I am bursting with things to share with you over the next few weeks as I get more clarity on specifics but I want you to know that my meeting with Pastor Sunday Adelaja from the Ukraine went very well. This man is bent on transforming the culture and that is exactly what is happening. We can do the same thing here! One of the ways they are doing that is through their business club which is producing millionaires faster than Harvard, at a fraction of the investment! And these young millionaires are using their new wealth and influence to head up outreach ministries to the youth culture reaching tens, even hundreds of thousands of young people.

The other day we made available for free the hour-plus interview we did with Pastor Adelaja. There were no strings attached. It cost us thousands of dollars of resources to make that possible but we wanted to help a lot of folks. We heard from Europe to the Philippines and of course here in the USA how powerful this teleseminar was. Now we are offering it where you can choose the purchase price - even free if necessary. Click here for details.

I also want to give you a quick, last minute heads up to tune in via the internet to a live radio program I am doing in the Southwest Florida area. If you want to listen live, you can click here for live streaming. It requires Windows Media Player I believe. This is a secular radio station reaching a diverse audience. The topic will be the 7 Wealth Secrets of the Rainforest - How to Transform Scarcity into Abundance! My segment begins at 4:05 pm Eastern Time today, April 24^th (check that time in your time zone here).

Hello friends,

In honor of April 15th, I thought I’d pass along the message I just got from Jeremy over at ChristianBusinessDaily.com.  In light of today’s topic of conversation on the blog, you may particularly enjoy it.  The video is one of me on a similar rant from a few years back…

Blessings,

Michael

Dear Michael,

Happy Tax Day!

I’ll make this quick, because I still need to go wait in line at the post office.

If you’re a small business owner like me, I’m sure this is one of your least favorite days of the year.

By the time I leave the post office today, I will have mailed a 2007 income tax payment, a monthly payroll tax payment, and my 2008 first quarter estimates.  Tax day is now a monthly event for business leaders like you and I, but we all get hit especially hard on April 15.

While I wait in line, I’ll try not to think about how much more productive my small business could be with that money than the government.  In fact, given the way tax dollars are wasted, I think my tax payments would bring a more valuable return if the checks were cashed, shredded, and used as bedding for an animal…

Sorry.  Let me end my tax day rant right here.

Despite the fortunes that we deliver to the IRS each year, only to watch them get wasted… we are NOT helpless victims.

I don’t need to tell you that, because you are a small business leader.  You’ve already taken leadership into your own hands - starting your business with a vision of doing something different. Something great. Something that makes a difference on your industry, and the people you serve.

As Christian business leaders, our calling is especially important — and unique.

If you are a Christian business leader, you have been called to expand the Kingdom of God through the marketplace - whether you know it or not.

We can no longer separate the secular from the sacred.  Our business practices must shine the light of Christ in a very dark place.

We need to leverage our influence in our local communities to begin to take back the gates of commerce, and make an impact for Christ that cannot be ignored.

Friends, the battle to impact the culture with the Kingdom of God is heating up fast.  The stakes have never been higher!

Today… Tax Day 2008… We’ve set up a free video to encourage you in your work, and to help expand your vision of what God can do through Christian business people.

Click here to watch a free video from a remarkable event that you missed in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Then read the article to find out how we can make a lasting impact on our small towns, our cities, our states and our nations - through the potential influence we have in business.

Sincerely,

Jeremy Harrison
ChristianBusinessDaily.com

P.S. This free video will only be available through the end of the week.  Click here to view it now.

Yes, I did select this title to get folks to read the article. This blog is longer but important. It will take you all of 3 - 4 minutes to read it but it’s worth it. Here goes…

“For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Romans 14:11)

The other night I turned on the television and to my shock and amazement witnessed something I thought I would never see. It was “results” night for American Idol and there were all the contestants singing “Shout to the Lord”, originally a Hillsongs worship song. Tears welled up in me as I heard them sing so powerfully this song that opens with “My Jesus, My Savior…” Now I read that the night before they substituted the name of Jesus with the word, “Shepherd” but apparently folks got upset at that and they had them do it over again on Thursday night. No matter. Regardless of their beliefs, the contestants glorified God with their song and with their talents and millions were touched!

Now as some of you know, we got some questions about my blog from last week where I told about Pastor Sunday Adelaja from Ukraine who has a Club 1000 raising up millionaires in a relatively poor country. (Over 200 new millionaires in the first year) As usual, I was misunderstood by some who should know my intent better. It seems every time I bring up the subject of wealth and influence there are those who react quite negatively, grouping me with those who preach some form of a prosperity gospel of personal consumption and materialism.

The reason I will keep posting what I post is not so you can acquire untold wealth and live a lavish lifestyle. Your lifestyle is not my concern! I am concerned about the culture and the pitiful influence that we as Christians have on it. Wealth is not about getting people to envy you so you can share the gospel, although that may happen. Wealth is not about being a fat cat. The purpose of wealth is to establish the covenant. Even with Christ in us, working through us, in the last 50 years we as Christians have established very little. Sure we have established churches but most of them have taken the vow of silence on culturally relevant things like government and politics, having chosen to come under the sovereignty of the state with their 501(c)(3) status.  (There is a place for non-profits, but the church isn’t the place!)   I will rant on that another time!

Christians are so marginalized today and we deserve it. We are afraid to make money but quite willing to beg for it! What is wrong with this picture!?!?!  We shun wealth leaving the levers of influence that money buys, in the hands of the wicked. Shame on us! I for one will not apologize for wealth because I want to use it to in some meaningful way to establish the covenant and shape the culture, even though my brothers and sisters in Christ may naïvely accuse me of being caught up in a prosperity, get rich, selfish gospel.

Did you know that General Electric wants to spin off NBC? Wouldn’t it be something if Christians with a profoundly Biblical worldview could and would buy it?! But no, having money is evil according to too many Christians. Grow up! Be strong in Christ! Give your talents over to God. He just might raise you up to be the next owner of CNN. And no, I don’t mean to suggest that if Christians owned CNN or NBC, etc that it would be turned into a religious broadcasting network. We don’t need anymore of those. What we need is Christians with a brain and filled with the Spirit, walking in wisdom! That would be dangerous!

Why do you think Fox ran that “Shout to the Lord” song the first night without the name of Jesus?  Do you think they forgot the words? Do you think they were trying to improve upon the song? YOU KNOW THE ANSWER and so do I. There is incredible power in the media and that’s just one reason I want to see Christians with wealth so they can control those levers for good!  Wouldn’t it be great if the evening news was not stacked in favor of political candidates who do not share our values? Wouldn’t it be something if evil was exposed for what it was and good was celebrated? I could go on and on!

But too many of us, decry the evils of wealth and tell us instead to simply be more Christlike. As if being wealthy and Christlike were mutually exclusive! And by the way, if Christlikeness is really the goal, do you think He is sitting on a throne made of popsicle sticks? Do you think the gold on the streets is just gold colored paint? Get real! Want to be like Christ? Then be like Him in every way you can. Fully confident. Fully in union with the Father. Walking in love. Helping others. Never in lack.

I am in Greensboro tonight (April 15^th) speaking at Evangel Fellowship in Greensboro, NC with Pastor Otis Lockett and this message is burning in me. Care to join me? Pastor Lockett is doing a phenomenal work in that city and raising up business leaders to influence the culture. Join us if you can. See you there!