TwoTen Volume 1 Issue 1 - Q4 2012 by TwoTen Magazine, Inc.

7 Questions

with Coach Tony Dungy

Suit Up & Press On Ken Blanchard on Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Great Workmanship

Ask Dave On Business Get Answers from Dave Ramsey

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31 NIV

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Lifework Leadership strives to glorify God through our Christian leadership development program by equipping leaders with Biblical principles in the following areas:

Worldview

Integrity

Compassion

Legacy

Generosity

Relationship

Clarity

Humility

@LifeworkLeader www.LifeworkLeadership.org

Contents

Cover Story

Features

7 Questions With Tony Dungy

Yielding To A Higher Calling

22 30 4

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We sat down with Coach Dungy to discuss his views on integrating Jesus Christ into the business world.

A young girlâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s good deed led to something more valuable: her calling.

Pursuit Of Purpose Wally Armstrong competed with the elite of the pro golf world. Not until later did his most significant work begin.

Turning Tragedy To Triumph A tragic turn of events could have left him bitter, but Shawn Munn was inspired to turn tragedy into triumph. Table of Contents

54 44 62

VOLUME 1

ISSUE 1 Q4 2012

Columns & Departments Welcome 06

So It Begins – John Faulkner shares the vision behind TwoTen Magazine.

Suit Up & Press On – Ken Blanchard on God’s great workmanship from Ephesians 2:10.

Articles 38

Mercy And Justice – The gifts of God’s grace & mercy are available to all of us.

An American Dream – Using the gifts and talents God gives us to bring Him glory.

Driven To Excellence – A high tech company with high aspirations.

Building Business For A Greater Purpose: C12 – There’s no limit to the eternal impact a business can have.

A Gift Remodeled – While the world promotes indulgence, Andy Andreas discovers the rewards of giving.

Columns & Departments 54

Ask Dave On Business – Dave Ramsey answers questions about your business.

Transformational Tips – Practical principles that can be applied to your business.

The Top 6 Business iPad Apps – A round-up of must-have business apps.

5 Leadership Skills – Chris Hogan on leadership.

Quarterly Review – Recommended leadership books.

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TwoTen Magazine

SO IT BEGINS John Faulkner, Founder of TwoTen

remember it like it was yesterday. As I waited to board a flight to Ft. Worth Texas, I hit the usual newsstand to pick up a magazine or two. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted a red, black and gold book titled The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, by John Maxwell. I don’t know why I was compelled to pick it up, but I was intrigued by the title.

I had no idea people actually wrote books about leadership. That might sound a little naïve, but you have to understand that at the time I had already created a great business by the world’s standards. Up until that point my idea of leadership was “do as I say and I’ll pay you on Friday,” and it was working pretty well. I learned that technique from a four-year tour in the Marines, and as I recall it worked pretty well for them too. I boarded the plane, settled into my seat and opened the book. From that moment on, I was mesmerized by the content. The first chapter was titled “The Law of the Lid,” and I thought to myself, “I understand that law pretty well, almost well enough to write a little on the subject.” With a puffed chest, I turned to the second chapter, The Law of Influence, and realized that I was really lousy in that area. I realized that not only did I need help, but if I could improve, I might just make a little more money. This up and down pattern continued as I made my way through the book. Some of the laws I did well, but for many of them, I was a miserable failure. The book had a way of exposing my weaknesses, but it also challenged me to do better, and it had a profound impact on my life as a leader. After reading that book, I sought out other books and resources. The more I read and researched, the more my perspective and understanding of the purpose for my business changed. For almost thirty years, I have operated Cornerstone Solutions Group, a

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landscape construction company with locations across the state of Florida. I have witnessed economic times when it seemed as though money was raining from the sky to times when we struggled just to keep the doors open. I began to see that God had a purpose for choosing me to lead my business. It wasn’t for my benefit, but for His. My faith has played a big part in the building of Cornerstone. Surprisingly, I’ve never been very fond of digging holes and planting trees, but I am very passionate about what a strong business can do to advance the Kingdom. I have had the opportunity to work with many people from all walks of life and build relationships with some incredible individuals. There’s nothing better than watching someone fulfill their God-given purpose to make a difference in the area that God has placed them. For some, the realization and implementation of their purpose comes quite naturally, but for others like me, God reaches them through the inspiration of others. One night a couple of years ago, I was writing an article about the theme of finding God’s purpose for your life and then living it out to further the Kingdom. It was based on Ephesians 2:10, a verse that has significant meaning to me. As I wrote the article, I thought back to my experience on that flight to Ft. Worth and how much that one book changed my life. The vision for TwoTen came to me that night as I pondered the following question: What if I could recreate for others the feeling So It Begins

“

For we are

God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 I got upon reading a book about leadership that day on the airplane? What if I created a magazine based on the thoughts, processes and experiences of successful Christian business people? W hat would I call it? As I looked back at the article the verse jumped off the page. Ephesians 2:10. That same night, I emailed Richard Hayes, a friend and business mentor and explained the vision I had for a magazine that would be called TwoTen. His response was one word, “Awesome.” The idea never left our minds, and the more we discussed it between ourselves and others, the more confirmation we received to move forward. The magazine that you are holding in your hands is the result of a hard working team of individuals and the grace and favor of God. If you have never had the privilege of having a mentor to guide and counsel you on your leadership journey, TwoTen aspires to fill the gap. Our goal is to give you access to the wisdom and insights of the best godly leaders from across the nation and throughout the world. Some of these leaders will be easily recognizable; others may not. All have an equally compelling story that is relevant to the concerns facing the leaders of today. If you are able to improve your leadership skills as a result of reading TwoTen, we consider our mission accomplished. VICTORY

Printed in the U.S.A. A publication of TwoTen Magazine, Inc. 16057 Tampa Palms Blvd. West #398 • Tampa, FL 33647

Office: (855) 4 TwoTen | team@twotenmag.com | @twotenmag John Faulkner Founder & Editor in Chief

Richard W. Hayes Founder & Publisher

Mark Whitaker Executive Editor Julie Faulkner Features Editor Justin Floyd Associate Editor Brian Butler Associate Editor Miranda Faulkner-Smith Operations Manager Chris Whitten Creative Director Luke Haydel Project Manager Paul Tejera Technology Director Mike Crisp Social Media Manager Mike Glesenkamp Web Manager Robin Stafstrom Production Manager John H. Rains, III General Counsel Founding Contributors Ken Blanchard Sheila Dolinger Lisa Huetteman

Dave Ramsey Edward L. Flom Jordan Raynor

Buck Jacobs Chris Hogan Sharon Tubbs

About TwoTen Magazine The TwoTen brand was inspired by the New Testament Bible verse Ephesians 2:10, which says, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Our Mission is to inspire, encourage and equip business leaders with Christian principles to make an eternal, positive impact on everyone that God has entrusted them to serve.

TwoTen Magazine Network of Strategic Partners

Enquiry Addresses Editorial editorial@twotenmag.com Distribution & Subscription subscribe@twotenmag.com Advertising sales@twotenmag.com Like us on Facebook facebook.com/twotenmag

John Faulkner Founder & Editor in Chief TwoTenMagazine.com

© 2012 Two Ten Magazine, Inc. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. The articles appearing within this publication reflect the opinion of their respective authors and not necessarily those of the publisher and/or TwoTen Magazine. The contents of advertisements and advertorials are entirely the responsibility of advertisers. No responsibility is taken for unsolicited submissions and manuscripts.

TwoTen Magazine

& Press On by Ken Blanchard

My life and journey to the Lord, and the co-founding of our Lead Like Jesus ministry, is a testimony to the truth of Ephesians 2:10.

“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

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Suit Up & Press On

s I look back, it is easy for me to see God’s hand in my life long before I accepted Jesus as my Savior, my Teacher, and my Bridge to the Lord. Even though my middle name is Hartley—named after Bob Hartley, a Presbyterian minister my mom and dad loved—my faith was not central to my life over the years. Being an idealist when I was young, I saw too much hypocrisy in churches to take my faith seriously. Everyone seemed to talk a good game on Sunday but did not seem to live it during the week. During my nine years in college—leading to a Ph.D. in educational leadership—as well as my ten years as a college administrator and teacher at Ohio University and the University of Massachusetts, God was not a big player in my life. This continued through my sabbatical leave to San Diego, where my wife Margie and I decided to stay and start our own leadership training and consulting company.

Divine Inspiration It wasn’t until the publication of The One Minute Manager nationally in 1982 that I began to think about God. That book was so amazingly successful in such a short period of time that even I had trouble taking credit for its success. I began to think that somehow it was a “God thing.” Opening my mind to that possibility, the Lord began to send all kinds of believers into my life, starting with my longtime friend and colleague Phil Hodges. Phil and I had met on the bus going to orientation camp at Cornell University in 1957. He had turned his life over to the Lord a few years before, and ever since, he’d been praying for me. When he heard about the success of The One Minute Manager, Phil called and said, “Ken, let’s take a walk on the beach.” During our walk he said, “Why do you think this book is so successful? Do you think you are smarter or a better writer than other people?” I said, “No, Phil. I think somehow God is involved.” Phil was delighted with my answer and began to give me Christian publications to read. But I was slow to commit. However, the Lord kept on sending me people who pushed me closer to Him, like Norman Vincent Peale, with whom I coauthored The Power of Ethical Management. Right from the beginning Norman said to me, “Ken, the Lord’s always had you on His team; you just haven’t suited up yet.” My journey continued and was further impacted by Bob Buford, author of Halftime, and Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church outside of Chicago. I’ll never forget when I told Bob Buford that the big thing I TwoTenMagazine.com

“

I’ll never

forget when I told Bob Buford that the big thing I objected to

Christianity

was

the

belief that we are all sinners.”

objected to in Christianity was the belief that we are all sinners. I didn’t like that for two reasons. First of all, I hate labels. And I’m sure if you tell someone, “You are a sinner,” that person won’t say, “Thanks for sharing.” More likely, they’ll get upset and attack back: “Oh, yeah? What about you?” Second, I just couldn’t fathom the concept of original sin. “Why do we have to start off bad?” I asked Bob. It was hard for me to imagine why a baby in a crib would already be a sinner.

The Price has been Paid Bob, in his gentle Texas style, answered, “Ken, do you think you’re as good as God?” “Obviously not,” I said. “If there is a God, that’s perfection.” “Okay, then, why don’t we give God 100,” said Bob. “We’ll give ax murderers 5 and Mother Teresa 95—she’s a pretty good gal. I’ll give you 75 or 80, Ken. After all, you’re trying to help people. The great gift of God is that he sent Jesus down to earth to make up the difference between us and 100.” That really got to me. If you asked someone, “Where are you on the scale of 1 to 100?” no one would say they were at 100. But if you call them a sinner, they will get their back up. I thought, “What a wonderful way to talk about grace.” Then Bill Hybels said to me, “Blanchard, I don’t know why you didn’t sign up for the Lord a lot sooner, because you get three consultants for the price of one. You get the Father who started it, the Son who lived it, and the Holy Spirit as your day-to-day operational manager.” That certainly was talking my language. With my new spiritual team of Hodges, Peale, Buford, and Hybels, I finally couldn’t deny the power of God’s grace and the gift that He offers us. I suited up for the Lord.

