Making Corporate Cents
by Fred Childs

Being a working pastor for many years was a matter of choice for me; and it was a good choice. My church was on the Texas and Mexico border and quite frankly, we could not have done what we did for God without the financial base my employment provided. There is honor and much to learn about people by being a working pastor, and perhaps more should try it, at least for a while.

While pastoring a church and two daughter works, I was also the manager of the Continuous Improvement Division and Value Analysis/Value Engineering for a global manufacturing giant specializing in automotive electronics. We used the Kaizen method of never-ending improvement and other techniques to use teams of people to eliminate non-value adding corporate waste. We also used engineering techniques to eliminate production costs. This is a powerful combination that keeps you moving forward and your competition in trouble if they do not do the same.

As an expert in the Kaizen process, I was a member of a decision-making team that led the corporate re-engineering of our entire manufacturing concept. It was an astounding education. We saved hundreds of millions of dollars without any reduction in workforce! By working smarter and not harder, we eliminated all waste, redundancy, and eliminated all antiquated or non-value adding work processes. This freed up thousands of employees, multiple square feet of manufacturing floor space, and a high percentage of equipment. We tripled the company’s revenue by using the same resources we already had at our disposal by simply being better stewards.

These same principles would work well in national church organizations, because the business structures are just that . . . business structures. Often because they are preacher-created, they are less than efficient. In order to secure a stable future and not slip into deficit spending, every organization must challenge its cost effectiveness and efficiency in a positive manner because there will eventually be a repeat of 9-11 or even worse, and every dollar counts. The economy will eventually dive again. Donations will someday plunge due to an economic recession in our nation. The time to prepare is now because tomorrow can’t wait. The work of God demands proactive involvement in solving problems before they arise.
Our challenge is two-fold. First we have a constituency of preachers, a high percentage of whom have never dealt with cutting operational cost within any organization, and certainly not on a corporate level. Secondly, we have accepted a pattern of doing things and have no modem for change. But these need not hinder us from doing the right thing.

There are perhaps millions of dollars that could be saved and redirected, and countless non-value adding or redundant processes could be eliminated. The effect on the gospel could be tremendous.

I am not inferring additional belt-tightening or sacrifices which only treat the symptom and do not address the cure. I am talking about challenging the validity of everything we do in order to do it better for Jesus. Not adding bureaucracy but eliminating it. The same principles hold true for any local church or other organization of credibility.

I’d like to see a professional team of non-politically restrained experts reduce our operating costs a minimum of 10% each year for the first 5 years, and 5% per year from then on. Our focus could shift more than ever to empowering the gospel.