Welcome Aboard George!
We are happy to welcome aboard a new Sales Manager, George Popham, to the A Package Deal team!
George has exensive sales experience. More importantly, he will make an excellent representative of A Package Deal and the business-ministry ideals it seeks to advance. George is not only an accomplished business man, he is also a solid and active Christian. It just so happens he is also the husband of our Pastor!
We are very excited to have George on board and about what the future holds. Sales has been an area of need for us since this adventure began in earnest three years ago. We have had at least a couple of mis-starts. The recession only served to emphasize our need to focus on this area. George is already off to an outstanding start, and is providing us with the leadership we need.
It is time to grow!
An Offertory Prayer
Lord,
We feel ourselves struggling every day, living life like it is a burden, incessantly worrying and trying to adapt to the values of the world: power, money, unqualified acceptance. But you are the creator and provider of all things. All we have to do is look to the sky to see your power. Yet we respond with ingratitude and selfishness, with weak faith and doubt.
We find ourselves yearning to know you, to understand your purposes and our place in your master plan. You provide us with your Word, passed down from ancient prophets and teachers, and even from the lips of Jesus himself. Yet we fail to read it, and often ignore its advice.
So we need to call on you. We cry out in our distress. So you offer us prayer, and promise to always hear us. Yet we fail to take the time to listen. In the daily hustle and bustle of our lives we fail to prioritize spending time reflecting on your Word and seeking your will.
This leaves us feeling empty. We search for purpose and meaning in life. So you sent us the Holy Spirit, to counsel us and provide us direction, and to help us feel your presence. And you made us your children. But we examine our lives and find ourselves to be morally bankrupt. We have a debt which can never be re-payed. We are irredeemable. So you sent the Great Redeemer and Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, the ultimate example of self sacrifice.
At this time, let us respond as He taught us… with courage, humility, a gentle spirit, in worship, and out of our love for you and those around us. This time, let us give anticipating the great miracles we know you can achieve by magnifying these small offerings of time and money we lay at your altar. And at all times, let us keep our eyes on heaven, reminded that this life we struggle through is only a prelude to an infinite relationship with God, our Father.
In your son Jesus’ name we pray, AMEN.
Check out the new look!
So I obviously decided to spend part of my holiday weekend working on updating our BLOG. Hope you like it!
The picture in the banner actually came from my camera. I literally snapped that photo while standing on top of the Great Wall of China!
The Go Getter!
Hello everyone… I just had to share a story with you. It seems God decided to give me a little test of commitment this week.
I have been in Atlanta since Saturday attending a “Colloquium” (a residency period for my PhD studies). It has been a great experience, but not nearly as exciting as the trip here.
In order to save money (I guess we are all trying to be cost conscious in this economy), I decided to drive my own car down from Louisville to Atlanta. I must admit this was against the wishes of my wife, who didn’t think my little car was safe or reliable enough for the seven hour trip. She suggested renting a car. I looked at flying, but the cost was outrageous, unless you accepted multiple flights and layovers, resulting in a trip even longer than just driving.
I got up very early Saturday morning, hoping to arrive in Atlanta many hours before the Colloquium registration deadline of 5 PM. I filled up my gas tank and drove 4 straight hours without a single break, until…
… of course, my car died. About halfway between Nashville and Chattanooga I suddenly started to lose power. As much as I pressed the accelerator, the car began to slow down. Inside of about 60 seconds I went from cruising along at 70 mph down to 40 mph, and it wasn’t getting any better. I finally pulled off the side of the highway and stopped.
I climbed out (dodging traffic), popped the hood and immediately saw that coolant was bubbling out of my car. This struck me as rather odd, because I didn’t think the car was running hot, and I had never had trouble with overheating before. In fact, I had never had any trouble at all with this car. It has been a gem. After digging under the hood awhile and seeing nothing that looked obviously wrong to me, I let the engine cool for a few minutes, and then tried to restart it. The engine cranked and seemed to almost sputter to life, but would not start again. Crud.
