Remember when you believed in your dream?

Remember thinking you could do it?

Do you have unfulfilled dreams? Is there a desire buried deep in your heart that is slowly dying? Has life squashed your dreams? Has discouragement, distraction, mediocrity, procrastination, laziness, busy-ness or just downright disappointment caused you to give up? 

Remember When You Had a Dream?

Think back to your childhood…back to the time when you thought you could be or do anything, before you’d been told what is and isn’t possible, before your relationships, career path or other choices caused you to end up where you are today. 

David Johnson believes you still can. 

What: Launch The Dream: How To Stop Making Excuses & Be All You Can Be! 
Who: David Johnson, Serial Entrepreneur 
When: May 2, 2012: 3:00-4:00 pm EST
(Check that time in your time zone here.)
How: Register here
Where: At the convenience of your own computer! 

We believe now is the time for you to:

• Write that book
• Learn that skill
• Start that business
• Create that new product
• Bring that invention to life
• Proceed with that new service
• …and Launch the Dream!

In this webcast, David will show you how to dig up your buried dreams, dust them off and propel them to reality. He’ll show you why there’s never been a better time in history or in your lifetime to start and pursue the fulfillment of your deepest dreams and desires.

David G. Johnson is a serial entrepreneur who launched his first business at 18 and has been passionately focused on serving the needs of business owners and entrepreneurs ever since. In 1998, he launched Epiphany Marketing, which has produced millions of dollars in revenue for its clients through coaching, consulting, training and an array of strategic marketing services. Most recently, David founded Nourish the Dream, a strategic platform for developing, equipping and training entrepreneurs. David is a sought-after speaker who stirs people up to identify and realize their dreams! 

Please join me for what is sure to be the best hour of your day! 

Tom Ziglar 
CEO and Proud Son of Zig Ziglar 

P.S. If you’re not living out your passions…if you feel like there’s more…if your career or business is stagnating, you won’t want to miss this webcast! Wednesday, May 2, 2012. 

P.P.S. Pass along this information by Liking us on Facebook or Tweet the registration link!

At our recent Nourish The Dream event in Tampa, Gary Keesee shared a powerful nugget from the early ministry of Jesus. In Luke 5, Jesus was teaching a crowd of people and was soon surrounded and pressed. He was backed up to the water where Peter and his partners in their commercial fishing business were cleaning their nets after having toiled all night with nothing to show for it.

Can you identify with that? Working… slaving… tearfully laboring without the results you need?

Jesus called upon Peter to allow Him to use one of Peter’s boats. Peter agreed, so Jesus stepped into the boat and asked Peter to push away from the bank so he could teach the crowds from there. After Jesus finished, he told Peter to let down his nets for a catch. (One translation says, “Let down your nets for a haul.”)

You know the story: They caught so many fish that the nets began to break and the boats began to sink.

Why Did Peter & His Partners Catch So Many Fish?

Let Down Your Nets for a Catch!

It sounds like a nice miracle story—especially when you’re in business and you recognize all those fish for what they represented to the business owners: profit.

But Gary pointed that this wasn’t just an arbitrary miracle that Jesus sovereignly chose to perform. Instead, it was an operation of the laws of the Kingdom of God.

When Peter permitted Jesus to use his boat, he placed his business under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of God. The government of God came over the business. That permitted the laws of the Kingdom to operate.

Just like the widow’s jars of oil (see 2 Kings 4) which Elisha commanded to be filled and sold; when the government of God comes over a business enterprise, the business will be filled to capacity.

For Peter and his partners to be blessed financially, they had to take something they had authority over (something under their control) and place it under the government of God. (Have you ever thought about Peter’s partners and how blessed they were that day to have been in partnership with him?)

Here’s What Was Really Amazing

After Gary shared that particular incident with the Nourish the Dream audience, one of our other speakers had an opportunity to reflect on it. You see, he had been the CEO of a public company for a number of years. He had always attributed the success they enjoyed under his leadership to his own relationship with God and to subjecting his decision-making to the Scriptures.