TwoTen Magazine

and effective leadership model for all organizations, for all people, for all situations. I was surprised when I found out that the leadership role Jesus modeled wasn’t being taught in divinity schools or churches. That was when I suddenly realized what the good works were that God had planned for the rest of my life. He had given me fame and recognition with the development of Situational Leadership® II and The One Minute Manager—concepts I had co-developed before I had accepted Jesus into my life—so that people would listen to me when I argued that Jesus is the greatest leadership role model of all time. And God knows we need a different leadership role model. We have seen the negative effects of self-serving leaders in every sector of society in our country as well as around the world.

When I turned my life over to the Lord in the late 1980s, I began to read the Bible. As a behavioral scientist, I went straight to the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—and the book of Acts, because I wanted to know what Jesus did. As I studied those books, I became fascinated with how Jesus transformed twelve ordinary and unlikely people into the first generation of leaders of a movement that continues to affect the course of world history some two thousand years later. I’ll never forget how John Ortberg expressed Jesus’s powerful impact on history when we were doing a Lead Like Jesus session together in Atlanta. I asked John, who is senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, why he would fly across the country to tell people that Jesus was the greatest leadership role model of all time. Ortberg smiled and said to the crowd, “Suppose you were a gambler 2100 years ago. Which of these would you have put your money on lasting longer: The Roman Empire with the Roman army, or a little Jewish rabbi with twelve inexperienced followers?” He went on to say, “It’s interesting that today we still name kids Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and we name our dogs Nero and Caesar. I rest my case.”

Realizing that Jesus was the greatest leadership role model led me to cofound, with Phil Hodges, the Lead Like Jesus ministry. The purpose of the ministry is to inspire and equip people to lead like Jesus and to follow His mandate to be servant leaders. The goal of our ministry is “seven billion souls served daily by the impact of people leading like Jesus.” We are following the mandate to make disciples of all nations. People are listening! With God’s help Lead Like Jesus is now in forty nations around the world. In Singapore a few years ago, I participated in training 150 people from nine countries. We now have a Lead Like Jesus Society in India with over thirty trainers spreading the Good Word there. Last fall, we trained 2,000 people in Uganda who now are spreading the Word all over Africa. God is good. He was preparing me to do these good works around the world way before I knew Him in my life. He has a great plan for all of our lives, and He had it in mind even before we were born. Do you know God’s great plans for you? Seek the Lord with all your heart and watch Him work in your life. God bless as you follow Him and do His good works! VICTORY

The Greatest Leadership Role Model In addition to being a renowned speaker, consultant, and

I realized that Jesus was the greatest leadership role model when I was reading the Bible. As I read the Gospels, I understood that everything I had ever taught or written about effective leadership during the past twenty-five years, Jesus did to perfection, beyond my ability to portray or describe. I saw that as Christians, we have more in Jesus than just a great spiritual leader; we have a practical

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bestselling author, Ken Blanchard currently serves as the Chief Spiritual Officer of The Ken Blanchard Companies. His book The One Minute Manager has sold over 13 million copies and has been translated into 37 languages. He has coauthored over 30 other best selling books, including Raving Fans: A Revolutionary Approach To Customer Service, Leadership & The One Minute Manager: Increasing Effectiveness Through Situational Leadership, and Gung Ho! Turn On The People In Any Organization.

Suit Up & Press On

www.AllPro D a d B o o k . c o m

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7 Questions With Coach Tony Dungy

7 SEVEN QUESTIONS With Coach Tony Dungy by Edward L. Flom

We were able to track down Coach Dungy in Eugene, Oregon where he is vacationing with his family while watching the summer progress of his son, Oregon Duckâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wide receiver, Eric Dungy.

ric appeared in five games last year as a redshirt freshman with the quick striking Ducks and scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 22 yard catch in a victory over Missouri State. In the stands, Tony is just another proud father, and he is enjoying a little respite in the cool weather of Central Oregon.

We told the Coach that our readers know him well through his public life as a Super Bowl winning coach and NFL analyst, the author of so many insightful books on fatherhood, and his role as the National Spokesman for the organization, All Pro Dad. As a result, we said we would like to ask him seven questions in an attempt to go deeper into what ticks behind his whistle and his pen. And, as would be expected, he answered them all with sharp clarity and with the humility that has always characterized his Christ-centered persona.

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TwoTen Magazine

TwoTen: Coach, as Christian businessmen and stewards of the faith, we have been called to go forth and preach the Gospel everywhere. How do you implement the Great Commission into your books and organizations? How highly do you value soul winning in the marketplace? Coach Dungy: I value soul winning a great deal. If you think about it, many men often spend more time in the marketplace than with their families. In my life, I have tried to incorporate the aim of the Great Commission in everything. To me, it’s how you do it. I try to live my life as an example. When I was coaching, it was a way to reach many men - not necessarily by constantly preaching or teaching the Gospel, but by hoping that the example of my life and the way I approached situations or circumstances would help draw them to Jesus.

I found that what I had to do was keep in mind my responsibility to the team, which was to select the group that would give us the best chance to win. As much as I liked individual players, or as strong as my relationship may have grown with them I couldn’t let that override my #1 responsibility. I would pray about that often leading up to those decisions. I wanted God to give me the discernment and the focus to make the right decisions. But it still didn’t make the final act any easier. You did have feelings for those men and their families. I tried to make sure I did everything to help them grow as men while I had them. Whether it was for six months or six years, if I passed on everything I could about life and growing, and not just playing football, I felt better about sending them off in pursuit of another job. So my advice would be to work on the process while people are working for you. Know that parting ways is inevitable so pouring into your employees while they’re with you will leave you with fewer regrets when you have to let them go. It won’t be any easier, but at least you will feel as if you’ve given them a good start. TwoTen: As an NFL coach, you lead some of the most gifted athletes in the world. Along with all of the success that came on the field, these players are bombarded with distractions vying for their attention. How do you keep them from losing focus and contributing 100 percent to their role on the football field? How do you motivate them to take their performance to the next level?

TONY AND HIS WIFE LAUREN

TwoTen: The economic collapse over the past several years has forced many companies to downsize. That’s something that you, as a coach, are faced with every pre-season; reducing the roster to 53 players. How do you cope with the brutal reality of cutting a player that has been playing his heart out, doing everything right, but has to be cut because he’s a tenth of a second slower on the 40 yard dash? You know he has a wife and family and that his career in the NFL may have come to the end of the road. Do you have any advice that would help business leaders facing that same dilemma of having to make labor cuts? Coach Dungy: Letting players go is, indeed, one of the toughest things a head coach has to do in the NFL. Every year you start with 80 players and have to reduce to that number to 53. So you know going in that you will have 27 men who will not have a job on your team in September. Sometimes there is a distinct difference in talent that makes it easy to select, but often times there is not. In either case, it’s still difficult to let people go when you’ve worked with them and developed relationships and those men have done everything you’ve asked them to do in preparation for the season.

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Coach Dungy: I always talked to my players about goal setting and expectations. We wanted to look at the big picture and the long run. Yes, individual goals and short term accomplishments were important, but I wanted them to visualize what would be important for the team, and what they could accomplish individually, that might be even more than what they could think of at the time. To me, this included personal growth, family growth, off the field agenda (community service, etc.) as well as improving as a player. I would encourage them to set high goals, and when they are met, to set even higher goals. One of the challenges in sustaining long term success in the NFL is overcoming complacency. But I would always talk to my players about being the best they could be -about improving -- more than about results or what we had accomplished in the past. I always tried to show them how high my expectations were for them. And again, my emphasis was on the team. We couldn’t be a championship team unless we got the maximum from everyone. All contributions would be important and everyone would be needed at some point during the year. So each player had to be ready in order to not let the team down. I felt that type of motivation--what we needed to accomplish things as a unit, together--was more effective than pointing at individual accomplishment. TwoTen: Are you concerned that our country seems so preoccupied with more temporal topics and distractions? Coach Dungy: Yes, I am. Here we are in a country that was founded on Christian principles and the belief that all men were created equal, and we cannot even talk about that in many forums, including our schools. That is 180 degrees away from the way this country was founded. So yes, 7 Questions With Coach Tony Dungy

“

...The immersion

in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, must be at the forefront of how we do business.” God will shake this nation again - let’s just hope we repent together and come back to the founding principles that shaped our nation. TwoTen: Coach, then what would you say to businessmen to encourage them to immerse themselves and their businesses in the Holy Spirit?

TwoTen: Coach, you have inspired so many people in this world. We just want to say thank you for all you have done and are still doing in the name of Jesus. Coach Dungy: Praise God. TwoTen: Go Oregon

Coach Dungy: The immersion in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus, must be at the forefront of how we do business. The immersion must be at the forefront of why we do business. If you can interface, in all aspects, the way you live with the way you run your business, you will see the Holy Spirit move in power.

Coach Dungy: (laughs) Go Ducks. VICTORY

TwoTen: To so many, you are a hero in the Kingdom! Who are some of your heroes in the Kingdom? Who is inspiring you, challenging you to go higher? Coach Dungy: Pastors. I have always been lifted up by sitting underneath pastors, including my current pastor, most of them not really in the limelight. Simple, solid, men of God. Our chaplain with the Vikings in Minnesota was this kind of man - Tom Lamphere. I still go to him, as well as all my former pastors, for advice and guidance. Doug Gilcrease, who was our chaplain during our time with the Buccaneers, is another man who has and continues to guide me in my faith. That’s a good question...for me, it’s my pastors. TwoTen: Coach Dungy, what Scriptures do you stand upon when the going gets tough? We know you had a few plays that you were confident in to pick up those difficult third down and five yards in a playoff game, but what do you declare in the Word when you are faced with adversity or challenges? Coach Dungy: First, Romans 8:28. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, for those who are called according to His purpose.” This helps me when I am frustrated by the circumstances or the pace of the way things are unfolding. It’s just real. But recently, I have been standing upon Ephesians 4:2-3 where Paul writes, “With all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” When things aren’t going so well, I ask myself, am I operating in humility? I have begun to examine myself to see if I am truly following this scripture, what Paul is saying. Then, it becomes less about the circumstance that is challenging me and more about me being in alignment with the Word and abiding with Jesus. TwoTenMagazine.com

TONY WITH HIS SON JORDAN

Edward L. Flom is the President and Managing Member of Flom Equities, LLC. and the author of the book Thirty Three: The Story of Hope. You can find out more about the book by visiting: www.33hope.com

TwoTen Magazine

PURPOSE We are all given a PURPOSE. As a leader, God will guide you and your organization if you earnestly seek him. “I say this because I know what I am planning for you,” says the Lord. “I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

Yielding to a

Higher Calling by Sharon Tubbs

A young girl’s good deed led to something more valuable: her calling

nna Lipscomb calls them “my orphanages.” Not that she owns them or even takes all the credit for raising $85,000 to build them through donations to her CD. The “my” speaks of her closeness to helping orphans in Haiti. It signals that her giving isn’t a one-time thing, like sending a toy gift to foster kids at Christmas time or a donation to the Red Cross during a catastrophe. Anna owns these orphanages—not on paper, but in her heart. And here’s the surprising part: She’s only 16. In just over four years, she has grown from a timid 11-year-old who had never seen the poverty of a foreign land, to a teenager who travels to speak on the needs of those less fortunate, who has done numerous interviews and speaking engagements to inspire others to give and to find their purpose, just as she has.

