Each month, the Rev. Dan Hall gets together for lunch with a large group of men and women he thinks have the greatest influence on the communities they live in.
The group he meets and eats with is not fellow preachers, but business leaders who gather to hear Hall give a biblical perspective to topics like "Winning the Battle Over Fatigue," or "Handling Success."
Hall, senior pastor at 2,200-member Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany, Ind., speaks to between 50 and 75 people each month at the lunch meeting. Dubbed "Power Lunch," the meeting gives him an opportunity to combine biblical principles he has learned as a minister with the business acumen he has developed as leader of a large church.
While about half of those who attend the lunch are Graceland members, others come from the business community at large. Many are invited by friends or colleagues and some were drawn by word of mouth.
In the three years he has been hosting the lunch at a local banquet hall, it has become a vital ministry for him and for his church.
"I've always had a heart for business leaders," Hall said. "So, we wanted to develop an outreach that would allow us to minister to our business leaders with biblical principles on
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-- Dan Williamson, |
I believe that is the secret to getting results. Keep it simple enough that people can not only remember what was said, but can apply it to their lives immediately.
Dan Williamson, a New Albany businessman and Graceland member, said Hall's Power Lunch -- a $9 per person, white tablecloth affair -- offers more than just a chance to network with other business leaders.
"In my opinion, the information shared by Pastor Dan is not only practical, but also easy to apply," he said. "I believe that is the secret to getting results. Keep it simple enough that people can not only remember what was said, but can apply it to their lives immediately."
Relevance A Key
Walt Barkley, a volunteer for Connecting Business Men to Christ (CBMC) in Houston agrees. The trick is making it relevant.
"We're in a much more secular culture than we used to be. We used to all have kind of a religious heritage," Barkley said. "Now, large numbers of people you encounter in the business world either believe there is no God or they believe God has very little relevance to their lives or that they can't know about God."
Barkley said the goal of the 70-year-old ministry is to bring business leaders and professionals into God's kingdom and to nurture them once they are won over for Christ.
"We try to not leave them as infant Christians, but to bring them into a degree of maturity by meeting with them over a half a year to a year's time man on man," Barkley said.
By helping to develop spiritual maturity, he said, CBMC volunteers hope new converts will be eager to share their newfound faith comfortably with others.
"When we do bring a new convert into the kingdom, we encourage him not to sever contacts with his lost friends, but instead to let his changed life show them he has something they might consider -- not shy away from them but instead befriend them in hopes that he can reach one or more of them."
CBMC's discipleship program is called Operation Timothy. It draws on 2 Timothy 2:2, which calls for believers to share the gospel with, "reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."
David Gaither, director of finance at CBMC headquarters in Chattanooga, Tenn., said the discipleship program trains leaders to become what he referred to as reproducers -- leaders
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-- Walt Barkley, |
"We specifically look for what we call third- and fourth-generation reproduction," he said, whereby a convert becomes a mentor to someone who brings another into the fold and so forth.
Barkley said the results are often far reaching.
"Christ said to be salt and light (Matt. 5: 13-14) and there is a salt aspect to it," he said. "If you bring a man to Christ, he very likely is going to impact his wife and children, his mother and daddy, brothers and sisters. If you train him, he will be able to impact the guy at the exercise club he exercises with and the guy he plays golf with and the men in his office, maybe."
CBMC is a worldwide organization, with chapters in 30 U.S. cities. Gaither said the ministry is primarily funded through gifts and donations. Its 2002 budget was $5.2 million. The ministry is made up mostly of volunteers, like Barkley.
"We have maybe 300 men here in Houston that are committed in some degree to our vision," Barkley said. "We believe every man has a ministry if he will just assume control of it. Each man becomes a minister to be salt and light wherever he is."
Tough Job for a Believer
Cliff Whalin, president of the Louisville Christian Foundation in Louisville, Ky., counsels business leaders about stewardship and
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Available Resources A number of ministries exist to reach business leaders and to equip them for facing business challenges with a biblical perspective. Among them are:
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"That's why there are so many ministries now that are working with business folks to try to minister to them because they face some challenges," Whalin said. "There can be some moral and ethical challenges. Heaven knows we need some ethical standards in the business world today in general. Those standards can be biblical standards and people can be encouraged to follow biblical standards to the letter in their everyday operations of running a business."
Whalin said areas where biblical standard could have tremendous impact are employee relations, tax reporting and accounting standards.
Os Hillman, director of the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries in Atlanta, agreed that keeping a Christian perspective is difficult in the business world.
"Sure it is," he said, adding that research indicates that 50 percent of executives and as much as 80 percent of the general work population are dissatisfied with their jobs.
"What that tells us is there is a real lack of meaning and purpose in our work lives. People are not finding satisfaction and purpose in it. What God says is work should be worship unto Him. It's not a curse," he said.
Influencing the Influential
For Graceland's Hall, business leaders influence the cultural fiber and general direction of a community far more than religious leaders do.
"I really do believe our business leaders have far more influence on our culture than our churches do. Maybe they always have, but I know in the time I have served as pastor it has become more acute that that is true," he said.
"Some of that has to do with being postmodern, some of it has to do with the culture we live in and some of it has to do with the fact we are an economically driven world now, far more than what we've known in the past," Hall said. "So, businesses have a major influence on the fiber of a community. We need to be discipling those business leaders on biblical principles so they are given godly direction."
Hall makes no bones about the fact his purpose is twofold. By showing business leaders how Scripture can apply to their lives, he is also introducing the unchurched to a church environment. Whether the unchurched business leaders decide to attend church may very well hinge on his presentation and he is well aware of that.
"We're not uncertain about the fact we want to make a positive presentation of the gospel through the clarity of Scripture," he said. "Scripture is so practical for where we live and God is the author of economic development. It is from his hand, Deuteronomy says, that we are given the power to make wealth. If it weren't for that principle, no one would be making money. He's given us that power but now we need to see what His Word says about that so we don't abuse that power.
"It's stewardship," he said. "It's not just financial stewardship, but stewardship of the principle of making wealth, being prosperous and being a blessing to the community as a result."
