The Wisdom of the Front Line
Our Mission
To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission.
1 Corinthians 4.1 observes, people should think about us this way – as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Christianity is maligned most of the time unfairly. Haters are just gonna hate. Of all the good in the world most is done by Christians.
When tragedy strikes in the world it is the Christian Church globally that steps in through gifts and talents of supplies and workers to help those struck by nature’s worst. You never read of the Muslim mission society, or the Buddhist mission society or the Hindu mission society helping people in need. Orphanages, schools and hospitals, all founded originally by Christians are still largely maintained by Christians globally. Not true of the other world’s religions, but I digress..
However Christians can be mean, vengeful, selfish. They have been caught stealing, committing adultery, lying, murdering and doing all kinds of evil. This dichotomy shouldn’t be that surprising.
Jesus, the Christ, was God and man. He is and always was perfect and good in every way. He never disobeyed the Father nor did any evil of any kind in any way whether thought, word or deed. Yet, His human story ends with one of His disciples, one of His chosen companions, betraying Him by selling Him out for 30 pieces of silver. The ‘christian’ Judas turned on the Christ causing His death. This is how Christianity begins.
God has made His will permanently known through the record of His ways found in the Bible. This book can be read cover to cover and always found to command His people to be lovers of humanity, servants of their needs while both modeling and speaking of His ways so that all the world will want to join them as children of the One True God.
As the norm, for the most part, the majority of world Christians are to be characterized by serving people and sharing with them the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus told His people that those who serve the needs of their fellow man are doing so to Him. This is how Christians, commanded to be servants of Christ, demonstrate that service by serving the needs of humanity. Service is the means by which Christians manifest the love of God and His care for people.
Serving is not the only work Christians are to be known for. Christians are also to be sharers of the Good News that God has entered the world to save the world in order to restore the world to Himself through the life, death and resurrection of Himself in the man Jesus.
The mystery of God is that He has come to earth and lived among us as one of us in order to restore us to a right relationship with God the Father. Christians must share this information because it is not by doing good or being good that men are made right by God but by Jesus, having His goodness appropriated to us who are incapable of living perfect lives as He lived a perfect life. Serving people and telling them about Jesus is how Christians are supposed to be known in the world.
His Opportunities
- Tuesday, February 21st at the City Rescue Mission from noon until 1pm is your next CBMC Rescue Luncheon. This is your opportunity to serve lunch to the men and women who depend upon the Mission for their meal. Commit Here
- February 23 is the only showing of the movie Is Genesis History? This is a great opportunity to understand better the origin of your Christian faith. Bring your family, friends and neighbors to this documentary on the origin of the universe. More information and ticket purchase can be found HERE!
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MONDAY MANNA
A service to the business community
A Publication of CBMC International
February 20, 2017
The Wisdom of the Front Line
by Rick Boxx
A friend of mine, Paul, and some investors launched a new business with a promising new medical product. The product concept was excellent, but when the medical community used this new product, it was not effective because of significant design flaws.
When Paul communicated to his investors that the product needed to be revised, the investors did not accept what their sales people were saying about the design problems. Investors believed the product did not need changes; the sales representatives just had to do a better job of marketing it.
Ultimately, with the business rapidly nearing failure, Paul made one last effort to convince the investor group to allow him to change the design. With great reluctance, the investors finally agreed, and changes were implemented. To the surprise of the investors – but not to Paul – within three months, sales began to soar, losses were averted, and the medical community had a product they were eager to use.
This scenario illustrates a not-uncommon problem in the business and professional world. Individuals at the top levels of leadership and management make critical decisions without consulting front-line workers, whether they are the ones involved in manufacturing the product, those who provide the services, or staff assigned sales and marketing responsibilities. When results fail to come as expected, leaders struggle to understand what went wrong.
Decades ago, significant shifts were started to address this common issue. It began in Japan, where workers were regularly consulted before implementing changes that directly affected their work areas. Interestingly, a catalyst in this change was W. Edwards Deming, an American engineer and management consultant. His many contributions included emphasis on improved service and higher levels of product quality.
One of his “14 Points for Management was, “Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody’s job.” This led to the development of quality circles and participative management, giving everyone opportunity to provide input into systems and process. Demings’ approaches were revolutionary for the business world at the time, but his ideas were hardly new.
The Bible speaks much about the value of obtaining the advice and perspectives of people with firsthand knowledge. For instance, Proverbs 12:15 teaches, “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man is he who listens to counsel.”
Every day in the workplace we engage in a battle of sorts – a battle against competitors, and a battle to gain the favor of customers and clients. Proverbs 11:14 instructs, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisors make victory sure.” Another verse similarly observes, “A wise man has great power, and a man of knowledge increases strength; for waging war you need guidance and for victory many advisors” (Proverbs 24:5-6).
We would be wise never to overlook the wisdom of others in your workplace, especially those closest to your customers, as well as the production processes. They can see – from the front line – things we cannot see from the “ivory tower.”
Copyright 2017, Integrity Resource Center, Inc. Adapted with permission from “Integrity Moments with Rick Boxx,” a commentary on issues of integrity in the workplace from a Christian perspective. To learn more about Integrity Resource Center, visit www.integrityresource.org. His new book, Unconventional Business, provides “Five Keys to Growing a Business God’s Way.”
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