Her Eyes & Heart Are Opened The journey began in January 2008 when Anna went on a missions trip to Haiti with her parents and members of the Global Orphan Project, an organization that helps orphans worldwide. When she returned home, just outside Kansas City, she couldn’t stop thinking about the trash she’d seen scattered throughout the streets, the dirty water, the faces of children in need. “I knew I wanted to do something myself to help,” Anna says. “I was thinking, who else is going to help these kids that don’t have a place to call home, and they don’t have parents?”

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Just a kid, herself, from the suburbs, she couldn’t do much. Or could she?

Putting Her Gifts To Work Anna could sing. She could play the violin. She decided to write Heart for Haiti, a song about the people she’d met there, and include it on a CD with six other praise and worship tracks. She would give the donations to Global Orphan Project. At least that’s what she set out to do. Then came the earthquake that ravaged the poverty-stricken country in 2010, and Anna’s efforts garnered greater attention. More newspapers and magazines wanted to tell her story. Groups invited Anna to sing and speak. Singing was the easy part. Anna had been involved with music for years, learning piano at age 4 and violin at 5. More recently, she has picked up the guitar, mandolin, and ukulele. After the song, however, people always wanted to know more. They wanted to hear the story in her own words—that part was not so easy. Anna was shy, always had been. She was the girl who barely raised her hand in class, the one who rarely spoke around people she didn’t know. Now she had to be the featured speaker for youth groups, for Vacation Bible School classes, for a local chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. “When I started this project,” Anna says, “I didn’t really think I would be speaking.” God’s plan was gently nudging her out of her comfort zone, revealing a boldness that Anna didn’t know she had.

Yielding To A Higher Calling

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TwoTen Magazine

“

First of all,”

A n n a s a y s , “we’re all called to different things. I feel like God called me to Haiti.” She recalled the story of Moses who also resisted speaking in front of crowds. Like him, Anna initially thought: “Why me?” Yet, with each event, she says, “God showed his power.” Another revelation: “I realized that sometimes shyness can be kind of selfish,” Anna says. “First of all, I guess it can just be an excuse, and God calls us to share and live out our faith.” One of the hardest groups to talk to, she says, is her peers. To cut down on the nervousness, Anna prepares by writing down key points on note cards and praying that God speaks through her to inspire others. “What’s really surprising is that people have said I’m good at speaking, which is really crazy,” Anna says. “I don’t think they understand what a compliment that is.” Not every response has been so positive. Once, Anna says, someone sent an email asking why she helped Haitians when people in her own backyard need help, too. “First of all,” Anna says, “we’re all called to different things… I feel like God called me to Haiti.” Secondly, giving is not an either/or proposition. She believes she can help people in Haiti, as well as people in her own area. For instance, Anna and her friends held a “birthday party” this summer for needy kids in Kansas City.

Doors Began Opening Her newfound role as a speaker and fundraiser has opened other doors. No longer the timid little girl in school, Anna was elected to be co-president of her junior class at the private Christian school she attends. A few years ago, she wouldn’t have believed in her own leadership potential. Now, she says, “I also feel called to my school and helping my class grow spiritually.”

Her heart for giving may be somewhat genetic. Anna says her parents are her role models. They exposed Anna and her 12-year-old brother, Thomas, to the joys of serving others at an early age. At home, they had the “T3 Club,” a fun way of encouraging the kids to volunteer in ways that used their time, talents and treasures. That upbringing played a major role in the impact Haiti has had on her life, Anna says.

A Contagious Calling She isn’t the only one who has grown from the Haiti mission trips; the whole family has felt the effects. The Lipscombs took a second trip to Haiti in May 2011 and, over the years, Kari Lipscomb has traveled with her daughter from one speaking engagement to the next. The results were as much a surprise to her as to Anna. “I knew that she had a certain amount of confidence in music,” Anna’s mother said, “but I also didn’t really think through what could really happen through this.” Nor did Mrs. Lipscomb realize that God had plans for her growth, as well. Like her daughter, she had never seen herself as much of a public speaker—until about a year ago when event organizers began asking her to say a few words, as well. Then, earlier this year, mother and daughter were invited to speak in front of hundreds during a national conference in Colorado Springs sponsored by the nonprofit Generous Giving. Anna told her story and showed her music video. Her mother spoke about the gift of giving to others and about inspiring kids to give at a young age. Speaking in front of such a large group was new to both mother and daughter. Having watched her daughter’s transition, Mrs. Lipscomb has also accepted the challenge. “I never knew God was going to stretch me with her,” she says. The important thing is that mother and daughter allowed themselves to be stretched. For those who are afraid to pursue God’s vision, Anna has a little advice: “Just take a small step and you’ll be amazed at what God can do through you.” VICTORY

For more information about Anna Lipscomb’s efforts to help Haitian orphans or to donate to the project, visit www.annafromtheheart.com.

Sharon

Anna plans to attend college, although she is keeping her career options open. “But I know I want to serve others,” she says.

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Tubbs

freelance

writer

and author of Living in the Pink and Milk & Honey: 10

Principles

Embracing

Your

Promised

Land.

Yielding To A Higher Calling

pursuit of purpose Want to have maximum impact? Use the talent God has given you! by Mark Whitaker

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Pursuit of Purpose

TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

Pursuit of Purpose

s he bends down to replace a ball on a tee for a young African girl, Wally pauses a moment to reflect on how he ended up in Africa, introducing this young girl to the game of golf. He asks her if she’s ever heard of Tiger Woods. The bewildered look on her face signals the fact that she hasn’t. Wally chuckles and realizes how far he is from home. His career started half a world and half a lifetime away.

Golf Was His Life In the 1970’s and 80’s, Wally Armstrong competed with the elite of the professional golfing circuit with the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson and Gary Player. He held the PGA record for the lowest score in the Masters by a rookie for over 22 years. He’s played in over 300 PGA Tour events, including two Masters Tournaments, and is a lifetime member of the PGA. Golf was certainly a passion for him, and he reached the peak of his profession. As his career as a professional golfer began to reach its twilight, Wally began to assemble some of the techniques and tips that he’d developed over the years, and put them into instructional tools to help others hone their golf skills. Wally utilized instructional aids that were standard household items, such as tennis balls, broom sticks, hangers and hula hoops, to demonstrate the proper form and technique required to hit a golf ball consistently. The props were especially useful when instructing kids. Wally went on to produce some of the largest selling instructional golf videos ever made, and his unique methods and creative training aides were featured in numerous golf

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“ time

magazines. He conducted clinics and wrote instructional books to help educate people on the game he loved. Could life be any better? Throughout his life, Wally was driven to perfection as a means of acceptance. The more time, effort and determination that he invested in a particular area of his life or professional pursuit, the more likely he was to be accepted and validated by his peers. Wally even applied this performance-driven approach to his relationship with God. Unfortunately, the result of trying to earn God’s acceptance led to exhaustion and disappointment. He could never measure up to the expectations he felt God had laid out for him to achieve.

Finding a New Purpose It wasn’t until 1997 that Wally had the breakthrough in his life that had been eluding him for over three decades. He took his faith to a new level by making a deliberate effort to develop a more personal relationship with Jesus. Through that process, he came to the realization that God’s love is unconditional and never changes. The burden he had been carrying of trying to be “good enough” for God had been lifted, and he felt a freedom that he’d never experienced before.

For the first the

emptiness

that

he felt was replaced by a Savior that he knew would never leave or forsake him.”

The void that Wally was unable to fill on his own was suddenly replaced with a passion to proclaim the good news about Jesus Christ. What better way to do that than to use the gifts and skills that he mastered on the golf course? He co-authored a few faith-based books, such as In His Grip: Foundations for Life & Golf and The Heart of a Golfer, and began to formulate some ideas on how to convey the message about Jesus Christ in a simple way to which anyone could relate.

Pursuit of Purpose

STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS

â&#x20AC;&#x153;

that

Wal l y r e a l i z e d

there

people

who

people

for

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needed had Christ

shared within

way

connect

interest

reaching

the

golf

c o m m u n i t y .â&#x20AC;?

Pursuit of Purpose

The Mulligan It all came together in 2007 when his book The Mulligan: A Parable of Second Chances was produced. In the book, Wally uses the story of an avid golfer whose life lacked purpose and direction. While at a golf event, he meets a wise old pro at the clubhouse. As the pro begins to help straighten out and improve the man’s golf game, it becomes a metaphor for straightening the man’s life. The pro explains to him that we all fall short of the perfect game in life, and we all need a mulligan. Wally explains that Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we can use the mulligan He provides us. The book was a great success, selling over fifty thousand copies worldwide. Bible studies soon started forming at golf clubhouses, with eager participants discussing the book and relating it to God’s word. A study guide was developed to help leaders and participants work through the topics the book covered. As word of the book quickly spread, Wally began receiving email after email describing the testimonies of lives that were changed through their experiences with The Mulligan. In many cases, a single copy of The Mulligan would be read by one person and then passed on and on to others. Sometimes a single book would literally travel around the world. Wally was amazed and humbled at the story of one such copy that went from a reader in the United States to a friend in Ireland, who passed it on to a friend in Japan, making a lasting impact each step of the way.

“

I can do

e v e r y t h i n g through Him who gives me strength.”

Passion Meets Purpose Wally’s latest project is a new book called Practicing the Presence of Jesus. He describes his struggles with being a performance driven Christian, trying to earn God’s love and acceptance. He discovers that all Jesus wants is a relationship with each one of us, one not unlike that of an earthly friend, who knows all of our faults and failures, but loves and accepts us anyway. It builds upon the foundational principles described in The Mulligan and encourages readers to overcome any doubts or fears of having that type of relationship with Jesus. When most people reach Wally’s age, they eagerly look forward to retirement and enjoying a life of leisure. Not Wally. He is just now coming into full stride. He is working more now than ever, and loving every minute of it, especially when he gets to introduce a young child to the game that is so much a part of who he is. The difference is that now he doesn’t try to do it all on his own, but with the strength and guidance given to him from his friend and companion Jesus Christ. “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13 VICTORY

The success of The Mulligan prompted Wally to start hosting events, such as the Mulligan Open. These golf outings provide a great, nonthreatening way for fellow believers to invite nonbelievers for a day of golf, followed by a dinner and prayer breakfast the following morning. Wally is able to meet the participants firsthand and offer some of his wisdom on golf, life and faith. He conducts these types of events around the country and around the globe. He encourages people to use the gifts and talents that God has given them to fulfill the purpose that He has for them, right where they are. As interest continued to grow, Wally realized that there needed to be a way to connect people who had a shared interest in reaching people for Christ within the golf community. The Mulligan Golf Club was formed as a means of linking individuals and groups together to pool their resources and share ideas. The web site, mulligangolfclub.com is full of information about event organization, inspirational stories from participants, multimedia tools and networking sources to reach people around the globe, as well as social media links as a means of communication. TwoTenMagazine.com

Mark

Whitaker

the

Executive editor of TwoTen Magazine.

