The Secret to Success

Where everybody knows your name,

and they’re always glad you came.

You wanna be where you can see;

our troubles are all the same

You wanna be where everybody

knows your name.”

You wanna go where people know,

people are all the same,

You wanna go where everybody

knows your name.”

In the right environment, you should feel upgraded.

No more than about thirty days after I joined the church, Sister Cash came up to me after church and asked me about my family situation. She said she overheard one of the teenagers talking and they said I didn’t have a place to stay, that I was homeless. As soon as I told her I was homeless, she offered her home. And it wasn’t like she was well off. She and her husband, Brother Cash, had three children, Rodney, Raymond, and Renee. No one in the house was working and they were on assistance, but she treated me like family.

Being blessed with a roof over my head was only the beginning. A few months after looking for work, finding little odd jobs here and there, I was employed at the McDonalds right up the street from the church on Fenkell and Wyoming. The pastor kept preaching about returning a faithful tithe and offering, so by faith I took him up on his offer. I was a little skeptical at first. I wasn’t sure how the whole tithe and offering thing went, and I wasn’t sure how the church managed my money, but my thinking changed when he read Malachi 3:16:

Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the LORD Almighty.

When I heard about how we should test God, I started thinking to myself I didn’t have much to lose in the first place. My ten-percent was around $60.00, if that. I wasn’t the smartest apple in the bunch, but if God was going to do all the pastor said he would do for $60.00, it was worth a shot. I looked at it like this, I spent $60.00 on a pair of shoes and Footlocker never promised me anything; and so many positive things had happened since I had become a part of the family, I would be a fool not to invest in the people who invested into me.

In the right environment, Big I’s and little you’s don’t exist.

Another thing I really appreciated about Pastor Willis and the way he ran the church was the fact that he didn’t tolerate pecking orders. It didn’t matter if people had Dr. in front of their name, MD behind it or if they were his own flesh and blood, he created an environment where everyone could be a stakeholder. Everyone was not only allowed to make suggestions about church growth and their voice was actually heard. Meetings were not just a formality; he was really interested in what all the members had to say. It didn’t matter if they were educated, uneducated, young or old, he would listen. In fact, one year we had a youth week of prayer and everyone who was willing to follow a few guidelines was allowed to make a presentation. He made his son follow the same guidelines and he divided the responsibilities between all the youth evenly.

The right environment allows you to set realistic expectations while simultaneously providing pressure.