PARTNERING WITH GOD

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Welcome to this blog in our series on running a company effectively.

What defines a Christian company? Is it the employees and owners who are Christian? Is it a clearly spelled out mission statement of faith? Perhaps it’s the bible verses on branding and marketing materials? Or even activities like prayer within the day to day running of the business? These are all useful and good. As a Christian, it’s important to establish your role in an organization.

Personally, it was very clear for me and my definition would be to run a company based on Christian values. My interpretation however did not stop there. I realised that you could have a company based on Christian values and nobody in the company has any idea what that meant.  I, therefore, decided that it would be apparent and known by everybody that interacted with us that we were a Christian company.

To be successful at this, I understood that my faith needed to be seen in various spaces within the workplace. I did not want to ‘leave’ God at home; I strongly believed He was calling me to be a light in a dark business world. If I kept the lampshade on, I wasn’t doing my part. God provided the insight and wisdom for me to do this in several ways:

GOD MY BUSINESS PARTNER

This was the first and most important step. Partnering with God meant I needed to fully rely on Him, not just in crisis, but rely on Him every single day; as I would any senior partner. It was therefore paramount I spend time in His word; and I scoured the Bible to find the principles to build the company on. I did not look at industry guidelines but looked at God’s guidelines. I consulted with Him in prayer on a regular basis.

As the organization grew, I was blessed to find a prayer partner at work and together we would pray about issues facing the company.

A FIRM FOUNDATION

Another key step was defining what my goals and values were as an individual and determining if the business aligned with where I was personally. Before I started Banker’s Mutual, one of the businesses I evaluated getting into was a self-serve car wash business. I was transitioning from one business and looking for another, and I knew I wanted to stay self-employed. I researched 28 businesses, one of which was the carwash. I ran a full analysis and was baffled why I could not get to the returns that two people I knew in the business were generating. After looking at my numbers and modelling, the answer was clear to them “Paul” they said “your problem is you have included income tax. We don’t pay income tax as it’s a cash business.” Despite being upset for having spent over three months evaluating this as a business option, I went home that day very clear that I would not be in a business where I have to cheat in order to get the return that I wanted. I desired a business that aligns with my faith and personal values; one that would bring out the best in me and not take me down a different road.

Keeping this vision in front of me helped maintain my focus and clarified decisions that needed to be made. I would keep defining where I wanted the business to be in five or ten years. One of my first goals was to be the one out of ten companies that was successful on a ten-year run. Only 10% of companies that start are successful long-term. The second thing I wanted was my time. Being a workaholic did not represent success for me.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Having defined my goal to be successful and to be in control of my time; I knew right off the bat that who I hired was key. I needed to hire people that not only could do the right job but that could help grow, build and lead the company as I had envisioned it.

It was therefore very important that everyone understood our beliefs and understood where we were headed. We had four documents that were shared with everybody in the organization and they knew what our philosophy and principles were. I share more about these documents and defining your goals in my post The Value of Vision – Make it Clear.

When it came to hiring, part of my process was to be open upfront that they were applying for a position in a company that is based on Christian values and operates as a Christian company. I then would break down what that looked like. I would pause and give them time to respond. If the person being interviewed was a Christian, they would open up about their faith; while a non-Christian would more often respond positively and appreciate the values and how people are treated. If this did not align with what they were looking for, there was no obvious reason for a second interview.  I did not have the view that I was only going to hire Christians; my main focus was to assess how good a fit we would be for one another. At Bankers Mutual more than half our employees were not Christian.

LIVING IT OUT

As the owner of the company, I looked for opportunities where I could live out my faith.

For example, one of my rules in business is ‘If I pay, I pray.’ We held many company functions and big celebrations where we invited banks, clients and other executives; at each of these I would say grace. Generally, I have found that if you are hosting a meal, blessing and paying for it, generally no one is going to have an issue with you doing this.

I was sensitive to when I had Jewish friends in the audience, and I would pray to God – rather than to Jesus, as I wanted to be respectful to them. I would still convey one of my goals is being a light to the world. That policy has served me very well.

At company meetings and with my strategic planning team we would always pray.

CREATING OPPORTUNITIES TO SHARE MY FAITH

I knew that bringing my faith to work meant it had to be seen. One of the things that I’ve done is to be very open about the time I’ve committed each week to my Bible study, or to serving God in various ways. So, if somebody wanted an appointment on Tuesday morning, I would be quick to explain it would not be possible because that’s the time I have my Bible study meeting.

I did this for three reasons. One, to inform them that I was in a Bible study. Two, to send the message that it was important enough to me that I wasn’t willing to miss it for a business meeting. Three, it was an easy way to begin a dialog that would sometimes open up an extensive conversation or at least create a way for me to take the next step.

