12/13/23 - 2020: United We Chamber
Jim: You've tuned into iWork4Him, the Voice of Collaboration for the Faith and Work Movement,
Martha: and we are your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg.
Our mission is to transform the workplace of every Christian into a mission field. What does that look like in your workplace? Well, let's find out right now,
Jim: You know, on Sunday mornings, Christians around the globe are as segregated as ever, but something explosive happens on Monday morning. On Monday morning, Christ following believers, enter the marketplace, their workplaces that God has assigned them and denominational walls fall down and the body of Christ is unified.
They are singular in their mission to bring the kingdom to earth through each individual living out their faith in their work. But where does one go to celebrate that? Is there an organization in this country that celebrates what God is doing in business no matter the size or mission of that business?
The same week that iWork4Him launched in 2013, the Christian Chamber of Commerce in Tampa Bay launched as well. At that point in our, in time in our country's history, there were 19 Christian Chambers of Commerce. And over the years, Christian Chambers have popped up internationally as well as statewide and local.
But now arises out of Orlando, the United States Christian Chamber of Commerce, an organization dedicated to enhance, expand, and encourage the growth of local Christian chambers from sea to shining sea and celebrate them all on a national basis. And here today is the founder. Krystal Parker. Welcome to iWork4Him.
Krystal Parker: Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here and I am so glad that was recorded. I don't know if that was scripted or not, Jim, but that was fantastic.
Jim: Well, I do have to write down some notes so I don't forget stuff. But Krystal, before we start talking about the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce, which we really want to hear that. But first we want to celebrate your Jesus story. Tell us
Krystal Parker: Yeah, so, well, I grew up in a town of 300 dogs, cats, and dead people in Moscow, Kansas, and we got the 10 Year Perfect Attendance Award. That means 10 years, 52 weeks in every year, 520 church visits in a row, perfect attendance. And we were the best Sunday Christians that you might know.
So that is what I learned was, going to church and being a Christian was going to that building and doing something for an hour. Checking off the box and then just living however we wanted. We never carried Jesus into our Monday or even past that hour at church. And if it went over an hour, people really got grumpy.
So, um, so I just, I just thought that's what it meant to be a Christian. And God invited me into a different story through many, many failures. As you know, I mean, I was really living life off of the fairway, you know, always outside of the alignment with what God would want me to do. And it was through several failures and finally going, okay, God, if this whole thing is real, then show me.
And it just, once I invited him in and quit turning to the ways of the world that the world promises that are not true, I just got a flooding of the holy living water of Jesus Christ and just radically changed my life. And I knew at that point I wanted to serve him and show others what it meant to be fully integrated with Christ, not just on Sunday, but every day, every minute, every hour.
Martha: Well, I've never met anybody that has gotten the 10 year perfect attendance award. But I know that you're an overachiever, so it really doesn't surprise me, but I think that there's probably a lot of listeners that can relate in one way or another that, you know, they were always in church or they all, you know, but it didn't ever really become personal for them.
So I think that that's an encouraging place for us to start. So let's talk then about your career path that God has taken you on prior to the Christian Chamber of Commerce. I know it's an amazing journey that God's had you on, but give us just kind of like that brief overview.
Krystal Parker: Yep. So I go off to college thinking that I'm never coming back to that small town and ended up dropping out of college with just 21 hours left to complete my degree, going back to the small town with my tail between my legs. And I actually realized that, okay, I've got to do something. I can't just live with my mom and dad forever.
And so I started as a temp employee, stocking shelves in a truck parts store that was a subsidiary of an oil and gas company. And that first year I just evolved into different roles. front desk. And then after being the front desk receptionist and doing some of the accounting, I remember going to my manager at this point in the field.
Now I'm in the field and saying is there any other way I could make more money or do more? Like I was, I started to really enjoy the business. And he said, well, there's no positions for you here, little lady. You're going to have to move and, and take another office job somewhere else. And, and so I didn't think that he was being disparaging towards me.
I just. took his advice and did exactly what he said. I got into an HR job and then supervisor in the call center. And then from there that's where I really got to see God move. Although I didn't think it was God, I thought it was me. And the more successful I got, the more I took the credit for it. So going from supervisor, I went into sell in the natural gas the large distribution companies were hedging gas on the NYMEX and, and that, and then I jumped two steps to take become my boss's boss back in the call center which is unheard of and then became the youngest vice president.
