Comments Presented during Dinner by Mason Rutledge
Mark 6:34 Jesus gets out of a boat and says, “Wow, these people need leadership. They are like sheep without a shepherd.”
A buddy called Friday and said, “My company bought me into the C3 tournament. WHAT IS C3 LEADERS?”
Some of YOU may also be asking, What is C3?
The truth is that there are many in this room that can answer that question too. Shoot, our entire Board is here, which is amazing for any Board. Let’s have them stand
The Board will tell you that C3 Leaders helps business leaders integrate their life — Jesus and business. To not live disjointed, unmanageable lives, but rather a whole life that aligns faith, family and factory in one full soul self.
If you cross a C3 Leader at the store, she’s the same person that you will see at the gym, at church, at Starbucks. One full soul self.
Our main product for this work is the C3 Forum. Jesus-centered, business-focused groups that meet regularly in a committed consortium around the Bible, prayer and the C3 Check-In.
We don’t fill the C3 Forum with textbooks or workbooks. The “curriculum” is the stories you absorb and the learning is in sharing your own struggles and triumphs.
And the C3 Forum isn’t led by a paid “coach” but rather a volunteer. They are peer led. The leaders of these groups are our C3 Forum Chairs. Real heroes of our business community. They can answer to, What is C3?
They can also tell you where we have been the last year, as we have been on this crazy journey together.
Together we raised and gave away over 10% of the C3 Leaders’ budget as a part of our COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Program. We raised a whole lot of those funds at this tournament last year. Thank you.
We gave away money. In the pandemic, we also cut our spending by 47%. Good news is we saw a 15% increase in the number of givers. Average gifts were down but we balanced the budget through a broader network of ownership. More people bought into the vision of C3 Leaders.
At the same time, we started a whole bunch of new C3 Forums. Redmond men, Seattle women, Maple Valley women, Wenatchee men, Alderwood women and put a dozen FC Candidates through New Forum Chair Orientation.
In the middle of the pandemic, we took on a challenge, could C3 Leaders ensure that every kid who needed a coat had a coat for Christmas. C3 Forums collected dozens of coats and we gave them to partnering agencies.
Most recently last four months we have witnessed a surge in business leaders interested in a C3 Forum and business leaders are interested in starting a C3 Forum.
Why the surge?
- Calendars have been cleared in pandemic – they are being rebuilt with purpose
- Leadership has always been lonely – never more lonely than in quarantine.
We’ve been praying about the solution for this surge and to meet this opportunity need a person who can provide…
- Intent focus on Candidate Placement – time, prayer, communicating with Forum Chairs, coordinating visits, following up
- Intentional marketing to quality Candidates. You get these emails all the time. We aren’t going to do random, mass marketing, but rather target those Jesus-centered, business-focused leaders and engage them. How many Jesus-centered, business-leaders are there in Washington State? We want to know them all.
- Increased time in Care for C3 Forum Roster. The truth is there is a lot of hurt. Pain. Need for help. (I gave a couple examples of current ministry happening within our C3 Forums). We need more time than ever than to just be with our people.
What will the result of this be for C3 Leaders
- More business leaders in C3 Forums
Currently placing three candidates in C3 Forums per month
We want to double that number - Increase in the number of C3 Forums
Our current pace is about six C3 Forums starts a year
We want to move that number to ten - Greater Quality of C3 Forums. With the responsibility for placement lifted from me, we can work on quality assurance with our C3 Forum Chairs.
- Increase in donations to C3 Leaders. You all are business leaders. If I was you, I’d want to know if there was an on-going plan. First, we are doing this because it is the right thing to do, not because of potential revenue. There needs to be an on-going funding plan.
During the last year we have moved from an association to a ministry. We don’t have “dues.” C3 Forums are free and available to all. If you want help, we want to help. We do ask for donations. When I came to C3 Leaders, we had one-third of the people in a C3 Forum paying dues to C3 Leaders. Today, we have two-thirds of those in our C3 Forum making a minimum annual donation to C3 Leaders. Doubled the investment, just by changing the model.
The average person in a C3 Forum gives about $1,425 per year. By increasing the number of C3 Forums and increasing the C3 Forum roster, that should equal about $57,000 in added annual donation revenue to C3 Leaders. We have an on-going plan.
Tonight in raise the paddle we will ask you for the initial investment, venture capital or venture contributions, if you will. Help us get off the ground to take advantage of this current opportunity. There is an opportunity to seize. We are ready. We are positioned. It’s already happening. We need your help to respond with thoroughness, discernment and integrity
A C3 member recommend the Cabbage Patch in Snohomish for a grant from the C3 Leaders’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Program. I went to the restaurant with a giant check and we blessed the owner with a gift. She was very thankful.
In the process, I noticed the restaurant chairs. I asked the owner, where did you get the chairs. She said that she had bought them in the late 80’s format a restaurant that was closing.
Those were my parent’s chairs. They owned a restaurant in Lynnwood, and it closed following Black Monday, the largest downturn ever in the stock market. I told the Cabbage Patch owner, “Those were the chairs from our restaurant.” I was practically in tears and she looked at me as if to say, they are just chairs.
She had been there to offer a bridge to my folks during hard times by buying the chairs. Over thirty years later, I was there to offer a bridge offering financial support from C3 Leaders.
So, what is C3 Leaders? It’s that. Offering a bridge during the hard times. Celebrating in the good times.
There is no doubt that the world needs leadership and we are offering whole soul selves to those that are “lost and without a shepherd.”
That is C3.