TwoTen Magazine

TURNING TRAGEDY TO

TRIUMPH

A farm accident changed Shawn Munn’s life

forever.

Written by Lisa Huetteman Photo montage by Mike Crisp

“

I don’t know how God

uses tragedy in His economy, but at that moment in time, the very hand of God reached in and grabbed me.” 30

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Turning Tragedy To Triumph

TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

up golf his freshman year in high school. His identity was wrapped up in sports, and he thought he was headed for success. In retrospect, he says, “I was on a path to total destruction, and in a moment God gave me a gentle nudge, and it was all taken away.”

rom an office tucked in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, Shawn Munn manages his digital imaging company, overseeing everything from innovations to international relations throughout Europe, Asia and South America. Over the past decade, he has helped build Logos Imaging from a start-up family business into a solid corporation that continues to grow. Sounds like a typical business success story? Well, not quite. Shawn Munn is not a typical businessman. Take a closer look, and you can’t help but see what’s missing: his left arm and his left leg. But that doesn’t bother him—not anymore. In the days following the accident that took his limbs, Munn wanted to die. Now, almost three decades later, he says it was through tragedy that he learned what it truly means to live.

“God just kill me” In 1985, Munn was a typical Nebraska farm boy. He grew up in a town of 1,000 people, playing sports and working summers for his dad. Life was simple. “A big trip,” he says, “was to pile the family into the back of a pick-up truck and go to the lake 16 miles away.”

In the summer between his junior and senior years in high school, Munn was working with his dad at the grain elevator during wheat harvest. The sun was just setting as the last truck of the day pulled to unload its golden contents. Munn climbed up and tried to pull the chain that would release the load. The chain was stuck. As he attempted to free it, his foot slipped into the grain auger (an agriculture screw elevator that is used to transport grain from the ground to the grain bins), and the big 16-inch metal auger entangled him. The next twenty seconds went on forever. His father ran to shut off the grain auger, but not before the machine severed Munn’s arm above the elbow and his leg just above the knee. Recalling the sound of his father’s voice, Munn says, “I don’t remember what he said, but what I heard was absolute fear, and I began to realize what was happening to me. My prayer was, ‘God just kill me. I don’t want this life.’” As is the case for much of rural Nebraska, Munn and his father were working in the middle of nowhere. The closest hospital was 45 minutes away, and, with an all-volunteer fire department, the typical response time was about thirty minutes—enough time for Munn to bleed to death. But death was not in God’s plan. The night of his accident just happened to be the same night that the volunteer fire department held its monthly meeting nearby. Firefighters were prepared to respond, and within minutes they arrived to stop the bleeding. “I don’t know how God uses tragedy in His economy, but at that moment in time, the very hand of God reached in and grabbed me.”

Physical and spiritual healing Munn was gifted academically and on track to become valedictorian of his high school class. He was also an athlete, playing football, basketball and, just to “be a little lazy,” picking

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Munn spent three weeks and two days in Scottsbluff Memorial Hospital. He had a non-stop parade of teary-eyed visitors. Family Turning Tragedy To Triumph

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LEADERSHIP MODEL?

eadership is in a state of crisis today, and our world is ready for a new kind of leader. Spectacular results happen when leaders embrace the transformative servant leadership style Jesus modeled. It worked 2,000 years ago, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

just as effective today. Join us in leading like Jesus! www.LeadLikeJesus.com TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

and friends would come bearing copies of Harold Kushner’s book When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Although they meant to offer encouragement, the effect was the opposite. “How can you have hope when everyone you look to for strength is saying, ‘This is so awful?’” Two people were exceptions. The first was Kim Crawford, a girl he had dated briefly. Every day she would drive a half hour to sit by his bedside for thirty minutes. Her faithfulness encouraged him. The second was Pastor Tom Hunter, the father of a friend. Pastor Hunter never shed a tear, but shared his hope that there was purpose in what had happened and something greater ahead for Munn. Lost in the forest of his pain, Munn believed he was destined to live a life he didn’t want—the life of an amputee. Gone were his dreams of walking into Memorial Stadium as a Nebraska Cornhusker. Gone was the hope of finding a woman who could love him. He remembers his mother’s tear-filled eyes when he arrived at the hospital by ambulance. The first thing he could think to say? “Mom, no girl will ever love me like this.” At 17 years old, the identity Munn had was gone, and for five years—five years of darkness—there was no joy in his life. As he described it, “I lived in total selfishness and self-pity.” In the years to come, he began to see that he could still be active, despite his amputations. Still, something was missing. He wasn’t a believer, yet he knew on some level that the path he was on would lead to self-destruction. After five years of adjusting to his new normal, he got a job with a Christian bicycle ministry. It was a group of

“

I lived

in total selfishness

& self-pity.”

singles, ages 30 to 35, from Chicago. Leaving his home in western Nebraska, Munn traveled with this group from Indiana to Maine. He watched them and witnessed their joy and a hope that he didn’t quite understand. “As they started explaining the source of their joy to me, the testimony of Pastor Tom Hunter sitting at my bedside started to make sense. I started to recognize the hope that he was pointing to. I watched these people for a week, and the truth of Romans 8:28 started to make sense. I understood what hope meant for the very first time in my life.” The revelation transformed him. “I changed from someone who would take any risk because he didn’t value the life he had, to someone who understood there was great value in his life and there was great opportunity and potential ahead.”

Relationships with impact On a spring break trip in Florida with the same Christian ministry, Munn met his future wife, Melanie. It was “March Madness” time, and they connected through their love of basketball. For the first time in his life as an amputee, he asked a girl for her number. Melanie was the youngest of four children in a Christian family. From the first time he met them, they embraced him and invited him to stay in their house. He got to see firsthand how faith was an integral part of their lives. “Living with Melanie’s family was a very different experience for me. They challenged the way I thought versus the way a godly man thinks. They modeled how to be a leader in a family and how to deal with the struggles and conflicts that happen within families. For three and a half years, they treated me as a son.” In 1994 the couple married, and soon after, he joined the family’s expanding portable X-ray machine business. He got the opportunity to travel, meet people and develop relationships. Turning Tragedy To Triumph

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“

We know that all

things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” “We make X-ray devices for bomb detection,” Munn says. “It is a small niche market, so it is easy to develop relationships. You can move beyond just a business relationship to one where you can know the person and where they are struggling, and you can speak wisdom as it is given to you in those situations.” In the late 1990s, as the world moved toward digital technology, Munn saw a chance to take the family’s film-based X-ray business to digital media. “I met with a company in California that agreed to modify their dental imaging system for our market. I jumped into a car, took off for two and a half weeks, met with our customers and got the product placed.” In 2002, with his wife’s three siblings and a shoestring budget, they launched Logos Imaging. By 2010, the Munns bought out Melanie’s siblings and now own the company outright. Currently, they have over 2,000 installations domestically and internationally, a distribution channel of 25 to 30 international representatives and opportunities throughout Europe, Asia and South America. Munn credits his success to bringing Scripture to a problem and making the Word bear on how company executives make decisions at Logos Imaging. “Our corporate culture—not that we are very big or ‘corporate’—is very much centered on how God will be honored in the decisions we make. I encourage our employees to talk about it and challenge me if they think I’m not making a decision that would honor the Lord.”

Romans 8:28 before. It is also a lesson taught in the Gospels, Munn says. “One of the greatest desires of the human heart is to know that someone cares and to know that they are valued. Jesus added value to every life that came to Him. He made sure that every person understood their significance before Him,” he says. “If we can find a way to model what Jesus taught so every person who enters our lives leaves feeling ‘That guy cared about me,’ then we can have impact. In our office, we try to let everyone know that they have tremendous significance to us.” Asked if he wishes God’s plan for him could have been less painful, Munn emphatically answers, “No!” “Anyone who has experienced traumatic physical pain knows that there is nothing you can do to bring that pain back,” he says. “There is nothing I can do to make my leg feel the pain it felt that night. I still have a lot of insecurities and some emotional challenges, but on the physical side, it happened, it was dealt with once and I will never have to deal with that pain again. It is one of the amazing graces in the way God works.” Today, when he’s not in his office in Loveland, Colorado, Munn spends time with Melanie, their three children, Mason, Mallory and Mya, and enjoys a competitive game of golf. In the midst of his busy life, he finds time to chip away at his “12 handicap” as he travels the world with the Mulligan Golf Ministry, sharing Christ through his testimony. “The average person thinks it’s difficult to swing a golf club with one arm,” Munn says. He laughs then adds, “Try doing it with one leg!” VICTORY

“Employees are also deliberate in forging relationships”, Munn says. The key to all relationships, “is you have to be consistent and willing to make the investment,” he says. “By being consistently available, you have the opportunity to enter and impact lives.” Lisa Huetteman is Co-Founder of Black Diamond Associates,

Perhaps this is a lesson he learned from a young lady who drove daily to spend 30 minutes at his bedside so many years TwoTenMagazine.com

Executive Coach, Speaker and Author of the forthcoming book: The Value of Core Values: Five Keys to Success through Values-Centered Leadership.