But he experienced an “epiphany” that day. He said he had never understood previously that what he had done was placed that company under the authority and government of the Kingdom of God. This was why they experienced some otherwise-inexplicable successes and pulled out of some difficult places!

What do you have today that you can place under the government of God? Is it a business? Is it a business idea? Perhaps it’s an invention or a product idea. Place it at the service of the King. Lay it at His feet. Ask Him to show you how to place it at His disposal. Then proclaim a blessing over it and watch it produce like never before!

Whenever I teach on “marketplace ministries,” I often ask in my presentation, “Who wants God to get involved in your business?” The vast majority of those present raise their hands expecting me to help them find effective ways to help them further achieve that “divine connection.” To their surprise, I not only don’t help them, I actually shock them by telling them what I am about to tell you. God doesn’t want to get involved in your business.

Let’s talk about why He doesn’t. First, it may be your “ministry,” but if you’re really serious about God’s involvement, we have to begin on the proper foundation. That means we must recognize that in reality, it isn’t “your business”; it’s His gift-opportunity for you which He is letting you steward in order to serve others and release provision for you while He helps grow you up in the process. As we all know, we actually own nothing, but merely steward things on God’s behalf. Unless we are clear on this reality and remain clear—especially if we prosper—our foundation will be insufficient to sustain a working partnership with God’s Spirit. Indeed, this issue of “who controls and gets credit for my success” was addressed by God as He forewarned Israel:

(11 ) “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; (12) otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, (13) and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, (14) then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (17)”Otherwise, you may say in your heart, ‘my power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.’” Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17

The second foundational issue is closely related to the first one. If God were to join “your business,” who do you think would most likely assume the “senior role,” you or Him? Our fallen nature is not to be trusted as we all should know by now. If God “joins us,” we are in the position of extending an invitation to Him, with us sitting in the position of the resident’s chair. When we do this, God says, “thank you but no thank you.” Obviously, it is absurdly presumptuous for us to even extend Him the invitation. It would be like the pot inviting the potter to the art exhibit where it will be on display! God rejects the proud and exalts the humble. Therefore, a “take your shoes off on this holy ground” attitude is the kind of spiritual posture God will honor. The correct question is not, “will you join me”, but rather, “Lord, could you possibly consider letting me join You in Your business, unworthy as I am?” Joshua experienced a similar situation when he foolishly approached the Angel of the Lord and asked him whose side he was on. The Angel answered, “No”. Wrong question junior. Joshua quickly came to his senses and essentially responded with a recalculated attitude adjustment essentially saying, “since you’re on the Lord’s side, I’m with you!” Fortunately for us, Jesus already extended the invitation for us to join Him in business some 2,000 years ago. Here is His statement:

(28)”Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. (29)”Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (30)”For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

We take note of this essential truth contained in His kind invitation. It is in Christ’s “yoke” (business) that we, “learn of Him”. Common labor together or partnerships (like marriage) is where the deepest transfer of life takes place. In the common yoke we “apprentice” with God in His vision; passion; perspective; labors; challenges and the fulfillment of His heart. Fellowship is deepest with God when we enter His passion and it begins to become ours.

We now arrive at the second correct question. Exactly what business is God in? From our human vantage, He is in the people-empowering business. Whatever business we think we’re in is now about to shift. Guess what. If we go into the people-empowerment business with Him, that must become the foundation of “our business”, no matter what product or service we apparently offer. Christ died to empower people because truly serving people requires a genuine degree of death-to-self on our part. As we become genuine servants to those we interact with in our marketplace ministry the principle of “your good at my expense” will begin to change us and the people within the circle of our spiritual influence.

At last, we come to the really personal questions. Do you really believe my statement that, “God pays for what He orders” or is that really just a religious cliché or platitude? If we follow Christ’s example as a master-servant and give up our “rights” to think of and expect our “returns-on-investments first, what might be our fate? Well, for starters we have now actually gone into God’s business if we’re truly willing to enter this practical law of God’s Kingdom: whoever serves leads. If we join Father’s business, it’s clear that He will “empty us” on the way to exalting Himself through us:

(5) Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, (6) who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. (8) Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, (11) and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11

Simply put, God pays handsomely for what He orders.

