August 13, 2025 • 28 mins
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What does it take to build a business that stands the test of time while honoring God? The answer lies in understanding the power of structural support.
Just as the ancient Greek Parthenon has withstood centuries of storms and conflicts through its network of 96 sturdy pillars, your business needs foundational supports that blend biblical wisdom with practical strategy. This episode unveils a powerful framework of four essential pillars that can transform any business into a faith-centered enterprise: Profit, People, Excellence, and God.
We begin by spotlighting Hobby Lobby, the $5 billion crafts retailer whose founder David Green sacrifices $100 million annually by closing stores on Sundays, pays employees double the minimum wage, and donates 50% of profits to worthy causes. Their example shows how faith-centered business decisions can lead to remarkable success while maintaining unwavering values.
The first pillar, Profit, reimagines financial gain not as an end goal but as a tool for kingdom advancement when managed with integrity. We explore practical strategies for ethical revenue generation and meaningful community reinvestment that honors Luke 16:10-11's teaching about faithful stewardship.
Through the People pillar, we examine how Matthew 22:39's command to "love your neighbor as yourself" transforms workplace dynamics through fair wages, growth opportunities, exceptional customer care, and meaningful community engagement. The Excellence pillar, rooted in Colossians 3:23, demonstrates how quality work glorifies God and sets standards that inspire others.
Finally, the God pillar ensures that every business decision from strategy to daily operations reflects a commitment to glorify Him through prayerful decision-making and biblical principles. We provide actionable steps for implementing all four pillars, including leadership workshops, mentorship programs, and regular assessment practices.
Ready to build a business that honors God while achieving true success? Discover how these four pillars can create stability, strength, and spiritual purpose in your professional endeavors. Share your journey with us and help others find the path to faith-driven business excellence.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with
your host, harold Milby.
Christian Business Concepts isdedicated to guiding companies
and business owners in becomingeffective, efficient and
successful through God's Wordand godly principles.
Now, here's your host, haroldMilby.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thanks, kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's
Christian Business Conceptspodcast.
You know I count it an extremeprivilege to come to you each
week to discuss business topicsand biblical principles and how
those two go together.
You know our mission here atCBC is to help you find true
(00:38):
godly success, and we do that bytrying to apply biblical
principles in your personal life, in your work life, your career
.
And you know, because what goodis it to have godly success in
our careers but we don't have itin our personal lives?
Or maybe having it in ourpersonal lives but then not in
(00:58):
our work lives or our careers.
So without both, I don't thinkwe're a whole person.
I think we need to have godlysuccess in our personal lives
and in our businesses andcareers.
This one thing I do know, andyou guys have heard me say this
so many times, and that is thatGod wants you to be successful
(01:18):
and he wants you to besuccessful in every area of your
life.
Successful in every area ofyour life.
You know James 1, 2 through 4says consider it pure joy, my
brothers, when you are involvedin various trials, because you
know that the testing of yourfaith produces endurance, but
you must let endurance have itsfull effect so that you may be
(01:40):
mature and complete, lackingnothing.
So, in other words, that meansevery area of your life, you can
be mature and complete, lackingnothing, and it just means that
we can expect to have acomplete life, both personally
(02:03):
and professionally.
Now, today, I hope that you'regoing to be encouraged, I hope
you're going to be enlightenedand empowered by what you hear,
and that it'll be a tremendousblessing to you on your journey
to having godly success.
So please help us grow the CBCcommunity by posting a link to
this podcast on your Facebook oron your LinkedIn page, and be
(02:28):
sure to share it with four orfive other people.
That's how we grow the CBCpodcast, and we appreciate your
efforts more than you'll everknow we do.
We really, really appreciatethat.
Now let's today.
I want to give a big shout outto Indianapolis, Indiana, here
in the United States, for havingso many downloads recently.
Thank you, indianapolis.
(02:48):
We appreciate you, we love you.
We just pray that God continuesto bless you and all of those
that listen to this podcast,either this being your first
time, or if you listen to it ona regular basis.
You know we appreciate you, wepray for you and we pray that
(03:09):
God ministers to you and bringsgreat success to you.
So thank you for being a partof Christian Business Concepts.
Now, today, in our spotlight,I'd like to highlight a company
most all of you know, especiallyhere in the United States, but
they are worldwide, most all ofyou know, especially here in the
United States, but they areworldwide and they're the
(03:29):
world's largest crafts retailerin the world really.
They have over $5 billion inrevenue.
David Green started thiscompany and that company's name
is Hobby Lobby.
You know, david started thebusiness with $600, and he
started it in his home and today, currently, they have over
(03:52):
1,000 stores.
But you know, david's firstprinciple, according to him, is
that he was committed tohonoring God, and he says it
this way committed to honoringGod in all we do, by operating
the company in a mannerconsistent with biblical
principles.
You know, and now theirprinciples have come at a price
(04:16):
for them.
You know, when they made thedecision to close on Sundays,
that cost them approximately$100 million a year.
They also refused to have theirhealth insurance plan cover
abortions, which triggered avery large federal lawsuit that
they eventually won.
(04:37):
But they close at 8 o'clock inthe evening, so that their
employees can spend time withtheir families, eight o'clock in
the evening, so that theiremployees can spend time with
their families.
You know, all full-timeemployees are paid at least
twice what the federal minimumwage is.
They donate 50% of their annualprofits to worthy causes and
(05:02):
you know, in 2017, they opened a430,000 square foot museum on
the history of the Bible.