I would also make short statements within my conversation that wouldn’t offend anybody, but rather allowed me to be an encouragement and send a message. For example, “God, thanks for protecting us. Doesn’t God work in incredible ways?” or “I prayed for your . . .” Considering that over half the company were non-Christians, you might expect that we would have people object to us praying and talking about God. With the exception of two people, everybody seemed to be comforted and encouraged in a special way. I was pleasantly surprised at how many positive comments I received on a regular basis. Non-Christians would come up and ask me to pray, which was a shock, but everybody appreciated it.

At Banker’s Mutual, we had many people come to Christ. At the different levels and spaces in the organization, you would find different expressions of our faith.

BALANCING FAMILY AND WORK

I determined when I was just starting in business, that my goal was to achieve financial independence with as little of my personal time as possible. I was clear I did not want to be married to the company; I wanted to have a family and the time to focus on other priorities.

Bearing this in mind, I worked extremely hard in my 20s – before I was married, with the aim of being able to give my wife and children time when I was in my 30s and 40s. I knew God wanted me to balance my work-ethic with family time and make my role as a husband and father more important than my role at work.

SEEK WISE COUNSEL

There’s a difference between where we put our confidence and where we can get insight, education or wisdom. As you run a Christian company, it’s important to choose to have good Godly counsel around you. I personally have heard God speak more often through other people than I have heard Him in a quiet time myself.  I believe both are important.  All too often we hold our own advice and rarely seek the counsel of others.

My wife Kathy is wise and very intuitive; she is more intuitive than I am. She is one of my counsellors and our marriage has benefited from this. I also belong to a support group and the men in my group speak into my life and share different perspectives on challenges I may be facing. The moment they share advice, I get it; but I don’t get there on my own, they help me see it.

COMMIT EVERYTHING YOU DO TO THE LORD. TRUST HIM, AND HE WILL HELP YOU – PSALM 37:5-6

I don’t want to imply I figured this all out that first year I partnered with God. It took me many years and I’m still learning and growing even today. The key is to begin taking a step and then continue over your entire career.

By making a conscious decision to partner with God; I saw His provision and protection over Bankers Mutual in incredible ways. It was so remarkable I could not have taken the credit for it. Allow me to share with you some of the blessings we witnessed because of make the decision to partner with God:

 – God allowed us to pay off all the creditors that we had.

– We enjoyed twenty consistent profitable years while we watched many competitors go out of business.

– Bringing my Christian beliefs to work created a quality environment and promoted long-term employment relationships in an industry that was dominated by frequent turnover.

– We saw many employees come to know Christ after they joined the company.

– For years Bankers Mutual enjoyed the reputation as being the number one apartment lender in California and we frequently closed more apartment loans than any bank, savings and loan, or life insurance company.

– God also blessed me personally. He introduced me to my wife through the company and Kathy and I have had 40 plus wonderful years together.

In the lending business, success is measured by the size of your portfolio and your default rate. It’s well understood you can lose money on one loan and that could wipe out the profits from twenty-five good loans. In our first ten years in business, we funded a billion dollars in apartment loans, and we did not experience a single 30-day delinquent payment. After twenty years of business, we’ve experienced six defaults and only one resulted in a foreclosure.  Many would say that wasn’t humanly impossible, and we’d be the first to agree. God was our senior underwriter.

When the Northridge earthquake happened in 1994 in California, during that first week after that quake, we had a lot of uncertainty in our company. We had identified thirty-four properties that were in the impacted area and we thought many of those borrowers would default, and we would end up foreclosing on distressed properties. We therefore, didn’t know whether we were wiped out, or what position we were in. Once the dust settled, we did not have one foreclosure, we did not have one default, and we did not lose a dime.

Finally, God prepared us for the unknown. Kathy and I never thought we would sell the business. I had a great management team, I had time to serve God, I was spending time with my family, but I felt God pulling me further away from the for-profit world and increasing my desire to serve Him in Kingdom work. In less than 6 months, we marketed and sold the company. Looking back, we see God continued to protect us. We sold the company in April 1998 and in August of that year, the capital markets collapsed, and companies in our industry lost two thirds of their value. We were fortunate and because of God’s timing, we sold at the peak of the market. Kathy and I have had the time of our life spending the majority of our time giving back to God. Believe it or not, it’s more fun to give it away than it was to make it.

ACTION STEPS

Ephesians 3:20

Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

I share my life as living proof that God will hold up His end of the agreement if you faithfully take steps one at a time to partner with Him. He will bless you in incredible ways and lead you along the best paths. I believe God offers each of us a partnership agreement that is almost too good to be true. Would you consider today inviting him to be your senior business partner?

Here are some questions to consider:

1. What areas in your career or business do you need to invite God into and allow Him to take the lead?
2. Look again at your personal values and goals – how do they compare to your business or career goals? Do they complement each other or are they on two separate tracks?

Your feedback is helpful to me and other readers. Please share it in the comments section below.