TwoTen Magazine

MERCY AND JUSTICE Thank God there are no sentencing guidelines for saved sinners. by John Rains

have had the honor and privilege of practicing civil law for thirty-three years. For obvious reasons, one of my favorite passages of the New Testament is Titus 3:12-13, when Paul is not only asking Titus to meet him at Nicopolis, but also to send Zenas, the lawyer, and see that he lacks nothing. This is the only mention of Zenas in the New Testament. I expect, however, Zenas’s experience with his clients has been much the same as mine. Clients, when they are right, demand justice. When they are wrong, they hope for mercy. Detrimental Effects of Mandatory Minimum Sentences

In life’s courtroom, however, all of us fall short. I recently read a book that a dear friend, one of my law school professors, recommended to me. The book dealt with something I do not deal with in my practice, criminal sentencing guidelines. I expect he sent it to me to read because he knows that I regularly work with teenagers through coaching a high school debate team. The book revealed in terrifying detail the consequences of mandatory minimum sentences and the very limited ability of judges to be able to depart from those guidelines. Those guidelines were the result of a political reform movement designed to bring predictability and equality to the way judges impose criminal sentences. For politicians, it is both easy and strategic to be hard on crime. After

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all, criminals are unpopular, and judges are limited by their code of ethics from speaking out on political matters or responding to publicity criticizing their actions. As a result of sentencing guidelines, judges are limited in exercising their judicial discretion to be merciful. God’s Unlimited, Sovereign Mercy

God’s power to render mercy, however, is not bound by those same limitations; He is completely sovereign. For saved sinners, there are clearly consequences to our sins both for ourselves and others. Our ultimate fate is secure in God’s mercy; none of us could bear the judgment for what we deserve. For instance, in the Bible the Apostle Paul describes himself as a violent man who persecuted Christians (I Timothy 1:12-17). Years before he wrote the letter to Timothy, he was traveling to Damascus on a mission to have more believers arrested, when Jesus spoke to him, causing Paul to lose his sight. You can imagine Paul’s fear. Now imagine his relief when his sight was restored three days later. Thankfully for Paul, Jesus wanted to make an example to show how a life gone wrong could be turned around dramatically. Paul expressed his thankfulness for receiving mercy and grace through Christ’s love. Mercy is a beautiful word. It is defined as: “compassion shown by one who is in power to another who has no right to expect to Mercy And Justice

“

Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned;

forgive

and you receive kindness.” Paul acknowledged that the reason he received mercy, despite his past actions, was due to Jesus’s utmost patience. We Don’t Receive the Penalty We Deserve

I know that I do not want eternal justice rendered to me for my deeds. Even in my practice, which does not involve criminal law, I have many times heard a judge explain sadly that he wished that he could do more. The implication of that statement is that the judge would prefer to grant mercy rather than justice, but was constrained to render judgment in accordance with the law. Jesus’s sacrifice means that those who seek forgiveness and acknowledge Him, no matter their sins, receive mercy. How thankful we should be that we do not face a harsh eternal sentence according to the world’s guidelines for our sins. Not only should we be thankful for God’s mercy, but Jesus also calls upon us to be merciful. In Luke 6:33-37, Jesus reminds us that it is easy for us to do good for those who are good to us. Our calling, however, is to be imitators of Jesus. We should show mercy and grant forgiveness to those who have sinned against us, just as we receive His mercy and forgiveness. VICTORY

TwoTenMagazine.com

will be

forgiven;” Luke 6:37

John adjunct

law

school

debate

Rains

professor coach

and in

attorney,

volunteer Tampa,

TwoTen Magazine

high

Florida.

An American

Dream by Lisa Huetteman

John C. Morgan’s was an unlikely career path. From Christian recording artist, to appliance salesman, to impersonator of the President of the United States.

“

I guess you

could say

I’m a fake, a fraud, a sham.

I pretend to be someone I’m not. A lot of people wear masks for a lot of reasons, but I make a living walking in someone else’s shoes.” From the book, My Life as a Bush… and my heart for imitating Jesus, by John C. Morgan

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An American Dream

fter working in his family’s appliance store for 25 years, the George W. Bush look-alike’s life was transformed.

Becoming George Bush

cheering got louder and louder. The judges were shocked. Finally, I thought, ‘I better start my routine before I run out of time.’ It was the stupidest thing I could have ever done. I interrupted that display of love and affection—for all they knew it was George W. Bush himself—and started doing my routine for the judges. The people must have thought ‘We are pouring our hearts out for him and he doesn’t even care about us,’ because the cheers turned into boos and the jeers were piercing. Finally the judges hit their buzzers and threw me off the stage.”

It wasn’t until 2003 that a friend mentioned there was an industry of look-alikes and encouraged John to pursue a career as a George Bush impersonator. John thought the idea was ridiculous, but at his wife’s encouragement, his heart opened, just a little, to the idea. Then the real turning point came.

John learned a painful lesson. As John Maxwell said, “Talent is never enough. It takes talent plus hard work.” John admitted, “I failed in the hard work department. I blew it. I could have owned that audience so easily if I’d been willing to bring my ‘A Game.’ In my folly, I chose to hold back, but I learned an important lesson.”

John had the thought, “What if God made me look like George Bush because he wants me to do this?” That thought was a paradigm shift. “I fasted, prayed and asked God straight up ‘Do you want me to become a George W. Bush impersonator?’ The Holy Spirit spoke into my heart as clear as though it were audible and said ‘Yes!’ I knew God was indeed asking – commanding – me to do this.”

This lesson has become a message he brings to corporate and church audiences. Number one, never stop loving your audience and number two, always, always, always bring your “A Game.” Whether you are in a football game, a conference room or at home with your family, bring your best; they are worthy of it.

John videotaped the president, practiced imitating his voice and mannerisms and created a comedy routine around the president’s foibles. He built a website, and within four months landed his first client—IBM. The 2004 election was in full swing, and his phone rang off the hook. It was a swift and steep rise to celebrity.

The election of 2008 marked the end of the Bush era in the White House and brought with it another important lesson. John said, “I did not adequately prepare for the change in presidents. When George W. Bush was president, my phone rang off the hook. I was constantly busy, making a lot of money and having a blast. In 2009 when we got a new president, in my naivete´ I thought ‘I am a good entertainer, so people will keep hiring me.’ But that didn’t happen. My phone just stopped ringing. When the thought hit me that I had bills to pay, I went into a mild state of depression. I sat on the couch for days on end and didn’t know what to do.”

“I was volunteering at a George Bush rally in Orlando when one of his staffers said ‘Hey, you look like ‘Dubya.’” As George Bush became the nominee and then was elected president, John heard this comment on a regular basis.

“I wound up going on a major Christian rock-n-roll tour with Steven Curtis Chapman, Jeremy Camp and all these great Christian artists. It was like the dream I had 30 years earlier coming true in this weird manifestation. God gave me my dream, but He gave it to me much better than I ever imagined. He gave it to me in a way that there was no mistaking it was Him. It was just amazing.”

America’s Got Talent God also used this time of celebrity to develop John’s character. In 2008, as he was preparing to audition for America’s Got Talent, John ignored wise counsel from Terry Fator, the gentleman who won the competition the year before. Terry advised, “Bring your ‘A Game’ to the audition.” John disagreed, arguing that if he used his best material for the audition, he wouldn’t have anything to use later in the competition. He thought “I am good enough to get past the audition with just raw talent.” But he was wrong. “When I walked on stage, in front of a huge audience in Dallas, Texas, I was George W. Bush, the home town hero. The place went nuts. The audience sprang to its feet and started clapping, and the TwoTenMagazine.com

End of the Bush Era

John did get one phone call. As a result of having written his book My Life as a Bush and my Heart for Imitating Jesus, he was invited to speak to a group of Christian bookstore managers in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As he was preparing for this engagement, he randomly came across a video clip from the movie Facing the Giants. He didn’t think anything of it until he was at a book signing in Tulsa. The store manager offered him anything in the store as a gift. Looking up, he saw the book Facing your Giants by Max Lucado. The little memory buzzer went off in his head, having just seen that video clip, so he selected a copy of the book as his gift. The next day at church, the pastor gave a sermon called “Never Give Up.” In the middle of his sermon, the pastor showed a video clip of the exact same scene from Facing the Giants. As John remembered that moment, he recalled, “I sat in my seat in awe of the lengths God would go to speak to me in order to TwoTen Magazine

PERSPECTIVE

We have been called to work diligently, to the best of our abilities, so that He can be glorified. Our PERSPECTIVE should be based on eternity. Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Colossians 3:23-24

“

In my l i f e , I s p e n t y e a r s

developing a false front to hide my insecurities and my fear of never being loved. But my faith freed me to become the person I am.

It is fun to have the opportunity to

talk about impersonating someone who is also not

pull me out of the darkness. I had been staring at the giant instead of staring at God. At the end of that sermon, I was back on my feet. I gave up my fear and boldly began to market the talents God had given me. God pulled me out of that dark night of the soul.”

Using the Tools God Gave Him When he first launched his impersonator business, John thought it would be a strictly secular endeavor. It did not occur to him that there was any way it could be used for any Christian eventuality, but that was obviously what God had intended. “I’ve been able to share the Gospel in churches all around the world, as well as share messages of motivation with companies and inspiration at hospitals and schools. It has been an incredible opportunity to minister into the lives of other people. And it was so unexpected.”

afraid

who

is.”

opportunity to talk about impersonating someone who is also not afraid to be who he is.” Has John ever had the opportunity to meet the real George W. Bush? The answer is yes. It was a brief moment at an event where the president was speaking. John shared, “When it was my turn in the receiving line, I grabbed his hand and I said, ‘Mr. President, I am honored to be your look-alike.’ George Bush looked at me and said ‘Well, I feel sorry for ya.’” “It is a blessing for me every time someone comes up to me and says I look like ‘Dubya.’ God freed me to be who I am in Christ. And then, He turned me into a Bush.” VICTORY

When the audience gets all excited about being in the presence of somebody great, John said “I empower them to always be in the presence of somebody great. I let them know it’s not a big deal to be the impersonator of a president, and relatively speaking, it’s not that big of a deal to be a president. But, to be a Christian – that is a very big deal.” John is writing a new book titled Authenticity inspired by a statement by George W. Bush— “My faith frees me to be me.” John says, “In my life, I spent years developing a false front to hide my insecurities and my fear of never being loved. But my faith freed me to become the person I am. It is fun to have the TwoTenMagazine.com

John C. Morgan using a starter pistol to begin a golf tournament TwoTen Magazine

DRIVEN TO EXCELLENCE Offering their best to bring glory to God by Mark Whitaker

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Driven To Excellence

ny company that has weathered the economic storm that has pummeled our economy over the last five to six years is admirable. A company that has been able to thrive during that time is remarkable. That’s exactly what Bandwidth.com has been able to accomplish since its inception in 1999.

Leading By Example Bandwidth.com was founded by a couple of young, energetic entrepreneurs that flat out refuse to accept anything short of winning. David Morken, co-cofounder and CEO, received his bachelor’s degree from Oral Roberts University and later graduated from the Notre Dame Law School and is a member of the Virginia Bar Association. He served 4 years in the Marine Corps as a Judge Advocate, criminal prosecutor and headquarters company commander. He takes his career seriously, and he takes his recreation seriously. A word of caution: Think twice before challenging David….at anything! He is a self-proclaimed adrenaline junkie and thrives on anything that requires endurance. Some of his adventures include competing in two ultra-marathons, finishing the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii in nine hours and forty three minutes and crossing the United States with a four-man cycling group in the Race Across America in five and a half days. He applies this same zeal to his family, his faith and his business. When choosing a business partner, the Bible is very clear about choosing someone who is “equally yoked”. There is none who fits those criteria better than Henry Kaestner. Henry received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware, and worked for several prominent financial firms in New York, including Arthur Andersen and Merrill Lynch, before forming the partnership with David.

Co-Founders: David Morken, left & Henry Kaestner, right

Hanging Ten On The Cutting Edge Bandwidth.com is a telecommunications company that provides internet and voice solutions. They have over 6,000 customers worldwide, and include industry giants such as Google, Skype and Pinger. Their four products include: Bandwidth: bundled, high-speed internet services for business; Phonebooth: a phone service that provides all of the features required of a business for a fraction of the cost of traditional phone service; iNetwork: a wholesale, robust voice-over-IP, 9-1-1 and SMS service; and Republic Wireless: a breakthrough in wireless cell phone technology that utilizes WiFi, resulting in dramatically lower cell phone bills. The technology that has been developed for this product is sure to be a game changer in the enormous mobile phone industry. Bandwidth.com made Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing companies in 2003 and each of the next four years. David and Henry have both been listed in the Top Forty CEO’s Under Forty list. They have about 300 employees, about 80 of which were hired in the past year. They expect to add another 100 employees to their main office within the next five years. Success is the result of a tenacious desire to produce a superior product.