As we have said for years, for a Christian in business, God’s people business that is, profit is a fruit of obedience not a goal or way of ultimately keeping score. In Father’s business, the real profit is knowing Him, growing in Him, and working with Him in the people-loving business. Is this naïve or “religious”? Let me ask another question. Do you know anyone who is building their business ministry like this with God and complaining? Everyone I know who is on this journey and has paid the initial dues of truly aligning their business with God’s principles of stewardship and strategic and relational building is prospering in every way. So let’s rescind our offer to God to join with us in our business and join His instead. What a deal! He makes us an offer only the foolish would refuse.

Editor’s Note: Crystal recently discussed this topic with David G. Johnson on a webinar as a “sneak peek” of what’s to come at the Nourish The Dream event in Tampa March 30th & 31st. If you haven’t heard it yet, you can catch it here.

Are You Functioning at the Place of Convergence?

There is an internal mechanism within each of us that operates similar to a GPS. This navigational tool is designed to provide direction. Unfortunately, many spend their lives listening to this inner voice saying: “recalculating…recalculating.”  They drive lost; second guessing their turns and questioning choices in life. They live in a constant flux of re-evaluation; always searching for the quickest route to somewhere, unable to find the on-ramp to a satisfying life.

In order to successively navigate, you must have a clear understanding of your “somewhere”. There must be clarity in regards to the address you are seeking…you must learn how to find home! Where do you shine? What are your natural tendencies, your interests and your passions? It is this ability to identify your sweet spot that allows you to provide accurate input for your internal compass. Defining this data of purpose and direction will help to pave a path and minimize the U turns and traffic jams of life.

However, knowing your destination is not enough. Life is littered with those who have found themselves and yet sat waiting for circumstances to give them the green light to proceed. The commitment to prepare and develop the required skills impacts the ability to start and finish the journey. A variety of equipping avenues are available such as books, classes, on the job training, coaching and conferences. Each external development provides the opportunity to test drive vehicles and practice for navigating the course.

It is the combination of internal direction and external preparation that positions individuals to discover the on-ramp of life and merge safely on to their freeway. This critical moment is called Convergence.

Many individuals spend their lives searching for Convergence and yet it is neither mystical nor unattainable. It lies within the grasp of each one of us. It requires the ability to listen…really listen to what makes you tick and sets you apart. It then requires the discipline to take this revelation and apply elbow grease, hard work and intentional tuning of your skill sets. In convergence you operate on a new level and are fueled by a higher octane. It is here, that you experience a deeper satisfaction and enter into a more rewarding life.

Convergence happens in multiple areas of life at varying times. Catalysts can be used to accelerate this process. Our goal is to function as a catalyst for convergence in the lives of individuals, businesses and organizations. We have developed numerous workshops and conferences designed to facilitate the necessary internal and external growth. These include…

CEO DNA Codes ~

It has been said that within every individual lies the seeds of greatness. We identify these seeds as the CEO DNA codes. Everyone has them. However, these codes lie in seed form waiting for recognition and then cultivation. The ability to Administrate, Operate, Market and conduct Finances are the codes that play an essential role in businesses, organizations and even in the lives of individuals. Training is beneficial in the understanding and practical application of these codes.

EQW ~

When it comes to creating wealth, there are three components: Spiritual, Emotional and Mechanical. Unfortunately, most individuals focus on the spiritual and mechanical processes and overlook the connecting factor— EQW.

The Emotional Quotient of Wealth is the fulcrum that weighs the experiences, aspirations and internal thought processes of an individual against the factual data and calculations of finances. It acknowledges the internal belief system and the pragmatic formulas of reason to create a response based upon wisdom without emotional entanglements. It removes reactionary impulses and produces proactive solutions and strategies. A developed EQW provides the ability to create wealth!

