Early one morning I was meeting with a pastor who looked exhausted. He shared with me that he was at a public school board meeting until 3 am and had very limited sleep. With exasperation, he said, “How can a group meet for 7 hours and not make a single decision?” When meetings are open-ended and not bound by time, ...
Many business leaders struggle in allowing God a voice in bringing on a partner or a key leader. This is especially true in rapidly growing companies that need significant capital. Many businesses start with a desire to please God, only to turn control over to investors who only cared about the bottom line. This can gut the culture of the ...
Matthew Gibson and Jeffrey Shrader authored a fascinating report titled, “Time Use and Productivity” that revealed the power of sleep. The summary of their research concluded that adding one hour of sleep a night to the sleep deprived can increase an individual’s earnings 16%. If we lack sleep, we tend to be less productive and make more mistakes. This study ...
As 2017 began, my wife, Kathy, proclaimed that this should be the year of adventure. Then she began researching what “adventure” meant. One of the definitions in dictionary.com says, “A bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome.” A different definition of adventure is, “participation in exciting undertakings.” After pondering the first definition, Kathy wanted to recant her proclamation. ...
George Washington left his American legacy with a great reputation. Even though the famous story of George Washington chopping down a cherry tree, and not lying about it, may not be true, this story speaks to people’s belief about his character. George Washington once said, “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is ...
In the 1880s, Henry Crowell struggled to convert his Quaker Mill from serving oats only for horses, to a place that made breakfast cereal for people. Mr. Crowell, contrary to most business people of that time, took his business problem to the Lord. Henry soon had a brilliant idea. He would package his oats into attractive cardboard boxes that would ...
February is a month that Americans celebrate the birth of two great leaders, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Let’s reflect on what made these two men great leaders. Both men had to navigate significant adversity. The Revolutionary War and the Civil War were major turning points in this nation, and, weak leaders could have set this nation on an ...
In 1932, R.G. LeTourneau, the “Dean of Earthmoving Equipment,” was deep in debt and behind in paying his employees. Yet, R.G. was confident God wanted him to make a $5,000 pledge to his church. R.G. reminded God that his employees would think he was a hypocrite if he paid the church before he paid them. Choosing to obey God, R.G. ...
In 1931, R.G. LeTourneau’s business was deep in debt. He was forced to obey his bonding company’s rules to save his business. According to his biography, R.G., known as the “Dean of Earthmoving Equipment,” was told if he didn’t work on Sundays that the bonding company would take over his project. LeTourneau prayed about what to do. He was instructed ...
It was 1955 and Stanley Tam, founder of US Plastics, was on an evangelistic outreach when Stanley felt God wanted more from him. Stanley soon realized that God wanted him to physically gift his entire business to God. Stanley obediently gifted 100% of his US Plastics stock to a foundation to fund God’s work. Stanley then was directed by God ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
