CBMC 2021 Spring Connector

CONNECTOR THE

SPRING NEWSLETTER

CHRISTIAN BUSINESS MEN’S CONNECTION

IN THIS ISSUE:

SPRING 2021

• BECOMING A SPIRITUAL REPRODUCER • A TIME TO LEARN • BUILDING A RICH LEGACY

WWW.CBMC.COM

FROM THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT Hello Friends, God is in the construction business. He is a builder. We all come broken with a few cracks that need repair. For some, there is major reconstruction needed. Just like a foundation that settles, we sometimes settle into a life of going through the motions. The Great Builder knows exactly what we need and exactly how to repair, restore, and renew us.

Following God’s lead, CBMC is on a mission to build up business and professional men. We want to encourage men to study God’s Word, to stay connected to a team of men who will keep them accountable, and to live out their faith at work. Build up a man to be who God designed him to be.

I recently read Colossians 1:28, and through the stirring of the Spirit it jumped off the page at me. I’ve read this verse a thousand times, but this time was different.

“We proclaim Him, admonishing every person and teaching every person with all wisdom, so that we may present every person complete in Christ.”

reproducers. This is how we are presenting every man complete.

We are all under construction. A man’s life is a construction site, and our goal is to hear, “job well done.”

CBMC is also building momentum as a ministry as we grow more teams into all 50 states over the next 10 years.

Never has there been a more important time to double Operation Timothy is about two men going deeper in down to accomplish the mission. Societal pressures are their faith, one-on-one. Young Professionals are about mature guys pouring into the younger generation, giving challenging Biblical principles. We must move quickly and YP’s the edge they didn’t have. Trusted Advisor Forums are with intention if we are to build up the next generation of challenging senior executives to live out their faith boldly Christian business and professional men. and courageously. BSR (Becoming a Spiritual ReproducBuilding God’s kingdom one businessman at a time…. er), the newest CBMC offering, equips men to be spiritual now is the time. Let’s get to work!

How do we do this?

Serving with you,

2021 BOARD MEMBERS Dirk Block (Chairman) Roger Emerson Jeff Goldfarb Steve Goss (Secretary) Don Hargadon (Treasurer) Todd Hopkins Dave Melin

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David Meyers Scott Newcomer* Todd Schimmelpfennig (Co-Vice Chairman) David Sparks (Co-Vice Chairman) Mike Winter* *Staff Advisory Member

David Meyers President, CBMC USA P.S. Now is the time to become a financial partner. Every dollar is matched when you designate to Vision 650. Our goal for 2021 is $600,000. Would you help us reach our monthly goal of $50,000? Every gift counts. Help us build God’s kingdom one businessman at a time.

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CBMC LAUNCHES ONLINE TRAINING IN

new report from the Barna Group reveals a startling statistic: 51% of U.S. churchgoers surveyed said they are unfamiliar with the term, “the Great Commission.” CBMC’s commitment to fulfill Jesus Christ’s command to “go and make disciples of all nations…teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20), is greater than ever. Evidence of this is the recent release of a dynamic new online resource, “Becoming a Spiritual Reproducer,” a seven-session exploration into Biblical disciplemaking.

Becoming a Spiritual Reproducer (BSR) is a user-friendly refinement of PowerPoint presentations that have been used for more than 10 years to train mature believers in the process of making disciples.

Previously available in four- to six-hour sessions, typically over a Friday evening and Saturday morning, the training can now be used during Connect 3 team, Young Professionals, and Trusted Advisor Forum meetings.

CBMC staff members Mark Hofert and Paul Johnson, who collaborated on the project, said, “This video-based series is now fully reproducible, allowing for more widespread use of this excellent training in the Biblical principles of disciplemaking. Each session requires only about 35 minutes, although it could be expanded to an hour, if time permits.”

To support the video training and discussion, presented on CBMC’s online MAAS system, a digital, 36-page Participant’s Guide can be downloaded and printed, or printed copies can be purchased for $4.95 at Amazon.com.