Tribal Leadership ~

Tribal leadership focuses on identifying the stages of culture and how individuals, businesses, organizations and communities can transition through these stages successfully. It is not about performance evaluations, project management or even a well structured business plan. Rather, tribal leadership is moving past procedure to identifying the underlying core value and common bond within an environment. This revelation, combined with insight, can shift cultures and transition mindsets from preservation to innovation.

Financial Strategy Team ~

Organizations have depended upon the generosity of donors as the financial foundation for their ministries. This single stream of income is directly connected to the circumstances and faithfulness of individuals and often creates questionable sustainability.

Financial Strategy Team training is designed to broaden the financial platform for organizations through the intentional development of donors. Four strategic components are integrated together to increase financial literacy and transition individuals, as well as the organization, from spenders to savers to wealth creators

Our goal is to be a catalyst that helps people, businesses and organizations discover their point of convergence so they can enter the freeway of life. We realize that on this freeway, they will excel as quickly as their vehicle will allow. Therefore, their vehicle must be prepared and secure, with solid internal wiring that is fine tuned for maximum performance …and enjoyment!

Today we have a guest post from Gary Keesee that I’m sure you’re going to enjoy. If you missed it, be sure to listen to last week’s webinar with Gary and find out how to get a free copy of his book, Fixing the Money Thing.

Now, here’s Gary…

Gary Keesee, Entrepreneur, Pastor, Television Host & Successful Author

When was the last time you failed at something? Was it something small, or something big? Was it fun? Of course not! Failure is never fun. And it’s not a cliché to say we can always learn from it. In fact, having a proper understanding of failure is vital to our success.

Honda has a proper understanding of failure. Their engineers spend 95% of their time studying why the lawnmower wouldn’t start the first time, or why the gas mileage is higher on their new car model than it was on the old one. They know that their success lies in those failures.

We have to look at failures that same way. We’re all going to make mistakes. Most of us come into God’s Kingdom and we don’t know how to live life, so we fail. And the enemy loves to pervert our failures. He wants us to hesitate. He tries to rehearse our failures or paint a picture of the risks. He tells us that they’re permanent and we believe him. We stop. We don’t move forward because we’re afraid we’ll fail again.

Or, he blames the failure on God. That’s one of his favorites. He gets us questioning God. He used it on Joshua. In Joshua 1, Moses had died and God had put Joshua in charge. So, Joshua took off. He led the people to Jericho and the walls came down. Things were working just like God had said…until we get to Chapter 7.

Everyone has a Chapter 7. That’s where failure happened. There was a guy named Achan in Chapter 7. Achan had stolen some of the spoils from battle and Joshua had no clue. Unaware of Achan’s failure to follow God’s instructions, Joshua went ahead and sent men on to the next battle at Ai only to see his men killed.

We’ve all had those moments when we begin to follow Christ and something happens that doesn’t match the picture, or the promise, in the Bible. If we don’t understand how to deal with failure, those moments may make us lose our courage. We might hesitate, or we might set up camp and never try again, or we might just try to run back to Egypt. So, we have to understand failure and how to deal with it.

Joshua had to learn. At first, like we all do, Joshua reacted. The enemy’s plan to have him blaming God worked. Joshua questioned God. Ever done that before? We all have. But God wasn’t having it. He told Joshua to GET UP!

See, people say that they wish Jesus would just show up. Trust me, you DON’T want that. Jesus isn’t going to show up and say, “Let’s have a group hug.” When the disciples freaked out that they were going to drown in the storm at sea, Jesus didn’t get up and comfort them. He said, “Where is your faith?” He’s going to say, “GET UP! Have you not read MY WORD? I already paid the price!” He WILL correct you.

That’s exactly what God did to Joshua. He told him to get up. Then, He told Joshua exactly what had happened. See the failure wasn’t just on Achan’s part; it was also on Joshua’s. Joshua hadn’t sought instruction from God before he engaged Ai. God could have told him about Achan before they went to battle. Instead, Joshua assumed. We can NEVER assume things in the Kingdom. We can’t do anything based on our past victories. The enemy is already wise to them, and he’s already changed strategies.

