They were the most unlikely of business partners. In 1984 the beautiful town of Bangor, Maine, offered few stable jobs and many people still got by working odd jobs, trading for goods, and growing their own produce.
Alex Gallimore
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Burt lived in an 8 x 8 shack on a small farm and sustained his humble lifestyle selling homemade honey every weekend out of the back of his truck. Roxanne, a mother from a very industrious family, had given up her dreams of becoming an artist and now bought and resold variety items at local yard sales. When Roxanne first met Burt she had just been laid off from her third job waiting tables.
Inspired by the back to the land movement Roxanne decided to volunteer one summer to help Burt with his small beekeeping enterprise. While getting to know Burt and learning the ancient practice of working with bees for the manufacturing of honey, Roxanne noticed the piles and piles of beeswax Burt had stored for years, with no clear purpose as to why. Together, Burt and Roxanne decided to expand the honey business to include homemade beeswax candles which they sold at local fairs.
After their first year in business together they had made $20,000 in honey and candle sales and knew they were on to something great. With a little marketing and additional product development, Burt and Roxanne’s hobby be-came Burt’s Bees-wax, an international corporation de-scribed as being an “Earth friendly, natural care company.” Today, Burt’s Bee’s offers a wide variety of natural products including lotions, toothpaste, shampoo and even the tube of beeswax lip balm that is always in my pocket.
I first heard the story of Burt’s Bees while watching a morning news program on which a business and marketing strategist was discussing innovative ways out-of-work entrepreneurs could merge their creativity and passions to build the next great American company. The bottom line was with only a little fresh marketing and forward thinking ingenuity, even jars of honey and piles of beeswax could be the building blocks success.
As the pastor of a very historic congregation currently seeking new methods for revitalizing our witness, the story of Burt’s Bees has intrigued me. I am loyal to the Burt’s Bees brand, feel that they have an excellent product, and have been im-pressed with their commitment to re-maining environmentally responsible. The story of Burt’s Bees is the story of growth and profit without the denial of personal beliefs and conscience. For churches seeking the same results, this is a story we should pay close attention to.
As Christians, I truly believe we have the greatest product around: the message of Jesus. We have words of hope to a world deprived of hope. We have a passion for justice in a world fueled by injustice. We carry with us the truth of God’s love and grace to those who have never received either.
Even in the modern pluralistic arena in which we live where there are many options available in the religio-spiritual marketplace, I still believe there is something special and unique about the person of Jesus. This does not mean that we should not dialogue with those of other religious beliefs or that we cannot learn from the traditions of others as we surely can and should. Still, what we have in Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom of God is something everyone truly wants and needs in one way or another.
For far too long, however, churches have attempted to dispense of their most precious product while parked along the side of the road, hoping someone will drive by and want to pick up a jar or two. We sit around wondering how we can get more traffic to come to us, walk through our doors, and sign on to join our ranks. We have the greatest of products, but the roadside-stand model only takes us so far.
It’s time we harness the kind of passion and innovation used by Burt and Roxanne to rebuild our declining organization into thriving, responsible, and conscience-focused centers of worship and service. We need to stop hoping and praying people will magically show up on Sunday mornings and find ways to take our product to where the people already are. Instead of wasting time sitting on our tailgates pining for the good old days when business was hot and attendance was up, we should invest energy in ways that communicate our timeless message to a changing world.
Our product hasn’t changed, only how it is received. This does not mean it’s time for us to get out of the beekeeping business, just time to reinvent what we do and expand our reach. When it comes to being the church in the 21st century, it’s time to think outside our own hive.
Alex Gallimore (alexcgallimore@gmail.com) is pastor of Hester Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C.