“The very best training for becoming a disciplemaker is one-on-one, two people going through Operation Timothy together, growing spiritually and going on to become spiritual reproducers that way,” Hofert pointed out. “That has been CBMC’s classic approach for more than 40 years, but this new, very accessible training is a great way to launch teams of guys into disciplemaking, helping them each to grasp the idea, ‘I can do that!’”

Johnson agreed, pointing out the goal of the comprehensive BSR training: “Our desire is when participants have completed the training they will understand, embrace, and live-out God’s call on their life to become a spiritual reproducer.

We want them to personalize God’s command to “make disciples” where they work, live and play, and to be able to effectively utilize Operation Timothy in the process. ’ While the hope is for CBMC teams across the United States to start utilizing the training, it is already having a global impact, with more than 35 country leaders in Asia being equipped recently to use the free online training resource.

During one session, a quote from the 19th century preacher and theologian Charles Haddon Spurgeon speaks powerfully to the mission for making disciples: “Do not carve your name on marble; carve your name on hearts.”

It is CBMC’s desire that through Becoming a Spiritual Reproducer, hundreds and thousands of people will become better equipped “heart carvers.” To access BSR, visit cbmc.com/bsr.

HAVE A STORY TO SHARE? WE’D LOVE TO HEAR ABOUT WHAT GOD IS DOING IN YOUR AREA. EMAIL HMCAFEE@CBMC.COM.

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RECOGNIZING WHEN IT’S TIME TO LEAD – AND WHEN IT’S MORE OF A TIME TO LEARN

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cclesiastes 3 begins, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot…a time to tear down and a time to build….” Its contrasts could easily include the phrase, “a time to lead and a time to learn.”

Less than three years ago, that’s what Josh Dittrich concluded. He had been approached by a marketplace non-profit to serve in a leadership role and was flattered for being considered.

However, Dittrich didn’t sense God’s leading in that direction. “I had become super on fire for the Lord, actively asking Him where He wanted me to be. Even though I had come to know Jesus Christ early in my life, I had been spending a lot of my time chasing the dollar. My relationship with Him was not what it needed to be.

“I prayed He would open or shut a door, giving me clear direction. I sensed the Lord was saying, ‘Josh, this is not the time to lead, but the time for you to learn.’ About that time I heard about CBMC through a friend.

Dittrich’s role as president of Bright Ventures LLC, an entrepreneurial organization and business incubator, had given him flexibility to explore a deep longing in his heart: to learn how to integrate his faith, family and business, rather than treating them as separate entities.

He and his wife, Danielle, had five children, and knew he needed to make some changes, both as a husband and a father.

“One of the key tools CBMC introduced me to was the Spiritual Awareness Chart, which helps us understand where someone is on their own spiritual journey. It was eye-opening,” he said. “I had a preconceived notion that sharing your faith meant having to close the deal. Discussing the Chart, however, showed me that as you build rapport and trust, people become open to the Gospel through the relationships you have with them.

“I realized God can use us as seed planters or seed waterers, as well as harvesters. As long as we’re obedient, we don’t have to carry an evangelistic burden the Lord never intended for us to bear.”

However, Dittrich’s Trusted Advisors group made its most profound impact on him in a different way. There was an issue of unconfessed sin that he had never confided

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Josh with his family

with anyone. “The weight of sin was dragging me down.

There had been no one I could talk to about it, but when my time came to host the group, I felt this was what God wanted me to talk about; the Holy Spirit was really calling me to confront it.”

When someone hosts a Trusted Advisors meeting, the practice is to prepare a document in advance, to help the host think through the issues he wants to discuss, and also to enable fellow members to understand the concerns and pray through how to respond.

The sin that had been weighing on him was an episode of unfaithfulness years before that he had never confessed to Danielle. At the meeting, the men in his Trusted Advisors group listened attentively and then, drawing from wisdom gained over many years of collective experience, they unanimously agreed Dittrich needed to confess his sin.