Like Joshua, we don’t have to fail. If we go to God first, failure doesn’t have to happen. But, if we do fail, there are steps we can take to overcome the failure and move forward:

1. Ask God what happened. If the Word says it, it’s God’s will. There are a lot of variables—things like unbelief and wrong expectations—that mess with the heart and can short circuit faith. If it didn’t happen, you need to ask God why.
2. Pinpoint the short circuit. Know who, what, why, when, where and how so it doesn’t happen again.
3. Ask God how to fix it.
4. Get the plan on how to restore the loss.
5. Stand up and take action.

Sure, you’ll be tempted to be afraid. Ignore your feelings. God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. You will have to be, too. You can feel afraid, but don’t act like it. Remember, if you’re not doing the hardest thing in your life, then you’re not growing.

God has already prepared a way for you to go and succeed in a big way. Be confident to let the Holy Spirit teach you and train you, and reveal unique strategies to you. Keep your vision in front of your face. Write it down! Believe it’s possible; otherwise you’re destined to stay right where you are.

God wants to advance His Kingdom in the earth through you. He’s depending on you to overcome failure and kick butt!

Gary Keesee was the “poster child” for debt and poverty until he discovered how the Kingdom of God works and started his first business more than 25 years ago. His businesses continue to produce millions of dollars each year in gross revenues and he now pastors a church in Columbus, Ohio, hosts a television program and has published several books. Don’t miss what Gary has to say at Nourish The Dream in Tampa, Florida March 30-31, 2012!

“If you’re not currently doing the hardest thing you’ve ever done, you’re not growing.” – Gary Keesee

The Hardest Thing You've Ever Done?

Everything that is alive grows. This is how God wrote the laws of the universe—both naturally and spiritually. Sometimes the growth is visible, like a healthy, thriving business (or my 7-year-old daughter whose height makes me wonder if she’ll be taller than I am before much longer!). Sometimes, however, that growth is below the surface where it can’t be seen, like the the root systems of our Florida palm trees that seem to survive hurricane after hurricane.

This week, I was listening to a teaching series on business success by Gary Keesee. If you’re not already familiar with him, Gary has been a very successful entrepreneur for more than 20 years. But things were not always this way for Gary. In fact, he tells the story that he spent a number of years barely feeding his family and going further and further into debt. The stress got so bad that he could hardly get out of bed. Ultimately, he began finding his answers by discovering how the Kingdom of God operates, which led to his first multi-million-dollar business. (He owns several today.)

Looking in from the outside, it might have been easy to conclude that those years where Gary was going further and further in the hole were wasted. As the financial stress was mounting to the point where his health was threatened, you might not have concluded that he was growing.

But as Gary puts it: pressure will cause you to grow. A naturally shy person, Gary overcame call reluctance by being forced to make sales calls just to survive. When he later launched with his new business idea, he was already well equipped to talk to people because he had spent years overcoming that challenge.

Are You Under Pressure Today?

Many people have been under more pressure than ever in the last few years. Economic conditions, drastic changes in technology, the rapidly changing needs and buying habits of customers and other factors have all added up to a perfect storm for even the most well-established businesses.

Regardless of where the pressure is coming from, however, the question is: what are you doing with the pressure? Are you allowing it to drive change in your own life? Are you growing? Are you gaining new skills? Are you forcing yourself to adopt new ways of doing business despite your own desire to avoid change?

And if you’re not under pressure… if you’re not currently working on the hardest thing you’ve ever done, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate!

By the way, Gary Keesee has a ton of valuable insight to share. If you haven’t already signed up for it, I want to personally invite you to join me and the hundreds of others who’ve already registered for a 1-hour webinar with Gary tomorrow evening (Thursday) at 7PM Eastern time. You’ll be glad you did! You can register here.

Tom Ziglar, Proud Son of Zig Ziglar and CEO of Ziglar, Inc.

