The church in the workplace is the purest form of the body of Christ today due to its diversity. Workplace believers are less prone to denominational differences because they have a common goal of representing Christ in their workplaces. The movement will break down denominational barriers that have been held in the past.”
Os Hillman, International Coalition of Workplace Ministries
16 years ago Dominic Secchiaroli found himself on the brink of losing everything. After his family’s call center business went under, Secchiaroli’s home was on the verge of foreclosure. Desperate and searching for opportunity, Secchiaroli’s entrepreneurial spirit led him back to his roots in the networking marketing industry, to an emerging company in telecommunications, ACN, a company that has grown since 1993 into the largest direct seller of telecommunications and essential services in the world. The network marketing opportunity provided by ACN led him to financial freedom. He was able to save his home from foreclosure, has time to spend with his family and challenged son and in the midst of it God led him to a wide open door of ministry reaching thousands for Jesus while growing and supporting a business. While the ACN opportunity isn’t a get rich quick blueprint, it’s a lot of hard work building up your customer base and supporting the
independent business owners—the benefits do pay for those with the drive and will to succeed. Selling services that everyone uses including phone, TV, cell phones and now energy, the monthly commission check off of these payments can add up. Secchiaroli explains, “In an unpredictable world of finances today, ACN offers people the ability to get involved in their own business and to develop a quality of life that can lead to financial freedom if they keep the balance. All the services we offer are services people use anyways. It is a great attraction to get involved with the company to offer people better choice for services they are already using.”
Secchiaroli serves as Expansion Leader with thousands in his down line over the years, a term in network marketing for those associated in the business. The thousands of people involved in the business have also presented Secchiaroli with an opportunity to share his love for Jesus with those he works with specifically at the company’s quarterly rallies—events held around the country in sports stadiums comparable to First Niagara Center. Secchiaroli realized the opportunity to host a worship service during the rally weekends and has seen huge response from attendees who came for the business opportunity and went home with eternal riches. He credits Jesus for every good thing in his life and is passionate about sharing Him with others. “What I do know is that God somewhere along the line gave me an opportunity to provide for my family and show me a ministry that can help thousands of people.”
Through the worship services that the company approves but does not require the independent business owners to attend (the founders of the company are professing Christians) Secchiaroli is helping to give definition to what many for years have been calling Marketplace Ministry, the idea that the sacred and secular divide no longer exists but that God can and will inhabit every area of culture including business. Billy Graham himself is quoted as saying, “I believe one of the next great moves of God is going to be through the believers in the workplace.” Dick Halverson said, “There is a distinction between church work and the work of the church. Church work is what you do for the organized institution of the church. The work of the church is what is done between Sundays when the church is scattered all over the metropolitan area where it is located – in homes, schools, offices, on construction jobs, in market places.” Dorothy Sayers author of “Why Work?” agrees when she wrote, “It is not right for the Church to acquiesce in the notion that a man's life is divided into the time he spends on his work and the time he spends in serving God. He must be able to serve God in his work, and the work itself must be accepted and respected as the medium of divine creation.” ACN is providing Dominic an incredible in road for the kingdom outside of the traditional church environment. The company structure creates community and accountability and often times people open up about their needs. “We’ve seen tens of thousands of people get saved, tens of thousands of prayer requests and God gets all the glory, he is leading the path and guiding it every step of the way by surrounding me with great people who have talent in areas that I am not talented in. The business is one of the tools that I believe the Lord is using to reach the marketplace.”
Jim Slattery of East Aurora a fellow business owner agrees with Dominic that ACN is something God is using right now, “When people start a business with ACN, they think they have found a place where they can achieve their hopes and dreams financially. They believe that changing their finances for the better will change their life for the better. What they come to find out however through the contact of so many believers and the worship services is that the greatest life changer of all is Jesus Christ. They hear and daily experience the witness of so many changed lives by Christ that it becomes undeniable to them of the reality of Christ and the redemptive power of the cross.” Slattery goes on, “The opportunity of ACN allows this environment of contact with believers and when people come in contact with those who revere Christ as Lord and are allowed to get to know them and form true friendships and relationships over time they eventually come to the point where they ask us the reason for the hope that we have. And as someone once said, ‘A man with an argument is no match for a man with an experience.’”
ACN’s growth has been startling with over $500 million in annual sales and tens of thousands of independent business owners. The company uses a direct selling business model to provide value and choice to consumers, while also providing Independent Business Owners an opportunity to form their own businesses. “ACN’s Independent Business Owners” use relationship marketing to inform their family and friends of the products and services available through ACN, products and services people need and use every day. The opportunity has attracted a range of people hungry for freedom, the opportunity to own their own business, a change in life and for those who come to the rallies a chance to meet their Maker.
“The founders of our company have always taught balance, faith, family, fitness, finances. If you are out of balance in any of those areas, it will affect all the others. So he always encouraged us to continue on because he realizes faith is a vital part of people staying in the business long term,” explained Dominic.
For now it is business as usual for Secchiaroli, building relationships and bridges that are helping people get a glimpse of the Savior through his ministry that meets not just the spiritual but also physical needs, something that more than keeps him motivated. While business is good as ACN continues to expand, Dominic’s passion clearly lies in the ministry opportunity. To that end Dominic has developed resources and discipleship tools on his website www.amazingchristian.net for the worship service attendees giving their heart to the Lord at the event. The website also has more details and video footage, a daily email and other ministry resources. As he explains, “Being able to witness 500-2000 people per event give their lives to the Lord in what really matters, to see them up front and to experiencing God is transform their lives. I get to witness God at work.”
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