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.

John 13.34 records God saying, I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. The current definition of love is to tolerate any belief or behavior by another individual even if that belief or behavior is offensive to the first person. The person engaged in the offensive behavior is not considered unloving when they continue in their behavior that is offensive to the first party.

Love seems to mean toleration today but only for those engaged in non-traditional behaviors. Those holding traditional values are not to be loved by those not holding such values as demonstrated by curbing their behavior when with the ‘traditionalists.’ It is the traditionalists who need to change their thinking if they are to be loving.

This current ideology is why the media has so much animosity with the Church. The media does not believe anything they say or do is wrong, only those who condemn their beliefs and behaviors are wrong. Those who condemn them, like the Church and its position opposing the murder of the unborn or the marriage of the same sex, are the unloving who must change.

God is love. This description of the Christian God, unique by the way to Christianity, is the foundation of His nature the motivation for all of His works. If God’s love were what the media says the Church’s love must be like, then God would love everyone throughout history without consequence for the activity any person has ever performed. This is not what God has done nor what God promises to do.

God does love all of humanity from all time regardless of their behavior but behavior disobedient to God is punishable by eternal separation from Him in torment. God is love so God came to earth and was punished for all of the disobedience all of humanity has committed against God for all of time. God’s love for humanity did not keep Him from punishing Himself for humanity’s disobedience. This means God does not define love as tolerance without consequence.

God loves everyone and so offers everyone a chance to repent and seek reconciliation with Him but those who don’t will be eternally punished. God’s love provides a means of grace and mercy to humanity but humanity must appropriate that grace and mercy to experience God’s love. Those who refuse to appropriate God’s love for them will receive God’s consequence for their disobedient behavior.

God is love but God will not tolerate forever humanity’s disobedience to Him. The media can condemn the Church forever for it’s stand on murder and marriage purity while it remains rebellious against God. God’s Church must stand with God on what He declares to be right and good though men hate us now. Love is not compromise of precept. Love is a way of escape for the consequences of evil but all of humanity must choose that escape if they will know God’s love and live forever with Him and His people.

His Opportunities

1. April 29th, Friday, Conversational Apologetics with Andy Bannister. Andy is the lead apologist for Ravi Zacharias Ministry in Canada. 7.30-8.30am at the Crafty Palate on Washington Sq. Cost is free but you must pre-register HERE
2. May 18th, Wednesday, Michigan Prayer Breakfast. 7.30am-9am at the Lansing Center. This year’s speaker is Luis Palau. Buy your table and register for this event HERE. 

You can support CBMC today. https://give.cbmc.com/giving/?appealcode=winter 

CBMC Central Michigan 6011 W. St. Joseph Ste. 401 Lansing 48917  / 517 481 5996  www.lansing.cbmc.com

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

March 28, 2016

The Bottom Line Friend or Foe

by John D. Beckett

Gunter was reeling. The unexpected turn of events had caught him totally off-guard. After all, the board of Mastech had brought him in as CEO to move the company forward. He knew he had been selected not only because of his proven business skills, but also his genuine care for people. In fact, Gunter had always regarded his commitment to his employees as one of his greatest strengths as a leader.

Now the board of directors was adamant: “You are just being soft, Gunter. You care about people so much that you are not making the tough decisions. You will never improve the bottom line of this company unless you start swinging the axe – making personnel cuts to reduce costs. Get to it, or…um…the axe may be falling on you!”

This directive hit Gunter right in the gut. It went directly against his instincts, as well as the strategy he had been employing to strengthen the company over the long term.

For a year he had been striving to build a winning, productive team. Now this was his mandate from his board: Do whatever it takes to boost profits! If Gunter did not cut the workforce, his days with Mastech were certainly numbered. But could he continue to build morale among his staff, while slashing personnel at the same time?

BEST PRACTICES

One of the common hallmarks of great leaders is that they build productive, results-oriented teams. For them, financial performance helps define reality, helping to shape decisions and direction. It serves as a friend, enabling leaders to optimize team performance.

But they never use the bottom line – pure profits and losses – as a blunt instrument, ignoring the value of people. If financial results make staff reductions necessary and unavoidable, good leaders act creatively, always demonstrating a compassionate approach in dealing with those who would be most affected.

FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION

• CEOs cannot make decisions in isolation or autonomously. They are responsible to boards of directors and shareholders and have a stewardship responsibility for the needs and well-being of their employees. “For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes” (Matthew 8:9).
• Often business decisions are difficult, even when they can be justified by the best interests of the parent organization. Real people – with real needs, concerns and responsibilities – are greatly affected not only by corporate business decisions, but also the manner in which those decisions are implemented. “And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

© 2016. John D. Beckett is chairman of R. W. Beckett Corporation in Elyria, Ohio, U.S.A., one of the world’s leading manufacturers of residential and commercial heating systems.

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