During yesterday’s webinar with Tom Ziglar, the conversation took a really powerful turn. Tom is (as you most likely already know) the “Proud Son of Zig Ziglar” and CEO of Ziglar, Inc. After we got an update on his Dad and talked a little about the brand new book from Zig and Tom called Born To Win: Finding Your Success Code, Tom started to talk about something really important.

He began by sharing this quote:

“Your business exists for one reason and one reason only, and that’s to provide a vehicle for you to achieve your life’s goals.” – Howard Partridge

At first glance, this might seem a little simplistic. I guess some might even say it’s somewhat misguided. After all, many of us have goals for our lives that don’t revolve around business or money. And hopefully that’s really true. The most important things in life, after all, can’t be bought. And if we spend our lives pursuing business success we could end up sacrificing our families or other important elements of life.

But like most profound statements, this one is deceptively simple. I appreciated very much what Tom shared next about how this plays out. In fact, I liked it so much that I really want you to hear it. So, I decided to share it with all of our readers and subscribers. Another great bonus: Tom made a very generous offer on the webinar, and he gave me permission to share it with everyone. Watch the replay now to learn how you can get a free copy of Born To Win by Zig Ziglar & Tom Ziglar shipped to you at no charge!

As you probably know, the webinar series we’re running right now is a “Preview” of what’s to come at Nourish The Dream in Tampa March 30th & 31st, where you can hear Tom LIVE and in person along with a hand-picked lineup of top Kingdom business leaders and experts. When you register for the event, you’ll get access to all the remaining live preview webinars! There will be one webinar each week between now and the end of March, so this is a fantastic value!

You won’t want to miss what to has to say—both in this webinar and live in Tampa—so go watch it as soon as possible. And don’t forget, the special offer to receive a free copy of Born To Win expires tonight (Friday) at midnight!

Business Ownership Is The Real Key to Stabilizing the Economy

Contact: Cheryl L. Clunk, Operations Director
(941) 822-0686
cheryl [at]  nourishthedream [dot] com

Real Answers for Your Business: Nourish The Dream Tampa 2012

SARASOTA, Florida January 30, 2012—While political leaders debate ways of turning the U.S. economy around, entrepreneurs everywhere are choosing to take action. Small-business owners and local business leaders have the trust of the American public over elected officials when it comes to job creation, according to a November, 2011 Gallup poll. Meanwhile, huge corporate bailouts, trade regulations, higher business taxes and money-printing strategies are causing the dollar to sink further and further into extinction. The only real answer to surviving and even thriving, individually and as a country, is for entrepreneurs to step up to the plate and open new businesses or boldly take steps to grow their current companies. On March 30-31, 2012 at the Wyndham Tampa Westshore hotel in Tampa, FL, business leaders will gather at the Nourish the Dream event to receive not just motivation, but solid training and actionable tools for taking their businesses to a completely new stratosphere in the coming year and quelling the current economic chaos.

“This event is not for the faint of heart, but for those ready to take action, seize the economic opportunities created by the collapse of the corporate giants and position their businesses to dominate,” says Cheryl Clunk, Operations Director of Nourish the Dream. This event will include top presenters like Wes Cantrell, Former Chairman and CEO of Lanier Worldwide, Inc.; Gary Keesee, Host of the Fixing the Money Thing television show; Dennis Peacocke, author of Doing Business God’s Way; plus, several other sought-after speakers. Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar, Inc. and proud son of the legendary Zig Ziglar, will expound on the sole purpose and reason businesses exist and he’ll also share what he’s discovered to be the top critical keys for success.

“Business ownership is the real, original American dream,” says David G. Johnson, founder of Epiphany Marketing LLC, the organization behind the Nourish The Dream event. “Having been a business owner for 18 years, I’ve developed a real passion for small-business entrepreneurs. I like the way they think and take risks, and I love helping their businesses grow and dominate their markets.”

Johnson founded Nourish the Dream in 2006 for the purpose of empowering & mobilizing business owners to return to powerful, faithful principles for transforming businesses from just one way to make a living to the true expression of a person’s calling.

