BUSINESS
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MR. KEITH’S KETTLECORN
’m a first generation apostolic, I attend Greater Apostolic Ministries International. A two-church fellowship--one church two locations. Greater First Pentecostal Church North Little Rock, Ark and Greater Christ Temple Church Little Rock, Ark, under the Excellent leadership of Pastor Elder Jerry Warren. My home church for the last 33 years. Before I set out on the awesome journey, I currently work for a major airline for the last 32 years. I developed my interest in business when I was sitting at my desk at work and my station leader entered the office and offered me a mix of popcorn that is called the Chicago mix, (caramel and cheddar cheese.) I didn’t want to try the popcorn because as you know, many times some grades of popcorn will leave you with a lot of husk stuck in your teeth. I initially declined, but after persistence from my station leader I reluctantly accepted. I could not believe the awesome flavor and quality of the taste. It was at this time the Lord spoke to me and said (“How many people are like you; they don’t know what they don’t know.”) In other words, he was saying there’s an opportunity to start a business, because a lot of people don’t know that they like this type of popcorn except they try it. At that time, I was not business savvy my highest education was 12 grade. (Romans 8:31 What shall we than say to these things? If GOD be for us, who can be against us.) So, I set out to do research and development on how I could bring this amazing product to the city of Little Rock. The first thing I did was called the company I received the popcorn from. You can only imagine how that conversation went. After that phone call, the Lord spoke to me and said “develop your own brand.” I did not have enough money to open a brick-and-mortar store. So, I began to research kettle corn on the Internet. I found a man selling festival popcorn equipment. Not knowing anything about it, I purchased the equipment and began my journey of making the best kettle popcorn. The name of my company is Mr. Keith’s Gourmet Kettle corn, email MrKeiths.com. After setting up the equipment on my deck, I spent the next few months developing my skills. The first event I attended was at my church Greater Christ Temple. The event went well but I knew that I needed more work. After attending more festivals and using my coworkers as taste subjects, (meaning free popcorn for them) my skills and development got better. We continued working more festivals and we noticed how people loved our popcorn. When we are between festivals, I typically set up at station 801 food truck shops in Little Rock, operated by
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THE CHRISTIAN OUTLOOK
Scott Hamilton who helped me tremendously as a startup business. August 2016, Rock City Eats Steve Shuler a food critic came by station 801 to try a vendor’s food. Scott told me I should offer him some of my popcorn. After he tried it, he called me and wanted to stop by and do a story on my company. After the interview, he wrote a stunning story on how he didn’t really like kettle popcorn but after trying mine he enjoyed it so much that he voted Mr. Keith’s Kettle corn one of his Best eats of 2016. Bless the Name Of JESUS! A friend of mine who works with small black businesses Bento Lubazinwa of Remix Ideas in Little Rock approached me (because he enjoys my popcorn) and said to me “you need to take this business to the next level.” He networked with me and pointed me in the direction to receive the capital necessary to open my brick-and-mortar store. He introduced me to a gentleman named Jay Young who worked with a funding company forge community loan fund. I was able to secure initial funding to open my brick-andmortar store. Thank you, Jesus… Bishop Mark C. Tolbert, the First Assistant Presiding Bishop of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, had a desire to create an auxiliary within the P.A.W, for Entrepreneurs. This ministry will service Entrepreneurs and help mentor aspiring Entrepreneurs. Through social media and networking, Market Place Ministry (MPM) will add a business mind-set for the saints at our P.A.W. Convention. The Mission statement of the Market Place Ministry is to provide educational and mentoring opportunities through networking. Develop necessary skills with integrity and excellence to navigate business ownership and self-employment. Our slogan is “Where Entrepreneurs Network and Ideas come to Life.” The Market Place Ministry knows that within our great organization of the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World that there are many Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and future Entrepreneurs, looking to expand their businesses and/or product. Thank God that through the visionary leadership of our 1st Assistant Presiding Bishop Mark Tolbert that there is now a platform for saved business owners and those self-employed within the PAW. Elder Keith Fulks has been married to Dora Fulks for 25 years and is the proud father of three adult children: Vontia, Jerron and Angelique. Elder Fulks is a member of the Arkansas District Council and serves as an Associate minister of Greater Apostolic Ministries International.
“POSITIONED FOR PROMISE”
MAY/JUNE 2021