I was running the gas company in the 47 cities on the west side of Texas and all the customer service for Texas. And I just think back to that guy that never thought I could oversee anything in the field. And at this point I'm over construction gosh, engineering service, everything in the field. And then from there, I started to run all of customer service for all three distribution companies. It was a story that is only explainable by God. But again, because I was that Sunday Christian, and I thought it was all me. I took all the credit. I had the big house, the big ego, and lots of problems.
Jim: Hmm. We can all relate. Well, I don't know the big house thing, but definitely where we thought that it was us doing it and not God.
Martha: Hmm. So now, you have, so you got out of oil and gas, and I don't remember what transitioned you into the Christian Chamber of Commerce in Central Florida.
Krystal Parker: Yeah, so that's really part of the story. So I, I left the oil and gas field you know, followed into failed marriage number two unfortunately. Again, like I said, through number of failures is where the point where I finally surrendered my life to Christ. And once I did that and surrendered my life to Christ, I realized at that point, there's no going back.
You can't separate Christ from who you are once you fully accept him to be a part of your whole life. And I wanted to help other businesses to lean into that and experience what that meant, help people to see that full integration of faith and work. And so I was just going to do that through my consulting company.
And somebody suggested that I meet with Mark Goldstein, who at the time was the president of the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce. And so I went to meet with him to become a member of the Christian chamber. And little did I know that he got in his car after two hours of meeting together and he called his wife and he said, God said, she's the one. He didn't tell me that right away. But eventually he did and, and the rest is history.
Jim: And Mark Goldstein, if you want to have a great interview, we interviewed him, wow, eight or nine years ago as they helped the Central, as the Central Florida Christian Chamber helped launch the Christian Chamber of Commerce in Tampa Bay. They were intricate in that. So we spent a little bit of time with Mark. What a great supporter he was.
All right. So, but recently in the last two years, you went from being the president of the Central Florida Christian Chamber of Commerce and you launched the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce. Tell us about that.
Krystal Parker: So it turns out 20 years ago, the person that registered this entity, registered the entity for Central Florida Christian Chamber, as we all know it, it was actually the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce, and that entity, that entity lived for 17, 18 years, sort of underground I just kind of think of it germinating under there for such a time as this, and everybody just, was doing business as Central Florida Christian Chamber, but Mark and Kevin who was on the board had the wherewithal to say, this is special.
This US Christian Chamber is special. They bought the URL. They continue to keep the business registered and current and up to date but just didn't have peace or know what to do or how to release it. So when I came in as the president of central Florida, it was two months after COVID had hit. And Mark would tell you this, but for five years, he really wanted to retire from his role as president.
And he even announced it at the Christian chamber that he was retiring from central Florida. And he said he is sure as the day was he heard the Lord say to him, who said you could retire? He Was going about the Christian chamber and not really in development mode, just like God send whoever's supposed to come.
And anyway, so the chambers was naturally changing and then COVID hit and two months later is where I came in as the president. And so we started to do a lot of grassroots marketing. And at the time, and you guys will remember this, people were not only scared, but they were lonely and they were locked in their homes and they were looking for community because they had lost human connection.
And so we started to just provide that through virtual and even in person. We'd mask up and go where, where we could take our masks off and and started doing that and marketing it. And so I remember about three or four months into being the president of central Florida, I got the first call from the Las Vegas Christian chamber of commerce.
And at the time I didn't know that there was. And I thought, well, okay, well, I'll tell you what we're doing, but it just, it just struck me really funny. And so two weeks, exactly two weeks later, I got a call from Alaska and somebody from Alaska came across Central Florida Christian Chamber, and they wanted to start a Christian Chamber.
And they said, can you help us start a Christian Chamber? And at that point I was like, okay, who is, who is supposed to be helping these Christian chambers? Like what's going on? And I looked and searched for US Christian chamber. There was no US Christian chamber. We were the US Christian chamber and God was planting those seeds and preparing us to be able to launch the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce.
Jim, you guys connected us with International Christian Chamber of Commerce. And at that point, I realized that for such a time as this, it's time for our nation. It's time for believers in the marketplace and for these Christian chambers to have somebody to turn to, to help them grow so that we can put God back at the center of this nation.
