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Integrating Principles & Practices
Drew Crandall crusades for Christ in a dog-eat-dog world
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Business New Haven
3/23/1998
By: BNH
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For what is a man profited, if he
shall gain the whole world, and lose
his own soul?
- Matthew 16:26
Drew Crandall of Ellington is director of the New England region of the Fellowship of Companies for Christ International. He also runs his own marketing communications firm, Keep in Touch, and the Yankee Clipper clipping service, both in Vernon.
...
What is the Fellowship of
Companies for Christ International?
The Fellowship of Companies for Christ International is a peer-to-peer ministry for Christian entrepreneurs, business owners and CEOs - men and women with top-level responsibility for the company. Being the president of a company myself, when you're the top dog, nobody really understands what it's like to sit in that chair and walk in those shoes. FCCI inspires, encourages, equips and challenges business leaders to 'walk the talk' - to really try to be Christ-like in the marketplace. Statistically, 59 percent of Connecticut residents describe themselves as Christian adherents - that means they go to church on Sunday, maybe belong to a church. That's great - but what about Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the rest of the week? There are too many people who sit in church, and yet when it comes to applying our faith in the marketplace, there's a disconnect, a separation of the sacred from the secular. The FCCI ministry seeks to help people integrate their faith seven days a week.
When did the New England chapter start up?
I became a business owner in 1988, and I had a passion to run a truly Christian business. I had been in business about seven months, when I read an article that referenced [FCCI]. I became a member in February 1989. That fall year, my wife Dawn and I went to a national FCCI conference down in Florida and [attended] a workshop on how to start a local fellowship group. I went to that workshop, and a I really got a sense from God in my heart and mind to go back to Connecticut and start a ministry here. We had our first Connecticut meeting in 1991. Our the years we've added groups in Winsted, Norwich, Hamden, Bristol, we're forming groups in Torrington and Waterbury, Bridgeport and Madison. So all over the state things are starting to heat up.
How many members in New England and in Connecticut?
In New England we have about 250, ranging from sole proprietors to heads of companies with 900, 1,000 employees. In Connecticut we have about 150.
What are the principles that guide FCCI's members in the conduct of business?
The one principle that governs everything is what Jesus said in Matthew 22: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.' The core of what we're supposed to be as Christian business owners is based first on love. We're to have the compassion of God as we go out into the marketplace. We're to love our employees. We're to love our customers. We're to love our suppliers.
How is that love expressed?
Many of the principles have to do with finance. The Old and New Testaments probably have more references to money than to any other topic. And in our culture it's very easy to idolize our money - to depend on our financial wealth or property for security.
Forgetting that 'The love of money is the root of all evil.'
That's right! It's the love of money, the craving, that's wrong. There are wealthy Christian people, for example, who are in God's will. But you don't worship the wealth that God's given you. Secondly, what do you do with that wealth? Do you hoard it for yourself, or use it to benefit others?
Getting back to finance, how do those biblical teachings express themselves in your actions?
Paying your bills. If you're a Christian business owner you have to ask yourself, 'Would God ever stiff anyone? Would God ever not pay his bill?' If you took every member of FCCI, in theory, you shouldn't even have to do a credit check. They should be above reproach. In reality, there are Christian business owners - just as there are secular business owners - who stiff people. I just read a story that said that business failures in Connecticut increased in 1997 by 18.5 percent, and that 'leftover debt' increased 67.7 percent from 1996 to 1997.
But the economy improved last year.
Right. It went up from 536 failures in 1996 to 635 in 1997, and leftover debt increased from $482.7 million to $809.4 million. That's about $350 for every resident of Connecticut. If businesses fail, and they leave a trail of destruction to the tune of $810 million, that typifies a culture that says there's nothing wrong with not paying your bills. How can we build a strong economy when we're busy robbing each other?
What about bankruptcy laws?
I believe bankruptcy is nothing more than legalized theft. If I went into Citizens Bank with a gun and said, 'Give me your money,' how long would it take the cops to catch me and throw me in the slammer? And yet, I can go to my suppliers and say, 'I'm not paying my bills - sorry, I've filed for bankruptcy.' Meanwhile, they've transferred their assets into their wife's name, they've removed the cash from their business...Bankruptcy today has become a legitimate financial strategy. It's an easy way out.
What are some other Christian business principles?
Cash flow. Because the economy has improved in Connecticut, there aren't as many companies that play games with their cash flow. Say my terms are net ten days, and you agree. I do the work, I send you an invoice - and you don't pay in ten days. The scriptures say, 'Withhold not good to those to whom it is due' if it within your power to do it. If you have the money in your checking account and you deliberately stall paying your suppliers just so you can make more money on the money sitting in your account - that's immoral. That's wrong.
Any others?
Another illustration would be sales and marketing. There's a lot of manipulation and deception that takes place in sales and marketing. As Christian business owners, yes, we do have to have sales and marketing. The challenge is to promote your company truthfully without resorting to deception. As a communicator I have the power to deceive. But I have a responsibility to speak the truth. There are PR people who are professional liars. If I'm sitting in church on Sunday morning and saying, 'I believe in God,” and yet I'm in front of the media on Monday trying to cover my top management's tracks, I'm being deceptive.
A fundamental principle of business is the maximization of profit, which means every transaction should yield the highest price you can possibly get the customer to pay. That doesn't strike me as very 'Christian.'
There is no chapter and verse in the scriptures that mandates [specific percentages of profit]. Anyone who operates a business understands the simple arithmetic: If we don't make a profit, we can't stay in business. If we don't stay in business, we can't put food on the table, or take care of our employees - or do the ministry work that God has equipped us to do. Before the Industrial Revolution, most Americans were self-employed.
Farmers...
...Small proprietors. As a business proprietor, you understood the simple arithmetic of profit. But today, 94 percent of Americans work for someone else, and they're removed from that simple arithmetic. Profit is not a dirty word.
But to business owners, profit
really comes down to: 'What do I put in my pocket? Ten percent? Fifty?' What's your view?
Well, there are different profit margins associated with different businesses. Some industries can make 800, 900 percent, while others are duking it out for a point or two. I ask other business owners, 'What is a reasonable gross profit margin for today's business?' And a number that seems to come up is that 30 percent gross profit is a reasonable benchmark.
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