Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
Reset and Rise: Recognizing When It's Time to "Re-boot" Certain Areas of Business
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The concept of "rebooting" isn't just for your computer—it's a vital practice for Christian businesses that have drifted from their God-given purpose. In this transformative episode, Harold Milby walks listeners through the process of spiritual and operational renewal for faith-based organizations facing challenges.
Every business experiences seasons where the flame begins to dim. Whether you're battling leadership fatigue, organizational challenges, or personal distractions, recognizing the warning signs is the first step toward meaningful revival. Harold identifies key indicators that signal it's time for a reset—from declining sales and increased turnover to that subtle disconnection from your original calling and purpose.
At the heart of any successful reboot lies a return to foundational elements. Your mission and vision statements may need refreshing to better reflect biblical values of service, integrity, and stewardship. Leadership structures might require training in servant leadership as modeled by Christ himself. The employee culture, customer relationships, and community impact all represent areas where intentional recalibration can restore alignment with godly principles.
Even personal spiritual practices deserve attention during this renewal process. Daily devotion, prayer, worship, and accountability provide the spiritual fuel necessary for authentic Christian leadership. Likewise, your thinking patterns and emotional responses might need adjustment to embrace God-sized vision rather than small, limited thinking.
Through scriptural guidance and practical wisdom, this episode offers a comprehensive framework for Christian business leaders ready to realign with divine purpose. By approaching the reboot process with humility and prayerful determination, your business can experience renewed vitality—not just as a commercial enterprise but as a powerful witness to Christ's love and truth in the marketplace. This isn't just about business success; it's about kingdom impact that glorifies God through excellence and integrity.
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners in becoming effective, efficient and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now, here's your host, harold Milby.
Speaker 2:Thanks, kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. I'm your host, harold Milby, and I'm so excited that you've decided to download and listen to today's podcast. I'm very humbled, in fact, that you've made CBC a part of your personal growth plan today and, as always, I hope that today's podcast will be one that will encourage you, enlighten you and empower you by what you hear today. You know we work hard every week to bring you topics that will be a help and a blessing to you and ones that will bring you really long-lasting godly success Not just the world's success, but godly success as you apply the biblical principles that we share. And I'm just asking that you help us to continue to grow the CBC community, and you can do that by sharing this podcast with four or five other people and by posting the link to this podcast on your LinkedIn page or your Facebook page. You know I appreciate when you do that more than you really realize. So, thanks to all of you, whether you're a regular listener or whether this is your first time, you know we're so glad that you've decided to download and listen to this podcast glad that you've decided to download and listen to this podcast. And this week. I want to give a big shout out to Lambeth, england, which is a southern district in London, for so many downloads here recently, and we certainly do appreciate you and the many downloads that you have downloaded. So thank you so much. Thanks to all of you who help make Christian Business Concepts a success and help us to reach others with this important message to help Christian businesses or to help you. Maybe you're a supervisor, it's not a Christian business, but you are and you're really wanting to apply biblical principles to a department that you manage, or whatever your position may be. So we thank you for that and again, thank you, lambeth, england.
Speaker 2:Now in the company spotlight this week, I want to highlight a US company called Eventide Asset Management Company, a man by the name of Finney Caruvilla and Robin John. They were friends, they were believers and they felt like they had more to do for the kingdom of God. So they left a very lucrative seven-figure job and they spent six months praying together and really committing this to the Lord, and they started this new company called Eventide Asset Management and they wanted to create a mutual fund that invested exclusively in ethical companies. They wanted to be able to channel capital towards those that were doing things right and they wanted to use their backgrounds. That was the other thing. They wanted to use their backgrounds, their giftings that God had put in them, their education, and they wanted to utilize these things to honor God. You know the mission statement of the company is to honor God and serve our clients by investing in companies that create compelling value for the global common good. You know they really rooted their company in Proverbs, chapter 1, verses 10 through 19, which talks about not joining forces with those who reap ill-gotten gain, or even by passively doing that in their gains. So right now they already have over $3 billion in assets. Their flagship fund is called the Gilead Fund. Called the Gilead Fund, it has returned 15.5% annually throughout the last few years. It has been a number one and number two pick by some of the great financial magazines.
