and encourage and make us believe that we can overcome these problems with God’s help, rather than someone who wants to criticize constantly, institute class warfare, and divide for political purpose.
With God nothing is impossible, and we can do all things through Christ. We need to believe that concept. No problem is too great for Him. Look at my life. When I doubted that God could change my miserable life, my nurse reminded me that God made the blind see, He healed the leper, walked on water, fed 5000, and raised Lazarus from the dead and if He could do all of that He could change my sorry tail.
Who would have believed that?
I did and He delivered.
In spite of the floundering economy and totally inept leadership of our country this group’s business is flourishing and there is huge demand for their product. I told them that they were in a niche that was analogous to knowing where to dig for gold. All they needed to do is to work hard and smart and dig it up and take it right on down to the bank and deposit it. I cautioned that it all began with faith in God. My businesses were established upon faith. I floundered when I strayed from my core beliefs and flourished when I adhered to them again. I finally learned not to wander too far, and that is what has made me successful. We must stay the course.
Yesterday these folks worked hard all day in difficult meetings, and today the men are going quail hunting and the ladies are headed for the spa and salon. I believe Jesus would want them to enjoy some relaxation today after all of those difficult planning meetings and of course having to listen to this old buzzard after dinner around the campfire.
Luke 1:37
“For nothing is impossible with God.”