At this point of course I realized I had a major problem and reaching Atlanta by 5 PM was highly unlikely. It was time to whip out the cell phone and AAA card and call for help.
While I waited for the tow truck, a very nice man pulled over and tried to help me (you gotta’ love the south). He obviously new engines very well. He spent a good 20 minutes on it before giving up. Around 12:30 PM, the tow truck showed up. I am now 3 hours from Atlanta with 4 and a half hours before registration for the Colloquium ends…
… but of course there is no way I am giving up that easy. The tow truck driver fiddled with my car for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I am working the phone trying to find a rental car place, any rental car place, that is open and will give me a car. As the driver loaded my car up on his truck I must have called every rental car joint within 50 miles. Unfortunately, in this area there wasn’t much, and every place I called either wasn’t open at all or had closed at noon. I even tried to bribe a couple of guys to stay open until I could get there, with no luck. Quickly losing hope, I then sat in the tow truck for a 20 minute drive in the wrong direction to the closest mechanic.
Once there I frantically explained my situation to the mechanics, who gratefully agreed to drop everything else and tear into my car. Unfortunately, within 10 minutes they had determined this was no quick fix. There were buckets of coolant in the cylinders, a sure sign of a cracked block or blown head gasket. Just taking the engine apart enough to fully diagnose the problem would reportedly take hours.
Seeing the look of disdain on my face, the mechanic pointed out the window and said (I believe half jokingly), “if it were me, I would be hopping on that bus”. As I looked out the window and across the little county highway the mechanic’s shop sat on, I could see a Greyhound bus. The mechanic explained to me that he knew the bus’ next stop would be Chattanooga. I was obviously much more likely to find a rental car in Chattanooga than wherever the heck I was at the moment.
I sprinted out the door and across the highway (dodging traffic again). The Greyhound was parked at a gas station, but the driver was nowhere in sight. I ran inside the gas station and found the driver buying a Coke. I just about tackled the poor guy, trying to beg my way onto the bus. I was in luck. The bus was headed to Chattanooga, and although it was supposed to leave any minute, the driver was willing to wait for me.
The gas station was apparently also doubling as some kind of depot. I stood in a long line (bus waiting) to buy a ticket to Chattanooga. Once I got to the front, the teller informed me I could not buy a ticket on that bus, because the rule was you had to buy the ticket at least one hour before departure. I would have to wait for the next bus, which would not depart until 5 PM!
I obviously raised a little fuss about that, explaining my situation again and trying to convince the teller to bend the rules. His manager came over, and I repeated the story all over again. The manager finally agreed to do it if the driver agreed. I drug the poor driver over to speak with the manager and he ran the ticket. Success!
I then sprinted back across the highway (bus still waiting) to the mechanic’s shop to get my luggage. I grabbed my keys back from the mechanic, pulled my luggage out of the trunk, practically threw the keys back at the mechanic, and started the sprint back, suitcases in tow. The mechanic literally chased me down in the parking lot demanding to know what to do with my car. He also wanted payment for the work he had done already. I asked how much, and he guessed about $50, but he needed to write up a ticket and get my information. I obviously told him (exasperated) that I didn’t have time for all of that. I tossed $50 in cash at him, gave him my cell phone number, and then took off running.
After scrambling across the highway for the third time (bus still waiting), the driver loaded my luggage under the bus and I climbed aboard. Much to my dismay, the bus was PACKED full of screaming kids and rather impatient looking adults. Only two seats were open, most likely because they were the aisle seats directly next to two of the more “interesting” looking passengers. Oh well, I had come this far, so I was going through with it now. I picked a seat next to a probable gang member, said “excuse me sir” (he looked at me like I was from an alien planet), and plopped down.
The bus takes off and we are on our way to Chattanooga. At this point I had to laugh. Literally. The situation was so absurd I started to chuckle a little, which raised some eyebrows to say the least. No one spoke a word to me for the entire ride.
