Jim is a former football player from Samford University in Birmingham and it’s obvious in his stature. I met him this week at Catalyst because he and a crew of men sat in the row in front of us. The group of guys he was with really interested me because, well, they just seemed out of place and a little uncomfortable. To be completely honest, with all the lights, huge crowd and constant entertainment, I felt a little out of place too. We were in the arena for two full days and it took me pretty much that whole time to meet the men in front of me, but I finally took the opportunity.
It turns out that there was a reason that the group of men looked a little uncomfortable. Jim runs a business called Wash Me Fast, which is a car washing business in the Atlanta area. I felt the most comfortable speaking with Jim and there was a reason. He was the boss. During the conversation, I found out that the men with him were all his managers and leaders of his teams. None of them are Christian. Immediately, I started thinking about all the worship time and messages that had been spoken so far. Sure, this is a leadership conference that brings leaders from all over the US in tons of different positions to collaborate and learn from each other, but it’s also Christian. However, Jim didn’t see this as a reason not to bring his team along.
The men sat through the whole thing and I’m not sure if this is because Jim was signing their checks, or if they genuinely enjoyed it, but they seemed happy. I talked to them a little and they had only positive things to say. I asked Jim if that was a tough thing to do and what made him decide to do it and he said it was because his job site would always be his mission field. He has invited his team to a Bible study at his church as well, but I don’t think many returned a second time, but that was no discouragement. The most exciting thing is Jim’s vision of how his business can help globally, but also broaden the world view of his staff. Wash Me Fast is working on a partnership with clean water campaigns to donate some of their profits on certain days to provide other countries with clean drinking water (pretty sweet idea, especially since it would be easy to criticize operations like this for wasting water). Coupled with these new random fund raisers, Jim will also take a team of his men down to Guatemala to help with a clean water campaign so they can see it for themselves.
Wash Me Fast is a family company, so Jim sees his coworkers as family. They’re not just employees that work for him, but brothers and he wants them to know why he operates the way he does. I was so blessed in this conversation because it’s such a beautiful picture of living out the Gospel and not “damning sinners to hell” with pushy messages or cheesy pamphlets. People aren’t convinced or swayed by Christianity, they are moved by it when they see it in action and that’s what changes them. Sure, God can work through anything, but He chooses to work through us. Unfortunately, too often, Satan also works through us and widens the gap that’s already uncrossable without Jesus.
It’s so cool to see creative Christianity and the church leaving the building…
