Tag Archives: giving

December 15, 2011

Business Gift Giving – The Greatest Gift

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter

Giving is the funnest thing you can do. I’m sorry, I understand you may not agree that it’s giving. It’s OK. You can be wrong, but it is the truth. You can go out and do the craziest, most-entertaining thing. But if you then provide a way for someone to experience it—someone who couldn’t do it on their own—you will find it is an even greater blessing.

That’s just how giving works. It’s a heart thing. It’s like working out. The more you give, the better you feel. That’s how we felt when we shut down our office one Friday afternoon and took all 300-plus team members to GraceWorks to help them get ready for the Christmas season. What’s GraceWorks? Well, their site explains it best:

We supply the basics of life to help move families past a point of crisis. We also offer prayer and spiritual support, and do our best to help any resident of Williamson County, regardless of their personal faith. Help will not be denied on the basis of faith.

GraceWorks began in 1995 to help several local churches screen requests for assistance and determine the validity of the need for food, monetary help or clothing. In 2010, GraceWorks fulfilled more than 6,000 requests for assistance with food, rent, utilities and other aid, totaling more than $700,000, thanks to the help and support of our partners, volunteers and churches.

So basically, we spent the afternoon loading and unloading big trucks, transporting furniture, unpacking cases of food … and I mean like a truckload of cases that was donated by grocery stores … marking through all of the UPC symbols, repacking them and putting them back on the truck to be delivered.

Some team members helped set up the “store” that people will visit during the holidays. Those in need will be able to purchase donated toys and other goods without paying more than $2 per item. (Why do they pay anything? Because it gives them dignity.) Other team members took donated money and went shopping for the rest of the needs.

I can proudly say they had never seen a group like ours! At the end of five hours, we had done the work that would have taken them months to complete. In fact, they were stunned by how we blew through there with such passion and motivation—so much that there were a lot of tears from their team and ours.

When we left, our whole team commented on how it was a must for us to do again. Hopefully, we’ll do it more than once a year. Why would a company shut down their business, and pay out the payroll on 300-plus people to go help a ministry? Because giving is the funnest thing you can do. On top of that, guess who returned to work on Monday even more motivated? Our team!

So next time you’re eyeball deep in what’s going on in your business, stop and take a few hours to give of your time to help some people who are struggling to put food on their tables. You just might return with a different perspective.

Question: What are some things you would like to do as a business to give to your community?

 

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

22 comments   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

November 17, 2011

A Bike And A Smile

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter

Yesterday at EntreLeadership Master Series in San Antonio, a large group of us got together and built bikes for 25 kids from Boys and Girls Clubs of San Antonio.

While it was an amazing team-building exercise for a bunch of us entrepreneurial types, it was more amazing when the kids turned the corner with their faces lit up with the sight of those new bikes. For some of them, this was their first bike. Because of that, had the pleasure of watching three of the ladies helping one boy peddle a bike for the first time in his life.

It’s amazing to think of what these kids don’t have. I talked with Elijah and asked him what he likes best about Boys and Girls Club. He said that he gets to read books. I have a study at home and, if you saw the post the other day, a loaded bookshelf at work. Many of those books I haven’t read yet, but I have good intentions. And here is a boy who probably lives in a home that has few, if any books.

I enjoyed my time with the EntreLeadership attendees working hard to put together a bunch of bikes, but my heart melted to realize how much one small gift blessed the lives of these children. God help me to be even more of a blessing! I can tell you that I walked away completely blessed.

Question: No question for today. Comment as you will.

If you’re enjoying these posts, please share with your friends and family.

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

28 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

October 21, 2011

Shocked At A Jeff Foxworthy Show

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter

Last night I attended a charity benefit for Rocketown in Nashville. A non-profit facility that was a dream of Michael W Smith‘s. It’s a place where youth from all over can hang out and build relationships with each other, as well Rocketown staff. A place where they could get involved in after school programs and Bible studies.

The charity was an auction to raise money so they could keep the doors open for the youth, as well as send 140 kids to camp. Items auctioned off included many signed guitars by musicians, including Carrie Underwood, signed footballs by Titan’s players, and other really cool items. The top prize was a 57 Ford Thunderbird given by Michael himself.

If all that wasn’t enough, Jeff Foxworthy was the headliner of the evening. And let me say, I laughed so hard I snorted a few times. Other people at my table had the pleasure of laughing at me snorting. I laughed the hardest when he talked about how seniors are like pharmacists. He said, I was at my mother-in-law’s house and realized I was having sinus issues. That’s when she asked if I wanted to stop the draining or not feel my head?

