Jul 30, 2018
What You'll Hear:
- Ed became a Christian at age 9. His Mom took him to an 8 day revival service. He went forward on the last night.
- God saved him at 9 so he wouldn't have to go through his whole life without Jesus like his father did. His father didn't become a Christian until he was 55. He was always there but didn't see a need for Christ in his life.
- Ed graduated from Clemson University and worked for Owens Corning. He found he liked the customer relationships and went into sales and a lot of travel.
- He wanted less travel so went to work as a plant engineer for the Certainty Corporation, then got promoted into management, then went back into sales and then marketing, always prospering.
- After 25 years, he went to work for an engineering consulting firm. 3 years ago, he retired from that but has continued to work on a contractual basis.
- In 1993, Ed and his wife were living in Kansas City and were invited to a dinner where they learned about Gideons and they accepted an invitation to join.
- We believe God can use those Bibles put in the pathways of life.
- In 2015 while in Indonesia, an 85% Muslim country, they distributed 121,000 copies of God's word in a 5 day period. On Saturday morning, they went to an old Buddhist Temple. 5 young ladies who were Muslim came up to him and asked if they could interview him and he witnessed to them.
- When Ed got involved with Promise Keepers blacks and whites joined together and God used that to open his eyes that we need to be more diverse
- "We tend to surround ourselves with people that are just like us but that's not how we're going to grow"
- Randolph Christian Men is the hub with other ministries serving as spokes.
- The local Crisis Pregnancy Center has men being mentored on how to become fathers
- Christians United Outreach Center (CUOC) and Our Daily Bread (soup kitchen) help the community
- The key to a good marriage is commitment. Marriage is not 50/50, it's more like 100/100. A strand of 3 is not easily broken. We were always committed to serving the Lord. "God has been the glue that has kept us together through these 50 years."
- Work life balance is how do you set your priorities. There are seasons in your life when you have to work a lot and there are other seasons where you choose to work a lot. Those are unique times, I don't want that to be my norm. I also have to have that quality time with my wife, with my family, with my friends.
- Sometimes you need to give up some income to have a better life, and that life is with Jesus Christ and your family.
- The one thing we misunderstand as men is that we value our work as who we are. That is not who we are. In Jesus Christ, we're a sinner saved by grace. Often our ego, especially as a man, is that job that we have.
- Ed worked with a young sales manager once who was kind of brash and needed to mature. One of Ed's Christian brothers asked Ed if he was praying for him. "I started praying for this young man, and God changed me...about 4 years later he called me and said 'Ed I need you to pray for me, I have cancer'"
- Once, a bid was due in to a major prospect for a $5 million potential contract. After they turned in their bid, they got more info and realized they could have turned in a lower number. They could not change their bid because Ed was honest and said they got new info. They later secured another portion of business and Ed thinks it was because God allowed him to maintain good integrity.
- The first thing to do in a workplace to share the Gospel is to be yourself
- If you're walking with the Lord, He opens up opportunities, that divine encounter. It's not something you can force.
- Ed's life verse is Ephesians 2:10 "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them". This became clear to Ed 3 years ago when Ed was not nominated to a leadership position with the Gideons he knew he would have been good at, but later was nominated to be the state Chaplain instead, something he wasn't comfortable with but after a conversation with God he accepted it and has been challenged and blessed by it.
- We have to re-surrender to God every day and let Him have His way. I think that's what we all need to do.
- Contact Ed at C-336-302-7401 or email edk900@gmail.com