“People who create and own small businesses are much more committed to seeing their own economic situation—and that of those they work with—really change than any political or large corporate leader,” says Johnson. “This event will empower those considering starting a businesses and will provide strategic fuel for those who already own businesses.”

Those who are interested in growing their business, increasing revenues and having a direct impact on repairing the economy, can register for Nourish the Dream online. This two-day event only costs $197 with the Early Bird registration, which ends Feb 29, 2012.

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If you’d like more information about this event, or to schedule an interview with David G. Johnson, please call Cheryl Clunk at 941-822-0686 or e-mail Cheryl at cheryl [at] nourishthedream [dot] com

Note: Thanks to some recent developments, we have quite a few new readers who may not really be familiar with what Nourish The Dream is all about… so we felt it was time for an introduction of sorts. Enjoy!

Has God Called You To Business?

A little over ten years ago, I stepped out of my full-time job as a Pastor and went full-time into the business my wife & I had started several years earlier. It was a gigantic leap of faith for us at the time, but we were responding to a strong sense of calling and the belief that we had clear direction from God.

The problem was that the idea of being “called” to do something other than “ministry” (as we understood it) didn’t jibe with our training. After all, once you were “called to the ministry,” the gifts & calling are without repentance, right?

An Anointing for Business?

We were in for a few paradigm shifts, some of which had been bubbling below the surface in me for a number of years. One of the first ones that crystallized for me was that the “anointing” of God isn’t reserved for people behind a pulpit or leading worship or working on the mission field.

Today, I would argue that there’s an anointing available for anyone doing what they were created to do.

Business may not seem very “spiritual” on the surface, but there are numerous examples in Scripture of people who were anointed to do very “non-spiritual” things. Metalworking (Exodus 31) and killing giants (1 Samuel 17) are just a couple of quick ones that come to mind.

“But business deals with ‘filthy lucre’!” some may argue.

It’s true that “greed” is going to come up in this discussion. We might as well get it out of the way. Anyone who has a greed problem or deals with love of money needs to take it to God and get rid of it. But I would argue that more people struggle with “love of money” and misplaced trust in money when they don’t have any or have no means of getting their needs met than those who have some. Perhaps that’s a debate for a different day, but you can think about it. Either way, without the manifest Grace of God, any fleshly lust can consume a person regardless of their position, calling, daily work or status in life. Enough said.

Staying Away From Evil

That said, it’s time to address something that’s a real problem with the Church today. To some extent, it’s been an issue for hundreds of years, but it seems that in the United States it really matured in the latter half of the 20th Century. Somewhere along the line, we decided that certain elements of society were inherently “evil” and Christians should stay away from them. Politics, Hollywood and business are big examples.

After years of study, I’m more convinced than ever that God doesn’t think like this. Quite the opposite, in fact. From Scripture, it’s clear that God is trying to invade every corner of society and infiltrate it with His Kingdom. (If you need a Scripture to start with, let’s take Matthew 28 back out and study the Great Commission.)

But we’ve raised a few generations of believers who don’t see things that way, so we have some unlearning to do.

And those who—like me 10 years ago—have a sense of calling or anointing where business is concerned, need to be retrained with a new Biblical foundation for work.

We also need relationships with others who share our calling.

We need to be authenticated in our callings and allowed to dream about not only what we’re built to do here on the earth, but also about what a future would look like with believers in every corner of society who are authenticated and functioning in their callings.

Wow… what a dream!

My friend… this isn’t just a dream born in the hearts of some radical people. This dream was born in the heart of God. It’s His dream… and it’s time for us to bring it to life!

Care to join me?

If this resonates with you, don’t miss your opportunity to connect with others like you in Tampa, FL March 30th & 31st, 2012. This will be 2 days of life-changing teaching, training, equipping & inspiration from Godly business leaders who taken major territory for the Kingdom and unabashedly created millions of dollars in profits along the way! Check out the details now!