071116 ALR Plenary Testimony, “What Matters Most?”

Wingman Meeting, November 16, 2007

12-18-24 Added to Logos

Profile of A. Larry Ross

Founder and President

A. Larry Ross Communications

Carrollton, Texas

Larry Ross has more than 30 years experience in mainstream and Christian public relations, providing strategic PR counsel to help individuals and organizations influence public opinion at both agency and corporate levels.

Following several years in the late seventies as field spokesman for the General Motors Corporation, Larry has been involved with various public relations firms in New York, Philadelphia and Dallas. After handling media positioning for baseball great Joe DiMaggio, he has served as principle spokesperson for evangelist Billy Graham since 1981.

In 1994, Larry founded A. Larry Ross Communications, a full-service agency that provides cross-over media liaison emanating from or targeted to the Christian market. His work includes consultation and ongoing representation for many of the world’s most influential Christian leaders, ministries and churches. Current and recent clients include Pastor Rick Warren, Promise Keepers, Compassion International and Bishop T. D. Jakes, to name a few.

“Newsweek” magazine headlined Larry as “Point Man for God;” “The Dallas Morning News” opined, “he can get you out of a PR pickle;” and the “New York Times Magazine” quoted him as saying his job is “…to find the sweet spot where faith and culture intersect.”

Larry’s mission is to “restore faith in media,” by providing “value-added P.R. that defines values” and gives Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media. In recent years, this has expanded to faith and family films, helping some of Hollywood’s biggest studios market entertainment projects with a purpose, such as “The Passion of The Christ.”

Larry is a graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois. He and his wife Autumn have three teenage sons and live in Carrollton, TX.

The following are excerpts from Larry’s notes…

Good morning. I am really honored to be standing before you today, as I am a part of this fellowship whenever I am in town on a Friday – which admittedly is not as often as I would like. I really appreciate what Wingmen is all about…Acceptance, Affirmation, and Accountability.

I want to affirm Chad Hennings, Jeff Dixon and other Wingmen leadership for the incredible job you are doing in regularly challenging men to be leaders that God has called you to be in their families, churches and communities.

Pool of Bethesda

In observing their ministry faithfulness to other men, I’m reminded of the biblical passage from John 5, about the pool of Bethesda, where many sick and lame waited to be healed by the movement of the waters. You all know the story, about the lame man, who had been there for 38 years. When Jesus came upon him, he was helpless, depressed, confirmed in his condition. The Lord asked him if he wished to get well, to which he replied, “I have no one to help me.”

Jesus immediately healed him, telling him to take up his bed and walk. In a way, this is one of the saddest stories in the Bible, in that after the man was healed, he left. He didn’t stay by the pool to assist others, in a condition like he was before, who needed help.

I am thankful for people like Chad and Jeff who have, in essence, been “hanging around the pool” with other guys to model and to challenge us in things of God, and to help men forge and maintain friendships and fellowship in Him.

Men’s Ministry

Five years ago I started working with Promise Keepers, and really became committed to men’s ministry. But it wasn’t until two years ago, when I reconnected with Jim Lane, an old college buddy who founded the New Canaan Society with which this group is loosely affiliated, that I became aware of the importance of being a part of an ongoing men’s fellowship.

Jim has taught me to understand that men cannot succeed without friendships of other men. And we can’t lead unless we are in some type of iron sharpening iron relationship, where someone other than your wife has your back. Because isolation leads to loneliness, which can lead to addiction and depression and a downward spiral that the devil can use to make us ineffective.

They say that “Satan keeps trying to keep men from knowing the Truth.” In reality, I think he is “trying to keep men with the Truth from each other.” Kudos to you for getting your behind out of bed this early in the morning – not to hear me – but for your commitment to connecting and networking with other ministry and marketplace men in this forum.

A. Larry Ross Communications

In 1994, my wife and I took what she calls, “A bungee jump for God,” and started an eponymous public relations firm that regularly operates at the intersection of faith and culture, providing crossover communications emanating from or targeted to the Christian market. While we primarily represent ministries, we also frequently operate in the reverse direction on behalf of individuals and organizations with a vital message targeting the Christian community.

Our job is to extend the influence of Mr. Graham, Pastor Rick Warren (and other Christian leaders) and the impact of their ministries to a broadened group of target audiences, with minimal demands on the principle’s time. Whenever possible, we try to speak to reporters as well, to let them know the reality of the Gospel in our own lives.

In some respects, our Agency is a metaphor for the integration of faith in the marketplace. We have a foot in both the ministry world and the secular, mainstream media and regularly interpret and transpose one to the other.

Michael Irvin recently challenged us with the question, “Who Names You?” which has become a theme for Wingmen gatherings this year.

Like Michael, many of us are letting others name or define us, based on performance, intellect or other standards. A growing discipline in my line of work is called “Reputation Management,” which says that a person’s reputation is one of his most valuable possessions, which needs to be managed and maintained.

You may be aware of the Senate Finance Committee investigations announced last week into six national ministries, including two based right here in the DFW Metroplex. Whether or not there is smoke or actually fire, those ministries are being named, defined and defiled by media. That may be a good thing, as periodically we have seen this sort of thing help get the household of faith in order.

But conversely, there are many good ministries that will become suspect as a result. The Bible says in Proverbs 22:1, that “…a good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.”

From Adam to Paul, Genesis to Revelation, God revealed the importance of names:

· Genesis 35:18 – As she (Rachel) breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni (means son of my trouble). But his father named him Benjamin (meaning son of my right hand).

This is an important reminder for us as fathers. Imagine living life with the burden of a name that reminds you every day you killed your mother coming through the birth canal. But his father blessed him with a name that gave him value and worth.

· Matthew 1:23 - "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’—which means, -God with us.’" (That gives Christmas carols a whole new meaning.)

There were also individuals in the Bible whose names were changed by God:

· Genesis 17:5 – “No longer will you be called Abram (exalted father); your name will be Abraham (father of a multitude), for I have made you a father of many nations.”

· Genesis 17:15 – “God also said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai (meaning contentious); her name will be Sarah’”(meaning beautiful, or princess).”

· Genesis 32:28 – “Then the man said, ‘Your name will no longer be Jacob (supplanter), but Israel (Prince with God, Soldier of God, God-wrestling, or God’s Prince), because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.’"

· Saul/Paul – Curiously, I couldn’t find a Scripture where God changed Saul’s name to Paul. First reference is Acts 13:9, which says, “Saul (who is also called Paul)”.

Interesting factoid: Saul means “asked for” -- King Saul was “asked for” by the Jews, which would be a pretty big deal and a pretty important name.

But Saul/Paul throughout the NT (after his conversion) referred to himself as Paul, which means “little” or “dwarfish.” Seems like a great irony for him to choose “Paul” to describe his stature in the Kingdom, which shows what a real conversion he had.

Building on the question posed by Michael several weeks ago, today I want to challenge you with four other questions:

Question One: What Do You Know for Sure?

Talk show host Oprah Winfrey has been asking all of her guests the same question, “What do you know for sure?” Upon reflection, the best answer is, “What I know for sure is that God is never going to send you where He can’t use you.”

I realized how much that was true of my life and career that has unfolded over the more than 36 years since I graduated from high school. Early on, I was clueless about what I wanted to do with my life. I had been accepted to Wheaton College, but I couldn’t even figure out what I wanted to major in until my senior year.

When asked, “How do you know God’s will for your life?” the legendary missionary, Elizabeth Elliot, replied, “Just do the next thing.” And that is what I did. Being clueless about God’s will for my life in the beginning and throughout school, I just did the “next thing.” Without a long-range plan, my mantra became, “Suit up and Show up,” and let God take care of the rest. And it has been a wild ride, allowing me to have a front row seat to what God is doing through some of his great servants and ministries.

A client of mine told me recently, “You live life forwards, but you learn life backwards.” On several occasions over the years, God has provided me with watershed experiences that have reminded me of his faithfulness in my life, even though undeserved.

I

One was when I first returned to Deerfoot Lodge in Speculator New York, the camp where I was a counselor the summer after college. Following the church service, while the campers were eating Sunday dinner in the dining hall, I sat on the porch of the administration building and wept. Sixteen years earlier, I had sat on that same step, reading a letter from the college president chastising me for wearing a flashing bowtie as I walked across the stage to receive my diploma during commencement.

If anyone had told me then that nearly two decades later I would have had opportunity to represent baseball great Joe DiMaggio; or the privilege and responsibility of handling media and public relations for evangelist Billy Graham; or go on to help Mel Gibson promote “The Passion of The Christ” – a powerful film that has made the Gospel unavoidable in our society -- I never would have believed it. Though I had no idea where I would be sixteen years in the future, it didn’t matter, because like my past, my future is in God’s hands.

Many times growing up I heard my father, who is a Greek scholar, preach on the Great Commission – “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel.” I always thought that meant if you weren’t called to missions, you were off the hook.

But he would emphasize that the tense in the original language – the pluperfect subjunctive or something like that – was “while going.” All of us are going somewhere – and wherever that is, wherever He sends you, we are to proclaim him to the world.

Prior to working in the religious arena for the past 26 1/2 years, I cut my teeth on the hard edges of corporate and agency national consumer public relations – first on the General Motors public relations staff, then in New York for the eighth largest PR firm in the country. My specialty was media liaison, and I was expected to pitch some of the house accounts – such as Seagram’s V.O. whisky.

But, as if some Cosmic joke, my time on Madison Avenue taught me some publicity techniques I have been able to use in representing Billy Graham and countless other Christian leaders and ministries to the media.

As I left New York for full-time involvement in the ministry arena, I struggled that that would leave one less Christian in the field of secular public relations.

Dallas Pastor Pete Briscoe says there are three possible responses to today’s world:

1. Escape the world- take refuge in their Christian castle and pull up their drawbridge to block out the world.

2. Embrace the world - become indistinguishable to the world.

3. Engage the world. Christ sends us out into the world, as His Father sent Him out into the world. The Christian life is lived out there, in the world! (John 20:21)

What do we know for sure? That God will never send you where he can’t use you. But, once there, we have to be available and useable. We have to suit up and show up.

Second Question: Who do You Trust?

The Bible has a lot to say about trust, and in Whom we are to place our trust:

· Psalm 37: 3, 5 – “Trust in the Lord, and do good. Dwell in the land, and lean on His faithfulness…Commit your way to the Lord. Trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”

NOTE: Dwell in the land – shows that righteous people of faith have their future secure

· Psalm 71: 1, 5, 6 – “In you, oh God, I put my trust. Let me never be put to shame…You are my trust from my youth…By you, I have been upheld from my birth.”

NOTE: This Psalm is the personal testimony of an old man looking back on his

life and God’s faithfulness

· And finally, Proverbs 28: 25, 26 – “He who trusts in the Lord will be prospered…He who trusts in his own heart is a fool.” Unlike our wives, many of us guys struggle with issues of trust – not just with God, but with other men. That is why a group like this is so important.

Third Question: What Matters Most?

Several years ago “Time” magazine had a back page essay by Roger Rosenblatt entitled, “What Should We Lead With?” He wrote:

“Journalists put the question in practical terms: What should we lead with? The rest of the population asks more generally: What matters most? They come to the same puzzle: Survey events in a given period of time and try to come up with the single moment, the headline, by which the world may be characterized, stopped in its spin. What should we lead with? What matters most?

What we confront in making such choices is not the events alone, but ourselves; and it is ourselves we are not able to place in order. The question is not what the press decrees is this week’s news. The question is us. What should we lead with, what matters most?”

What matters most? For me, that is a difficult question that has been a lifelong struggle. I have had a performance orientation all of my life, often feeling valued for what I did, rather than who I was.

Shortly after graduation, I hired on with General Motors, traveling nationally to represent the Corporation in the media. After several years, I moved to New York City and worked for a Madison Avenue P. R. firm, where among other things I handled the media positioning for Joe DiMaggio.

Early in my career, I was striving for success, often measured by either the events in which I was involved, the resulting impact or extent to which we were able to influence public opinion. Since 1981, when God gave me a front row seat for what He was doing through various ministries around the world, my quest turned from success to significance. But unfortunately most of my significance was based on externals – what I did, and for whom I did it.

I didn’t have any time to focus on who I was, or my personal relationship with God. I became a slave to the tyranny of the urgent, rather than choosing to do the important. So much of what I proclaimed in my work for God, wasn’t really true for me. I was addicted to caffeine and adrenalin, the positive stress and exhilaration of my job and the nobleness of my calling -- I wasn’t using my time and expertise to merely sell soap, our product was now changed lives.

I went on the sheer stamina of youth, pushing myself to the limit, with no balance in my life. If I had been working 100 hours a week in a secular vocation, people would have said, “You’re crazy.” Instead, because it was for ministry and people were coming to Christ, they said, “Praise God.”

I became known for what I did, rather than for who I was. I was working with the White House, leaders in business and government, virtually every major media outlet in the U.S. and many overseas, traveling and setting up press operations all over the world. I HAD A DRIVE, BUT NO PURPOSE! I wasn’t doing God’s will; I was doing my will in His name.

I was finding significance and self-worth in a job where I was:

· only as good as my last press conference

· only as capable as the coverage we received of our last crusade or media event

· only as important as what I could deliver on the next project

I was the guy the prophet Isaiah spoke about in Chapter 50, when he wrote:

“Look, all you who kindle a fire,

Who encircle yourselves with sparks…

Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks youhave kindled –

This you shall have from My hand:

You shall lay down in torment.”

I was walking in the light of my own fire. I was carrying my own torch and riding in on my white horse. Deep down, I hoped God realized how lucky He was to have such a conscientious, hard-working guy on his team.

But God had a different idea. He wanted to put out my torch, shoot that horse out from under me and get me to trust in Him again, and Him alone. He knew I needed to put some margins – with Him in them – back into my life:

· He wasn’t impressed with my ability. He was concerned about my lack of availability.

· He wasn’t moved by my time in ministry, but by my lack of time for Him

· He didn’t care about how much I was trying, but how little I was trusting

God says in His Word, “Be holy, because I am holy,” not, “Act holy so that others may come to Christ.” And I was an imposter. I was more of a “human doing” than a human being. I had gotten to the point where I was so busy being caught up in what I was doing for the Lord, that I missed out on His blessing for my life.

God’s Word speaks a lot about rest, balance and priorities. In Psalm 116:7-9, we read, ‘Return to your rest, oh my soul. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For thou has rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord in the Land of the living.”

I got to the point where I couldn’t do it anymore, and through a series of events and people the Lord brought into my life, I began to work through my stuff. When I started that process, I was “the Wizard of Oz” – the man behind the curtain, creating the smoke and mirrors. But I soon became like the Tin Man, who was able to think and feel with his heart.

I learned to accept life as an unfolding series of gifts we cannot control, rather than a challenge to be met and manipulated. I realized that God could use me far more effectively in my brokenness than He could in my giftings or my grandiosity. I recognized that neither success or significance brought fulfillment to my soul – only the Savior can bring true satisfaction.

That’s not something I didn’t hear a thousand times in Sunday School. But I knew it in my head, not my heart. I learned that saving the world becomes academic if it comes at the expense of one’s family, and that the most important thing I could do was to be a better husband a father to my three boys.

Before I was running so hard that I wasn’t able to feel, and for the first time in a long while I was able to experience joy – not just the happiness that comes from doing a great job on something. But true joy – the joy of my family, the joy of my faith, the joy found in moments of life itself.

The Scripture says, “The joy of the Lord is our strength.” Knowing that, I was able to be comfortable in my own skin, free at last to know and to love others and be known and loved by them.

Fourth Question: What About You?

Do you know Jesus, or are you just doing Jesus?

Are you merely going through the motions of cultural Christianity – where you know the lingo, can sing the latest praise songs without the words on the wall, and can pray a mean prayer in public – but don’t have a vital faith or resurrection power in your life?

Is Jesus just a ticket to heaven, or do you allow His Holy Spirit to empower you to live for Him and compel others to know the Christ they see in you?

Are you so overwhelmed by the pressures of your job or making payroll that you are not seizing the opportunity to trust Him?

Are you going through life at “Mach Two with your hair on fire”, without a thought about rolling down the window or stopping to smell the roses?

Are you just holding down a job or getting a pay check—or are you motivated by the opportunity we have it influence a hurting world with issues of eternal significance?

Are you so caught up in what you’re doing for God that you’re missing out on His blessing for your life?

To those of you marketplace men and women who are compartmentalized spiritually -- going to church on Sunday, working towards the bottom line M-F, and maybe chasing Miller Time the rest of the weekend, I ask you - “Whatever happened to what God did to you when you were gloriously saved?”

To those of you who may not yet know Christ, and are here as tire-kickers for the faith, then I say to you, you are in the right place – I can’t think of a better environment and a more accepting group.

And to all of you, I ask you to consider, “What is happening to you, what needs to happen to you, your faith and your relationship to Christ, that will enable Him to use you in a more effective way when you leave here?

The word Christian is only mentioned twice in the whole Bible. But the words, “in Christ” are mentioned 175 times in the New Testament alone.

I am not talking about becoming a Christian – I’d venture to guess most of us here are saved and going to heaven, I am talking about getting serious with God and going deeper in your personal relationship with Christ.

Former Senate Chaplain, Dick Halverson put it this way,

“You’ve got to treat yourself as a zero. If you stretch out many zeros in a row, you still have zero. But, if you put a one in front of it, there is no limit to what you can have – one million, one billion, one trillion.

Jesus Christ is the one. He can multiply your power and efficiencies many times. He an give us meaning to the zero of our lives.”

What matters most to you – is it something temporal, or something that will never change?

I am just learning about who God is, and who I am in Christ. In the process, He has shown me that every day is a gift from Him.

At the National Prayer breakfast several years ago, Chuck Colson quoted Alexander Solzhenitzen as giving the most profound sermon of the 20th Century when he left prison. “Bless you, prison,” he said. “Bless you for being in my life. For there, lying on that rolling prison straw, I came to realize that the object of life is not prosperity, as we are made to believe, but the making of the soul.”

What is it that brought you here? Like me, have you reached a point of personal crisis in your career? Perhaps your company has hit a financial setback and you are looking for answers.

For those of you who are regular attendees, you know we end with a question every

week, and I would like to review the several we have covered today:

· WHO’S NAMING YOU?

· WHAT DO YOU KNOW FOR SURE?

· WHAT MATTERS MOST?

· WHATEVER HAPPENED TO WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?

It may be time to rekindle that love for God or allow Him to bring about renewal in your life. God Bless you on that journey as he honors your faithfulness because each of you has chosen to come home in your hearts, back to God and back to His purpose and will for your lives.