Martha: I love all of that timeline and how God, you know, we had, you had no idea, but God did, and He's putting all that together. So what truly is the mission and the vision of the U. S. Christian Chamber before we take a mention here?
Krystal Parker: Yeah, so our, our vision, our mission, our mission is to advance the kingdom of God through the marketplace.
I love what Billy Graham said. You've heard it. You probably said it on your show, but the next greatest movement of God is going to come through believers in the marketplace. And I know that we as believers. in the marketplace, doing business, just on an average everyday sort of work that we do individually, whether it be blue collar, white collar, you know, no collar.
We have an opportunity to reach the mindshare of the unchurched at a significant level more than a pastor on Sunday. So if people that are out there living their everyday life are ever going to hear the gospel or see the gospel in action, it's going to be through these believers in the marketplace.
So very simply, we advance the kingdom of God through the marketplace. We strengthen and fortify Christian businesses, and we do that through strengthening Christian business leaders, teaching them what it means to integrate faith, invite the Holy Spirit in as they're doing their business, and that strategic advantage that we give them through doing that.
But we also. teach businesses, kingdom businesses, what it means to do business in the kingdom, create kingdom commerce, doing business with one another, seeking Christian businesses to do business with first, before you let the money go outside of the community. And the last thing we do is we transform cities.
When you start to put all these things together in a local city. You will see that transformation happen.
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Martha: So, now that you've launched the U. S. Christian Chamber, um, which we're excited that we're founding members on it and now sitting on the Board of Directors because we believe in what is happening with the U. S. Christian Chamber and happy to be there to help support it in, in the ways that we can.
What is your vision for Christian Chambers across the country?
Krystal Parker: More of them, definitely more you know, there's a new awareness, I think that hasn't necessarily been there before where people are, there's, there's really some distinct lines that are being formed in the sand, if you will, where I, and I was just on talking with someone today that she works in the HR profession and she was actually written up and she's very open and sharing her faith. And that kind of stuff.
We were, we had a meeting one time and there was a young man there and it was his birthday and he had heard about the Christian chamber in central Florida and we were doing a fellowship Friday, but we pushed this one live and everybody came up and said who they are and he went up and said who he was and then afterwards he just started trembling and he said, if my work that he was in it, if my work finds out that I'm a Christian, I'm going to get persecuted.
That's These kinds of stories are happening all the time. And so what, and what, like I told you, it, once you fully accept Jesus Christ in your life, you can't go, Oh, this is how I am on Sunday, but this is how I am at work. And maybe I don't want to go do business the way the world does business. I want to have a biblical worldview.
I want to invite the Holy Spirit in. I want to pray with people. Well, you can't just do that in the world. And in many of these other chambers of commerce, there still are some chambers of commerce that have Christian values. And I think that's wonderful. But for the most part, Traditional Christian, traditional chambers of commerce have very clear lines and Christians, some of our ways and how we do business aren't accepted there.
And so we want to give people that opportunity.
Jim: Well, when we were living in Tampa Bay I was a member of a local chamber that was not a Christian chamber, as well as we were a member of the Christian chamber. And when iWork4Him launched and I wanted to be involved, still stay involved in the lunch group, they said, well, Jim, you cannot bring iWork4Him into our small lunch group.
You can be a member of the chamber, but you're not allowed to bring iWork4Him into that small lunch group. I'm like, Okay. And I had a long conversation with the president and we came to an agreement and, and, and I just bowed out cause I didn't want to cause trouble, but they were trying to keep any, well, they were trying to keep proselytization out of their lunch meetings.
So Krystal, I know that your heart is to encourage existing Christian chambers across the country and then encourage new ones to launch. There are, I don't know, have you started tracking how many existing Christian chambers are across the country?
Krystal Parker: We haven't started tracking. Now in our coalition we have six Christian chambers.
We created the Christian chamber coalition, and that is where the Christian chambers that are members of the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce and part of our network come in and work together to grow, to share ideas, collaborate, etcetera. We're looking at some new starts within the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce, some new Christian chambers into 2024.
