Oct 9, 2016
What You'll Hear:
How Chris saw Adding Silhouettes as God's mission for his car
business
They have tried and implemented several ways to add silhouettes,
including a different sales model, hiring a corporate chaplain,
putting Bibles in the lobby and in the glove box of new cars
It took much longer to implement the first change than he ever
imagined. He lost confidence in himself and the business
actually was losing money. He leaned heavily on the Psalms
and hired a consultant
"Doing Businss by the Book" by Larry Burkett showed him how to
read Proverbs with business glasses
He doesn't argue with those who say faith should be a private
matter, but he feels scripture directs us differently
We have to continually remind ourselves that our identity doesn't
come from our work but from God
If you have conflict with others at work, remember that they're
wired differently from you
If you want to share the gospel at work, focus on building
intentional relationships
Intro
Chris Patton is President of the Mike Patton Auto Family in
LaGrange, Georgia, operators of Honda, Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler,
Dodge, Jeep, and Ram franchises.
Along with his brother (and partner) Brian, Chris is a third-generation owner and grew up working in every department in the business, beginning at the age of 10.
He assumed his current position as President/CEO in 2000. The Mike Patton Auto Family has approximately 100 employees and retailed over 2,000 new and used vehicles in 2015.
Chris also writes a blog called Christian Faith at Work. He is writing it to business owners and leaders who are trying to figure out how to integrate their Christian faith into their businesses.
By including the resources accumulated over the past nine years
of learning to use the business as a vehicle for ministry, as well
as real-life examples from his experiences, Chris teaches readers
how to run their business from an eternal perspective.
Chris and his wife Kim live in LaGrange, GA with their three
children.
Q&A*
When Did You Become a Christian?
10 years old. Grew up in the church. At my
Grandmother's house. Asked her questions and I knelt at her green
vinyl couch.
Tell Us About Your Business and This Concept of Silhouettes
I came to realize God wanted more from me than just Sundays and
that He put me in business to impact people and do ministry through
that business.
I came across 1 Corinthians 3. Whatever we build will be
tested by fire on judgment day. I pictured our business being
scorched and tested by fire and all that was left were Silhouettes,
those who had been impacted for eternity by the business. My
mission became adding silhouettes.
List For Us A Few Ways You Live Out Your Faith Through Your Car
Dealership
We moved from a commission based pay system to a flat pay system,
so they're incentivised to do what's best for the customer.
We rewrote our Mission Statement and Vision Statement and made sure they were faith based.
We hired a chaplain through Corporate Chaplains of America. He comes by twice a week and leads two Bible studies.
We put a New Testament copy called "Owner's Manual for Life" in the glove box with each new car sold.
We have pocket copies of the Gospel of John in the waiting area.
I give a devotional monthly.
New hire training I teach a one hour training session on our values.
We have an employee crisis fund.
Talk About the Process of this Transformation
This does not happen overnight. The first transition to the
new sales model took 18 months and I underestimated the rate at
which people can change.
My advice would be to pick one thing, make sure you think it through, involve your leadership team, and make sure it's right before taking on something else.
Be patient, but once it's not working,