“The first 24 hours were the hardest, but God was in the middle of it and very quickly began the healing process.

Besides the hurt, it enabled us to take a serious look at how we had become disconnected and realize our marriage needed work. We started seeing a Christian counselor, which we’re still doing, and it’s enabled Danielle to start working on some things she had never considered before.”

Looking back on this painful experience, Dittrich has seen in a fresh way how God will use anything to accomplish His purposes, as Romans 8:28 promises.

His Trusted Advisors group continues to serve as an invaluable resource. “These are 10-11 guys at similar stages in life I can really open up with, receiving wise, godly counsel combined with strong fellowship and accountability. They love me as a brother in Christ; it’s Christian alignment in a way I had never seen before.”

MARK BUNDY, 2ND-GENERATION CBMC LEADER AND BOARD MEMBER, HAS BUILT A RICH LEGACY

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or almost as long as Mark Bundy can remember, CBMC has been “in his DNA.” His father, Ron Bundy, was introduced to CBMC in Pasadena, Calif. while Mark and his siblings were still young, so they were able to observe the ministry to business and professional men firsthand in their home.

Mark served almost continuously in that role, including several terms as Chairman, until he retired from the National Board at the end of 2020.

Today he remains actively engaged with CBMC in Southern California, but his impact at all levels of the ministry continues. Several current leaders shared their own perspectives of Mark.

be added to you as well,’ and his life reflects that.

By watching his father mentor and disciple men, and participating in CBMC family events, Mark caught the vision of serving the Lord and ministering to men in the workplace.

During his 20s, he became a second-generation CBMCer, attending weekly breakfast groups in Santa Ana and soon being invited to speak at ministry events.

Pat O’Neal first collaborated with Mark on the National Board. When O’Neal took on the role of President in 2004, Mark then became one of his “bosses.” In both capacities, Mark was “nothing but a joy,” O’Neal said.

“When we formed a national leadership team to come alongside me in 2005, Mark was an important part of it.

Dirk Block, current Board Chairman, described Mark as a person who “loves and breathes Jesus – and he loves the ministry of CBMC because of that. Mark walks very closely with God, and that exudes out of him in how he relates to people. When he served as Chairman, he used that platform to sink deep in relationships with every Board member, a very endearing quality he has.”

“Mark has been foundational in my walk with Jesus. He saw something in me I don’t think I saw in myself.”

While heading up a general construction company in Costa Mesa, as well as being a husband and father to two sons, Mark made CBMC a high priority, taking men through Operation Timothy and serving in leadership roles in Southern California. His involvement took on a national scope in 2003 after Fritz Klumpp, then Executive Director of CBMC, approached him about joining the National Board of Directors.

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“I always admired his passion for ministry. He lives out what it means to be a disciple of Christ and seeing him reach out to men in the marketplace was a great encouragement.

He is especially good at rounding up folks, getting them past disagreements to communicate well with one another. He’s always at the center of getting people together on the same page.”

Bill McAvinney, President Emeritus of CBMC, met Mark in 2002. They served together on the National Board for 16 years. “One of Mark’s favorite verses is Matthew 6:33, ‘But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will

“He’s a natural-born bridge builder, always seeking to bring people into harmony as much as possible.

Mark is a true encourager, a genuine lover of people and the Lord. I never heard him say no to an opportunity to serve the Lord anywhere.”

Over the years, Mark has invested countless hours in other men, taking them through Operation Timothy and being a mentor for many. One of them is Todd Schimmelpfennig.

“I am pretty sure he bleeds CBMC blood if cut. As one of the first men I encountered at the Newport Beach CBMC meetings, it was immediately apparently this was a business guy who loved Jesus.

“Mark has been foundational in my walk with Jesus. He saw something in me I don’t think I saw in myself. He poured into me, inviting me to join his Forum group, into leadership locally, regionally, and then onto the

Mark (back row) with the Board of Directors and the staff of the Ministry Support Center in Chattanooga

National Board. Every step of the way he encouraged and challenged me to become a better husband, father, employer, and follower of Jesus.