Speaker 2:No one on Wall Street thought that they could ever be successful in just investing in ethical companies, but they have. It's been a God-given vision and we're excited about Eventide. Thank you people, thank you folks there at Eventide for what you're doing. We thank God for you in your business and that you operate a Christian business in this particular market, which is unheard of, and so we're thankful to God for your success and we're thankful to God for what you're doing and the impact. You know, one of the greatest revivals that ever started in the United States happened. It started with a person on Wall Street and they just started having some prayer meetings and started out. There was about 26 people by the time it was over. Over three million people gave their lives to Christ through this movement that started on Wall Street, and so we're thankful for Eventide Asset Management. We just think they're a great company and so we're thankful for Eventide Asset Management. We just think they're a great company and I encourage you to look into it if you're looking for investments.
Speaker 2:Now, you know, as a Christian business, you operate really with two purposes. If you're trying to operate your business not just as a Christian-owned but as a Christian-led company and those are two very different things and so you know when you do that you have these two purposes and that's to provide valuable goods, you know, whatever it may be, maybe it's services and it's to glorify God through that work. So over time, businesses can drift away. You kind of can what we call drift and you can get away from your core mission. You can face some very operational challenges. You can encounter what there may be cultural shifts. We see that going on right now in the world today there's some big cultural shifts that are taking place and all of these things can have you to do something that I call reboot.
Speaker 2:You know, with your computer we all have done this At times you know it's not working right or whatever. And you talk to somebody in IT or you talk to somebody that knows about computers and they'll tell you, they'll say, well, just reboot your computer. And when you reboot it does a lot of things within the internal workings of that computer. I'm not going to dwell on those particular items, but we do. We've all had to do that. We've all had to reboot electronics, whether it be our phone or smart tablet or whatever it may be.
Speaker 2:But sometimes you need to reboot. From time to time you've got to reboot. You know, 2 Timothy 1 and 6 says Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. And in the Greek that word stir up it just means fan the flame, and so sometimes your flame will say kind of starts to dim and starts to go out. You got to fan that flame and in this case we're talking about rebooting things. So you have to reboot. And so the first thing I want to talk about is recognizing a lot of times when you need to reboot.
Speaker 2:So there's some signs. There's some signs of when you need to reboot. So one sign is there's spiritual or leadership fatigue, so there may be a loss of passion. Maybe you just feel disconnected from what your purpose is or what your calling is. There may be some persistent stress that you're under. You just can't find peace, despite all your efforts to manage your workload. You just feel burnout. Or maybe you just don't have that joy or that motivation. Have that joy or that motivation. You know, leadership can be very burdensome at times and maybe it's not fulfilling to you. Or maybe you've got a lot of doubts or maybe some guilt. You're questioning your motives, you know. Maybe you feel unworthy. I have a family member that owns a large company and he's talked to me many times. He said I feel guilty for being so blessed, and that can happen sometimes. And sometimes you're just neglecting your spiritual life, your personal life. You're skipping prayer, you don't spend time worshiping, you have no fellowship. So that's one.
Speaker 2:Another sign is maybe, you know, maybe you've got some organizational or some business challenges. Maybe your sales aren't what they should be, maybe customers are not engaging, maybe there's a productivity decrease, a very significant one. Maybe you have some discontentment with your team or your employees. Maybe you've got a lot more turnover than what you're used to. You know that could be caused because of a lot of increased conflict. Or maybe you've lost some really key people, key team members, or some actions or decisions. You know you kind of start drifting away from those Christian principles and then maybe there's some stagnation, maybe this, you know this going on. You just kind of feel stuck.
Speaker 2:Another sign is you know some personal life factors which could happen through some very significant life things that are going on, just normal things. Maybe there's a loss of a loved one, or maybe you're having some health issues or somebody in your family that you're having to take care of has some health issues. Maybe there's a family crisis. It just kind of creates this distraction and it distracts you from your faith. It may distract you from your mission. So your personal priorities kind of shift away from God's purpose.
Speaker 2:So these are some of the things you look for when you think you may have to reboot, and we'll talk about that in detail, because I want to talk about some specific areas that you have to look for that you may need to reboot. So let's talk about these. So one is rebooting your mission and your vision. So why does that matter? Well, your mission and your vision of a Christian business especially. It defines who you are. It defines your purpose, your direction, and if these have become unclear or outdated or misaligned with those biblical values, so you may lose some of your spiritual and operational focus, maybe the mission statement no longer reflects what your business activities or values are. You know, maybe the business is struggling to articulate really how to glorify God. So in that case you need to reboot that area, reboot the mission and vision. So how do you do that? Let's look at some steps that you need to do to do that.
Speaker 2:Well, first of all, get your key leaders and your key stakeholders to begin to pray. Pray for wisdom. James 1 and 5 talks about if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraideth not. God wants to give us wisdom. And just begin to seek God's in redefining that mission and vision and then assess whether or not that mission reflects the biblical values Purposely, look at it and see if it does, does it have service involved, integrity and stewardship? Does it align with your current operations? And then engage those stakeholders, involve your employees, your key people, your customers, even maybe some of your partners, your vendors, and just kind of have that discussion to ensure that your mission resonates with those that you want to serve.
Speaker 2:And then what you have to do is you have to revise your mission statement, your vision statement. What you have to do is you have to revise your mission statement, your vision statement. So be very clear, be concise with regards to your mission and vision statement, Make sure that it integrates your faith and your business goals. So, for example, it may be something as simple as to serve our community with excellence reflecting Christ's love through quality products and ethical practices, with excellence reflecting Christ's love through quality products and ethical practices. And then you want to communicate it. And you want to do more than that. You want to embed your vision and mission statement. You want to embed it within all your employees. You want to integrate it into your training and your marketing, your decision-making processes. You know Colossians 3, 23, 24, you hear me quote this a lot whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for human masters, and that's key. That's key. You know. Proverbs 16, 3 says commit to the Lord, whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. So that's important. So sometimes you need to do that.
Speaker 2:A second thing is sometimes you need to reboot your leadership. Now, why does that matter? Well, leadership really sets the tone for your business, your organization's culture and even the decisions that are made. You know, christian leaders are called to model servant leadership and humility and integrity and reflecting Christ's example. You know, I worked for a company for several years and you know I talked about people. You know, when we talked about hiring new people and we talked about and they were new to me at the time, you know, when we talked about hiring new people and we talked about and they were new to me at the time, and so I kind of looked for some things and I asked them specifically what kind of people do you not want in the company? And one of them talked to me very plainly and said well, one thing that's an absolute turnoff for us, or an absolute that it causes us not to hire somebody is, if they're, I guess, lack of a better word they're a bragger. You know they brag about everything. They talk about how great they are, how great things they can do. They said that just doesn't fit in our company culture. We don't feel comfortable with those kinds of people, and so sometimes you have to reboot your leadership.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you have to make changes. You know, maybe you've got some leaders that are beginning to prioritize their own personal gain over the well-being of your customers, your employees, your company. Maybe some of the decision-making lacks transparency or maybe there's no biblical grounding, there's a lack of accountability and there's no spiritual growth among the leaders. Maybe there's burnout, there's disengagement in the event, or that it's evident, I should say, in leadership. So not always do these things happen, do you need to replace those leaders, but that just means that you need to have a good sit down with them and a plan to overcome some of those issues that maybe they've let slip over time. So maybe they can be rehabilitated and you can keep those leaders and you'll move right on. And there's some times where you can't rehabilitate them and you need to make a change. So sometimes you need to reboot your leadership. You know what can you do. Again, train those leaders. That's important. Make sure that there's some spiritual renewal that goes on, you know.
Speaker 2:Encourage your leaders to engage in personal prayer and in Bible study, accountability groups to help strengthen, you know, their faith. I'd encourage you to read Psalms 119, 105. It kind of goes into that, but sometimes you need to do that and in the United States a lot of people would say, well, you can't do that in a business, can you? Well, yes, you can. You have rights and you can ask people. You can't make them. You can't say, well, if you do this, I'll give you a raise, or if you do this, I'll promote you, or if you don't do it, I won't promote you. No, that's against the law, you cannot do that. But you can ask and you can discuss it. Those rights are protected under the Civil Rights Act and you can read that. In fact, I've had a podcast about it and so you can do that. So ask them to do that, and so you can do that. So ask them to do that, and then you can.
Speaker 2:As I said, you can do some additional training. You know, mark, chapter 10, verses 42 through 45, says but Jesus called them to him and said unto them you know that they, which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles, exercise lordship over them and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you. But whosoever will be great among you shall be your minister, and whosoever of you will be the chiefest shall be the servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So this gives us an example that we're to be servants, even in our businesses. Yes, you're the leader, yes, you have to make some tough decisions, but you do it from the standpoint of servant leadership. Then you can evaluate how they're making their decisions. Again, maybe you do some training there. Maybe they need a mentor, you know. Create some accountability there. Maybe they need a mentor, you know. Create some accountability structures, you know. But the foundation biblically for that is the passage I just read, and then also even in 1 Timothy 4 and 12, it says set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and impurity. So be that example.
Speaker 2:Another thing that needs to be rebooted from time to time is the employee culture. Now, why does that matter? Well, employees are the heart of any business. If you don't have employees, you don't have a business. You can't operate your business without employees, and a Christian business should really try to foster this culture of respect and unity and spiritual growth. And I think that a toxic or a disengaged culture can really go to undermine what your vision is, what your mission is. So it may be. You see high employee turnover, maybe low morale, lack of collaboration or trust, maybe the employees are feeling disconnected from the business's values, maybe there's a lot of workplace conflicts that are not being resolved scripturally. So I think that's important. How do you? You know, how do you do that? Well, you need to assess what your current culture is like, and then you want to begin to to integrate faith into work. You know, uh, offer some opportunities for spiritual growth, maybe some optional bible studies, prayer groups, or there's some companies that have actual chaplains that are on staff, you know, and then promote a very positive environment, you know, train your managers to be very open in their communication and recognize employees' contributions, and then you address conflict scripturally. You know.
Speaker 2:Matthew 18, verses 15 through 17, says Moreover, if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone, and if he hears you, then you've gained a brother. But if he will not hear you, then take two or three more. That in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And so it talks about how we confront, the proper way to confront. So then you begin to invest in the development of your employees, and I think that's, you know, so critically important. You know, philippians 2, 3 through 4 says do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but rather in humility, value others above yourselves.
Speaker 2:All right, next thing that you have to look at is rebooting your customer relations. Now, that's important, because a Christian business serves customers and we do that as an act of stewardship and love, reflecting the call that God's put on our lives. And poor customer service, poor customer relations, it can harm your business. Not only harm your business, but it hurts and harms your witness into the world. So that's so important. You know, stephen Covey said always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers. So it starts at the head, moves down, you treat your employees like they're customers, and then they'll treat the customers the way you treat them. So that's important.
Speaker 2:So if you see a decline in your customer satisfaction or loyalty or you're getting complaints, you need to look at that and you need to begin to reboot. How do you do that? Well, you're going to have to evaluate what your customer experiences are, so you're going to have to get some feedback. You can do it through surveys or reviews, direct conversations, if you need to Try to identify the pain points. What's going on? What are they struggling with?
Speaker 2:And then you've got to train your staff. Train them in Christian service, you know. Equip your employees to interact with customers. Make sure that they have kindness and honesty and humility when they're dealing with those customers. And then make sure that you align your marketing with the right godly values that he has and has placed in your heart. You know, proverbs 11 and 1 says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight. So make sure you align that, especially in your marketing. Make sure you align that with God's ethical practices and then do your best to focus on building trust, building trust with your customers. And then make sure that you address any complaints that you have quickly, promptly, fairly.
Speaker 2:You want to seek reconciliation and forgiveness when it's needed. But you always treat the customers well. You know, matthew 5.16 says Let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Treat them right, treat your customers right. Another area to reboot is your community impact. You know a Christian business is called to be a light to the community. You're supposed to demonstrate God's love through your service and other things that you do in your business, and so you need at times to reboot that, your community impact. So that's really important.