She then pulled out a bag that looked like it was full of Skittles, gave me the green pill and said take one of these. I woke up two days later in the back yard talking to Elvis. That’s when she yelled at me GET UP YOU BABY! I TAKE FOUR OF THOSE AND DRIVE TO THE GROCERY! Later he talked about how people with bad breath are always the close talkers. Jeff said, you offer them gum or a mint, and they always turn it down by saying something like – oh I’m ok, I don’t like the taste of those. Well you just keep chewing on that cat poop then.

While it was great to be able to laugh for a little while, the thing that I loved the most was discovering just how much work Jeff does with the homeless shelter in Atlanta. For over a decade he has been helping out every week as well as leading a Bible study. That just blew me away.

His job is making people laugh, but his heart is helping others. It’s incredible to know that someone of his status, who could give lavishly from his wealth and leave it at that, spends every week at a homeless shelter showing people Jesus with jeans on. That makes me proud of Jeff Foxworthy.

Not only did he warm the muscles in my cheeks, he also warmed my heart. I went to charity auction to be a blessing, and I walked away blessed. I gave from what I had, but left a richer man!

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

25 comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Random Thoughts

January 4, 2011

No, Seriously, Stop It!

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter
Cover of "Giving (Doing Words)"

Cover of Giving (Doing Words)

Just a week on the other side of Christmas and let me say that I love gifts!!! I love receiving gifts, but I love giving them even more. Giving a gift is like giving a really good hug…only they get to keep the gift with them. (If you kept hugging, that might get weird.) I believe that I’m not alone in this. I know a lot of people who love to give. There’s just something that God put in us that makes your insides warm up when you spend time looking for that perfect thing, you package it in something that says you care, and then put it in the hands of the friend or loved one. Then the best feeling comes when their face lights up with joy and amazement.

While I believe that God put that desire in us to bless others, I also believe that it is a learned trait. In other words, I think you have to actually start giving to experience it to the fullest. “Well, duh! (You don’t get a lot of duh nowadays.) You can’t experience it if you don’t give something in the first place.” True, but what I mean is, while you can experience it once, I think it builds inside the more you do it…like muscle.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, God is the biggest giver of all. That’s the real point of Christmas. God gave, and many times in His Word He asks us to give. He asks us to give to those who truly don’t have. He asks us to give thanks to Him for His provision. And He asks us to give a tithe of our first fruits. (If you haven’t experience this kind of giving yet, you just don’t realize what you’re missing out on.) I believe He asks us to give so that we become better people. I believe He has us to give so that we realize we don’t actually own it. It’s incredible how many times you hear someone brag on a person because of what they gave. Their time, their talent, their capacity.

When you have a spirit of giving, you almost can’t stop. When you know that He owns it all, you don’t have a problem giving it away. There’s an example of this in the Bible. In Exodus 36:3-7 it shows us how the people gave so much of their freewill offerings that Moses had to send out a decree saying, “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” CAN YOU IMAGINE THAT?!?! The people of God gave so much that they were RESTRAINED from giving. When you have an eternal perspective, you realize that nothing really has sentimental value.

A dear friend of mine once told me that God has given us all gifts. And to hide that gift from others is like smacking God in the face. Here’s the thing…it has to start with me. It doesn’t matter if anyone else is giving. If I don’t, I can’t experience the gift…and neither can anyone else. The great thing is that when I give, it’s like a big ole hug from God!

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , | posted in Financial

December 23, 2010

I’m Sorry, Did I Pay For That?

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter
Christ Ascending into Heaven

Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr

Okay LORD, what’s the deal with sinus junk! Why did you bring me to this land overflowing with mold and…hay fever? (It was the only ‘h’ word I could think of. You know, milk and honey reference.) I never had a sinus issue in my life until I moved to Nashville. Due to the blessing of sinusitis, I had the opportunity to visit Dr. Bradley Rudge at the Walk In Medical Clinic today. We’re like old buddies now since I see him like 3 times a year to get rid of this crud. And I’m sorry to say, but I’m a terrible sick guy. I just get mad, and later…emotional. Then I need my b’ankey!

