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Damascus, Oregon, United States
I absolutely love anything that plugs in! My iPhone may just be an extension of my body. Networking, business, Christ, serving the community, husbandry, fatherhood, friends, and my amazing family are all that keep me ticking!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Faith in Business

Ever been at work and someone wants to talk about money?  How about politics?  Maybe someone has gone so far as to bring up the untouchable subject of religion at work.  It seems like that subject in the past has been off limits, uncomfortable, even against the law at times.  Well it's not the past, it's today and in a world of ever-increasing rights and moral-less breakthroughs I believe that these rights have come full circle when it comes to the subject of religion in the workplace.  Not only do I think that it's less of a faux pas to discuss your faith within the workplace, I would venture to say that it is fashionable and recommended.

I work in sales, corporate sales that requires a certain level of trust and relationship between my customers.  I've made a great living from nothing but my big mouth by building a high amount of trust in the customers who have spent millions and millions of dollars with me.  This trust involves me being candid about my family, my values, and yes, my faith.  Now I'm not one to push my beliefs on anyone, Christ didn't do that and I don't believe in it.  I do however, take every opportunity to talk with customers, colleagues, and vendors about the most important thing in my life; the forgiving blood of Christ Jesus.  My faith drives my selling and my customers know it.  They know that if I am looking to God for guidance while I do business, there's no way they will be taken advantage of.  That is a great feeling of comfort to give a customer. 

That being said, could you believe that I have NEVER had a negative response to sharing what I believe with the folks I do business with?  Why would they?  What I believe is that Christ died to save me, we should love Him as He loves us, and we should love the people we come in contact with.  How could anyone get offended over that??  The truth is, they love it.  I had a vendor tell me about his faith today at lunch and it brought him to tears, I was moved to say the least.  His courage and candid spirit inspired me, and I'll never forget it.

So in this world of exercising our rights and acting out whatever we feel, take a moment to exercise your right to share with the people you do business with the love of Christ that stops at nothing to flood our lives and save us all.

2 comments:

  1. Powerful post, Andy! I think you articulate well the desire for those of us who follow Christ to share His redemptive forgiveness with the world.

    I think that it is important to have a congruency with who you are as a person and who you are as a salesman. People can small inauthentic, schismatic people who are trying to separate who they are from what they do.

    Your integration and confidence with who you are in Christ is, I'm sure, a main contributor to your effectiveness as a salesman.

    Thanks for you post.

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  2. sp. "people can 'smell' inauthentic..."

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