Hurricane Hugo victim watches his business
rebuilt by the hands of God!
Many times when people achieve success, they forget that their
success was the work of God. Such was the case for Fred Morris. Even though Fred forgot
God, God didn't forget him. This is the story of the split and reunion of Fred Morris and
Jesus Christ and the resultant tearing down and rebuilding of a little company in South
Carolina.
A Partnership with
God
The offspring of an entrepreneur family, Fred Morris should have
been more interested in building an empire than building a relationship with Christ. But
Fred felt that a start-up business could use someone like Him on the Board of Directors.
What better way could a company demonstrate Christian ethics, integrity, and a good
reputation? So in 1976, Fred began A.D.I., American Distributing Industries, from the
ruins of a closed door-to-door cleaning chemical company. The decision was then made to
bring Jesus Christ on board in an advisory position.
Respect for
Customers and Employees:
For the first few years, Morris and Christ worked very well
together and tried some innovative ideas that were unheard of in business in the 70's. The
first was total honesty. Morris determined to be totally honest in recruiting his
associates. He motivated them by sharing the financial information of his company. He was
also totally honest about his products. Cleaning chemicals were 90% water. So why not
admit it and charge a fair price -not what the market would bear - and pass the savings on
to the client?
The honesty filtered down through the company. The result was
greater teamwork, sharing of responsibility by the employees, and a greater respect of
what it took to run a company.
Respect for God-Given Resources:
The second area of agreement was to recycle! It was an industry-wide custom to
throw containers away. Instead large storage drums were left at the client's location by
A.D.I. and never thrown away. When they used small drums, they washed them and reused
them. This made their packaging costs the lowest in the industry. It takes 100 years for
plastic to decompose. To hire someone to wash drums instead of buying plastic to be thrown
away was a no-brainer.
They also recycled their waste water. They were on a septic tank
system. Instead of draining their cleaning waste water into the ground, they collected it
in pools and let sunlight and the elements break down the waste and purify the water. They
would use the water again to wash more drums and make more cleaning detergents. This was a
decade before it was fashionable to recycle!
Success Affects Fred's Hearing:
A.D.I. grew explosively, acquiring cleaning contracts with national chains in less
than three years. Then Fred became more impressed with his own importance. He argued more
with his board member, Christ, and listened to Him less. Fred's own physical and material
desires became more important. Fast money had come to him so he thought he was gifted in
making fast money in other places. So the stock and commodities market became a second
home. Along with fast money came a fast lifestyle and associations with fast-lane people.
The idealism that started his company was no longer there.
At the age of 39, Fred was earning nearly $100,000 per year. A.D.I.
was making an annual profit of $250,000. He was a writer, a successful speaker, a
motivator, a human relations specialist, and a successful C.E.O.
But instead of being happy and satisfied, he was bored stiff. His
life wasn't exciting or rewarding enough. In reality it was coming apart. He didn't see
the gradual erosion taking place. The fast lifestyle had become an addiction to intimate
female relationships, alcohol, and gambling in the stock market. Top of Page
One Sunday, at a church Fred was attending, one of the members
announced that Mike Warnke, a Christian comedian, was coming to Greenville Memorial
Auditorium. He put a small paperback in Fred's hand. It was titled, The Satan Seller,
Warnke's personal story. Fred had never read this kind of book. He was fast becoming a
millionaire and thought he didn't need this kind of book. But this book never left his
truck.
God Whispers to Fred:
One day,with time to kill, Fred picked up the book, scanned the
pages, then began to read about Mike Warnke's wild, fast-lane life. Gradually he began to
change his whole decision-making process.
Morris had trouble with the whole idea of surrendering. He had built
his company. He had paid a price. He was president. Jesus Christ was on the board. They
were a team, but Fred called all the shots. He had the final say, but that wasn't working.
Every part of his life was empty. Nothing was rewarding any more. Both ends of his candle
were aflame and fast approaching the center.
On a lonely road somewhere between Charleston,S.C. and Augusta,Ga.
in the first week of May,1987, Fred promoted Jesus Christ from a mere member to Chairman
of the Board of American Distributing Industries, Inc., and gave Him 100% of the shares of
stock in the company. Christ took the position. There were a lot of things He did like and
a lot of things He didn't like. The next four years demonstrated God's awesome power at
work.