Anyway, as we were discussing the medicinal prospects to aid in my recovery, he asked where I wanted them sent. I told him which pharmacy I usually use, but I could go to the one next to him. He said, “Oh, you don’t want to go over there. There as slow as Christmas and then mean to you about it.” To which I said, “Isn’t that amazing, it’s like, ‘Aren’t I paying you?’” We laughed for a second and he said, “Yeah, aren’t we in the service business?” I replied like I do, “No doubt!” (Apparently I respond too much with this reply depending on who you ask.) I told him he gave me something to blog about. It was then that he said something that would change my day…and hopefully, my life.

He said that he lost his mother earlier this year. She went in for a routine gallbladder complication, and fifty-five hours later she was gone. Now picture this with me for a second, this is a medical professional who went to the hospital to watch his mother move on to Glory in the hands of other medical professionals. He was like, “This isn’t supposed to happen!” I sat there with my jaw on the floor not knowing what to say, except the old standby, “I’m so sorry! He said that during the fifty-five hours, she would grab his hand and say, “Help me Bradley! Help me Bradley!” but there was nothing he could do.

Come to find out, it wasn’t just a gallbladder issue. She had another problem that caused her to be septic and pass on. But then he said, “You know, I realized that that’s what people are asking of me, to help them. It’s my job. So I decided that I was going to put what my mother said to me in the hospital inside above the patient room doors where only I can see it, as a reminder of why I’m here.” I got up from the table and put my jacket back on and said the only thing I could…”Thanks!…And thanks for sharing the story!” He smiled.

I hope that I never forget that! Now that it is in writing, I hope you never do either. It’s almost Christmas, and all I can think is that my God, My LORD, my Savior heard His people calling out to Him, “Help me God! Help me God!” and He did what only He could do, He served! Not like a waitress serves coffee. Not like a cashier takes money at the store in the mall. He became flesh, He took on the sin of the world, MY SIN, and He made it so I could live forever with Him in Heaven. The funny thing is in return, He asks us to love Him with all our heart…and to love the rest of His children! So as you go through this Christmas season, and you see the opportunity to serve someone, don’t think of it as service, think of it as love. Love that was given so freely to us!

Merry Christmas!

If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , | posted in Leadership, Small Business

December 15, 2010

No Trust For The Church

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter
Dollar Coins

The place that we should trust the most is becoming the place that some people trust less and less. At least when it comes to the area of handling money. A group of us were brainstorming the other day on ways to help churches get out of debt. During the meeting we were spending some time on why people don’t give when one of the guys in the group said, “people don’t trust the church with their money!” It hit me like a ton of bricks…or feathers…either way it was heavy. I’ve been working to help people with their finances for over ten years. For that same amount of time I’ve been helping churches. And while there are many reasons as to why people don’t give, (not understanding why God has them to give is what we hear more than anything) trust is definitely one of the problems. I’ve known it for years, but it took somebody saying it out loud for it to hit home.

We spend our time trying to teach people how to live on a plan. Spend money on purpose, get out of debt, save, invest, give like mad! The problem with that last one comes in when people turn to their church to see that the church isn’t doing the other things. They watch churches going deep into to debt, putting up a buildings they can’t afford, and then cutting ministry out like crazy because they don’t have the money for the debt that they’ve acquired. In Why The Church Is Broke! I talked about how there is no difference in how God wants people to handle His finances, and how He wants the church to as well.

The incredible thing that we have seen lately is, when a church starts to follow God’s plan in the area of money, the people rally behind the church like warriors! They don’t just get behind the church, they take up a sword and run into the battle. In Momentum we have testimony after testimony of churches bragging on how their people accelerated the debt payoff by giving more when the church stood up and took responsibility for doing it the wrong way.

Again, trust isn’t the number one reason people don’t give, it’s just another one. The goal needs to be removing all obstacles that are in the way of keeping people from seeing God’s will for their life.

Comment on how you feel, or have felt about the church handling money.If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , | posted in Financial

December 9, 2010

Stiffed Again!

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter

I’m a big tipper! That is just a fact. And it comes from having been a server. It’s my belief that all teenagers should be required to do two things before entering the rest of their life:

  • Work on a farm and actually come to an understanding of what hard work looks like. I don’t know a single person who has, that didn’t have an incredible work ethic!
  • Work as a waiter/waitress in a restaurant and learn what it means to serve.

Now, I understand the farm one is a little difficult due to the actual numbers of farms and the need for workers. BUT RESTAURANTS ARE EVERYWHERE! The need to serve is laid out before us. The call from on high, “Go forth ye and serve!” In my mind there’s no better way to serve than to wait on someone who’s paying for food. You would be amazed at how many jerks there are in your city. (If you’re offended by that statement…guess what, it’s you.) That’s why I always start out with a 20% tip, and you really have to screw up for me to drop that. Even then I try to convince myself you’re just having a bad day due to somebody being mean before I got there.