But we don't have an exact count of the Christian chambers that are out there that are not part of our coalition. The other piece of this is membership. We also offer membership because there's a lot of people that not only do business in their local community, but they also want to do business nationally, and have a product that can scale.
And so those individuals, we encourage them to be part of their local Christian chamber, but also be a part of the U. S. Christian Chamber of Commerce through our membership program as well.
Jim: Well, and just yesterday we had an event that we held, and there were people from all over the country. It was an online event and we were talking about that connection of faith and work on an event.
We had 30 or 40 people involved and it was fantastic people from minnesota. They were from all over the place so
Martha: So Krystal take a minute right now and just talk to the listeners about you know what this means for them like maybe this is interesting to them. Like what would their next step be number one if they don't even know if there's anything locally and or at the u. s level
Krystal Parker: That's an awesome question. Go to our website. It's uschristianchamber. com. uschristianchamber. com. There's some resources on there for you. First of all, maybe you want to know, is there a Christian chamber that's part of the US Christian chamber in my neighborhood? We have on there in our directory, a Christian chamber directory so that you can easily find it right on our front page.
Just look right there for directories. If you don't have a local Christian Chamber of Commerce but you want to see if there's any businesses that are openly Christian in your neighborhood. There's a mapping feature on our directory. So any of our members are listed in the directory and searchable through our directory and our mapping feature.
So maybe you'll find somebody that's just a couple of miles away that's a member of the U. S. Christian Chamber. And if you're not a member, there's a join now button on there. Just join us. But there's one more opportunity for people to get connected. And that's at our U. S. Christian Business Expo and Global Conference in April 18th and 19th in Orlando, Florida.
That's the Mecca. That's where we're all coming in from all over the world to build those connections and relationships and to grow, and I'm really excited about this event.
Jim: Well, in fact, if you want to find out more about that event, Martha and I will be emceeing that event. You can go to iWork4Him. com forward slash events and learn all about that event. And we want to talk about that event, but Martha first, you want to talk about something else.
Martha: Well, yeah, so we've been talking about this mission and, you know, it's so important because it tells, missions tell us where a company is headed and why they've been formed and what their goals might be.
And we love the mission of Patriot Mobile, which is to passionately defend our God given constitutional rights and freedoms and to glorify God always. Wow, that is a powerful it's mission. And as America's only Christian conservative wireless provider we at, iWork4Him, have partnered with Patriot Mobile in that mission.
And when you go to patriot mobile.com/iWork4Him, you will not only get great, dependable coverage, but be able to support the mission of Patriot Mobile, and iWork4Him. So I just want to encourage you to go there and make the switch today. I, I just know that when we truly believe in aligning our dollars with our values, and this is just one of those steps that I've been telling people as we look into the new year.
Like, what can I do with more intentionality? Well, this is something simple. We all spend money on cell phones, so let's do it in a way that aligns with our values and supports the things that we believe in. So PatriotMobile.com/iWork4Him.
Jim: okay, next April, April 18th and 19th in Orlando, Florida and our venue is
Krystal Parker: Oh, the secret new venue!
The venue is the Double Tree. It's a Hilton property by, at SeaWorld.
Jim: Nice. And so there'll be dolphins right there in the lobby. Sea, sea turtles walking down the hallways. What can people expect? As people say, okay, should I go to the U. S. Christian Chamber National Expo in Orlando next April? Tell them what they can expect.
Krystal Parker: Well, we have, first of all, we were just there today just praying in preparation and there is just some incredible things that are going to be unlocked at that expo and global conference. We've partnered with international Christian chamber of commerce. Their North American conference is immediately following.
We're calling it the after conference. So this is going to be just an infusion. I mean, you want to be in the room. Because to really experience those connections and relationships that are going to come as a result of being in the room, that's priceless. And I love to tell people that relationships are currency.
I can think time and time and time and time again of that warm market, my relationships, opening doors for me that I could never have opened before by myself. And so just being in that space to build those relationships. That's Paramount. And that's really what we're all about. The Christian chamber is relationships and community, and to be able to come into a safe place with people that are just like you speaking your language, that are approaching business with, whatever the business is, with that same intentionality, that's going to be a great room to be in.
The second thing is, and when we have the best MCs in the world, right here with you, so like you don't want to miss them on stage, but we also have really incredible keynote speakers that are going to help you to think and dig deeper.
