Third annual Faith At Work Business Symposium reflection
Georgia Gay, EIC
Graphic courtesy of Wyatt Duncan.
All of the business, marketing and sport management majors poured into Turner Chapel on Friday, Feb. 9 to listen to three prominent speakers talk about their successes and failures of owning their own businesses while implementing God into the work force.
The symposium was conceived by Jason Ross, director of corporate development, along with a committee. “I have always had a vision to launch an event where business CEO’s could come to NGU and tell their story of how they integrate Christian principles and values within their own business and to teach the next generation that it can be done,” said Ross.
Tony Beam started off the Faith At Work Business Symposium with warm, welcoming words. He introduced the first speaker, mentioning her in high regards.
Everyone watched in anticipation as Brandy Hart Amidon, a graduate of NGU and now the mayor of Travelers Rest, approached the podium. Amidon is married and has one child, which she includes in all of her mayor duties. Nervously, she started off her speech by mentioning how she was one of the first accounting majors at NGU.
With a degree in accounting, she went on to start her own accounting firm, Brandy Hart Amidon, CPA. She thanks NGU for all it gave her and what she was able to do for her community.
The theme of her overall presentation was ‘adulting’. While she admitted that adulting is important, it can be challenging sometimes.
“Last week, I had four cavities. I’m bad at adulting,” said Amidon through a chuckle. While nervous at first, her anxiety subsided and she was able to joke along with the crowd.
What she wanted everyone to take away from her presentation was how to prioritize and to keep at the difficult situations in life. Her list of priorities consists of God, her husband and her child. “You decide what your priorities in life are,” Amidon stated.
Another important takeaway she mentioned in her speech was allowing fear to motivate. Amidon stated that she would be lying if she said she wasn’t scared while running for mayor. She allowed fear to motivate her to do great things for herself and her community.
The next speaker was David Barge, the CEO of Barge Timberland Management, Inc. Barge is a family man, working for his family owned business that is now 85-years-old. He mentions how faith is an integral part of his family owned business and it would not function properly without God coming first.
Barge’s main point during his presentation was becoming what you stand for. “You become what you believe,” stated Barge.
He believes that what you believe and how you act both in the business world and in your day-to-day life makes you into who you become, which is why he stresses putting God first in everything you do.
While working for his company, he also helped start Lake Forest Ranch, a Christian camp for children. He is passionate about children and helping them get introduced to God at a young age, because that is when they are the most impressionable.
In everything Barge does, he said he includes God and makes sure that his million-dollar company runs with godly values. This is the reason the company is as successful as it is, Barge believes.
The final speaker was Ramon Nieve-Lugo, Principal of Unicomm Media Group. Based in downtown Greenville, this company highlights the Hispanic culture of Greenvile all while trying to infuse a Christian atmosphere.
A Bob Jones marketing graduate, Nieve-Lugo was eager to find a marketing job. Since he graduated in 2008, the recession had hit the United States pretty hard, and finding a job in that economy was rather difficult.
This frustrated Nieve-Lugo and discouraged him from finding a job with his degree. When an opportunity arose and he was able to start earning a living, he decided to decline it. He felt that God was leading him to earn his master’s.
He found himself questioning God during his career. He didn’t fully understand why he had to know God on a personal level. Through the challenges he faced starting his company, God made it clear to him as to why he should know his Creator.
Unicomm Media Group started on a white board. He and his brother wrote out all of the contacts they knew and what the company would be, and this is how the company was launched.
Nieve-Lugo’s theme for this speech was being a legacy builder. While it is important to invest time into people, it is more important to invest your name. This is what Nieve-Lugo strongly believes in and how he became the successful business person he is today.
The major takeaway he left for the audience and how he ended his presentation was how was should always have open hearts, not open hands.
NGU is eager to host another symposium next February and hopes to highlight more strong, Christianly speakers, in hopes of encouraging not only business, marketing and sport management majors, but anyone willing to listen.
When asked what Ross hopes students take away from the symposium, he said, “To show the students how they can also integrate Christian principles and values within their own business; they are the next generation who will be leading our country in the business arena. It does not matter what profession you are in, God calls us to be disciples everywhere.”