And you know, we appreciatecompanies like Hobby Lobby.
We appreciate people like DavidGreen, who had a vision of
having a Christian-run company,not just a Christian-owned
company, but a Christian-rancompany.
(05:24):
So thanks, hobby Lobby.
We appreciate you.
Thank you, david Green, forwhat you're doing in the world
today, and we know that you'rebeing a light to your employees,
to your vendors and to thepublic, so thank you for all
that you do.
Now, in today's podcast, I wantto talk about how you can align
(05:45):
your practices and decisionswith faith-driven principles by
focusing on these four pillars,and those four pillars are
profit, people, excellence andGod.
These are the four pillars thatI want to talk to you about.
God these are the four pillarsthat I want to talk to you about
(06:07):
Each of those pillars.
As we discuss them, we're goingto talk about practical
strategies, biblical insightsand some actionable steps to
lead with integrity and impacton these four pillars.
These four pillars you know oneof the greatest buildings in
(06:30):
the last several thousands ofyears that has been built and
one that has withstooddestructive weather, wars,
uprisings, and that building isthe Greek Parthenon.
The main reason for thelongevity of this building is
that it was built between, theysay, between 447 BC and 432 BC
(06:52):
and this building is stillstanding.
But the reason that thatbuilding is still standing is
because it used a total of 96pillars.
You know, pillars don't justprovide mere aesthetic value,
you know, just for their looks,and it's more than just
(07:13):
architectural significance.
You know they also provide avery strong structural
significance because they'reload-bearing, they create
stability for that building andthey withstand all kinds of bad
weather.
You know, in 1 Kings 7, 15through 22, it talks about two
(07:33):
of the pillars that were builtor used in the building of
Solomon's temple, the temple ofGod that he built, and they were
given names.
These two pillars were givennames and the one was Jachin and
the other was Boaz, and thedefinition of these two Hebrew
words were Jachin meant he willprovide, and Boaz meant in him
(07:58):
is strength.
And they named those pillarsthat because God would provide,
and in God there was strength.
And you know there's somethingcalled the Parthenon principle
in business.
Maybe some of you've heard ofthis, maybe some of you haven't.
But when you're building abusiness, you want to structure
(08:19):
your business with multiplepillars.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, I think one pillar issales.
One pillar can be marketing,one pillar can be management,
one pillar can be operations.
(08:40):
But you have all thesedifferent pillars to help prop
up the company, to help put agreat structure into the company
.
And so that's why I want totalk about these four pillars,
and I think these are kind offoundational, these four pillars
.
So I want us to just kind ofjump right in and look at these.
So the first pillar of the fouris profit, and we're talking
(09:00):
about stewarding the resourceswith wisdom.
You know profit is not justfinancial gain.
You know profit is, it's a tool, and it's a tool for, you know,
not only you know profit's notonly a tool just to advance the
company, but it's a tool foradvancing God's kingdom,
(09:24):
especially when it's managedwith integrity.
You know, as Christian businessleaders, you know we view
profit in this way, or we shouldview it in this way.
It's a means to sustainoperations, but also to support
communities and fund ministry.
And that's how we should beseeing this pillar of profit.
(09:46):
You know, luke, chapter 16,verses 10 through 11, says
whoever can be trusted with verylittle can also be trusted with
much.
And if you have not beentrustworthy in handling worldly
wealth, who will trust you withtrue riches?
And that's how we should lookat profit.
You know, when we're talkingabout business, you know profit
(10:09):
reflects faithful stewardship.
It should.
It enables businesses to thriveand to serve not just thrive,
but to serve as well.
So what are some practicalstrategies?
Well, first of all, you oughtto have ethical revenue
generation.
So make sure that all yourrevenue streams are aligning
(10:31):
with Christian values.
Make sure you're not exploiting.
You don't have exploitingpractices like price gouging or
deceptive marketing.
But you want to make sure thatit all aligns with Christian
values.
So that's first.
And the next thing you can do isreinvestment for impact.
So you should allocate profits.
(10:53):
We've talked about Hobby Lobbyand how that they give away 50%
of their profits every year.
But you need to allocateprofits to support community
initiatives, maybe employeewelfare and even charitable
causes.
You know, maybe 10% of yourprofit, you know, goes to local
(11:14):
ministries.
You know, however, you want todo that, but you need to
reinvest, but reinvest from thestandpoint of an impact that you
can have and then havefinancial transparency right.
Maintain clear, honestaccounting practices to build
trust with all of thestakeholders in the business,
(11:36):
whether it be your managementteam, if you have a board of
directors.
If you are on the stockexchange, you have stockholders
and then also those who haveinvested in your company.
So you want to make sure youhave financial transparency.
Now, what are some action stepsthat you can take?
Well, first, you can conduct aquarterly review of what your
(11:59):
revenue sources are and to makesure that they're in that
ethical alignment.
Another thing that you can doas an action is create a we can
just call it, say a kingdomimpact fund.
You can call it whatever youwant to.
I'm just using that as anexample a kingdom impact fund
and that's from the prophets andthat's used to support
(12:21):
faith-based initiatives.
You can start a nonprofitministry within your
organization where that moneygoes into the nonprofit and then
the nonprofit disperses it outinto the ministries, into the
community efforts that you feellike you need to, and then make
(12:44):
sure that you train your staff.
Train them on biblicalstewardship principles, use
resources like Crown FinancialMinistries it's a great again.
You want to look at, you know,look at profit in that way.