Speaker 2:And there's some other areas that you want to reboot to Sometimes your personal spiritual practices, your daily devotional, your fasting and prayer maybe you've just kind of got away from that your personal worship, your spiritual accountability. These are things that you need to reboot, get back on the track, get it back where it needs to be. Another is your leadership mindset and your attitude. You know having servant leadership, you got to have the right attitude for that. You got to have the right mindset for that. So maybe revisit some of those core principles of leading with humility and service that's modeled after Christ and the way he operated his ministry, and even in your decision-making process or the way you handle conflict. But you've got to have a growth mindset. So make sure you reaffirm a commitment to learning, to humility, to adaptability.
Speaker 2:But you need to get back on the track, reboot. Get back on track and along with that goes your thinking. That means you've got to reboot your expectations, you know. Think big. I mean God is a big God, and to me, the dreams that God has given me, the visions that God has given me, are things that I can't do in and of myself, but I know that God can help me. That's when it gets that big, whatever it may be. So dream big, don't dream small. Dream big and put on those right kinds of thinking. You know.
Speaker 2:It kind of reminds me of the story of a man who went over and met with the king of Saudi Arabia and they were out playing golf together and he, you know, was a business owner, you know, and so he became friends with the king over there, and the king asked him. He said what can I do for you? What can I do for you? What can I do for you? And he had noticed that the king had this one particular golf club that he really liked. And so he looked at the king. He said, king. The only thing I would really want, I would really appreciate, would be a golf club. And so he got back home and he's kind of expecting a package to come in the mail. But what happens is he gets a phone call. So what had happened was is the king had purchased for him, and put in his name, an actual golf club that had several hundred members. It was a very nice golf club.
Speaker 2:And I think about that because kings think big, they don't think little, they think big, and so you've got to think big. You know your emotions. You got to think about your emotions. Sometimes they need to be rebooted. You know, make sure you don't have unforgiveness in your life. Make sure you've got self-control. You know that's a fruit of the spirit. You know, and then sometimes you got to in your life, make sure you've got self-control. That's a fruit of the spirit.
Speaker 2:And then sometimes you got to reboot your focus, because what you focus on determines where you go. You know, in driving there's something called target fixation and that happens when you're driving. So when you look to the left, your car starts to drift to the left. If you look to the right, your car kind of drifts to the right. That's called target fixation. That's a real thing, and so you want to sometimes reboot what you're focusing on. So where you focus is going to determine where you go.
Speaker 2:You know Brian Tracy, a great leadership guy, and he's written a lot of books and I've read many of those books. But he said one time he said, just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, your feelings, your emotions, your goals and your values are all in balance. So that's important. So at times we really need to reboot, and when you reboot, it's really an opportunity for a Christian business leader to realign with God's given purpose for you, to renew your commitment to biblical values, to strengthen your impact and by focusing on your mission and your leadership, your employee culture, your customer relations and some of these things that we've talked about today, I believe that your business can thrive, not just as a business, but you can thrive as a witness to Christ's love and truth.
Speaker 2:So approach this process with humility and prayer and a willingness to change, and also trust that God's going to bless your efforts to honor him and keep you on that path to true godly success.
Speaker 2:Heavenly Father, we seek your wisdom. Now, lord, we come before you. We ask for your guidance, lord, as we reboot our businesses from time to time in our lives, to reflect your love and your glory. Lord, help us to lead with integrity, help us to serve with humility and help us to steward your resources faithfully. Lord and Lord, may our work be a light to those around us, drawing other people closer to you. And, lord, we ask this in the name of Jesus, amen and amen. Well, thanks again for being a part of today's podcast, and don't forget to help us grow the CBC family by talking to other people about the Christian Business Concept's podcast. And don't forget to help us grow the CBC family by talking to other people about the Christian Business Concepts podcast. We love you, we appreciate you, we're praying for you and that's all we have time for for today. So until next time, remember that Jesus is Lord and he wants you blessed he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. Go to ChristianBusinessConceptscom for more information and resources. Be sure to check out other podcasts that will help you take your business and your personal life to a whole new level of success.