Business group finds comfort in troubled times

Especially during tough times, people tend to turn to a higher power for direction as they seek the strength to plow through the challenges life brings.

Today, a lot of those challenges are financial in nature, but many people believe God is as likely to advise on business matters as he is to give comfort.

That’s why many associations, boards of directors and city and county bodies, start their meetings with a word of prayer. And it’s why the Home Builders Association of Dothan & the Wiregrass Area began the new year by initiating a monthly prayer breakfast.

When the world seems most against you, Home Builders Association President Mark Saliba said, that’s the time to praise God and pray, referring to the actions of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25.

“With the economy the way it is,” Saliba told about 35 association members Monday at the Holiday Inn South, “with the wars and conflicts, the relationship struggles, physical ailments, disease ... I pray this would be our response – to pray and sing hymns to God.”

Featured speaker John Downs, president of Qualico Steel, recounted miracles in his own life, saying one was the opportunity to sell a new business he’d started construction on just before 9/11. Steel prices then escalated and this new venture drained his companies of cash.

“I prayed for three nights. I owed SouthTrust $32 million,”he said.

Downs said God put him with a buyer and the company sold for $19.6 million.

He advised area home builders to pray. “We’re facing a very difficult time. Trust God. Call on him.”

Ralph Sigler, pastor of Harvest Church in Dothan, said people turn to God for relief over financial and business matters.

“Definitely that’s true,” Sigler said. “Bad times puts things in perspective for people. There is a distant awareness that putting faith in money is unstable. I Timothy says don’t put your hope in money, which is so uncertain. Those words are more real now.”

I Timothy 6:10 says the love of money is “a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

People believe God has a financial plan for them, he said.

“I know there are a lot of business people who do trust God and are tithers. Deuteronomy says the purpose of tithing is to teach trust in God. One of the most difficult areas to trust is in money.”

Downs said business people may think sometimes they can’t afford to tithe, but in reality, “we can’t afford not to.”

As the worst of the recession hits, Sigler expects more people will begin to trust God with their money. “When that happens, it opens doors for their journey in faith,” he said.