(13:08):
So the second pillar is peopleand with regard to people, you
want to lead with dignity, youwant to lead with love.
You know people are the heartof any business.
You know you can't have abusiness without people, whether
they be customers, whether theybe vendors, whether they be
employees.
You can't have a businesswithout people.
(13:29):
And Christian leaders shouldreally prioritize their
employees.
They should prioritizecustomers and stakeholders and
treat them as image bearers ofGod.
In other words, treat them likegodly people, treat them like
God's people.
Whether they're born again ornot born again, they're still
God's people.
(13:50):
God loves them.
You know Matthew 22, 39 sayslove your neighbor as yourself.
Now that doesn't stop when youget to the office.
You know Christian businessvalues relationships, or it
should, if you're a Christianbusiness or Christian leaders,
that we should valuerelationships over transactions.
(14:11):
You know you want to fosterthis culture of respect and care
for your customers, for youremployees, for your vendors, for
all of your stakeholders.
So what are some practicalstrategies.
Well, first of all, we can talkabout employee well-being, you
(14:32):
know.
First, you should offer fairwages.
Look, I'm not saying that youshould pay twice what the
minimum wage is, like HobbyLobby does, but it should be
fair wages.
I would encourage you to offerflexible schedules.
Now maybe you can't with yourbusiness, but I would encourage
you to look at that and thenmake sure that you have
(14:55):
opportunities for growth andthat you train for those
opportunities.
So you want to provide aworkplace that supports that,
and you want to supportspiritual health, too, and
physical health and mentalhealth.
You want a workplace thatsupports those things.
You could have prayer groupsAgain.
Many of you may say well, youcan't do that, it's against the
law.
No, it's not.
(15:15):
We in the United States havebeen given a great gift because
in the Civil Rights Act, and theUnited States have been given a
great gift because in the CivilRights Act, we are protected
those of us that are godlypeople and born-again people and
we want to share things.
We have a protected right to dothat.
I did a podcast you can lookthat up sometime on what your
(15:35):
rights are and what the law isin your Christian business, but
you can focus on the employeewell-being.
The next thing that you need todo is you need to have some
customer care.
So you want to go beyond peoplejust being satisfied.
You want to go beyond that.
You want to build trust throughhonest communication and then
(15:57):
high-quality service.
You don't want to be second inservice.
You want to be the best inservice of anybody in your
industry and you can do that,but it takes effort.
It takes some money to do thatas well, so you need to begin to
focus on how that you can havethis customer care.
(16:22):
And then next is communityengagement, so you could partner
with local churches or othernonprofits to serve the
community, like hosting jobfairs or maybe volunteering.
I know one business.
He supports a ministry in achurch that feeds the homeless
(16:43):
people on Sundays, so they godown and they feed the homeless,
so he provides finances andresources to help them provide
for the food and everythingthat's needed.
So what are some actionablesteps?
Well, first of all, you couldimplement an annual employee
(17:03):
feedback survey which I don'tthink companies do enough and
you can see what those surveysbring back to you, you know, and
then try to address whateverthe concerns are that you see,
and just try to continuallyimprove workplace culture.
I've never been in a businesswhere there couldn't be
improvement in the culture ofthe company with regard to its
(17:26):
employees.
Another thing that you could dois you could host a monthly
value lunch to discuss how faithshapes the team's interactions.
Faith shapes the team'sinteractions.
Now, by law, you can't forceanybody to go to this and you
also can't make it a part ofyour promotion program.
In other words, if you go tothese and you'll get promoted
(17:49):
faster.
You can't do that, but you canhave it, and then people can
come if they want to.
You can invite them and then ifthey choose not to, well, then
they choose not to.
The other thing that you can dois you can partner with a local
Christian school or a charity.
Maybe you can mentor some youngleaders.
What I'm trying to say is giveyou some practical ways to
(18:09):
impact your community.
To impact your community, allright.
The third pillar is excellence,excellence.
You know, I had a high schoolteacher that told us he was
Greek and he gave us this Greekword, arate, and arate means
striving for excellence, andthat was ingrained in my head
(18:32):
from the time I was in highschool until now, and I'm in my
60s and I still think aboutarate.
I still think about strivingfor excellence in everything
that we do, and excellencereflects really our commitment
to honor God through our work.
You know, it's about deliveringsuperior quality and innovation
(18:54):
and at the same time we have tomaintain our humility.
You know Vince Lombardi saidone time perfection is not
attainable, but if we chaseperfection we can catch
excellence.
And so I think that's importantfor us to really look at
excellence and strive forexcellence.
(19:17):
You know, colossians 3 and 23says whatever you do.
Whatever you do, work at itwith all your heart as working
for the Lord and not for humanmasters.
Whatever you do, work it withall your heart as if you're
working for the Lord directly.
You know, booker T Washingtonsaid one time about excellence.
(19:39):
He said excellence is to do acommon thing in an uncommon way.
I like that definition.
Excellence is to do a commonthing in an uncommon way.
Excellence and excellence inbusiness.
It really glorifies God andsets a standard for other people
.
Now, what are some practicalstrategies here?
(20:00):
Well, again, continuousimprovement.
You know you want to havecontinuous improvement.
You know you want to make sureyou invest in employee training,
help them be trained well, haveleadership programs, leadership
training, and then you canprocess optimizations to enhance
(20:22):
either products or service, toraise the level of quality.
The other thing is to make surethat you pay attention to
detail, you know.
