Testing Your Testimony

Your company, Custom Media, Inc. sells products and  services to businesses and organizations that helps  them promote their brand/image in the marketplace.  You specialize in helping your clients position themselves  uniquely, through placements of advertising as well as direct  mail programs, and other original marketing strategies.

One of your top prospective clients, Barclay Homes, is  a large home builder in your local community. They are the  second largest company in their industry in your marketplace,  and they are in the process of replacing the marketing firm  they have been working with for years.

Barclay has the reputation of being an extremely  aggressive competitor, and from what you have heard, they  have been known on many occasions of “playing hardball” to  win large development contracts. Barclay was started in 1984  by George Barclay, an astute 58 year old businessman with a  real “cutthroat” mentality – he plays to win.

Although you have never met Mr. Barclay personally, you  have heard many stories of him making decisions based solely  on the bottom line – without regard to how those decisions  impact employees, vendors, and even sometimes customers.  Rumor has it that Mr. Barclay is often seen around town with  women other than his wife (he is on his third marriage) and it  is fairly common knowledge that on more than one occasion  he has been intoxicated in public. But despite all that, Barclay  has no doubt been successful.

For the last three years, you have wanted to have the  opportunity to establish a working relationship with Barclay,  but you have not been able to penetrate the account with any  key relationships. You feel that if given the chance, using your  unique strategies, you could help Barclay become number 1 in  the marketplace, something you sense is VERY important to  George Barclay.

Jack Thompson is a good friend of yours from church. You  have known each other for nearly ten years.

After church one Sunday, Jack approaches you with some  very exciting news. Just a few weeks ago, he became the  Vice President of Marketing for Barclay Homes. It is his  responsibility to work with companies like yours to effectively  position Barclay Homes in the marketplace. He invites you to  come visit Barclay’s office the following week, and indicates  he would like to introduce you to some of the key players at  Barclay.

Just a few days later, you complete your visit to the  Barclay office, which included a brief personal introduction  and handshake of George Barclay himself.

At the end of your tour, Jack invites you to put together  a proposal on some ideas you might have to help Barclay’s  positioning in the marketplace.

A few days after submitting your proposal, you get a phone  call from Jack who tells you Mr. Barclay was very impressed  with your ideas, and that he wants to meet with you to discuss  things in person.

Jack goes on to say the following, “Before you meet  with him, there is something very important you need to  understand about Mr. Barclay. I have come to learn that for  whatever reason he has a very strong dislike of Christians.  He has indicated to me on several occasions that he feels  like Christians are ‘weak’ people who need a crutch (God)  because they cannot get through life on their own. He feels  that Christians are phony and not to be trusted. He feels like  anyone who would follow a god they cannot see and touch is  foolish and not worth dealing with. Furthermore, Mr. Barclay  makes it a point to at times be obnoxious with Christians to  see if he can get them ‘squirming’ a bit. I just wanted you to  know that in advance.”

You tell Jack how much you appreciate him setting up this  meeting, as well as the “heads up” regarding Mr. Barclay and  his opinion of Christians.

As you prepare for your meeting with Mr. Barclay, you  decide it would be a good idea to go to God’s Word for some  guidance in preparation for your time with him.

Two important things come to mind as you prepare for  your meeting with him:
1. You have witnessed to other less well-known  individuals in the past and were not overly concerned  with how they might be offended – you cared more  about their soul than anything else, and
2. You have turned down doing business before because  you refused to help certain companies further their  image because you did not approve of the way they do  business.

The day is here – and you prayerfully prepare for your  lunch meeting with George Barclay.  Mr. Barclay shows up right on time, and the two of you  order lunch.

George tells you right away how much he liked your ideas  about positioning his business in the marketplace. He indicates  he is very interested in pursuing some of your ideas and would  like to receive a formal quote for the entire program.

As the business portion of your lunch winds down, Mr.  Barclay asks you a question – he wants to know how you and  Jack Thompson know each other and for how long?

Keeping in mind the “warning” that you have received  about Mr. Barclay’s opinion of Christians – how would you  answer the question George just asked? Remember how you  answer George’s question may impact your future opportunity  to do business.

As the lunch progresses over the next hour, Barclay opens  up to you on a personal level. Maybe it was his third martini  talking, or perhaps indigestion, or for some other unknown  reason – whatever the case he begins to share some very  personal things with you.

He shares with you the difficulty of his childhood,  including growing up in a home where his father was abusive  due to a drinking problem. The sadness in his voice is very  apparent as he admits to not remembering a single occasion  where his father had told him he loved him. He describes  his teen years of a time where he experimented with drugs,  alcohol, and illicit sex, a pattern he admits to never having  broken. He tells you of the mistakes he has made in his  marriages. He admits to his history of infidelity and living a  life out of control. He tells you there are many things in his  life he regrets, including several broken relationships with  family, most notably the fact that he is estranged from his  oldest child, a daughter who now has two children of her own – grandchildren he only gets to visit with briefly each  Christmas.

Mr. Barclay talks for nearly 30 minutes, and you find  yourself actually attracted to his degree of vulnerability and  transparency.

He tells you that in spite of the overwhelming business  success he has enjoyed, he would trade it all in to restore the  broken relationships in his life.

He admits to you he is not sure why he is telling all these  personal things, but that for some reason he just felt like you  were a safe person to talk to.

He asks you to excuse him as he needs to use the restroom,  but as he raises up from the table, he says he would like  to hear from you how you think his problems could be  addressed.

As Mr. Barclay is headed away from the table, you find  yourself breaking out into a cold sweat- in disbelief as to  what is happening – George Barclay has just shared very deep  personal issues with you, and he is asking you for personal  advice.

You ask the Lord to give you the words to share with  George, in a way that he will accept.

Barclay comes back to the table, his face a little red, with a  slight look of anger in his eyes.

He tells you he is very interested in hearing what you have  to say about his situation, but while in the restroom he found  a booklet on the sink that on the outside read “If you were die  tonight-would you go to heaven or hell?” He says “those Jesus people are just so arrogant-thinking they have all the answers. They make me so angry. Now tell me your thoughts regarding my life. What should I do?”

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