Meeting soon

We have about 15 business people signed up and will soon annoucne a meeting.

Restoration of SPOILS

Are you a Christian business person in New England? We would like to connect with you.

Please post here and tell us about yourself.

Thanks!

Great meeting

We had a great first meeting. We appreciate everyone's prayers and help. We learned a lot. The people that were there said they learned a lot. I will be posting some notes, etc. in the next day or so. I really appreciate each and everyone of you.

God bless you!

Only a few days!

There is only about two days before our first SPOILS meeting. I haven't written(Nor has anyone else!) for a few weeks. Both Al and I are working hard on our notes, thoughts, etc. Sharon is running around in an effort have everything we did not think of come together and run smoothly. Leave it to me, to throw a monkey wrench in, by suggesting we should put it up in video. So, as we begin the mad dash to accommodate my crazy thoughts, it looks like we will have a video presentation, that will soon come out in DVD as well as operate on local cable access.

But most of all, I think we are excited that many of you will be there. Al is driving down from Maine with his wife, Sissie. My wife, Tina will be there, as will our favorite administrator, Sharon. Oh, we know that some of you have family, shopping and work, and we will certainly miss you. We are hoping all the kinks will be brought up to be straightened before our January meeting. We will have both a Maine and a Vermont meeting in February.

This meeting will be a powerful meeting. We will be sharing vision, and I will bring the session on the 4 Business Quadrants and Al will be bringing the session on selling. What he is sharing will be part of the new series of "Selling DVD's" and Selling Manual.

So, we just ask that as you might read this, you would put a prayer in the air for us.

Thanks,
Lee

Black Friday

So many people will be getting ready for what is called "Black Friday." As someone who has been around retail for as long as I can remember, I can easily remember the amount of stress on retailers to prepare for this time of year. Nearly 30% of all retail business is done in the next 5 plus weeks. Stresses run high, as do tempers and charge cards.

As believers we have to embrace the mind of Christ in all that we do and this includes allowing the spirit of the Lord to help us maintain self control, peace and grace in this season.

It is my hope that you and your family and friends will enjoy the blessing of the Lord in this season. We here at SPOILS Business Ministry offer you our heartfelt blessings at this time. I enclose a few words from othes to meditate upon during this holiday.

Blessings,
Lee & the Team

Scripture: 1 Timothy 4:4
“For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” NIV
“A thankful heart cannot be cynical.”
A. W. Tozer
“We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction."
Harry A. Ironside
”On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence.”
William Jennings Bryan
“We ought to give thanks for all fortune: if it is ‘good,’ because is it good, if ‘bad’ because it works in us patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country”
C. S. Lewis
"You say, 'If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.' You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled."
C H Spurgeon
“No people on earth have more cause to be thankful than ours, and this is said reverently, in no spirit of boastfulness in our own strength, but with the gratitude to the Giver of good who has blessed us.”
Teddy Roosevelt
“God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’“
William A Ward
“True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him.”
George R. Hendrick
Prayer: Father thank you for your daily provision in my life. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

Overtaking a community for God

Hi folks:

Only a handful are getting this letter. People I think might believe the way I do on some levels.  (Feel free to pass it on.)

Ever since I moved to Springfield, I have felt that God wants to overtake this community. Maybe you have similar feelings about your community. Or perhaps a region. So many people feel this way and yet there is no practical move to bring it to pass or at least not a huge one. Christianity has conformed itself to Christian ghettos, meaning we never leave the comfort of our homes. Good meetings do not a church build nor a region or a city taken.

I have studied so many books on the overtaking of a community. I have watched Transformations and believe it still has a shot. About 10 years ago, I began to watch what was happening in Elk River. I have studied it. A little about it can be found here. http://www.rickheeren.org/the-elk-river-story.htm. You can buy the book by clicking on our website here.  I have been with some of the people from here. Peter Wagner, Linda Rios Brook, etc..