Walking The Talk Henry shares the competitive spirit with David, and, whenever possible, spends his lunch break on his mountain bike shredding a favorite trail with some fellow team members or playing ultimate Frisbee in a vacant lot near the office. Henry maintains his role as Executive Chairman, while David is the acting CEO, in charge of the daily operation of the company. TwoTenMagazine.com

It only takes a few moments after talking with either David or Henry to realize that there is more to the success of their business than technical superiority or outstanding service. They are not driven to excellence for financial gains or industry awards and accolades, but to bring glory to God. TwoTen Magazine

The stability of their company, in the midst of such rapid growth, is a testimony to the “lead by example” leadership model that Henry and David embrace. They have experienced virtually no turnover in their senior management team, which has been a key to helping them meet and exceed their goals. They allow leaders the autonomy make decisions and lead without being micro-managed.

Giving Back Early on, they agreed that in order to devote the time resources necessary to make it a success, they needed the company to share the values that they possessed personally. That’s when they developed the “4 Core Values” that embody their culture:

1 FAMILY 2 FAITH

They f irmly believe that their success has come from God, and that it’s for His glory that they work.

David and Henry cherish the time that they spend with their wives and children. They encourage their employees to prioritize family time. Without a strong, stable family life, it’s impossible to perform effectively at work.

3 FITNESS 4 WORK

The people at Bandwidth.com love what they do. The success of the company is proof of that.

Staying f it is a lifestyle. They foster active lifestyles and frequently will post YouTube videos of group excursions.

• Industry: Telecommunications

David and Henry are firm believers in the Luke 12:48, “… to whom much is given, much is required.” In light of that verse, they have been instrumental in starting three outreach ministries; Durham Cares: a local organization established to match neighbors in need to charities that offer assistance; MinistrySpotlight.org: set up to connect people and organizations that offer their skills and talents to organizations and ministries in need; and CTI: an organization set up to assist ministries and organizations around the world meet their technology needs for little or no cost. Coming from the financial industry, Henry has a keen eye for analyzing the value of a company. When comparing values of faith-based companies to secular companies, he realized that the faith-based companies were consistently being undervalued, making financing exceptionally difficult. He became active with a non-profit organization, Sovereign’s Capital, to offer financial assistance to Christian businesses. One of his passions is getting Christian businesses the tools they need to be competitive and succeed in the marketplace. When asked about how Bandwidth.com maintains its competitive edge, Henry said “We provide superior products and services by hiring the best people and putting them into positions that match their passions and talents. We don’t always do things right, but we learn from our mistakes and get better every day.” They embrace Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.” VICTORY

• Established: 1999 • Number of Employees: 300 • Projected 2012 Revenue: $143 milion • Offices: 10 • Headquarters: Cary, NC

4th Quarter

Driven To Excellence

Building Great

Businesses

For A Greater

PURPOSE: C12 by Lisa Huetteman

If two heads are better than one, imagine the force of a dozen like-minded CEOs, company presidents and business owners coming together to solve a problem. Add the benefit of the power of prayer, and you have a recipe for certain success.

tewart, the chief executive officer of a technology company, experienced the value of this formula firsthand. In the early days of his business, Stewart learned that two of his employees had started a competing business on the side. Challenged by the anger, hurt, and fear of the discovery, he brought the problem to his C12 group—a Christian peer advisory board—for advice. “You’ve got to fire them!” was the advice. Responding to Stewart’s concern about how he was going to serve his customers, his C12 group came together and said, “You’ve got to do the right thing first, and let God handle the tough part.” The group stopped right there, prayed and asked God to send two new people to fill the positions. Within two days, Stewart had an answer to these prayers. In what appeared to be random coincidence, two people, with the exact required skills and were looking for a job, presented themselves to Stewart. Ten years later these two people are still working for him. All of this was possible, because Stewart was encouraged to do the right thing and give the rest to God. “Plans made after advice, succeed; so with wise guidance wage your war.” - Proverbs 20:18 There are countless success stories like Stewart’s that validate the benefit of wise and godly counsel. In fact, the C12 Group, founded in 1992 on Biblical principles, has produced many of these types of success stories.

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C12 is all about leading thriving, profitable Christian companies. This practical focus is combined with a commitment to a Biblical perspective and coupled with like-minded peer counsel and accountability. Monthly, C12 members meet to discuss bestpractice business topics through a Bible-centered lens. Hardhitting, real-world content is integral to the C12 lifelong learning experience. In addition, members benefit from the wisdom and insight of a trusted C12 “peer board,” which helps them keep focused and accountable to their principles and core values. “The principle behind the C12 group, or any type of small group like C12, is that they work, because they are based on the model and design of the Church,” said Buck Jacobs, Chairman and Founder of The C12 Group, LLC. “God has created us all with different gifts, talents and abilities. In the Church, He is calling us to work in an interdependent way where one’s strengths complement another’s weaknesses and vice versa.” The C12 design is based on this principle and recognizes that combined strengths are exponentially greater than any individual strength, and that is what produces the success. “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the decision of the Lord that endures.” - Proverbs 19:21 Part of the C12 philosophy is that business done right should thrive, and there is no better guide for doing business right than the Bible. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that if you commend your business to the Lord and try to follow Biblical principles you are going to have financial profits. Building Great Businesses For A Greater Purpose

“We don’t believe the prosperity Gospel,” says Jacobs. “I think many people believe that if they give their business to God and try every day to live by Biblical principles, have a quiet time, tithe, go to church and do all the things a good Christian should do, that God is going to make things easy for them. That is unrealistic, it doesn’t happen and certainly isn’t a Biblical promise.”

God and to be a witness in the marketplace. Jacobs says, “Some of our greatest opportunities are when things get tough, and we don’t cave and do what the secular world would have us do. We can be a witness in good times and in bad times, but probably the most effective and powerful testimonies are what we display during trial.”

He is quick to add, “We don’t want to imply that just by joining C12 you are going to make a lot of money, or if you give your business to God you’re going to become rich. Life runs in cycles. There is good, and there is bad. There are difficulties that come into every life no matter how obedient you are to God or how righteous you are in living a disciplined life.”

“The eyes of the Lord safeguard knowledge, but he defeats the projects of the faithless.” - Proverbs 22:12

“The way of the fool seems right in his own eyes, but he who listens to advice is wise.” - Proverbs 12:15 The challenge is that during difficult times, economic and otherwise, people are tempted to cheat, cut corners and take responsibility for the business back into their own hands. Buck observed, “Most of us deceive ourselves, and we get into trouble because we don’t seek godly counsel. When we don’t, we rely on our own understanding, intellect and experiences, and we believe that our ideas are good. We believe that we are making good judgments. But in reality, we have an enemy who is called ‘The Deceiver’ and he gets us to lie to ourselves and deceive ourselves.” To battle the power of self-deception, C12 provides a builtin accountability group. But accountability is only a piece of it, Jacobs says. “Accountability needs to be coupled with transparency and authenticity to be really powerful. In the book of Proverbs, there are twenty-two exhortations that give advice in wise and godly counsel. To benefit from a group, it needs to be a small group of like-minded people that you can trust. It can be C12, a church small group or any format really, but it has to be grounded in authenticity and transparency. You can be in a C12 group and play games and stay on the surface and never really reveal yourself. If you fail to be honest with the group, you lose the benefit of accountability. True accountability can only happen in honesty and trust.”

Another benefit of seeking godly counsel is the encouragement needed to stay the course and remain faithful. Jacobs observed that, “One of the difficulties people have when things get tough is thinking that they’ve done something wrong, or they’ve been disobedient to God, and God is punishing them. The temptation is to think ‘I’m having this problem, because I’ve done something wrong.’ In reality, what God looks for is faithfulness. He looks for people who will give their hearts totally to Him. Then, He provides all they need to do all He asks.” “Those who love me I also love, and those who seek me find me. With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.” - Proverbs 8:17-18 The movie “Chariots of Fire,” depicts the story of Eric Liddell, a British Olympic athlete who refused to run his best event—the 100-meter race—in the Paris Olympics, because it was scheduled on a Sunday. Instead he trained for the 400-meter, a race in which his performance up to that point was modest by international standards. Just before the 400-meter race, an American runner, Jackson Scholz, gave him a piece of paper with the quote from 1 Samuel 2:30. “I will honor those who honor me.” Liddell won that 400-meter race and broke the Olympic and the world records. Comparing C12 results to Eric Liddell, Jacobs reflected, “I think that when you look at the success we typically see, that is the reason. God honors those who honor Him. If God has called you to be in the business, and if you dedicate the business to God and follow God’s lead, then no power in heaven or on earth that can knock you out of business.” VICTORY

“As iron sharpens iron, so man sharpens his fellow man.” - Proverbs 27:17 The C12 Group provides the forum and format for open, honest and Christ-like discussion to sharpen a leader’s decision making and strengthen his or her faithfulness to God. The forum also supports a greater business purpose—to glorify and honor TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

A GIFT

REMODELED Learn how one entrepreneur found an opportunity to give an extra $1 million to charity by Sheila Dolinger

ndy Andreas was in the midst of another busy day at his growing bathroom remodeling business when a call came through on his cell phone. He answered, and the voice on the other line replied, “Hi Andy, this is The Home Depot. We’d like to talk to you about acquiring your company.” All of the years of countless hours that he’d spent building his company seemed to flash before his eyes. From a start-up in his garage to offices across the nation in Kansas City, Denver, Dallas, and Minneapolis, Andy’s company had become one of the fastest growing entities of its kind. As Andy set up a time to meet with The Home Depot, he thought back to another life-defining moment that had happened years earlier when he was just a teenager-long before he had ever seen a balance sheet or cared about an income statement. Andy was attending a Campus Crusade Christmas Conference when Josh McDowell gave him an inspiring admonition to live with purpose. McDowell challenged the participants to write a mission statement for their lives. So Andy developed this mission statement: Andy Andreas exists to get as many people into heaven as he possibly can before he dies and to have as much fun on the way as possible.

4th Quarter

Now, as a successful entrepreneur with the potential for a lucrative buy-out, Andy knew that he was being presented with one of the greatest opportunities for Kingdom impact that he would ever have. From the beginning, he had made the Lord his business partner and had always considered his company to be an economic engine for funding ministry. Now, the moment he had worked for had finally come, and he was fully prepared to make it pay off for the ministries he loved to support. Several years earlier, Andy had gone to lunch with Bill High, a representative from National Christian Foundation (NCF). Bill introduced Andy to the concept of gifting his business prior to sale if that should occur. Andy learned a lot that day, but one statement that stood out more than anything else was when Bill said, “If you ever think about selling your company, be sure to call me before you sign anything.” So when Andy first learned of The Home Depot’s interest, he called Bill, whom he knew could develop a strategy for maximizing the charitable aspect of his potential liquidity event. Andy learned

A Gift Remodeled

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who wants to reach a

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For more information about placing an advertisement in a future issue of TwoTen Magazine, please contact us at:

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“

Entrepreneurs outsource

many things ... But one thing that I learned is that you can’t outsource your values.”

that he could benefit from a gift of his business stock which involved several basic steps:

1 2 3

Andy gifted a portion of his business stock to his NCF Giving Fund prior to signing with The Home Depot.

