Business As Usual?

“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me for he has anointed me to preach good news ……. “
“Go and preach this gospel into all the world”
“Preach baptize make disciples”
“I have to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God in the other cities also, for that is what I was sent to do.”
“Just as the Father has sent me so I am sending you”

It seems to me that in scripture God has placed a fair amount of emphasis on the preaching, proclaiming and spreading of the good news of the gospel as a means of presenting the gift of eternal life to those who are lost and dying. The power of the preached gospel is an unmatched force in all the world. In some versions it says the disciples were to preach the gospel into the “whole of creation”. It’s through this act that men hear holy truth and are saved, set free, transformed, renewed and established as new creatures in Christ for the glory of God.
I see few witnesses of this same power in the act of teaching among those who are saved or during the act we often refer to as corporate worship, we do see examples in the old testament and in the new during corporate prayer and the offering of sacrifices. Most of these how ever are external demonstrations. There are demonstrations of this power witnessed in the laying on of hands and various kinds of healing which follow the preaching of this gospel, but the most amazing demonstration is that which occurs when one is transformed from being an enemy of God into one who bears his name as a son or daughter through the preaching of salvation. This also remains the most definitive way in which God’s kingdom is increased; as those who believe are added daily to the multitude He will gather together one day.

I used to work for a national corporation as a purchasing agent, buying products from all over the US and some off shore, the company was the largest of its kind in the world and we were it’s largest plant. If a company were able to secure a contract to supply us product it was a big deal and they knew it. On the other hand a company also knew that to lose our business could be devastating for them. With this being true many large companies would send salesmen to live in the city where our corporate office was located; they would sell his old house, buy him a new one at the new location, cover all of his expenses and provide him with a salary just to have him in close proximity to our company. The strategy was to begin developing relationships with those who made the decisions regarding our national contracts. Needless to say this required a HUGE investment of time, money, and commitment on the part of these companies, but they knew it was worth it if a deal could be made. If they were to secure a contract they would be the beneficiaries of a huge increase in business causing their company to grow and expand. Businesses constantly have salesmen out in the field presenting the benefits of their company to others in an attempt to increase their size, wealth, name and influence in the business world.
Why did they do this? Why didn’t they just stay at their corporate office on the other side of the country, have meetings about how great their company was? Why didn’t they keep their salesmen at corporate teaching and training other “affiliates” in the attributes of the company, its products and the great plans they had to grow the company over the next few years?
Meetings, seminars, memos, strategies, staff meetings, employee “empowerment” training classes, “kick off celebrations”.

I did a lot of business with salesmen who worked for fast growing, successful companies, some used to live in areas of the east coast or the south prior to being moved to Oregon. I can tell you it was never the idea of these guys to walk up to their bosses and say, “Hey, I want to move my family across the country to Oregon to get more business for the company”. Fat chance. The mindset to “send” people for the sake of increasing the wealth of the company was always that of the corporate office. They knew they needed to “send and spend” if they wanted to establish a presence of their company in new areas. They were willing to make an investment towards that end. It’s absolutely unheard of for a scenario like this next one to occur.

A top achiever within a corporation sees the need for expansion into a new area so he goes to his boss and says, “I’m going to move my family across the country in an attempt to generate more business through the development of new relationships”.
Although the corporate office has never mentioned nor made any attempt of doing this itself, it agrees to send the salesman off “in the name of the corporation”. Corporate also sends out a memo letting everyone know that “Joe salesman” is off to reach new customers and has its full support and blessing, and if anyone wants to help support Joe’s efforts on a monthly level feel free to do so, as a matter of fact, corporate believes in him so much they too are willing to provide one hundred dollars a month towards Joe’s effort.

Now I know I’m being silly and there isn’t one responsible corporation who would be foolish enough to believe any company could reach new clients and gain increased business this way. It’s pretty much fantasy ……..right?