CBMC President David Meyers says this, “It has been a joy getting to know Mark over the past year.

I so appreciate his focus on CBMC keeping the ‘C’ first relating to our biblical foundation as a ministry. When I think Marketplace Ambassador, I think of Mark Bundy.”

Mark and his father, Ron, were featured in Marketplace Ambassadors, a book published last year that recounted CBMC’s more than 90-year legacy of ministry in the marketplace. In it, Mark summarized the reasons for his involvement: “What’s great about CBMC is coming alongside and supporting men in their personal ministry to others, going to multiple generations…. And it complements our work in the business world, affirming that our business is our ministry, showing us how to integrate our faith 24/7 into the workday.

Business owners, CEOs, managers – it gives them a built-in platform for inviting people to hear a testimony of how Jesus has changed a man’s life.

Mark (right) with Bill McAvinney at President’s Council in 2018

“One of the things I have loved about the ministry is meeting a guy where he is, encouraging him to become what God wants him to be…. He uses our own challenges and development to encourage and share with others.”

Thank you, Mark, for faithful service to the mission of CBMC.

Mark with Eldon Kibbey, Phil Stone and Stephen Truax at the Ministry Support Center 7

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CBMC’S TWOFOLD MISSION: TO PRESENT JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD TO BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN, AND TO DEVELOP CHRISTIAN BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEN TO CARRY OUT THE GREAT COMMISSION.

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2021 UPCOMING CBMC EVENTS CHECK CBMC.COM/EVENTS FOR REGISTRATION DETAILS Young Professional Informational Dinner April 29, 2021 5:30 PM Heartland Christian Business Men’s Connection Omaha, Nebraska CBMC Marketplace Ambassador Luncheon May 4, 2021 11:30 AM Aloft-Element Tampa Midtown Tampa, Florida Lunch and Learn About Peer Advisory Groups May 5, 2021 11:30 AM Heartland Christian Business Men’s Connection Omaha, Nebraska First Thursday Prayer Gathering May 5, 2021 7:00 AM Online Event Oklahoma Get to Know CBMC May 6, 2021 7:00 AM Central Oklahoma Home Builders Association Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Leadership Coach Training May 7, 2021 9:00 AM Virtual Event Overland Park, Kansas Men United May 8, 2021 7:30 AM Kimmell Conference Center at Kimray Oklahoma City, Oklahoma CBMC Business Impact Webinar May 11, 2021 12:00PM Online Event Marketplace Ambassador Gathering May 12, 2021 11:30 AM Harley Town Topeka, Kansas Connect3 Lunch & Learn May 13, 2021 12:00 PM Van’s Pig Stand Moore, Oklahoma Hot Dogs at the Hank May 13, 2021 12:00 PM Hank Aaron Stadium Mobile, Alabama

Forge Men’s Retreat May 15, 2021 8:00 AM Shiloh Camp Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Key Man Meeting May 19, 2021 7:00 AM Saint Charles Convention Center St. Charles, Missouri First Thursday Prayer Gathering June 3, 2021 7:00 AM Online Event Oklahoma Fly Fishing Weekend at Rockbridge June 4, 2021 3:00 PM Rockbridge Rainbow Trout and Game Ranch Rockbridge, Missouri Leaders Above June 9, 2021 2:00 PM ET National Online Event Marketplace Ambassador Gathering June 9, 2021 11:30 AM Harley Town Topeka, Kansas

Hot Dogs at the Hank June 10, 2021 12:00 PM Hank Aaron Stadium Mobile, Alabama Men United June 12, 2021 7:30 AM Kimmell Conference Center at Kimray Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Adirondack CBMC Breakfast June 17, 2021 7:30 AM The Queensbury Hotel Glens Falls, New York

SAVE THE DATE National Day of Prayer for Businesses of America

September 15, 2021