Ensure that every aspect of thebusiness whether it be products
, customer service, branding,whatever it is make sure that
those things reflect care andprofessionalism, get into the
(20:43):
details and then make sure thatyou stay humble as a leader, you
know.
Make sure you celebrate teamsuccesses without pride, but
giving credit to God, givingcredit to other people.
So, as actionable steps, you canset measurable quality goals
and you can do that by, again,using surveys to your customers.
(21:06):
Maybe you have a goal, say,reduce customer complaints by
20% in six months.
That's a great goal.
It's measurable, it's somethingyou can do, you've got a time
limit on it and something youcan track.
Maybe you could enroll in,maybe a Christian leadership
course that's offered by there'suniversities that do it.
(21:27):
There are people such as myself.
We offer at CBC, we offerleadership courses through the
John Maxwell LeadershipCertified Trainer program that
they have, and then just kind ofcreate a wall of excellence.
(21:48):
You want to showcase employeeachievements, you want to help
tie them to faith-based values.
So you want to create this wallof excellence.
All right, now the fourth pillar, which I think is extremely
important, is God, and that iscentering faith in In all your
(22:09):
decisions.
It keeps you centered, it keepsyou focused.
You know God is the foundation,it should be the foundation of
every Christian business, andevery decision, from strategy to
daily operations, should reallyreflect a commitment to glorify
(22:29):
God, a commitment to followinghis leadership, to following
God's leadership, his guidance.
You know Ben Carson, who ranfor president or the nomination
for president, said one timethrough hard work, perseverance
and a faith in God, you can liveyour dreams.
I love that.
And a faith in God, you canlive your dreams.
(22:50):
I love that.
Through hard work, perseveranceand a faith in God, you can
live your dreams.
You know the Bible says inProverbs 3, 5, and 6, of course
you know you've heard me quotethis many times trust in the
Lord with all your heart andlean not to your own
understanding.
In all your ways, submit to himand he will make your paths
(23:10):
straight.
And I think that's such a greatprinciple.
You know, a God-centeredbusiness seeks his wisdom
through prayer, through the wordof God.
So what are some practicalstrategies for you here to keep
God, that fourth pillar, in yourChristian business or in your
department as a Christian leader?
(23:31):
First, make sure that you haveprayerful decision-making.
You know, maybe you beginmeetings with prayer.
You can seek God's guidance onevery major decision.
You should hear his voice asGod speaks to you, seek godly
counsel as another thing.
And then faith integration.
(23:51):
So make sure you incorporatethese biblical principles that
we talk about on a weekly basis.
Maybe you even put some ofthese biblical principles in
your mission statements.
You know, in your policies, inyour culture.
You know, in other words, youcould have a core value of
servant leadership.
You know, in other words, youcould have a core value of
servant leadership.
(24:12):
You know, I think that'ssomething that could be done.
You know, have a testimony offaith.
Share how faith shapes yourbusiness ethically.
Whether it's through marketing,community outreach, doesn't
matter, but you can share howfaith shapes your business.
So what are some actionablesteps you can take?
Well, establish maybe a weeklyleadership prayer group to seek
(24:35):
God's direction for the business.
And I know this sounds foreign,it almost sounds like well,
we're not a church, we're abusiness.
I understand that.
But we need to get back toChristian business principles in
the workplace.
We need to get back to that.
It needs to be powerful.
You know there's a lot ofbusinesses that have leadership
(24:56):
prayer groups.
There's some businesses thatactually have multiple chaplains
on staff and they have Biblestudies and they have prayer
time.
There's lots of things and lotsof ways you can do that.
Maybe share a public testimonyat like a Christian business
conference like C12.
That's a great conference totry to inspire other people.
(25:19):
So how do we kick this off?
Do you really want to havethese four pillars in your
business?
How do we kick it off?
Well, you should have a kickoffworkshop.
That's just like a half-daytraining session for your
leadership team and you shouldcover these four pillars and
then you can have somediscussion and reflect on some
scriptures.
Make sure you have monthlycheck-ins so you can review the
(25:42):
progress on each of thesepillars.
You can use metrics like youremployee satisfaction rate, what
your profit allocation is toministries or to the community,
and then your customer feedback,and then maybe develop a
mentorship program where you canget some people that you see as
(26:05):
future leaders put them withsome seasoned Christian mentor
leaders to help them model theseprinciples and then have annual
review where you can kind ofassess your business's alignment
with the four pillars, and thenyou can celebrate a lot of
great successes and then set newgoals for the next year.
So I encourage you, you know,go online.
(26:26):
And there's a couple of thingsI'll tell you.
One is there's a book calledthe Good Book on Business by
Dave Kael.
Now I've read that book.
It's a great book.
I'd encourage you to buy thatbook and read it.
There's another one calledDoing Business by the Good Book,
and that's by David Stewart andthat's also a good book.
(26:47):
And then there's some greatorganizations, as I mentioned,
the C12 group, christianBusinessmen's Connection, that's
another one.
So there's a lot of greatopportunities there that you can
look at.
So leading a Christian businessis really a calling.
It's a calling to reflectChrist in the marketplace.
(27:08):
And by balancing these fourpillars the prophet, the people,
excellence and God I believeyou can build a legacy, a legacy
that honors Christ and impactslives for God's glory.
So let's lead with faith, loveand purpose.
(27:28):
Father, I thank you right nowfor taking the time to meet with
us today and, lord, for helpingall of those who have listened
today to build these fourpillars in their personal life
and in their professional life.