Fred joined A.A. and quit drinking January 6,1988. Several
devastating amorous relationships created great pain and broke his heart. Then God's love
began to fill the holes and cement the pieces of his life together. He never realized such
love and peace like that before. It was a love and peace he desperately needed to balance
his life. "You build a relationship with God before you build a relationship with
people," he said.
God Speaks a Little Louder:
Then Hurricane Hugo destroyed one-half of his company. " I
watched 14 years of work destroyed in 14 hours", he recalls. The recession of '90 and
'91 took one-half of what was left and the Gulf War plummeted the stock market, taking his
last remaining cash.
God literally broke Fred and A.D.I. down to the foundation and then
began rebuilding from what was left. Here, in Fred's own words is what happened:
"In January 1991, we were financially bankrupt, but I refused to declare bankruptcy.
Our backs were against the wall. I made a pledge to tithe the increase of any blessing
that came to me or A.D.I. But this was a different pledge. I pledged any
increase-right down to crushed soda cans on the street that were under my feet."
" I picked up cans, but not to cash in. The cans were a
reminder of the biggest expense I had eliminated from myself and A.D.I..... my ego. My ego
was in the way of listening to God. I looked at any blessing - no matter how small - as a
gift from God. I wanted to be totally tuned in to any message that God was sending to me.
I used picking up cans as a humility exercise."
"I had no idea how much power there was in what I was doing. I
never knew how excited God could get about someone trying to listen better to what He was
saying. " He creates the situations that allow us to see and remove our limitations.
He invests in us and knows our greatest weaknesses and potentials. He knows the path we
are supposed to take to achieve our greatest growth. He also knows the pitfalls along the
way." Top of
Page
This is an incredible fact to
comprehend!
" I also started a diary, a record of my talking and listening to God. I
recorded every blessing of any kind that God bestowed on me, whether it was strange
coincidences, money out of the blue, new clients coming from nowhere,or guidance to new
ideas, or people, steering me away from bad situations. This went for every part of my
business, family, or personal life. When I could, I put a value on the blessings that came
to me. I then tithed from that value."
"God could just as easily have given me 90 cents as a dollar.
But He gave me a whole dollar. He gave me a bunch of 'em. The least I could do was give
Him back 10 cents of each dollar. I began to get a genuine appreciation for His power. I
learned what a deep joy it is to give. I also learned how excited He could become when I
managed His money properly."
"I also wrote to God in my record. I asked Him in my record my
toughest, deepest questions about my life. The more questions I asked, the more questions
I had to ask. I never realized how many things I was trying to do alone without any help.
I never realized how many forks in the road I faced. It's different when it's on paper.
It's more concrete. You sink your teeth into the questions more. I thanked Him in the
record, too. It meant more. He knew it and I knew it."
God's Blessings Manifest:
"Weird stuff began to happen. Old clients came back. New clients
came out of the blue. My company slowly began to rebuild without any push from me. I just
followed the direction that God set out for me. I listened to my hunches more and
calculated less. Most of the hunches were base hits. Some of the hunches were even home
runs!"
"Demands for bills to be paid just stopped. People I owed
stopped bugging me, for some reason. As my company grew, I gradually began to pay the old
bills. Even the tax people forgot me. That's right, forgot me! One tax collector told me
that my file had just vanished from the screen! Mysteriously they didn't remember about me
until I had enough cash flow to pay them."
" My personal life was organized by a phantom Social Director.
People who wasted my time were removed from my life. Instead time was easily created for
people I did need to see. The time I never thought I had to go to church was created. Then
the whole Sunday, with very few exceptions, was carved out. If I needed a rest, the day
was arranged for me without my help. If there were family emergencies, time was arranged
for me to be away. There were no company emergencies when there were family
emergencies."
"I quit worrying. I had freedom. I had peace. The Chairman of
the Board came through with His promises: ask Him questions, listen to His answers, do
what He wants you to do the way He wants you to do it. Thank Him, praise Him, honor Him
with your first fruits. You will receive freedom, peace, and more blessings than you can
handle."
A.D.I. is currently a profitable company in Simpsonville, S.C. Fred
Morris is founder of The Skyhook Connection, a ministry involved in teaching how
to build a productive relationship with God through finding your talents, stewardship, and
improving your "listening to God skills".
Spreading God's Word:
Fred is a Christian teacher, speaker and consultant.
He is available to be of help to either your group, or on a one-on-one basis.
Email him or
call 1-800-779-3619.
Top of Page
| See our Freebie, "