As you know we have been working on the business ministry. (I hope you have shared about this with your friends.) and a lot of thoughts have been jumbling around my head. This morning they started to get clearer with the idea that we could really overturn a city. (Visit the The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference) For years we have said, "people do not care how much we know, until they know how much we care." A friend of mine says it a little differently. "You will never overturn a region, a city or a country until you solve their problems." And the answer is Jesus. But probably not like most want to think. Jesus sent out people into the region to overturn the culture. And yes, there was prayer, BUT, there was a sending. If we want our inheritance, we have to "follow the rules."

What is the purpose of affluence defined as: A plentiful supply of material goods; wealth. A great quantity; an abundance. A flowing to or toward a point; Wordnet defines it as "abundant wealth." (Hmmm...I think I have heard that somewhere. John 10:10.) You and I will not change an economy without abundant wealth. But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for [it is] he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as [it is] this day. Deu. 8:18. And I believe that this is possible. But first I believe we must embrace a vision for a cultural change. Do I believe healing is from God? Then I must work towards seeing it manifested in my own life. Do I believe wealth is from God, then I must do what it takes to see it directed towards me. I must reach out for what God has promised and never relinquish nor give up. It has a requirement of course, my will for His.

2 Chronicles 20:15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, (We must listen to what He is saying.)Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle [is] not yours, but God's. (We must remove fear by moving ahead.)To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel. (We must face our enemy.)Ye shall not [need] to fight in this [battle]: set yourselves, stand ye [still], and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD [will be] with you. (God is with us when we follow His instructions.) And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with [his] face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD, worshipping the LORD. (worship and prayer are critical to the process.) And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel with a loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. (The Lord never does anything without revealing it to His prophets.) For us to get what God wants for us to get, we must first get what it is He wants us to get(Hmmm...Strategy and understanding and that He is Lord.).

We can change the culture if we will get "out of bed." We must shake off the slumber, the disappointments, the misunderstandings, and lift ourselves up. While we are unraveling our lives, the Lord uses us to affect the lives of others. God will not use "ghetto dwellers" in this coming move. How can He? There is nothing in His word to assume He would. I would like to see a culture revived, a city transformed. It begins with me and you. I am going to trumpet this word at every chance I get. Our inheritance is at stake. What is it worth to you? Can you believe for and work towards an Acts 2 or 4 community? If you can, perhaps it is time to do something about it. Our worship must be violent, our prayer the same. It is time for the people of God to declare what is to be instead of accepting the status quo. It is not how much we have to do, but what we are doing...is it the Lord?

Just a little tidbit for some close people.

Lee

Lee Johndrow
88 WCFR Drive
Springfield, VT 05156
802-885-2885

SPOILS

The Lord revealed this name to me in a prayer meeting at a friend's home. SPOILS-Strategic Placement Of Influence, Leadership & Service Out of the spoils won in battles did they dedicate to maintain the house of the LORD. A ministry of business people and church leaders dedicated to Reshaping the Culture for Him.

We must recapture the culture. And business is one of the easiest (Though not necessarily the simplest way.) ways to reach the multitudes. And business in Christianity has often been pushed out the doors of the church. A church I attended years ago, made an effort to get it's strong business people into the ministry. Hmmm. Kind of cuts down on the finances the churches are using.

God has placed each one of us strategically within the body of Christ. He has given each one of us spheres of influence. He has set leaders in place, but mostly He is trying to grow leaders. Do we realize that nearly 90% of all leaders learned their positions and earned it, rather than being majorly gifted. Humility and meekness, obedience and worship are some of the strongest criteria for being leaders. And without a doubt, true leadership in this season's understanding is that leadership begins through serving. For us to be Godly business people we must learn that our customer, our client, our patient comes first. For them to be reached, requires excellence in our business and service to them and to the Lord.

Let us gather the spoils of battle, that we may maintain the house of the Lord.