I was reminded by both Josh Muse and Ronald Whited about something that the Lord taught me and Tina a long time ago.
(Let me say at this point that the first Livingston Leadership School is phenomenal and going extremely well! It has been a great blessing to be part of it!! Tonight, we will enjoy greatly the tent Revival at Hardy’s Chapel Community Center.)
Josh was sharing in a teaching yesterday that Kaleo budgets by faith—based on what God has called the ministry to do in the future, not based on what the Lord had done in the past. He related that his accountant was at first flabbergasted. Accounting by faith stretches most accountants…!
Thirty-three years ago, when we started ServiceMaster LawnCare, we were taught by Service Master (master’s of service in service to the Master) to budget forward, never backward. We were taught to prayerfully determine how much we wanted to grow the company. For example, if our goal was to increase our profit by $50,000.00 that year, we would determine how many more customers we needed to attract, how many more employees it would take to care for our new customers, if a new vehicle was needed, how much more fertilizer and weed control products we would need… you get the point.
It was always a monumental step of faith as we put pencil to paper at the beginning of each year and wrapped our brains around what would be—but was not—yet. We realized that we had to buy products, hire employees, and perhaps increase our fleet size BEFORE we had the money to do so. We realized we were going to have to work as hard as necessary to meet the goal—because not meeting it was not an option.
Amazingly, it worked. We were the fastest grow franchise in the Country at the end of our first year. We were the third largest franchise in the U.S. by our fourth year, only slightly smaller than the older and more established franchises located in Denver and in Chicago.
Amazingly, most of the other franchises were afraid to budget this way, walking by sight rather than by faith. Their businesses grew slowly—or not at all—while they had to personally treat all their yards, rather than allowing employees to take on more and more of the load.
Ronald reminded me this morning of Hebrews 11 – Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. He went on to say that the Lord was showing him that we are called to be Faithful Men and Women, not just men and women of faith.
Faith has always meant RISK with action, not just belief with warm thoughts…
This year, if nothing else, should teach us of the desperate need for the Church of Jesus Messiah to walk in the hoped for with evidence of the not yet seen more than ever!! We will NEVER be able to live on yesterday’s Manna. Furthermore, we are called to Kingdom budget spiritually and evangelistically and even financially on what WILL be, not on what was. Can we believe that God can and will increase His Manna supply to us as we increase our dependence on Him doing so?