Recollections About the Asheville NACFC Conference

It is very hard to tell you who were not able to attend the national conference just how wonderful the time can be in sharing with other people in the financial services industry who wish to serve the Lord in their work. The following excerpts are an attempt to salute the people who shared at this year’s conference and let you know the quality of the speakers and sessions.

BOB HARTENSTEIN

He shared from his heart about his career in doing a levered buyout of a division of the company he worked for and then developed what was to become Hartco Ind. into a company that attempted to reflect Christ in its ethics and its outreach. Those are qualities we all identified with as we also want the same for our business. His emphasis on looking for the eternal significance over temporary fulfillment had many applications that anyone in any line of work would understand. He shared his heart about how his trust for the Lord gave him courage to follow His leading by moving out of a lucrative position with Hartco to start Innkeeper Ministries which is in the work of offering a place to retreat for Christian co-workers who need a special place to get some R & R. You can visit their website, www.hartcoservice.com/innkeeper.com to see if someone you know could take advantage of their Innkeeper Ministry.

ALAN ROSS

Alan has never missed an NACFC national conference and this year was especially poignant in his time of sharing. He experienced a very serious foot disease this past year and several doctors had advised him to amputate his foot to save his life. God has been gracious to him in that his foot and leg are on the mend after surgery and his advice about how to deal with “Bounces” in your life took on a serious personal testimony. If you get a chance to ever hear Alan on any subject, you would be well advised to sacrifice time and travel to hear him. His lessons to us about learning obedience during times of trouble in our life will be God’s way of knowing how we deal with bounce situations. His recent book “Unconditional Excellence” is a must read if you want to get to know the kind of person Alan is if you cannot get to a conference that he is attending.

MAT STAVER

The founder of Liberty Counsel, a legal defense organization established to preserve religious freedom for all Americans and on the front lines of battles in local courtrooms and the Supreme Court, Mat reviewed for all of us the importance of being like the church in Macedonia. In addition to explaining the status of the legal battles Christians are facing in our country, he was encouraging to us by giving the Lord credit for many recent victories in battles over Christian marriage. Just hearing Mat speak makes us appreciate how important it is for competent attorneys to be giving their lives as a sacrifice to issues of faith rather than taking the more profitable short term choice in litigating more profitable corporate cases.

RON BLUE

Ron was one of this year’s winners of the NACFC Integrity award along with Maxton Sutton. Ron’s work at the CFPN and in the market place has raised the visibility of all of us in the financial world who call ourselves Christian. He was humbled by the outpouring of encouragement by our members to him for all of the work that has been done to increase the awareness of Christian values in our industry and the contribution he has made in that regard.

This list is just some of the speakers who were conducting breakout sessions on many topics of interest.

• MICHAEL PINK

• ART ALLY

• MARK HENRY

• JEFF ARMSTRONG

• GLEN McRARY

• BILL GREGG

• JACK WEHMILLER

• BOB BARBER

• PAT HAIL, JR

• MICK OWENS

• MIKE KUCKEL

• KEN GRIFFITH

• ERIC HENNING

• JIM SANDERS

As the Cleveland Indians are now saying, “there’s always next year” and I would say to you that there are 2 ways to play next year if you want to get the benefit of the work being done for you and your colleagues.

Christian Financial Professionals Network, www.cfpn.org

National Association of Christian Financial Consultants, www.nacfc.org

Sent August 7, 2006

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