And, lord, as they apply theseprinciples, let them produce
stability and strength.
(27:50):
And, lord, I thank you for that.
In the name of Jesus.
Well, thank you.
Right now, I want to thank youeveryone for downloading this
week's podcast and helping usgrow the CBC community.
I share with you every weekabout how you can do that and
really appreciate your help indoing that.
This is a ministry that is anonprofit-profit, and we're
(28:13):
doing this because it'ssomething that God placed upon
our heart and so, anyway.
So I just want you to thinkabout how you can help us grow
the CBC community.
Well, that's all the time wehave for today, but I do want
you to remember that Jesus isLord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian
Business Concepts podcast.
Go toChristianBusinessConceptscom for
more information and resources.
Be sure to check out otherpodcasts that will help you take
your business and your personallife to a whole new level of
success.
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with
your host, harold Milby.
Christian Business Concepts isdedicated to guiding companies
and business owners in becomingeffective, efficient and
successful through God's Wordand godly principles.
Now, here's your host, haroldMilby.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Thanks, kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's
Christian Business Conceptspodcast.
You know I count it an extremeprivilege to come to you each
week to discuss business topicsand biblical principles and how
those two go together.
You know our mission here atCBC is to help you find true
(00:38):
godly success, and we do that bytrying to apply biblical
principles in your personal life, in your work life, your career
.
And you know, because what goodis it to have godly success in
our careers but we don't have itin our personal lives?
Or maybe having it in ourpersonal lives but then not in
(00:58):
our work lives or our careers.
So without both, I don't thinkwe're a whole person.
I think we need to have godlysuccess in our personal lives
and in our businesses andcareers.
This one thing I do know, andyou guys have heard me say this
so many times, and that is thatGod wants you to be successful
(01:18):
and he wants you to besuccessful in every area of your
life.
Successful in every area ofyour life.
You know James 1, 2 through 4says consider it pure joy, my
brothers, when you are involvedin various trials, because you
know that the testing of yourfaith produces endurance, but
you must let endurance have itsfull effect so that you may be
(01:40):
mature and complete, lackingnothing.
So, in other words, that meansevery area of your life, you can
be mature and complete, lackingnothing, and it just means that
we can expect to have acomplete life, both personally
(02:03):
and professionally.
Now, today, I hope that you'regoing to be encouraged, I hope
you're going to be enlightenedand empowered by what you hear,
and that it'll be a tremendousblessing to you on your journey
to having godly success.
So please help us grow the CBCcommunity by posting a link to
this podcast on your Facebook oron your LinkedIn page, and be
(02:28):
sure to share it with four orfive other people.
That's how we grow the CBCpodcast, and we appreciate your
efforts more than you'll everknow we do.
We really, really appreciatethat.
Now let's today.
I want to give a big shout outto Indianapolis, Indiana, here
in the United States, for havingso many downloads recently.
Thank you, indianapolis.
(02:48):
We appreciate you, we love you.
We just pray that God continuesto bless you and all of those
that listen to this podcast,either this being your first
time, or if you listen to it ona regular basis.
You know we appreciate you, wepray for you and we pray that
(03:09):
God ministers to you and bringsgreat success to you.
So thank you for being a partof Christian Business Concepts.
Now, today, in our spotlight,I'd like to highlight a company
most all of you know, especiallyhere in the United States, but
they are worldwide, most all ofyou know, especially here in the
United States, but they areworldwide and they're the
(03:29):
world's largest crafts retailerin the world really.
They have over $5 billion inrevenue.
David Green started thiscompany and that company's name
is Hobby Lobby.
You know, david started thebusiness with $600, and he
started it in his home and today, currently, they have over
(03:52):
1,000 stores.
But you know, david's firstprinciple, according to him, is
that he was committed tohonoring God, and he says it
this way committed to honoringGod in all we do, by operating
the company in a mannerconsistent with biblical
principles.
You know, and now theirprinciples have come at a price
(04:16):
for them.
You know, when they made thedecision to close on Sundays,
that cost them approximately$100 million a year.
They also refused to have theirhealth insurance plan cover
abortions, which triggered avery large federal lawsuit that
they eventually won.
(04:37):
But they close at 8 o'clock inthe evening, so that their
employees can spend time withtheir families, eight o'clock in
the evening, so that theiremployees can spend time with
their families.
You know, all full-timeemployees are paid at least
twice what the federal minimumwage is.
They donate 50% of their annualprofits to worthy causes and
(05:02):
you know, in 2017, they opened a430,000 square foot museum on
the history of the Bible.
And you know, we appreciatecompanies like Hobby Lobby.
We appreciate people like DavidGreen, who had a vision of
having a Christian-run company,not just a Christian-owned
company, but a Christian-rancompany.
(05:24):
So thanks, hobby Lobby.
We appreciate you.
Thank you, david Green, forwhat you're doing in the world
today, and we know that you'rebeing a light to your employees,
to your vendors and to thepublic, so thank you for all
that you do.
Now, in today's podcast, I wantto talk about how you can align
(05:45):
your practices and decisionswith faith-driven principles by
focusing on these four pillars,and those four pillars are
profit, people, excellence andGod.
These are the four pillars thatI want to talk to you about.
God these are the four pillarsthat I want to talk to you about
(06:07):
Each of those pillars.
As we discuss them, we're goingto talk about practical
strategies, biblical insightsand some actionable steps to
lead with integrity and impacton these four pillars.
