Our June 2003 meeting included a brief speech by Jim Cary, CEO President.

Jim indicated that there had been some negative experiences at CEO in a past era with members doing business with each other. There had been poor decisions and subsequent wounds in some business dealings that did not end well.

Jim and the CEO Board are now encouraging the final healing and redemption of this past situation - that we should "move on" - CEO should now be an environment where brothers doing business with brothers is encouraged. Jim cited two recent instances where he had done business with Christian brothers in the group, and quite successfully. Integrity, love, and honor should be at the center of our business dealings - this sets us apart as true followers of Jesus.

Table Discussions

We broke up into discussion groups at each table to discuss how Christians can do business with each other. There were some interesting conversations.

At one table, we discussed several fascinating things. We discussed how the expectation should not always be to get a "special deal" from other Christians, but that the bible says "every worker deserves his wages." This indicates that though we may do business with fellow Christians, they still deserve to be paid market value - why would be value them less?

One person at the table is currently having a conflict with a fellow Christian over non-payment of a bill. After examining several Christian resolution and restoration approaches, the person not being paid decided to make biblical peace and restoration the highest priority - not simply to just get paid. He planned to do this through prayer, gentleness, and loving accountability rather than being "contractually right". Secular society dictates an adversarial model where in a business conflict one person usually wins and the other loses, which usually results in the relationship failing. Anger, hurt, and disparity frequently are the consequence. Conversely, Christ says loving redemption and restoration are the highest goals. The world will know us by our love - even in business.

We ended in prayer teams of two - a great time was had by all.