[caption id="attachment_1238" align="aligncenter" width="576" caption="----Oil palm trees are different than regular palm trees----"][/caption]
As you may have read in my latest blog post (http://mattelsberry.com/its-time-to-part-ways-with-crown/), I am no longer with Crown Financial Ministries. And while my time there has been most memorable, it’s time to move on to what’s next.
I have been talking with a good friend of mine who owns a oil palm plantation in Indonesia. He has been incredibly successful in business, and is getting ready to take his private company public next month.

This may sound blase at best, but wait until you hear…the rest of the story.

Many oil palm plantations are destructive to the environment as well as to the employees they use to make a profit.

Not this one.

My friend’s company operates under a “triple bottom line”.

People. Planet. Profit.

People

When the company employs people they go well beyond the established minimums most companies are required to pay people. In fact, they build villages, complete with houses, education, health care, sanitation, clean water and a ton of other …

I was recently told that my position at Crown Financial Ministries was going to be eliminated and I would have the option of staying with the ministry and taking on the Caribbean. While this was an incredibly attractive offer (especially during this unusually long and cold winter), it would also require taking my fund-raising efforts from $35,000/year to $120,000/year.

With much prayer and consideration for our new marriage, Rocio (my fiancee) and I both felt it was time to part ways with Crown. We don’t know what God has next for us, but your prayers for this transition are coveted.

I will miss my time with this great organization. Since college, it’s been all I’ve known. I leave behind a joint effort with hundreds of personal prayer and financial supporters. Together God has used us to do great things. Here’s a quick recap of some of my favorite memories during my time at Crown:

Interning with Dave Rae – The former President of Apple Canada housed me and poured his life into mine for a couple years, and I …



[caption id="attachment_1179" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="----The Burj Al Arab in Dubai----"][/caption]
I had lunch with a good friend from Dubai yesterday. We had only met in person once before briefly, but have shared countless emails and Skype conversations.
Though we wouldn’t end up meeting for another year, we were in the same room (along 600 other people) in Mumbai, India in 2004 for Crown’s Business by the Book Conference. This gentleman was a junior consultant with Ernst and Young in India and had decided to attend the conference with a friend.
Inspired by the idea of running a business by biblical financial principles, these two friends moved to Dubai to launch their company. He reminisced on the early start to the business:

Early on it was incredibly rough going, my wife and I shared a house with a single gentleman and another couple, and only my wife was able to bring in income during the difficult beginning.

But start they did.
Today they are rolling. With already over $23 million in revenue, they just landed by far their biggest client yet. The most impressive …

[caption id="attachment_1161" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="----Bart, Kim (far right) and three of the KC pastors (Chris, Golden and Eric) they are serving----"][/caption]

I met a tribe leader. Seth Godin would define a tribe leader as someone who is leading a group of people by serving their needs. In and around the geography of Kansas City, Bart Nill, and his assitant Kim, are tribe leaders for pastors in the area of stewardship.

How has Bart won over their trust? He genuinely cares about them, and tries his best to help them achieve the goals and vision God has given them for their local congregations. Bart regularly meets with pastors in groups of 4 and pours his life out for theirs.

And they love him for it.

It’s really incredible to watch. Bart invited me to an event the night before Crown ignite! was held in KC. He was presenting the case for the ministry to several friends and supporters. Several of his pastor friends were there.

More than anything else I was struck by how much they loved this guy. I mean, I really believe that they would take a bullet for him. And when …

[caption id="attachment_751" align="aligncenter" width="186" caption="--Larry Burkett 1939-2003--"][/caption]

It was 6:00am and I was sitting with my back to the door eating Fruit Loops. I didn’t realize he was there until he had pulled out the chair next to me and sat down.

My Fruit Loops quickly lost their luster.

Here was a guy that had founded Crown, sold millions of books, and was speaking to 2.1 million people on the radio every week. And was sitting across the table from me at breakfast. Asking questions about my life.

Didn’t he know that he was the interesting one?

In a few short minutes, he made an impression that would mark my life forever. It was evident that he genuinely cared about people; that he genuinely cared about me.

I am grateful that the Lord gave me 2 years of interaction with this humble servant.