These four pillars you know oneof the greatest buildings in
(06:30):
the last several thousands ofyears that has been built and
one that has withstooddestructive weather, wars,
uprisings, and that building isthe Greek Parthenon.
The main reason for thelongevity of this building is
that it was built between, theysay, between 447 BC and 432 BC
(06:52):
and this building is stillstanding.
But the reason that thatbuilding is still standing is
because it used a total of 96pillars.
You know, pillars don't justprovide mere aesthetic value,
you know, just for their looks,and it's more than just
(07:13):
architectural significance.
You know they also provide avery strong structural
significance because they'reload-bearing, they create
stability for that building andthey withstand all kinds of bad
weather.
You know, in 1 Kings 7, 15through 22, it talks about two
(07:33):
of the pillars that were builtor used in the building of
Solomon's temple, the temple ofGod that he built, and they were
given names.
These two pillars were givennames and the one was Jachin and
the other was Boaz, and thedefinition of these two Hebrew
words were Jachin meant he willprovide, and Boaz meant in him
(07:58):
is strength.
And they named those pillarsthat because God would provide,
and in God there was strength.
And you know there's somethingcalled the Parthenon principle
in business.
Maybe some of you've heard ofthis, maybe some of you haven't.
But when you're building abusiness, you want to structure
(08:19):
your business with multiplepillars.
Now, what do I mean by that?
Well, I think one pillar issales.
One pillar can be marketing,one pillar can be management,
one pillar can be operations.
(08:40):
But you have all thesedifferent pillars to help prop
up the company, to help put agreat structure into the company
.
And so that's why I want totalk about these four pillars,
and I think these are kind offoundational, these four pillars
.
So I want us to just kind ofjump right in and look at these.
So the first pillar of the fouris profit, and we're talking
(09:00):
about stewarding the resourceswith wisdom.
You know profit is not justfinancial gain.
You know profit is, it's a tool, and it's a tool for, you know,
not only you know profit's notonly a tool just to advance the
company, but it's a tool foradvancing God's kingdom,
(09:24):
especially when it's managedwith integrity.
You know, as Christian businessleaders, you know we view
profit in this way, or we shouldview it in this way.
It's a means to sustainoperations, but also to support
communities and fund ministry.
And that's how we should beseeing this pillar of profit.
(09:46):
You know, luke, chapter 16,verses 10 through 11, says
whoever can be trusted with verylittle can also be trusted with
much.
And if you have not beentrustworthy in handling worldly
wealth, who will trust you withtrue riches?
And that's how we should lookat profit.
You know, when we're talkingabout business, you know profit
(10:09):
reflects faithful stewardship.
It should.
It enables businesses to thriveand to serve not just thrive,
but to serve as well.
So what are some practicalstrategies?
Well, first of all, you oughtto have ethical revenue
generation.
So make sure that all yourrevenue streams are aligning
(10:31):
with Christian values.
Make sure you're not exploiting.
You don't have exploitingpractices like price gouging or
deceptive marketing.
But you want to make sure thatit all aligns with Christian
values.
So that's first.
And the next thing you can do isreinvestment for impact.
So you should allocate profits.
(10:53):
We've talked about Hobby Lobbyand how that they give away 50%
of their profits every year.
But you need to allocateprofits to support community
initiatives, maybe employeewelfare and even charitable
causes.
You know, maybe 10% of yourprofit, you know, goes to local
(11:14):
ministries.
You know, however, you want todo that, but you need to
reinvest, but reinvest from thestandpoint of an impact that you
can have and then havefinancial transparency right.
Maintain clear, honestaccounting practices to build
trust with all of thestakeholders in the business,
(11:36):
whether it be your managementteam, if you have a board of
directors.
If you are on the stockexchange, you have stockholders
and then also those who haveinvested in your company.
So you want to make sure youhave financial transparency.
Now, what are some action stepsthat you can take?
Well, first, you can conduct aquarterly review of what your
(11:59):
revenue sources are and to makesure that they're in that
ethical alignment.
Another thing that you can doas an action is create a we can
just call it, say a kingdomimpact fund.
You can call it whatever youwant to.
I'm just using that as anexample a kingdom impact fund
and that's from the prophets andthat's used to support
(12:21):
faith-based initiatives.
You can start a nonprofitministry within your
organization where that moneygoes into the nonprofit and then
the nonprofit disperses it outinto the ministries, into the
community efforts that you feellike you need to, and then make
(12:44):
sure that you train your staff.
Train them on biblicalstewardship principles, use
resources like Crown FinancialMinistries it's a great again.
You want to look at, you know,look at profit in that way.
(13:08):
So the second pillar is peopleand with regard to people, you
want to lead with dignity, youwant to lead with love.
You know people are the heartof any business.
You know you can't have abusiness without people, whether
they be customers, whether theybe vendors, whether they be
employees.
You can't have a businesswithout people.
(13:29):
And Christian leaders shouldreally prioritize their
employees.
They should prioritizecustomers and stakeholders and
treat them as image bearers ofGod.
In other words, treat them likegodly people, treat them like
God's people.
Whether they're born again ornot born again, they're still
God's people.
(13:50):
God loves them.
You know Matthew 22, 39 sayslove your neighbor as yourself.
Now that doesn't stop when youget to the office.
You know Christian businessvalues relationships, or it
should, if you're a Christianbusiness or Christian leaders,
that we should valuerelationships over transactions.