Andy qualified for a tax deduction for the fair market value of his stock gift.

NCF sold the stock to The Home Depot, and placed the proceeds in Andy’s Giving Fund for recommending grants to charity.

Because NCF was involved in the sale as a charitable shareholder, the overall capital gains tax was greatly reduced. With Andy’s income tax deduction and the capital gains tax savings, he was able to give an additional $1 million!

Most importantly, Andy says the process taught him an important truth. “Entrepreneurs outsource many things, and that’s wise. But one thing that I learned is that you really can’t outsource your values. You may have the best advisors money can buy, but you can’t count on others to make the decision that you know God is telling you to make,” Andy says. So what advice does Andy have for other business owners who have a heart to give? “If you are a Christian business owner, you should stay up-to-date with NCF on the constantly morphing tax laws. Don’t wait. Call NCF today. It pays to be prepared, and there are lots of ways you can give from your business, whether you are selling or not. NCF offers the greatest strategies.” Andy’s business deal took place almost five years ago, and there have been a lot of changes in his life and the economy since then. So how does he feel about it today? Andy says, “It was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. The Word says, ‘Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.’ We don’t wander far from our treasure. So I’m glad that I’ve been able to push mine into the Kingdom. That’s where my heart is.” VICTORY

During the deal, Andy encountered some surprise from The Home Depot team. He said, “NCF anticipated The Home Depot’s questions, and the sale went smoothly. NCF made sure the gifted stock was non-voting, so I continued to make all the relevant decisions.” Andy received some initial resistance from his own personal team of advisors. He says, “There were some strong and cynical naysayers at first. This is new territory for many professional advisors, because most of their clients aren’t trying to give away 50% of their company. But the reality is few people understand the advanced use of tax law like the experts at NCF. But this type of giving is their specialty.” He adds, “NCF did not replace my team, but rather they came alongside them to provide research, strategies, and tax analysis to leverage my giving.” TwoTenMagazine.com

Based a

communications

Atlanta,

GA,

consultant

and

Sheila

Dolinger

contributing

writer

for the National Christian Foundation (NCF), the world’s largest

grant-making

information,

ministry visit

for

Christian

givers.

For

www.nationalchristian.com.

TwoTen Magazine

Ask Dave ON BUSINESS -

4th Quarter

W I T H

D AV E

R A M S E Y

Ask Dave

FORMING THE WHEN IN DOUBT, RIGHT COMP PLAN OVERSHARE Dear Dave,

Dear Dave,

I’m a personal trainer. Last year, I bought into a franchise and have done a good job of building it up since then. I’m getting to the point where expansion seems possible, but what’s the best way to do this without getting involved in a partnership?

I’m going to sell my business, and I’ve lined up a prospective buyer. When should I tell my employees?

— Stephen

Dear Mark,

Dear Stephen,

If the roles were reversed, and you were in their shoes, when would you want to know? At what point, if you’d worked for someone for five years, would you feel betrayed if you didn’t know about something like this? It may sound simple, but I think that’s a good way to process the situation. If I make an error with my team, it’s always going to be in the area of over-communication. I expect and trust them to be adults, and they know this ahead of time. Still, I like to remind them once in a while. I’m very transparent about how we’re doing, both as a team and as a company. And the truth is, no small business owner could make it without great people around them. Your guys need to hear that once in a while, too, in addition to knowing you’re always going to shoot straight with them. In my mind, to be a good and effective leader, you have to be willing to share and discuss things—whether they’re good or bad. I try not to say too much or get into a lot of unnecessary stuff, but if there’s any doubt, I’m going to over-share rather than leave my team confused or create a lot of misunderstandings. Human beings want to be treated with respect and dignity, not kept in the dark and fed manure. That may be good for mushrooms, but it’s not for people!

I’m glad you’re shying away from the idea of a partnership. I don’t believe in them, but I love the idea of people participating in a winning situation. I have lots of people on my team that are paid on a percentage of the net profits in their areas. Under this structure, it’s incumbent on them to keep expenses down and revenues up. And this concept involves generating new ideas, lots of energy, and a real sense of ownership. Technically, they’re not stockholders, but I treat them as if they were and let them have a vote in the process. If you can hire a manager at $50,000 a year just on straight salary, then take that and divide it into your profits, you can put someone on a small draw or a percentage of the profits. That way, they make $50,000 again if they earn the same as they did previously. If they double the amount, they’ll earn $100,000. Every time you make a profit, you get some and they get some. Run a profit and loss statement every month, close the books by the 15th, and write them a check. This way, you’re putting them in business for themselves mathematically, but not legally. Think about it. What I’m talking about isn’t a partnership. It’s an employee with a compensation plan that’s based on profits. And that’s a completely different mentality!

— Mark

—Dave

— Dave

www.TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

STRAIGHT COMMISSION SEARCH

PAID FROM BANKRUPT VENDOR?

Dear Dave,

I own a small business, and I pay my people on straight commission. We’ve started growing a bit, and I’m having trouble finding good, new reps who want to work under this kind of compensation structure. Does your team work on commission, and if so, how do you do it?

One of my customers in the restaurant business owes me $9,000 for equipment purchases. I just got a notice in the mail that they’re in the process of filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy. There’s no lien on the equipment I sold them, but they gave me three post-dated checks that bounced. Can’t you go to jail for that kind of thing?

— Gary — Kurt Dear Gary, Dear Kurt, I love commission plans that rely heavily on incentives. I just plain love the idea of commissions. I mean, I’d put my receptionist on straight commission if I could figure out how to make it work. But honestly, there’s hardly anyone on my team that works straight commission. The majority of my folks work on a small salary plus commission, or some kind of draw, until they get rolling. Now, I don’t want them fat and sassy and getting something for nothing. That’s not fair to me. But a broke salesperson smells, looks and acts desperate. They tend to promise the sky and deliver something a whole lot closer to earth. The key is to find a happy medium. So I usually give my guys enough to get by, but if they want anything better they have to go kill something and drag it home. The base keeps the kids fed and the lights on, but if they want a little fun and some pleasure in life, they have to work for it!

There is a criminal side to this situation, but don’t threaten or even contact them. They’re now under the protection of federal law, and there’s an injunction preventing you from trying to collect this debt by any means other than the court system. In a bankruptcy, the court and attorneys get paid first. After that comes payroll for the employees and then preferred creditors. If you can work your way to the front of this line because of all the bounced checks, you’ve got a better chance of getting your money. If they do make it out of Chapter 11, they will submit a plan to the court laying out how they will pay creditors. This plan can propose that unsecured creditors get pennies on the dollar. If the plan is approved by the court, you could get little or nothing, and they can emerge from bankruptcy and still be in business. —Dave

— Dave

Dave Ramsey is America’s trusted voice on money and business. He’s authored four New York Times best-selling books: Financial Peace, More Than Enough, The Total Money Makeover and EntreLeadership. The Dave Ramsey Show is heard by more than 5 million listeners each week on more than 500 radio stations. Follow Dave on Twitter at @DaveRamsey and on the web at daveramsey.com.

4th Quarter

Ask Dave

Transformational

T IPS

from

For today’s business leaders, spare time is often an elusive luxury. These small tips can be implemented into your business quickly yet can offer big impacts.

Within every organization, you need both Ham & Eggers and Giant Killers. It won’t survive with all of one or the other. They also need to be in the proper proportion to complement the strengths of each other.

tip 1 Which is Most Valuable inYour Organization? The boxing world has never been short on colorful colloquialisms. One such idiom is the term “Ham & Egger.” It refers to a prizefighter whose skill level isn’t quite good enough to land him one of the large purses. They don’t have their eyes set on winning the big prize money. They are content knowing that they can make enough money to buy ham and eggs the next morning. In fact, the Ham & Eggers probably fight ten times more bouts than a Giant Killer, certainly catching more leather than they throw. A Giant Killer is one of those rare individuals who is able to have the right combination of skill, wit, talent and strength to take down a giant. In fact, they NEED to take down giants. Do you ever wonder why any famous prize fighter always has an incredible record like 26-1 or 35-2? It’s because as strong as they are, their egos are frail. Defeat to a Giant Killer is demoralizing and they take it very personally.

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The Giant Killers are the account reps or sales gurus that you turn loose on your biggest clients and biggest accounts. They need the thrill of landing the giants but may be easily distracted or ineffective when confronted with the day-to-day details of running your business, something in which the Ham & Eggers thrive. In Andy Stanley’s book Visioneering, he explains that God places us in roles that we may not understand, but if we have faith and are obedient to our calling, His greater good will be accomplished. He offered the example of Billy Graham’s parents. “The only thing of any consequence that they did was to keep the family together, put food on the table - and raise Billy Graham.” They were obedient in their roles; raise a godly son. That godly son went on to be one of the greatest evangelists ever, reaching millions of people. As a leader, you need to know who your Giant Killers and Ham & Eggers are and put them into roles where their skill set is maximized. Additionally, you need to evaluate their performance and recognize the value of each accordingly. Both are valuable and fulfill a critical role and your role as leader is to recognize the purpose and value of each. Transformational Tips

tip 2

MINUTE

REWIND

Are you Building Prudent Leaders or Professional Apologizers? As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. It’s almost a given fact that when a problem or crisis occurs in your business, if you were to look back, you could probably identify a critical event that, if changed, would have avoided the problem entirely. The problem is, as leaders and managers, we get so wrapped up in conducting damage control that we miss the opportunity to turn problems into learning tools. There is an unbelievable amount of untapped knowledge that can be gleaned by looking back at the situation to see where things got off track. The next time a problem occurs in your business, take the time to have a discussion with the person responsible, and ask them to think back and give you their assessment of where things went wrong. Then ask the sixty-four thousand dollar question: If you could have ten minutes back, what would you do differently? The amazing thing about this exercise is that it does two things: it helps to educate your leaders and managers, and, depending on how they answer, will give you a good indication as to whether they have the character that you want for somebody in their position. If the answer you receive is an honest assessment of where things went wrong and how the situation could have been handled differently to avoid the problem, you’ve got the makings of a good leader. If you start getting the same old apologies right off the bat, you have what is known as a “Professional Apologizer”. Being a Christian leader doesn’t mean that you don’t require accountability. Receiving apology after apology from the same person indicates that they haven’t been learning from their mistakes. The key to making the “Ten Minute Rewind” work for you is self-discipline. You have to commit to taking the time to ask the questions and encourage your leadership team to do the same. In the process, your team and whole organization will be stronger and will avoid making the same mistakes twice.