We've got breakout sessions that you're not going to want to miss with some incredible breakout room leaders that are typically up on a keynote stage that are going to be in that breakout room. And those breakout rooms, we're saying that that's where you're going to do the work. We've got relationship building lunch.
We've got a Christian business expo floor, so you can, we are going to talk it and we're going to walk it. We want you to experience Christian businesses and give people an opportunity to show their business. So you're going to want to be on the floor. We have an evening reception. We've got Chase and Co coming in from Nashville with worship.
One of the things that I found in working in with the Christian business group is since COVID came, a lot of people fell out of the church and it's not uncommon for Christian business leaders to maybe not even have a church home and that's okay. There's no judgment here. But in doing so, people have lost the power of corporate worship.
And so we're going to have worship at this event. I know it's a business event in a hotel and we're going to have worship. Okay. Yes, we are. And it's going to be incredible. We have a keynote speaker that Has not been announced yet, but be on the lookout for that. I'm just so thankful for our kingdom sponsor, which is Red Balloon.
You're going to get exposure to businesses and individuals that you wouldn't normally have an opportunity to connect with. So those are some of the things, but then there's a spiritual aspect of this that I think is really important for the audience to know the foundation of this conference. When the Lord brought it to me, it was first Corinthians three, first Corinthians three.
And I just want to encourage you to read through that, that entire chapter, but really how I see it is in five pillars. And that's really what the foundation of this conference is. I tell people, this is not your average business conference. It is truly based on the Bible. And these five pillars are really the backbone of the conference.
Number one is identity. Who are you? Do you know who you are in Christ? Do you know why you were created? Maybe you do, but most people don't necessarily know what their business was created for. I love this quote. Breathing is to life like profits are to a business. Breathing is essential for living, but it's not the purpose. Just like profits are essential for your business, but it's not the purpose. We want to know why were we created and why was our business created?
The second piece of this is foundation of Jesus Christ. Are you, and is your business truly built on the foundation of Jesus Christ? We're going to encourage that throughout this conference.
The third thing right in the middle is the Holy spirit. How do I know I'm hearing from the Holy Spirit? Is that the Holy Spirit? And then maybe I know it's the Holy Spirit. Do I have the obedience to walk in the direction that I'm being told to walk in? And then the third element of the Holy Spirit is mental toughness, because we know that once we're walking with the Lord. And it's not always going to be a cakewalk. And so we want to build that mental toughness into these believers as they're doing business from the inside out.
The fourth aspect of this is community. We are going to emphasize community. It talks in this chapter about quick quarreling about the silly things. We've got to get along. We are the body of Christ. We have to unite now more than we've ever had to unite before. And so we want to help you do that and see the value of community.
And then the last piece of this is we are all coworkers in God's service, and we want to send you out with a renewed sense of purpose of what you were created for. And that is to go out and share the great news of the good news of Jesus Christ. We're going to take 650 people from around the world and bring them into this environment. And I just can't wait to hear the stories that are going to come as a result of people's time in Orlando, Florida, April 18th and 19th.
Martha: Well, if people aren't excited before, they should be excited now. And we're going to keep on talking about this event until long after it's over, but we're going to get as many people there as we can.
Jim: Well, after that keynote gets announced, perhaps we can get that keynote on iWork4Him in order to do a double promotion.
Go to uschristianchamber. com to get more information about the event coming up in April 2024. Krystal Parker, thank you so much for being on iWork4Him today.
Krystal Parker: Thanks guys. This is a dream come true to be on your show. Thank you so much.
Jim: Wow. No problem And I'll get you that 20 right after the show. Hey talking about being part of something bigger than ourselves helps us stay grounded and accountable with other like minded people, like in the u. s Christian chamber. It's a perfect time to consider being a part of the iWork4Him nation where you make a commitment to see your workplace as a mission field to pray for your co workers and employees daily loving them generously and Serving them honestly praying with them when prompted and be the best and brightest employee you can be.
Go to iWork4Him. com /join the nation and trust God as you enter your workplace with him at the center. You've been listening to iWork4Him with your host, Jim and Martha Brangenberg. We're Christ followers, our workplace, it's our mission field, but ultimately iWork4Him.