(14:11):
You know you want to fosterthis culture of respect and care
for your customers, for youremployees, for your vendors, for
all of your stakeholders.
So what are some practicalstrategies.
Well, first of all, we can talkabout employee well-being, you
(14:32):
know.
First, you should offer fairwages.
Look, I'm not saying that youshould pay twice what the
minimum wage is, like HobbyLobby does, but it should be
fair wages.
I would encourage you to offerflexible schedules.
Now maybe you can't with yourbusiness, but I would encourage
you to look at that and thenmake sure that you have
(14:55):
opportunities for growth andthat you train for those
opportunities.
So you want to provide aworkplace that supports that,
and you want to supportspiritual health, too, and
physical health and mentalhealth.
You want a workplace thatsupports those things.
You could have prayer groupsAgain.
Many of you may say well, youcan't do that, it's against the
law.
No, it's not.
(15:15):
We in the United States havebeen given a great gift because
in the Civil Rights Act, and theUnited States have been given a
great gift because in the CivilRights Act, we are protected
those of us that are godlypeople and born-again people and
we want to share things.
We have a protected right to dothat.
I did a podcast you can lookthat up sometime on what your
(15:35):
rights are and what the law isin your Christian business, but
you can focus on the employeewell-being.
The next thing that you need todo is you need to have some
customer care.
So you want to go beyond peoplejust being satisfied.
You want to go beyond that.
You want to build trust throughhonest communication and then
(15:57):
high-quality service.
You don't want to be second inservice.
You want to be the best inservice of anybody in your
industry and you can do that,but it takes effort.
It takes some money to do thatas well, so you need to begin to
focus on how that you can havethis customer care.
(16:22):
And then next is communityengagement, so you could partner
with local churches or othernonprofits to serve the
community, like hosting jobfairs or maybe volunteering.
I know one business.
He supports a ministry in achurch that feeds the homeless
(16:43):
people on Sundays, so they godown and they feed the homeless,
so he provides finances andresources to help them provide
for the food and everythingthat's needed.
So what are some actionablesteps?
Well, first of all, you couldimplement an annual employee
(17:03):
feedback survey which I don'tthink companies do enough and
you can see what those surveysbring back to you, you know, and
then try to address whateverthe concerns are that you see,
and just try to continuallyimprove workplace culture.
I've never been in a businesswhere there couldn't be
improvement in the culture ofthe company with regard to its
(17:26):
employees.
Another thing that you could dois you could host a monthly
value lunch to discuss how faithshapes the team's interactions.
Faith shapes the team'sinteractions.
Now, by law, you can't forceanybody to go to this and you
also can't make it a part ofyour promotion program.
In other words, if you go tothese and you'll get promoted
(17:49):
faster.
You can't do that, but you canhave it, and then people can
come if they want to.
You can invite them and then ifthey choose not to, well, then
they choose not to.
The other thing that you can dois you can partner with a local
Christian school or a charity.
Maybe you can mentor some youngleaders.
What I'm trying to say is giveyou some practical ways to
(18:09):
impact your community.
To impact your community, allright.
The third pillar is excellence,excellence.
You know, I had a high schoolteacher that told us he was
Greek and he gave us this Greekword, arate, and arate means
striving for excellence, andthat was ingrained in my head
(18:32):
from the time I was in highschool until now, and I'm in my
60s and I still think aboutarate.
I still think about strivingfor excellence in everything
that we do, and excellencereflects really our commitment
to honor God through our work.
You know, it's about deliveringsuperior quality and innovation
(18:54):
and at the same time we have tomaintain our humility.
You know Vince Lombardi saidone time perfection is not
attainable, but if we chaseperfection we can catch
excellence.
And so I think that's importantfor us to really look at
excellence and strive forexcellence.
(19:17):
You know, colossians 3 and 23says whatever you do.
Whatever you do, work at itwith all your heart as working
for the Lord and not for humanmasters.
Whatever you do, work it withall your heart as if you're
working for the Lord directly.
You know, booker T Washingtonsaid one time about excellence.
(19:39):
He said excellence is to do acommon thing in an uncommon way.
I like that definition.
Excellence is to do a commonthing in an uncommon way.
Excellence and excellence inbusiness.
It really glorifies God andsets a standard for other people
.
Now, what are some practicalstrategies here?
(20:00):
Well, again, continuousimprovement.
You know you want to havecontinuous improvement.
You know you want to make sureyou invest in employee training,
help them be trained well, haveleadership programs, leadership
training, and then you canprocess optimizations to enhance
(20:22):
either products or service, toraise the level of quality.
The other thing is to make surethat you pay attention to
detail, you know.
Ensure that every aspect of thebusiness whether it be products
, customer service, branding,whatever it is make sure that
those things reflect care andprofessionalism, get into the
(20:43):
details and then make sure thatyou stay humble as a leader, you
know.
Make sure you celebrate teamsuccesses without pride, but
giving credit to God, givingcredit to other people.
So, as actionable steps, you canset measurable quality goals
and you can do that by, again,using surveys to your customers.
(21:06):
Maybe you have a goal, say,reduce customer complaints by
20% in six months.
That's a great goal.
It's measurable, it's somethingyou can do, you've got a time
limit on it and something youcan track.
Maybe you could enroll in,maybe a Christian leadership
course that's offered by there'suniversities that do it.
(21:27):
There are people such as myself.
We offer at CBC, we offerleadership courses through the
John Maxwell LeadershipCertified Trainer program that
they have, and then just kind ofcreate a wall of excellence.
(21:48):
You want to showcase employeeachievements, you want to help
tie them to faith-based values.
So you want to create this wallof excellence.
All right, now the fourth pillar, which I think is extremely
important, is God, and that iscentering faith in In all your
(22:09):
decisions.
It keeps you centered, it keepsyou focused.
You know God is the foundation,it should be the foundation of
every Christian business, andevery decision, from strategy to
daily operations, should reallyreflect a commitment to glorify
(22:29):
God, a commitment to followinghis leadership, to following
God's leadership, his guidance.
You know Ben Carson, who ranfor president or the nomination
for president, said one timethrough hard work, perseverance
and a faith in God, you can liveyour dreams.
I love that.
And a faith in God, you canlive your dreams.
(22:50):
I love that.
Through hard work, perseveranceand a faith in God, you can
live your dreams.
You know the Bible says inProverbs 3, 5, and 6, of course
you know you've heard me quotethis many times trust in the
Lord with all your heart andlean not to your own
understanding.
In all your ways, submit to himand he will make your paths
(23:10):
straight.
And I think that's such a greatprinciple.
You know, a God-centeredbusiness seeks his wisdom
through prayer, through the wordof God.
So what are some practicalstrategies for you here to keep
God, that fourth pillar, in yourChristian business or in your
department as a Christian leader?
(23:31):
First, make sure that you haveprayerful decision-making.
You know, maybe you beginmeetings with prayer.
You can seek God's guidance onevery major decision.
You should hear his voice asGod speaks to you, seek godly
counsel as another thing.
And then faith integration.
(23:51):
So make sure you incorporatethese biblical principles that
we talk about on a weekly basis.
Maybe you even put some ofthese biblical principles in
your mission statements.
You know, in your policies, inyour culture.
You know, in other words, youcould have a core value of
servant leadership.
You know, in other words, youcould have a core value of
servant leadership.
(24:12):
You know, I think that'ssomething that could be done.
You know, have a testimony offaith.
Share how faith shapes yourbusiness ethically.
Whether it's through marketing,community outreach, doesn't
matter, but you can share howfaith shapes your business.
So what are some actionablesteps you can take?
Well, establish maybe a weeklyleadership prayer group to seek
(24:35):
God's direction for the business.
And I know this sounds foreign,it almost sounds like well,
we're not a church, we're abusiness.
I understand that.
But we need to get back toChristian business principles in
the workplace.
We need to get back to that.
It needs to be powerful.
You know there's a lot ofbusinesses that have leadership
(24:56):
prayer groups.
There's some businesses thatactually have multiple chaplains
on staff and they have Biblestudies and they have prayer
time.
There's lots of things and lotsof ways you can do that.
Maybe share a public testimonyat like a Christian business
conference like C12.
That's a great conference totry to inspire other people.
(25:19):
So how do we kick this off?
Do you really want to havethese four pillars in your
business?
How do we kick it off?
Well, you should have a kickoffworkshop.
That's just like a half-daytraining session for your
leadership team and you shouldcover these four pillars and
then you can have somediscussion and reflect on some
scriptures.
Make sure you have monthlycheck-ins so you can review the
(25:42):
progress on each of thesepillars.
You can use metrics like youremployee satisfaction rate, what
your profit allocation is toministries or to the community,
and then your customer feedback,and then maybe develop a
mentorship program where you canget some people that you see as
(26:05):
future leaders put them withsome seasoned Christian mentor
leaders to help them model theseprinciples and then have annual
review where you can kind ofassess your business's alignment
with the four pillars, and thenyou can celebrate a lot of
great successes and then set newgoals for the next year.
So I encourage you, you know,go online.
(26:26):
And there's a couple of thingsI'll tell you.
One is there's a book calledthe Good Book on Business by
Dave Kael.
Now I've read that book.
It's a great book.
I'd encourage you to buy thatbook and read it.
There's another one calledDoing Business by the Good Book,
and that's by David Stewart andthat's also a good book.
(26:47):
And then there's some greatorganizations, as I mentioned,
the C12 group, christianBusinessmen's Connection, that's
another one.
So there's a lot of greatopportunities there that you can
look at.
So leading a Christian businessis really a calling.
It's a calling to reflectChrist in the marketplace.
(27:08):
And by balancing these fourpillars the prophet, the people,
excellence and God I believeyou can build a legacy, a legacy
that honors Christ and impactslives for God's glory.
So let's lead with faith, loveand purpose.
(27:28):
Father, I thank you right nowfor taking the time to meet with
us today and, lord, for helpingall of those who have listened
today to build these fourpillars in their personal life
and in their professional life.
And, lord, as they apply theseprinciples, let them produce
stability and strength.
(27:50):
And, lord, I thank you for that.
In the name of Jesus.
Well, thank you.
Right now, I want to thank youeveryone for downloading this
week's podcast and helping usgrow the CBC community.
I share with you every weekabout how you can do that and
really appreciate your help indoing that.
This is a ministry that is anonprofit-profit, and we're
(28:13):
doing this because it'ssomething that God placed upon
our heart and so, anyway.
So I just want you to thinkabout how you can help us grow
the CBC community.
Well, that's all the time wehave for today, but I do want
you to remember that Jesus isLord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian
Business Concepts podcast.
Go toChristianBusinessConceptscom for
more information and resources.
Be sure to check out otherpodcasts that will help you take
your business and your personallife to a whole new level of
success.
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