About 70 or 80 minutes later we finally pull into Chattanooga. As we left the highway, I saw we were close to the airport. SURELY they would have rental cars there. As soon as we rolled into the Greyhound depot I was up and the first off the bus. I grabbed my luggage again, sprinting to the opposite side of the depot where a cab was waiting. I asked for a ride to the airport. The driver gave me a look that showed he thought that seemed a little strange for a person who just climbed off a Greyhound bus. He pointed out that the airport was only about a mile away and I could probably walk. By the time he finished that sentence I had already thrown my luggage in his trunk and climbed in. He got the point.
The taxi whisked me over to the airport in probably less than 2 minutes. I threw $20 at the cabbie and took off running again. The first place I saw with no line was Hertz rental cars. I gave my frantic speech again, and within 5 minutes was in a vehicle. God Bless that guy. I even ran to the bathroom (the first time since I left Louisville… ouch!), then tore out of there.
Time of arrival at the Colloquium: 5:09 PM. No kidding. I dumped my car in the parking garage, left all my stuff, and ran to the registration area. There were a few other late arrivers so they hadn’t closed up yet. I checked in and all is well!
There is an old depression-era book called “Go Getter” by Peter Kyne that has a story like this. In fact, that is where the term Go Getter comes from. It also reminds me of a modern TV show, “The Amazing Race”. If nothing else, tenacity gives you some great stories to tell.
Now I just have to figure out how to get home.
Business as Missions
From the book, “Business as Mission” by Michel Baer:
How does a for-profit business seamlessly integrate Godly ministry into it operations?
- Seek to work for our clients wholeheartedly as unto the Lord (Eph. 6:5-7), and view our labor as an offering to Christ.
- Spend time in prayer for our clients and suppliers and our kingdom impact on them.
- Encourage one another to hold us accountable: “Live lives that invite inquiry”.
- Seek to provide ministry to everyone with whom we work depending on where they are in their spiritual journey. To unbelievers we seek to exhibit the integrity and character of Christ and to take every opportunity he provides to share God’s truth with them. To believers we constantly encourage them to live for Christ, and we offer them opportunities for sacrificial service.
- Operate with excellence. “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17). Excellence is required for growth, and growth is required to reach more people.
Merry Christmas everyone, and God Bless!
The Motherload!
As a Doctoral student, I am always on the lookout for references or contacts which will aid in my research… Yesterday was a good day.
As you all know, my area of interest and study is ministry through business. One of the concerns I have had in my studies is that while there seemed to be great interest in these ideas from a theological perspective, I was having trouble finding any solid research, and almost no leads outside of a very small group of ministers, authors, and speakers.
About 15 years ago I wrote a business plan for an entrepreneurship course in college using the term “Businestry” to describe my ideas. Over the years I gathered the rights to the term. You will note that Businestry.Org, Businestry.Net, etc. all lead to my company’s Web site. However, someone else owned the rights to Businestry.Com, but had never used the site. For about the past two years I attempted to contact the owner of the site, hoping they would let me use it or buy it. I never got any response.
Finally, I managed to glean a person’s name and company name from the registration of the Web address. Mr. Jose Gomez of ChurchForce Inc. I did a Google search on the company name and… wallah! There were several Web sites run by Mr. Gomez. To my astonishment, it appeared Mr. Gomez shared at least part of my vision for the intersection of business and ministry. I sent an e-mail introducing myself, and surely hope we can work together somehow. Check these sites out:
Following a link from one of Mr. Gomez’s sites, I stumbled across a site which discussed “tentmaking”, named of course after the apostle Paul’s tendency to fund his missionary journeys through his tentmaking business. These “tentmakers” are full-time missionaries who support themselves with secular work. Sometimes these business people can get access to place missionaries can’t. Check out:
http://www.globalopps.org/faq/index.htm
This site then lead me to discover Dr. Steve Rundle, who wrote a book entitled “Great Commission Companies”. Dr. Rundle is an economist who apparently studied “tentmaking” operations which set up in strategic locations then used their businesses for physical and spiritual ministry. You can find this book for sale on Amazon.Com (I just ordered a copy).
The tentmaking site also lead me to other sites which discuss this idea of tentmaking and “business as mission”. Check these sites out:
http://www.businessasmission.com/
http://www.businessasmissionnetwork.com/
Needless to say, finding all of this was very exciting. It has given me many new avenues to pursue in my research. Dr. Rundle is the first real academic I have encountered who is studying the issue.
Meanwhile, I am now taking courses in statistical research methods and business ethics. Here’s an ethics question for you: Is it OK for a business to impose religious values on its employees? If not, what if the business simply has values grounded in faith, and uses them as guidelines to judge behavior and performance?
So far so good….
So far so good….
Despite these rather troubling economic times, our business venture is surviving. We have had some scary slow periods, but we are hanging in there, with God’s grace. We have known for some time now that we needed to hire a good Sales Manager, but to be honest the slow economy caused us to be torn about whether it was wise to hire anyone right now. On the one hand, it is one more “mouth to feed”, and unlike some companies, once an employee makes a commitment to us, we do our best to remain committed to them. On the other hand, we can’t just sit back and hope (and pray) new business will continue walking through the door on its own forever. It is actually quite amazing we get as much business as we do given the fact we have virtually zero marketing effort.
Ultimately, we decided to move forward with our efforts to hire a Sales Manager. We have elected to take a leap of faith (again), and see this economy as an opportunity to retool and relaunch. We identified a strong candidate who suggested (on his own) to work on 100% commission, so this eases the risk factor for us. I know this candidate has the right skills and knowledge to do the job effectively. The question is whether they will buy-in to the “Businestry” concept and feel passionate enough about our missions calling to properly represent us with customers. Please pray for our business and this candidate as we both make a difficult decision.
Meanwhile, my PhD studies are going excitingly well. I have already identified a number of parallel avenues which can support my “Business-Ministry” concept. For example, I studied the concept of “Workplace Spirituality”, which recognizes the need of business to appeal to employees’ self fulfillment needs in the workplace. Strangely enough, the concept of Workplace Spirituality purposefully avoids religious connotations. In fact, one article I read about called such a thing “clearly inappropriate”. I also did some reading about “Social Franchises”, which is when a charitable organization owns and operates a franchise in order to raise money. In many ways, this is similar to my concept of a “Businestry”.
Please continue to pray for God’s guidance as I pursue this calling. Thank you all for your support.
Diving In Again
Well, as you might have guessed, I did in fact decide to pursue my PhD… and the fun has already begun.
I am already in my third week of courses, and everything is proceeding well. As I hoped, so far this really has been a great opportunity for me to dig deeper into areas of Christian leadership and business that interest me.
For example, I am currently writing a research paper on the link between unique, shared organizational values (such as say, Christian values) and the degree of organizational commitment felt by employees, as evidenced by such measures as turnover.
About a year ago I ran across some information about a company named Patagonia which displays unique values. Patagonia is a maker of outdoor wear, and has what I would define as an extreme passion for environmentalism. They are an activist company. Employees can take temporary paid positions as interns for environmental causes. The company offers courses on civil disobedience, and even has a policy of reimbursing employees’ legal expenses if they get into trouble. All of this from a company that makes its money by selling coats.
Patagonia has consistently ranked as one of Fortune Magazine’s best companies to work for. It boasts a turnover rate of 3% in an industry that is typically closer to 20%.
Do you think this is evidence of the power of shared organizational values in business? I do. Do you think these results would be transferable if instead the values were about Christian ministry? You can guess I do…
I can’t wait to write my dissertation!
I am tired, Lord (A Confession)
I am tired, Lord…
Energy, or the lack thereof, I am ashamed to admit is a determining factor in my everyday life. It is also a key variable in all my decisions, long or short term. For example, in preparation to make my recent decision about whether to pursue my PhD or not, I made a list of criteria and assigned weights to each of them. Want to guess what got the most weight? How much additional energy and time would be required. Perhaps that is a symptom of always being extremely busy and overloaded.
I am actually writing this while sitting on a park bench. I have just taken a long bike ride, many miles, up and down hills… which if nothing else has served to remind me I am getting old and am desperately out of shape. I still have a few miles to go and I AM TIRED!. I am sitting here trying to take a rest… my legs are completely sapped of strength, I am a sweaty mess, I am breathing hard, overheating, thirsty, even hungry. The hill in front of me, on the way out of the park, which encouraged me to sit here for a while in the first place, is staring at me.. It is pretty intimidating…
… and yet I know I will climb it, even if I must face the humiliation of walking my bike all the way to the top. I know it is going to hurt, but I will get there. Why? Because I am absolutely determined. Also, I have done it before, and I am confident that even now, in my decrepit state, I can and will do it again.
There is a strange confidence and peace that comes from knowing you are willing to make the necessary sacrifices to reach your goal. I am ready to take the pain and suffering in order to make it to the top, because I know it will make me stronger and healthier. That is a worthy goal I suppose…
I remember how stressful it often was in undergraduate college knowing you had a big project due or test coming up… yet at times I felt strangely peaceful, even while my classmates were losing their cool. Why? Because I had supreme confidence in my ability to do whatever it took to succeed. I was driven onwards by my dreams and the responsibility of providing for my then Fiance’ and future family.
My roommates started calling me “Mr. All-Nighter” by my Sophomore year. I had repeatedly been known to literally work myself sick… and if I had done it before and survived, I knew I could always do it again… and I was willing.
Why? Because it was worth it. The goal was worthy.
So now I am sitting here half dead on this park bench thinking… Maybe it is the same with my life. I am so often tired… deadly tired. I want to just take a break, maybe cut back on responsibilities for a while, take it easy. The obstacles ahead of me are daunting.
Why am I doing this to myself? Because the goal is worthy.
Thank God I am not alone. I know He is beside me every day, cheering me on towards the goal.
Now…. Lets go get that hill!
Sharpen the Saw
Part of the problem with my negligence to post more frequently is that by the time I getting around to putting the message together, I have so much running through my head it is impossible to type it all out in just one sitting! Argh! Well, I have no one to blame but myself…
As I type this evening I am actually sitting in front of my students during a break in class. For about the past about 9 months, I have been teaching one night a week at Indiana Wesleyan University. At the moment I am teaching Operations Strategy to a bunch of MBA students.
Perhaps that is why the first thing that came to mind as I began writing today was the phrase “Sharpen the Saw”. If you are an avid reader like me, you will recall this phrase from the book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. I believe this might have actually been the first habit. The general idea is that the most successful or effective people regularly renew themselves, and are constantly seeking to learn and improve (grow). I read a study once that said the average millionaire reads one non-fiction book per month.
I suppose it is pretty obvious I am a bit of an academic, and have always had a voracious appetite for reading. I have four college degrees (2 Bachelors and 2 Masters), and a library in my home with more books than I can count. I truly enjoying learning.
So what am I getting at? I have been struggling with a decision lately. Perhaps you can pray for me?
I feel the need to dig deeper into the areas of leadership and business that I am interested in, to “sharpen my saw” even further. This will allow me to research and refine my ideas about the “businestry” concept I have been developing for a number of years. I believe it might be time to return to school in order to work on my PhD.
I am intensely passionate about ministry and serving God through business. I hope that my research will better equip me to be successful in business and ministry, and also help lend some credibility to the “businestry” concept. I know I am not alone in his struggle (not even close), and wish to connect with more people who share a similar vision.
As always, I would of course appreciate your prayers, and wish to extend my thanks for your many words of encouragement. God Bless!