With that said, I do want to bring up a situation that happened recently with a colleague of mine. Now, as I get to the end you’ll see that it was just a misunderstanding, but the greater issue for me is what you as a business person should be concerned with. What happened is he called ahead and put in two HUGE orders with a coffee-house chain that equaled 150 drinks over two days. Afterward he sent over a thank you card with a very large tip. Somehow the tip didn’t get to the manager. A week later that person made a comment about how this guys company didn’t tip and they were surprised about it. Now, let’s stop there so I can tell you that the manager brought in extra help and they all worked their butts off to get the orders done. And to understand more, the manager has a heart towards the team members as I believe they only make minimum wage, so tips are a fantastic thing for them. From my point of view, if you’re ordering tons of drinks like that and you don’t tip, you’re a dork!

Here’s what I don’t want us to miss in business. If my average customer buys 1 item from me, and you come in and in 2 days order 150, I’m a pretty happy person! Crud, how do I get you to do that again? How do I get you to do that multiple times a year? A month? How do we miss out on the fact that due to you spending money with me, I get to pay people who get to take that money home and better their lives? This is a crazy good leadership moment to come along side the team members to show them how they need to use this opportunity to thank the customer for choosing them to provide their coffee needs. It’s also a great time to teach them that, due to their efforts, 150 are about to have a much better day. If a tip comes in, celebrate it! But still do the others. If you’re not helping people to see that their job is bigger than them, then what are you doing to energize them? Look for every opportunity possible to show them that the work they do matters! It changes lives! Especially if what you do is wake up the country’s workforce each day.

What are your thoughts?If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

Leave a comment   |  tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | posted in EntreLeadership, Leadership, Small Business

November 18, 2010

Why the Church is Broke!

By Chris LoCurto
Share on Twitter

We spend our every day here at Financial Peace Plaza to convince people that being in debt is one of the dumbest things they can do. Along with that we spend a ton of time trying to convince businesses that there is no difference in what God says about finances for people and business. He doesn’t say, “Get out of debt, but only if it’s personal debt. Don’t worry about the business stuff, I’m down with that.” The truth is that the Bible says that the borrower is SLAVE to the lender. No special dispensation to the church in that statement. We confess that we are trying to be devoted followers of Christ, and we follow the things He tells us to do, but when it comes to the topic of debt we tell God, “Thanks for the help on everything else buuuuuut, I think I’m smarter on this subject.”  The church is no different. As an individual we convince ourselves that the fact we were approved for a car loan must be a blessing of God. As a church if our Sunday service ends up with 3 people over capacity we convince ourselves that God wants us to go heavily in debt to build a bigger building.

As we tell churches all the time, people are tired of giving to a mortgage payment that has no end in sight. They will give to build a building that’s needed and paid for with cash, and they will give to pay off a mortgage that leadership is pushing to eliminate. But the every weekend speech about how much the church needs the money for the bills, and then they go further into debt, people are done with that. A recent report from Empty Tomb Inc. shows that while giving to churches is down, giving to religious organizations, such as World Vision and Salvation Army,  is actually up. The reason is simple, people want to give to something that’s bigger than them. They want to give to something that they believe is going to change lives and a building campaign just doesn’t do it for them. Because of this fact, churches have had to cut the exact things from their budgets that make people feel good; missions, outreach, free cupcake day. Okay, that last one is still in place at most churches. The scary thing is quite a few churches are now taking out loans to pay their payroll.

The solution? Do what a small band of rebel churches are doing and get out of debt. Stop borrowing period! During Momentum I teach a lesson called Mission Matters. In there I show how the church should apologize to the church body by letting them know that they have made mistakes in the area of money and needs the help of the congregation to fix it. You would be amazed at how quickly the hearts of your people will LEAP on board the “pay off the church mortgage” train when you show that on the church is focused on change, and has bigger and better things that it wants to do. But it starts with being debt free. It is not uncommon now for churches to be calling in on the show yelling that the church is debt free and when asked how they did it they say that their people got fired up about what the people of God could do with a debt free church. Look at it this way, what are your other options? Keep doing the same thing you’ve been doing? Well, let me know how that works out for you.If you are enjoying these posts, be sure to click the follow button.

Also, please share these with your social circles.

1 comment   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Financial

Follow

Get every new post on this blog delivered to your Inbox.

Join other followers: