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July 2010
 Hi there,
Welcome to the first edition of our monthly E-Newsletter for Christians in Business. Although much has already been written on the subject, in the coming months we hope to examine what it means to be a Christian in the marketplace, and the issues that go along with it, in a local context. We know it can be tough and lonely out there, so it is our hope that you will find these newsletters informative and encouraging.
This needs to be an interactive forum however, so we seek and value YOUR input. Testimonies, concerns, resources, advice ... please talk to us. Email us at info@pechurchnet.co.za or phone me on 082 9799412.
Shaun Gouws
Editor
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CONTENTS: (click on the headers to view the articles)
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TESTIMONY:
Mike van Rensburg shares from the heart on what God is doing in his life in the area of finances.
A USEFUL RESOUCE
Monday Manna
COMPUTER TIPS : Backup!
Can you afford not to?
ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY
Prime display ads are now available on the covers of our forthcoming printed Christian Business Directory
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PROFILE: Paul Leonard
Paul will be speaking on
How I saved my Business
at our next get together
on Thursday 8th July.
FEEDBACK from our previous
Building a Christian Business Community meeting
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THE PE CHURCHNET TEAM:
PE Churchnet has been operating in the Nelson Mandela Metro since November 1998. Our mission is to see Christians draw together in every area of life for the primary goal of extending God's kingdom in our city.
Shaun Gouws - Director; Website and Systems Development
email: info@pechurchnet.co.za | cell: 082 9799412
Diana Gouws - Married to Shaun, manages the Classified Ads and Credit Control
email: diana@pechurchnet.co.za | cell: 083 2349820
Mike van Rensburg: Marketing and business networking
email: mike@pechurchnet.co.za | cell: 084 4017065
Lindsey Gouws / LinDesigns (part time): Design and Ad layouts
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PROFILE: PAUL LEONARD
 Everyone in business experiences the ups and downs of business in the hope that one day - it will all work out. It is unusual to find a business owner who has not had at least one serious “down”, and almost invariably there were many lessons learned, and much character built. As a fellow business owner, Paul Leonard will share some of the lessons he learned through his businesses’ potentially fatal “down” nine years ago, and the steps he took to nurse it back to health.
Come and hear Paul speak on How I saved my Business at or next "Building a Christian Business Community" meeting on Thursday 8th July from 5:30 to 7pm at St John the Baptist Church Hall, cnr Church Road and 8th Avenue Walmer. Light snacks, tea, coffee and juice will be served. Suggested donation R20. Please RSVP to Michelle on 083 7982301 or email michelle@pechurchnet.co.za
More about Paul:
Paul Leonard is a Certified Financial Planner™ professional.
He has become well known throughout the Eastern Cape for his daily personal finance insert called MONEY TALK on Algoa FM, which has been on air since October 1994. MONEY TALK is the longest standing Feature on the station.
Paul is an executive director of Consolidated Financial Planning and he runs the Eastern Cape division and is intimately involved in the Corporate Solutions division of the company.
He was the national runner up of the Financial Planner of the Year awards in 2006.
Paul’s passionate pastime is musical theatre. He uses his talents and the skills that continue to be honed through public speaking and performing to communicate lessons in financial literacy in easy to understand “people language”.
In 2006 he released his first educational DVD called Money Management and Rapid Debt reduction, and his second educational DVD, called “MONEY TALK @ RETIREMENT" released in November 2009.
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COMPUTER TIPS:
BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP!
You've probably heard it a thousand times, but we will say it once more - make 100% sure you have systems in place to regularly back up the data on your laptop and office pc's. In today's information age, as an alarming number of people have found out the hard way, your data can be one of the most valuable assets of your business.
A few points to consider:
1) The price and capacity of external hard drives has dropped to the point where they are a practical and convenient medium for making back ups.
2) Do not keep your backups at the same location as your computer/s. In the event of theft, fire, or other disaster, you could lose both your original and the backup.
3) Ideally, you should make multiple backups, to different media. Remember that some media are not as permanent as one would think, for example writable CD's and DVD's use dyes that can deteriorate after a couple of years and render the CD useless.
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A USEFUL RESOURCE :
Monday Manna is a weekly e-mail publication of CBMC (Christian Business Ministries Canada). This one-page devotional deals with practical issues of living out the Christian life in the real world and is meant as a encouragement to each of us as we fulfill God’s calling in our lives.
Based on biblical truth and timeless wisdom, share this real life publication with associates and friends!
Subscribe here: http://www.cbmc.ca/contact/index.php#form
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ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY:
Many of you are already listed in our online Christian Business Directory. As an added free service to our advertisers, we are compiling a condensed version of the Directory which will be printed in "hard copy" as a convenient A5 booklet. We are planning to distribute 5,000 of these through churches, businesses and other public places in the near future.
All businesses currently subscribed to the DIrectory will automatically be included in the booklet, with the name of the business, contact person and telephone number being listed under the relevant category.
We do however have an opportunity available if you would like to "up" your profile -- Display ads are available on the inside and back covers of the booklet, in full colour. Tariffs for these range from R950 for a 1/4 page (5,5 x 8,5 cm) on the inside cover, to R4000 for the prime location - the full outside back cover (12 x 18cm) .
As there are a limited number of places available, contact Mike van Rensburg on 084 4017065 or email Mike at mike@pechurchnet.co.za to reserve your space - first come, first served. |
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 TESTIMONY:
Mike van Rensburg shares from the heart on what God is doing in his life in the area of finances.
