Last Tuesday I got to go out to lunch with two ninety-year-old men. Their names are Ed and John. They served for many years on the Board of Managers of American Missionary Fellowship. They were so delightful to be with! They had served the mission well, building many relationships with missionaries, with the ministry, and with each other.
We were there to talk about the business of the ministry, but they really only wanted to talk about what God was doing – how many kids have met Christ, how many people know the Savior because of the ministry. They wanted to tell me the stories of the board members and how they worked through some of the difficult challenges of years gone by. They kidded one another; they joked with one another. John was the legal counsel for the ministry. He related several times when he felt God had led him and directed him to make decisions simply because He was in tune with Christ.
When I left the Radnor Hotel after having lunch with Ed and John, I felt like I had been with people who understand our mission, who love Jesus and were part of our history, part of our heritage. In fact, even more strongly, they are the mission because AMF is not a corporation; it’s not a business. It’s a group of people in fellowship with each other – missionaries, board members, staff people, donors, missionary candidates – all who want to see one thing happen: the winds of revival blow through America, with some of those winds originating in AMF.
I wish all of you could have been at that lunch with Ed and John. They are great men of God who have a tremendous history and have not forgotten AMF and our purpose to reach America.
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label purpose. Show all posts
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Convene
I had lunch last week with Jeff Abbott. He’s a young, entrepreneurial businessman who left his job as president of a large corporation to work with a group called Convene. It’s a group that brings together Christian business owners and CEOs – business leaders who love Jesus – to run their businesses better and learn from each other, but also to make sure that their businesses are honoring our Lord Jesus Christ.
I joined the group a few years ago when I was working at Forest Home, and I learned so much about the business of ministry. The ministry needs to be supported by solid business principles so that we are able to have the resources – human, fiscal and intellectual resources —to do what God has called us to do. What’s so great about Convene is when I’m in the room, I feel like I am the stupidest person in the room. Everyone else there is smarter than me. What a great place to learn; what a great place to ask questions; what a great place to find answers from people who have been there before!
Let me tell you a little bit about how this group influences business. Todd Mattson owns a company called Pro-Line Racing. They make aftermarket parts for radio-controlled cars. It doesn’t sound like there’s much of a market, but it’s a successful company, and Todd has done very well. Todd and Amy are a young family raising their kids as best they can with Christian principles.
Todd decided that he wanted to demonstrate his core values to his company, so a few months ago, he shut down his company for a day, loaded everybody up on a bus, and took his entire company workforce down to Tijuana, Mexico to Casa Hogar Belen, an orphanage for about sixty young children who have been abandoned by parents trying to flee across the border as they migrate to the North. It was amazing to see this expenditure of resources for Todd to do one thing, to say to his company that he is a believer, he is a Christian, and he wants to make sure the people of his company know his core values.
At times I wonder if our ministry gets in the way of our core values. I wonder if sometimes we are so busy doing the work of God we forget who God really is. One time a reporter asked Mother Theresa, “Do you have a prayer request, one thing that we as a nation can pray for you about?” Without hesitation, Mother Theresa said, “Pray for me that I not loosen my grip on the hands of Jesus, even under the guise of ministering to the poor.”
I pray for us at AMF that we may not loosen our grip on the hands of Jesus in the midst of all our ministry.
http://www.americanmissionary.org/
I joined the group a few years ago when I was working at Forest Home, and I learned so much about the business of ministry. The ministry needs to be supported by solid business principles so that we are able to have the resources – human, fiscal and intellectual resources —to do what God has called us to do. What’s so great about Convene is when I’m in the room, I feel like I am the stupidest person in the room. Everyone else there is smarter than me. What a great place to learn; what a great place to ask questions; what a great place to find answers from people who have been there before!
Let me tell you a little bit about how this group influences business. Todd Mattson owns a company called Pro-Line Racing. They make aftermarket parts for radio-controlled cars. It doesn’t sound like there’s much of a market, but it’s a successful company, and Todd has done very well. Todd and Amy are a young family raising their kids as best they can with Christian principles.
Todd decided that he wanted to demonstrate his core values to his company, so a few months ago, he shut down his company for a day, loaded everybody up on a bus, and took his entire company workforce down to Tijuana, Mexico to Casa Hogar Belen, an orphanage for about sixty young children who have been abandoned by parents trying to flee across the border as they migrate to the North. It was amazing to see this expenditure of resources for Todd to do one thing, to say to his company that he is a believer, he is a Christian, and he wants to make sure the people of his company know his core values.
At times I wonder if our ministry gets in the way of our core values. I wonder if sometimes we are so busy doing the work of God we forget who God really is. One time a reporter asked Mother Theresa, “Do you have a prayer request, one thing that we as a nation can pray for you about?” Without hesitation, Mother Theresa said, “Pray for me that I not loosen my grip on the hands of Jesus, even under the guise of ministering to the poor.”
I pray for us at AMF that we may not loosen our grip on the hands of Jesus in the midst of all our ministry.
http://www.americanmissionary.org/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)