A few weeks ago, I was thinking about my small business, Triumph Fitness, and how I want to see it grow and develop. As I cruised down the road and pondered, the Lord reminded me of something vital, "Remember, your greatest marketing strategy is good service." Hmm… that got me to thinking. If Triumph Fitness exists to meet the needs of people via good service, what does this mean about our growth? We better steward it wisely and serve people well.

Let’s take a look at Jesus for a second. He stated plainly, “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve….” 

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Maybe we've lost it. Maybe people just don’t matter anymore when it comes to businesses”? I don't care what anyone says, people matter and good businesses always take care of their customers. Even Jesus came to serve the disgruntled in humility. (Philippians 2:1-11 explores it all.)

Take this for example: I work with churches all over the world. I get to see how their leadership operates, how their people operate under that leadership, and see if they are spiritually healthy or not. I see their strengths and weaknesses, the good, the bad, and the ugly, how they respond to the prompts of Holy Spirit, and even get insight on the spiritual makeup and atmosphere that they create in their own communities. These are the things that I get the honor of learning from, challenging, encouraging, and spurring on in them as well. One thing I've noticed is that the churches that serve whole heartedly, both locally and internationally, churches that desperately seek the Father to work with him to meet the needs of those people as humble servants, those are the churches greatly increasing in number, spirit, and unity. 

Just a few weeks ago I was invited to visit one of my partner churches in New Hampshire (they partner through Church to Church in Haiti). After serving this church over the past few years, it’s no surprise to me that the pastor told me, “It’s amazing, God has given us an unwavering sense of unity in our church… we are growing… people are falling in love with Jesus… and people are being discipled and raised up to lead as servants.” This church is one of the vibrant examples of what I spoke about in the paragraph above, a church of obedient risk-takers, willing to humble themselves and meet the needs of the people God has surrounded them with. These are the one percent (like Gideon's 300) that says, “We’re ready Lord, bring it on!”

Remember, no matter whether you're a business, a church, or a person, your growth is a drastic reflection of how well you serve. Jesus came to serve and meet people's needs. In that, people began to faithfully follow him as they saw the Father's heart via his humble service.

Businesses, churches, and people of God, we exist to give good service in meeting needs, and your greatest marketing strategy will always be good service. Now strap on your sandals and be as you were sent, servants!

Ponder this a while, because I've got more for you on this soon...