For the last couple of Friday mornings I have been meeting with a group of men in Bluewater Bay at six o'clock. The men's group that I usually meet with on a Friday took a break during the school holidays.
Last Friday started off as normal with Praise & Worship and two new guys introduced themselves as it was their first visit. One of the young men told us how he recently got to know the Lord as his Saviour. He carried on by telling us how God has been blessing him in his business. As if in passing Oom Piet said the following: “ Onthou om jou tiende te gee”. (Remember to tithe.) At first I didn't really take notice, but the tithing conversation - not debate - continued. Someone else reminded us that Danie mentioned previousls that if we are not good stewards when we have just a little, how could we even think or ask God to bless us with abundance?
That was the moment that the penny dropped. As the conversation was going on I reasoned with myself that there was no way that I could tithe on the little bit that I was making working for PE Churchnet and God knows that. After all if I were to tithe there would not be money for either petrol or food. How far can you stretch money? Besides I am doing God's work here at churchnet!! But it was as if God was telling me to just trust Him. Immediately I decided that I was going to tithe from that moment onwards. Shaun dropped me off at home after the meeting and I went to check my wallet. There was a R20 note in it. I took it out and placed it in my cupboard. That was my tenth from the previous day's income. On Thursday I received R200, which bought food for the day and some petrol. The R20 was what was left. Was it co-incidence that it was R20? No, it wasn't.
I checked my email and my advert “The Blacksmith Shoppe” appeared, together with three people enquiring about metalwork. (I realised a while ago that PE Churchnet was not going to sustain my family and myself financially for quite some time and that was why The Blacksmith Shoppe was started.)
On Friday my income was R180. A small metalwork job came in and that was again enough to carry us through. R20 again went into that safe place in my cupboard as I did not have the exact amount of R18, but only a R20 note.
Early Saturday morning I sms'd Shaun to see whether any money had been paid in as we needed money for the weekend. Did not get an answer back immediately which was unlike Shaun.
By 10:35 I was becoming frantic and prayed. It went along the following lines: “God you know we have no money for the weekend, I cling to Your words in the Bible where You tell us to test You when it comes to tithing. At the same time I need to know whether You want me to carry on working with PE Churchnet. I need a sure sign. If I should stay with Churchnet & do whatever else is necessary such as metalwork to look after us financially I need you to give us money for the weekend. I am very scared & at the same time dont want to ask You this. What if you don't want me to work for You in PE Churchnet anymore? It means we won't have money this weekend!”
My amen was barely out when I got a call from Shaun. He wanted to know where I was because he had R430 for me. If that was not an answer to prayer, what is? Thank you God for the money and a bigger thank you for the confirmation that I am to stay with Churchnet.
Since Friday 25 June life in Christ has taken on such new meaning. Prayer requests were sent out two weeks ago as we had no idea where our rent money for the end of June was going to come from. My car's engine packed up and money is needed for repairs. God is awesome and so real in my life. For the very first time I really know that He knows how many hairs I have on my head. Previously it was book knowledge only.
Amounts came in to pay the rental in full and God threw in a bonus for good measure. He added the amount that I needed to pay for the water & utilities bill which was behind as well. Money is also coming in for the engine repairs. I have been dealing with severe depression for quite a while and God has healed me completely. It is as if I have never been in that deep dark place.
Why am I sharing this with people in business? Firstly I have to give God all the glory in a public setting. People have to know He is real, caring & there for each and every one of us.
Some of you are also struggling in your business. Times are tough!! Take time out and spend it with God, Our Father who cares. Let Him reveal to you what you need to do to change your business for the better. Speak to someone. Come and listen to Paul Leonard on Thursday 8 June at 05:30 and hear how he saved his business which seemed very hopeless at the time.
Lastly I know tithing is a very “delicate” topic. I am not telling you to go out and tithe. I simply am sharing with you what God is doing in my life. If you feel a prompting or sense that all is not well with what and how you give, do something about it.
Some of you will want to know what rules I apply to tithing. I decided to make it very simple, - whatever amount I receive, ten percent at least is God's. I know He doesn't need it, but I need to be faithful even with the small amounts. It also gives me such joy now to be able to thank God in a tangible way. After all I want God to entrust bigger tasks to me. We are planning big things in Churchnet. There is a very strong sense that God wants us to start up Cape Town Churchnet.
God is an awesome God.
Mike van Rensburg
Port Elizabeth Churchnet (fulltime)
The Blacksmith Shoppe (providing financially for now)
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BUILDING A CHRISTIAN BUSINESS COMMUNITY:
We held our first meeting on 5th May at the St Columbas hall, where Ian Vermooten shared on Enabling Entrepreneurial Minded People to impact their Market to the receptive gathering. We want to commend Revd Rory Spence and the staff at St Columbas for making their venue available to us, and for bending over backwards to attend to our requirements. Thanks especially to Andrew and Estelle- you guys are truly a blessing!
These bi-monthly meetings are intended to provide a platform for Christians in business to fellowship with and encourage one another and to also provide a networking opportunity. We are looking at creative ways to expand on this, while at the same time giving due concern to the privacy issues involved. We conducted a short survey with those who attended, and the information obtained will be used to plot the way forward.
At future meetings, we encourage attendees to bring along business cards and promotional brochures for display on our "networking table". For a limited period, we will also make free advertising space in this monthly Newsletter available to participants. Among those who attended our first function were:
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