2011 C12 Conference for Christian CEO's coming to Orlando Oct 27-29
Labels: C12 Group, Events and Conferences
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HOPE International Looking for Director of Programs
To apply, send resume and cover letter in English to Rachel Spier Weaver, Human Resources Manager, at jobs@hopeinternational.org. Only resumes and cover letters in English and submitted via the email given will be considered. Due to the anticipated volume of applications, we are unfortunately unable to accept phone calls.
Labels: Hope International, Recruitment and Job Opportunities
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Eight ‘Business as Ministry’ Basics from the C12 Group
Guest Post by the C12 Group - “Sow an act, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” G.D. Boardman
We each have a destiny in the heart of God (see Eph 2:10). As we begin 2011, it’s good to review the foundational elements of our practice and process as Christian leaders and stewards to evaluate what, if any, changes we might make for the New Year to nurture that destiny.
In the important area of Christian ministry, in and through our businesses, which consume so much of our time and energy, C12 has found that there are eight basic practices and perspectives and three leadership commonalities that combine to encourage best-practice ministry results.
The eight basic practices are:
- Reverence for, and submission to, God’s written Word (2Tim 3:16,17)
- The practice of prayer, both personal and corporate, as an acknowledged and integral part ofthe business process (Pr 3:6; Php 4:6,7; 1Pe 3:15)
- A heart for the salvation of the lost (2Pe 3:9). (Note: while not everyone is an evangelist, all effective Christian ministry has this heart)
- A clearly displayed, God-honoring Mission (i.e., purpose) Statement (Hab 2:2,3)
- Willingness to give from the increase God provides (Lk 6:38)
- Pursuit of excellence in all processes, products and services (Col 3:23)
- Investing in transparent and accountable relationships (1Jn 1:7)
- Commitment to personal spiritual growth and development (2Pe 3:17,18)
The three leadership commonalities that we find in the most fruitful and effective Christian
businesses are:
- They are led. Fruitfulness doesn’t just happen. The men and women who lead fruitful Christ-centered businesses are very intentional (Ro 12:8b).
- They use a God-focused Mission Statement that’s (a) short and easy to memorize, (b)personally inspiring in exciting their sense of ministry, and (c) used as an arbiter in decision-making (Hab 2:2,3).
- The leader pursues intimacy with God through a daily quiet time (2Tim 2:15).
These eleven observations aren’t intended to form a one-size-fits-all legalistic checklist. Rather, they are a compilation collected over many years of working with thousands of Christians who lead businesses. Across many different arenas, with many different God-given personalities and very diverse gift packages, hundreds of business owners and CEOs are demonstrating the power of living out Matthew 5:16, “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” May His light shine through you and your business to the greatest degree ever in 2011!
Labels: C12 Group, Don Barefoot
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Extreme(ly Ineffective) Home Makeover
But, sadly, Extreme Makeover has been has had a very shaky record of success. When the projects ended for many of the recipient families, and the celebrities were replaced with utilities bills, their homes became a suffocating hardship. Six of the families have actually gone into foreclosure. For these six families, the Extreme Makeover experience made a big splash but became a big burden. The ongoing costs and maintenance required for heating these huge homes and keeping the swimming pools operable were exorbitantly and unaffordably high.
These families struggled with a gift they were not prepared to receive. Tracy Hutson, an interior designer on the show, responded to these foreclosures: “I think our hearts were in the right place, but we just got carried away.”
Tracy’s reflections to her failed charity projects mirror feelings we all have experienced after our own misguided compassionate endeavors. Like the producers, donors and celebrities on Extreme Makeover, we often swarm into poor communities with our cameras flashing. We generate a firestorm of enthusiasm, but so often our results fall woefully short of our noble and charitable intentions. Our hearts were right, but our outcomes were wrong.
To their credit, the producers of Extreme Makeover have since adjusted their approach to ensure a higher level of success: They are building smaller homes with more manageable upkeep and they are working with recipient families to ensure they are capable of maintaining their new homes. Likewise, the solution to our failed charitable efforts should not be to abandon Good Samaritanism altogether. Instead, we need to intensely scrutinize our efforts, retool where necessary, and ensure that those on the receiving end of our efforts are partners in the process.
Labels: Chris Horst, Hope International
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Take God to Work or Find him there?
Guest Post by Larry Peabody - I greatly admire the author who, in his study guide, encourages Christians to take God to work with them. And I agree with what I believe to be his intent—to help us develop our awareness of God's presence when we head off to the job. The Spirit of Christ lives in each Christian, and where the Christian goes, God goes. I understand and believe that.
But wording the idea this way, the notion of “taking God to work,” strikes me as belittling God. It calls to my mind a ridiculous imaginary scene in which I say, “Okay, God, it's time to go to work now. I'll be driving my car. If you'd care to ride along, I'll take you there.”
The sentence made me curious. How widespread has this way of speaking about God become? So I googled on “take God to work” and “taking God to work” (with quotation marks to limit the search to those exact words). The result: nearly 17,000 hits. Again, I appreciate and agree with what I think those who write and speak those words are trying to say. But just as we design our buildings—and then our buildings shape the ways we live, when we repeatedly use words or phrases, those words begin to shape the ways we think. And those ways can become ruts.
To “take God to work” subtly suggests that he is not already there. We believe God is present when we gather on Sundays as believers. But then, to get him into our workplaces, do we have to take him there? If ten Christians work in an office, and all ten call in sick on Thursday, is God absent from that office on that day?
According to Christian theology, God is “omnipresent.” That means present everywhere in the universe he created. David made this clear when he said to God, “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast” (Ps. 139:7-10). In short, wherever I may go, God is already there ahead of me.
When Daniel left the Holy Land and went to work in Babylon, God was already there ahead of him. Who prompted Nebuchadnezzar to invade and subdue Jerusalem? God. Who inspired Nebuchadnezzar's dream that symbolically foretold future world empires? God. Whose hand wrote on the wall during King Belshazzar's drinking party? God. Interpreting one of Nebuchadnezzar's dreams, Daniel informed the king that “the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men and gives them to anyone he wishes” (Dan. 4:25).
Rather than thinking in terms of our taking God to work, perhaps we'd exalt him more by following Henry Blackaby's memorable advice: “Find out where God is working and join him.” God is already at work in your workplace. Learn what he is doing. Join him in his work there. Then you'll make the joyful discovery that the Almighty God is taking you to work.
Labels: Larry Peabody
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God Owns it All
Building a case for God’s ownership is not difficult:
• “In the beginning, God created …” (Genesis 1:1)
• “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16)
• “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.” (Colossians 3:23)
I am tempted to make the list longer, but you get the idea. Now take the next step: If God is the Owner of this business … I am NOT. It is not “my” company, and, regardless of what it says on my business card, I am not the CEO … so what am I?
In Colossians 3:23 Paul just told us that we are serving the Lord Christ, so “servant” or “employee” might fit. However, especially for someone who does have CEO/Owner/President/Managing Director or something similar on your business card, perhaps the best title to describe our role is that of “steward”. The dictionary’s first definition of steward is: “a person who manages another's property or financial affairs; one who administers anything as the agent of another or others.” It’s God’s company, and He’s given me the responsibility to manage or administer it as His agent.
Let the ramifications of that soak in – especially if it’s a new thought for you. Then remember that the Core Value statement is that God owns it ALL – that means there is nothing related to your … oops, His company that is not important to Him, and, since He is omni-present (He’s everywhere), He wants to be a part of everything you and I do related to His company. Now, don’t get overwhelmed by that. It doesn’t mean we conduct our business from our knees – at least not literally – but it does mean you and I need to be in regular communication with the Owner, we need to know what He considers important (He’s given us a Book that lays out the basics pretty clearly), we need to learn to make decisions in ways that maximize His input (See Dr. Henry Blackaby’s classic book, Experiencing God, for a great outline of what that process can look like – it confirms that God communicates to us through the Bible, prayer, other believers and circumstances - tools for executive decision making), we are called on to obey the Owner’s directions even when they conflict with “commonly accepted business practices”, and we need each other to be sure we stay on track.
Just imagine the difference it would make if every man and woman who claims to be a follower of Jesus and also leads a business actually led those companies as stewards for the real Owner. Imagine the impact on excellence, on service, on relationships, on accountability, on priorities, on use of resources … imagine the impact it would have on our global marketplace.
That even means recognizing that God has the right to sell or to close His company. One of the most challenging points in my life was when God was working on selling my … His elevator company, and I, the “CEO”, did not want to do that. I loved that business for any number of reasons, but my FCCI group helped me understand that I needed to love God more than I loved Carter Elevator Company … and they reminded me that “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” (Psalm 84:11) If Carter Elevator looked good to me, then He must have something even better in store … and He did … you!
I know this only begins to scratch the surface of what it means to understand and live the belief that “God Owns it ALL”, but the deeper unpacking of a core value like this is really work for you and the Owner. Ask Him to help you get this right, and meet me back here next week to take on #2.
Labels: Doug Hunter, FCCI
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New Video Story of Chick-fil-A Owner Viewing Work as an Opportunity for Worship
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Click the link below to watch the 2 Minute Video Story
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In the book
Marketplace Christianity, the author Robert Fraser describes Marketplace
Christians as a
"People without Heroes".
Robert goes on to say that all
of our modern Christian heroes are vocational ministers: Charles Wesley, Calvin,
Finney, Jonathan Edwards, Mother Theresa or today it may be John Piper, Francis
Chan or Max Lucado.
In contrast most Biblical heroes were not priests.
Abraham was a rancher and a businessman. Joseph a skilled businessman and
administrator. Joshua and Caleb were generals. David a shepherd, a general and a
king. Daniel and Nehemiah were government administrators and Paul had many
professions.
But these Biblical heroes have been interpreted
through the eyes of modern day priests and they have been stripped of their
marketplace identity.
Tragically without such heroes we have abdicated
spiritual greatness to the priests. We must tell the story of modern day
Abraham's, Nehemiah's and Josephs.
With that thought in mind, our RightNow team spent
a day with Jeff, an operator of 3 Chick-fil-A stores who strives to view every
interaction with a customer and every employee as an opportunity to use the time
and talents he's been given as an opportunity to make a difference.
This 2 minute video was shown to 2,000 pastors at
our RightNow Conference this fall and will be seen by over 20,000 church leaders
in the coming year. Our hope is that stories like these would give people a
model of what it looks like to view Work as an Opportunity for
Worship.
Labels: Chick-fil-A, Video and Media
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Joining God in His Work Where You Work
Guest Post by Larry Peabody - Joining God where he is working requires us to believe and act on these facts:
- God is at work in his world.
- We can learn where he is currently working in our circles.
- We can actually partner with him in his work.
The first of these three steps of faith flies in the face of the non-Christian idea that God, if there is one, doesn't involve himself in the mundane affairs of this earth. This kind of faith also parts company with so-called Christian thinking that cannot see God at work in “secular” settings like the workplace. God worked in the life of the pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, by giving him meaningful dreams intended to humble him. In Noah's day, God acted in a way that affected every life on earth. This whole world belongs to the sovereign God who made and still sustains it.
The second step of faith demands that we pay attention. When signs along the highway say, “Construction crew at work,” you'd better take note and drive on with eyes wide open. If you believe God is at work in his world, you need to stay sensitive to where he is working in your particular corner of that world. When Nebuchadnezzar told Daniel about his dreams, Daniel sensed that God was at work right there in the Babylonian bureaucracy.
Step three requires faith that falls into step with God by collaborating in his work. It's not enough simply to recognize God at work here or there. We must get off the dime and exert ourselves. Daniel did so each time he interpreted a dream for Nebuchadnezzar.
But Daniel lived a long time ago. How do believers join God in his work today? Jana, a Christian mother of four (and a fifth who died at two weeks of age after open-heart surgery) was working as a barista in Starbucks. Was God at work in this world of caramel lattes and cappuccinos? When a woman in her late 20s ordered a drink, Jana thought to herself: “Hmmm. This looks like a woman who came in several weeks ago—but she was pregnant then.”
Unsure it was the same woman, Jana simply said, “How are you feeling?”
“Funny you should ask,” the woman replied. “I've come in only one time before this, and I was pregnant back then.”
“That's what I thought!” Jana said. “How's baby doing?”
“Not good. We just admitted her to the hospital. She has three serious heart conditions.”
“Stay right there,” Jana said—then made quick arrangements to take her break right then. Walking over to the woman, Jana said, “I was in your shoes ten years ago.” Jana hugged her. Cried with her. And briefly prayed with her—right in the middle of a Starbucks store. The next day, Jana went to the hospital to be with the woman while the baby went through heart surgery.
The relationship has continued. Jana spoke to the woman about salvation through faith in Christ and invited the woman to their church fellowship. Since then, the woman and her family have moved to California. But she and Jana still call and text each other and exchange Christmas cards. The baby with the heart conditions is now three and thriving.
Where is God working where you work? Where is he working today? How can you join him there?
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For Retirees, Social Entrepreneurship Is Better Than Golf
Let's say you're someone over 55 who has enjoyed roaring success in your career, launched your kids, called it quits. You've made your mark and your moolah, and you want to do more than spend your sunset years hanging out on a golf course in Florida.
You want to give back. Donating to charity feels too bloodless. You hate mosquitoes, so the Peace Corps is out. What's a socially conscious "third-ager" to do?
Randy Antik faced this conundrum. A 66-year old retired CEO from Dallas, Antik had noticed that a lot of his kindred souls in the upscale neighborhood of Naples, Florida felt the same restless desire to make a difference as he did. But they didn't know how to go about it.
A longtime aficionado of ideas conferences like TED and the Aspen Ideas Festival, Antik decided to start his own gathering, and so the Imagine Solutions Conference, which took place in Naples recently, was born.
About 500 CEOs, former CEOs and community leaders — nearly all of whom sported little, or white, hair — paid $2000 a pop to hear from big thinkers such as Ken Dychtwald, Niall Ferguson, Peter Diamandis and Nick Negroponte.
But more to the point, they also connected with 11 young people who are addressing critical problems in education, health care delivery, energy and environmental depletion, and the faltering economy. One of these "socialpreneurs" was Rebecca Onie, whose organization Project Health is setting up "family help desks" in medical clinics to help needy patients. Doctors at the clinics "prescribe" food and housing for patients who are connected to a network of volunteers and resources. Read the rest of the article on the Harvard Review Site
Labels: Halftime, Harvard Business Review
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