TwoTenMagazine.com

VALUE REMINDERS

tip 3

Are your Clients Forgetting About You? One of the last things that you want your clients to do is to forget about you. When they do, the voice of your competition gets louder and louder in your clients’ ears. Maybe the relationship with your client is strong enough to fend off competitors, maybe it’s not. But why risk it? One of the best ways to consistently stay on the front of your clients’ minds is to implement a process called “Value Reminders.” Value reminders are ways of re-enforcing with your clients the value that they are receiving as a result of doing business with you. Often, it is as simple as sending an encouraging email or a note. For example, a computer networking company may send a note to a client such as: “I was reviewing some old notes and noticed that it’s been three months since we installed your new routers. Since then we haven’t received any reports of problems or downtime. I’m sure it’s a welcome relief to the problems you have experienced in the past.” Depending on the business that you’re in, you may include a photograph that you’ve taken. For example, a builder can take photographs during the construction of a commercial building or residence and send them to the owner with a brief note on the construction progress to reassure owner that they are being taken care of. The value reminders should always relay a positive message. One thing that they shouldn’t be is a sales gimmick. Never ask for anything in return. Over time you’ll be amazed at the response that you get!

TwoTen Magazine

The Top

Business

iPad Apps

TwoTen has brought together 6 of the finest iPad business management tools available from iTunes. A mixture of premium and free apps that will surely leverage your day to day.

OmniFocus by Omni Group

[ $19.99 ]

If you’re like me, you’ve likely tried dozens of to-do list applications and have struggled to find the perfect one. End your search with OmniFocus. Built upon the concepts outlined in David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done,” OmniFocus does a fantastic job of forcing you to get everything out of your head and into your “inbox” ensuring that you will never forget a task and that you achieve stress free productivity. While much more expensive than most to-do list apps at $19.99, I would gladly pay much more for this indispensable app.

Notability by Ginger Labs, Inc.

[ $0.99 ]

With Notability, you will never walk into a meeting without your iPad again. This innovative note-taking app integrates handwriting, PDF annotation, typing, audio recording, and organizing so you can take notes the way you want to take them. As a printerless Millennial, my favorite use of this application is the ability to import contracts and other documents that need my signature, so that I don’t have to wait until I’m near a printer to sign them. I can sign within the app and email the signed copy back to the original party all from within the app!

Bible by LifeChurch.tv

[ Free ]

For business leaders who rely on God’s Word for purpose and inspiration, I can not recommend YouVersion’s Bible app highly enough. If you’ve noticed more iPads serving as Bibles in your church, this is why. The team at YouVersion has completely rethought what the Bible might look like in a digital age, integrating traditional features such as highlighting, note taking and daily devotionals in a smarter and more valuable way than ever before. Other awesome features include multiple translations (some with audio transcriptions) and the ability to share Scripture and notes with friends from within the app.

4th Quarter

The Top 6 Business iPad Apps

TripIt by TripIt, Inc.

[ $3.99 ]

If you travel as much as I do, you know what a pain it can be to keep all of the critical information about your trip together and access it quickly. TripIt automatically takes all your trip details and creates one truly helpful itinerary that’s there when and where you need it. Anytime you receive a travel confirmation via email, TripIt automatically imports the details into the app. I can’t remember the last time I printed itineraries or worried whether or not I had all of my confirmation numbers or addresses of hotels. TripIt gives you peace of mind while on the go away from home.

TED by TED Conferences

[ Free ]

Business leaders need to be inspired and encouraged to think big when leading their organizations. Too often, we don’t take the time to do this with the distraction of emails, phone calls and meetings. TED has become a near household name amongst business leaders, due to the amazing free video content of “riveting talks by remarkable people”. So why include it on this list? I would encourage you to download the iPad app as part of a conscious effort to once a week pull away from your desk, unplug from distractions, and watch one or two TED talks to be inspired.

Mint.com by Mint Software, Inc.

[ Free ]

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Jordan government,

politics

Raynor is a digital strategist that has spent his career solving real problems in and

business

through

technology.

Jordan

currently

the

Director

Product

Strategy at LifeSync Technologies, a Co-founder of Citizinvestor and a Co-founder of Digital Doulos.

TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

CHRIS HOGAN ON LEADERSHIP

5 Leadership Skills

That Will Make You Shine Leadership is a buzz word these days. Everyone is talking about it. We have books and blogs and seminars and podcasts all devoted to helping you become a better leader. As a leader yourself, you probably feel cramped for time; there’s so much to do and so little time to do it. You might even feel like you can spend so much time talking about being a better leader that you can’t find time to actually put any training into practice. Believe me, I’ve worked with all kinds

4th Quarter

of leaders—entrepreneurs and small-business owners who want to become better leaders—but they don’t know where to start. I know it can be overwhelming. With that in mind, let’s break leadership down into five easyto-understand steps. No doubt, good leadership can’t be simplified down to a formula and checklist. But hopefully, if you’re trying to take it to the next level as a leader, these pointers will get you moving in that direction. Chris Hogan On Leadership

SO HOW CAN YOU BECOME A BETTER LEADER? 1. Get to know your team.

5. Stay involved.

Keep your finger on the pulse of your team. Pay attention to their mood. Is the atmosphere quiet lately? Do people seem unfocused? You can’t lead a group that you don’t have a connection with on some level. Make some time to give your team a boost with occasional parties. If you don’t have something or someone to celebrate, just make it a party to thank them for all of their hard work!

Remember, this is up to you. If you want to become a better leader, it’s your responsibility to put in the time and effort to become one.

This won’t be an overnight event. You’re not going to wake up tomorrow, drive into work, walk through your office door, and all of a sudden become a Vince Lombarditype leader. What you can do is resolve to make changes, then put them in place incrementally.

Focus on one point at a time. For the next few weeks, how can you take action steps to get to know your team better (point 1)? Could you schedule an informal 30-minute meeting or lunch appointment with each one of them— using it simply as a “get to know you” session? Could you take the whole team on a one-day retreat or off-site meeting? Do what works best for your team, but do something.

You won’t become a better leader by just talking about becoming a better leader. Put some of these practices in place in your life and work culture, and see what happens. You may be surprised at how much transformation you see in both yourself and your team!

What motivates each person who works for you? Even better, what demotivates them? When you take the time to really get to know your team, you gain an advantage called information! You know how they tick, and you can give them a boost when needed.

2. Help your team see how they fit in the big picture.

Talk with them about how they see the future of the company and what they want it to look like. Getting their feedback helps them see you value their input—and that you like them and want them on your team. People need to know this more than you can imagine.

3. Communicate!

I can’t stress this enough. Share information. Make them feel like they are “in the know.” If your team is in the dark, they can never share your spark! Nothing is worse than a leader who attends upper-level meetings and doesn’t pass any information on to his team. Your team will gossip and waste time speculating and guessing because of your lack of communication. But that’s not all: Leaders who don’t communicate breed distrust on their team.

4. Develop a crusade mentality.

Help your team understand how your product or service makes a difference in people’s lives. Share stories and testimonies with your team all the time so they can see how their actions are affecting your consumers, vendors, and people you interact with in the marketplace.

Chris Hogan speaks all over the country at businesses, associations and colleges on money and leadership. He also conducts on-site training sessions for organizations of all sizes . As a former All-American college football player and business owner, Chris understands that leadership is essential for the success of any team. You can follow Chris Hogan on twitter at @ChrisHogan360 or check him out here: daveramsey.com/speakers/Chris-Hogan

TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

We review a few noteworthy books and offer up our own opinion.

YOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD! by Merrill J. Oster

Merrill J. Oster has written an inspiring book that delivers two messages propelled by one concept. The messages are in the titleYOU CAN CHANGE THE WORLD! (what will happen when you read this book) and Discover the miracle of high impact forums (the method through which change occurs). The concept, however, is what empowers this splendidly illustrated work containing close to sixty glossy panoramic photos: influence. Few books of its kind, targeted at CEOs, employ influence as a theme. Influence is often more potent than power and authority (precepts typically associated with corporate leaders). “You have influence,” Oster writes. “Influence might be your most underutilized asset.” Indeed! Oster should know. He not only is an immensely successful businessman in his own right; he is a journalist too; and in the latter role, influencing the reader as author, he uses a vast array of skills to immerse the audience in the peer forum experience. He is a reporter, quoting CEOs and their visions; he is a storyteller, recounting his own group experience in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and he is an evangelist, imbuing visions and vistas with soul-felt wisdom. In the end, this is a book not only for CEOs, but also for anyone courageous enough to embrace with others the tenets of servant leadership and the influence it will have on others...as well as on your own life narrative and legacy. Review by Dr. Michael Bugeja • Author of Living Ethics

4th Quarter

Quarterly Review

LOVE WORKS. by Joel Manby Why do we spend our valuable time reading leadership books? We hope to become better, more effective leaders. In Love WorksSeven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders, Joel Manby, CEO of Herschend Family Enterprises, illustrates the practical and deliberate measures that any leader must take to build and maintain a lasting impact on their organization and beyond. Coming from a Harvard Business school background and spending over 20 years in the auto industry with GM and as CEO of SAAB North America, Asia and South America, Joel learned firsthand about positional leadership and how difficult it is for employees to be enthused about the company they work for if they don’t feel that the leadership cares about them. He reached a point of frustration and exhaustion and came to the realization that his wife and four daughters saw less and less of him. He decided that he needed to make a change. Joel was offered an opportunity to succeed Jack Herschend of Herschend Family Entertainment as CEO of their enterprise. Sensing that the opportunity was a calling and answer to prayers, he enthusiastically accepted. At HFE, Joel was immersed in a culture that cared about its people from the top down. In March 2010, he was asked to be featured in an episode of the hit series Undercover Boss. The episode was viewed by over eighteen million viewers and resulted in an outpouring of praise and requests for advice from other leaders on how to implement a similar approach to their companies. The HFE website went from receiving fifty hits per day to over sixty thousand hits, forty-five minutes after the episode aired. The overwhelming response that Joel received, coupled with his experience after taking over HFE, led to Love Works. In his book, Joel explains how love, the verb, should be at the forefront of any leader’s motivations. Taken from the Biblical

concept of love found in 1 Corinthians 13, the seven principles include: Patience, Kindness, Trust, Unselfishness, Truthfulness, Forgiveness and Dedication. Although these principles may seem too “touchy feely” to the hardcore business leader, Joel outlines real-world business scenarios and how to apply these principles to resolving leadership issues. In the foreword of the book, Jack Herschend sums it up perfectly, stating that the book, “…isn’t testament to a single man or a single company. It’s much bigger than that. It’s about seven principles of effective leadership that have been around for thousands of years but are often forgotten or dismissed. It’s engaging and practical. And it’s about the best way to lead, a way that will bring bottom-line results and deep contentment.” Review by Mark Whitaker • Executive Editor of TwoTen Magazine

TwoTenMagazine.com

TwoTen Magazine

PERSEVERANCE Following the path that God laid for you isn’t a guarantee that you will avoid trials and difficulties. On the contrary, you may find that there are more trials and distractions that will entice you to take the easy way out. It’s in those times that you need PERSEVERENCE to stay on course and not lose faith. “Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:6-9

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