The Biggest Business Announcement I’ve Ever Made
Hey my friend! Thanks a lot for coming here to read this announcement!
I know the title of this may seem a little hyperbolic, but this really is the biggest announcement I’ve ever made about my business.
As you may know, I’ve been doing this stuff for a long time. I first started in the field in 2005, and for the past 9 1/2 years I’ve been in full time private practice at The Meadows Country Club. I’ve given an enormous chunk of my life to this business and God has blessed it like CRAZY. Ephesians 3:20 says that God can do above and beyond all that we can ask or imagine, and that is truly what I have experienced over the years.
I never claimed to work miracles, yet somehow I’ve had hundreds and hundreds of people hire me to do thousands and thousands of sessions. By Gods’ grace, I’ve had years go by where I had waiting lists nearly every month. I’ve done seminars for packed rooms. I’ve written books. I’ve had dozens of articles published. I’ve been featured in local newspapers and on local radio. I’ve been featured on local TV stations and once on national TV in front of 1 million people. I’ve even worked with 9 Major League Baseball players, and I was nearly offered a job with the Toronto Blue Jays. And the best part is that throughout my career I’ve been doing something that I absolutely love to do- helping people get well, feel well and stay well. I’d say I’ve lived the “American Dream” and then some.
Even now, my practice is booming. I literally have a 3-4 week waiting list in the midst of all that is going on, and it is just a continuation of the awe inspiring super v recovery I had last year. Here’s a graph of my month by month sessions for the past 3 years. It really is amazing. (The other big drop was when I missed 18 days of work because of pneumonia back in 2019.)
Given all this, what I have to tell you may be pretty shocking-
I’m becoming a missionary!!!!
That’s right, Mr. Fitness is going to become Mr. Evangelist. Starting sometime between my 39th birthday (6/9) and the 10 year anniversary of launching my current practice (7/29) I will be reducing my available weekly hours from the current amount (which is usually between 35-45) to around 15-20. This will free me up to (1) spend more time with my son, who is now 13 and needing much more of his father than he has ever gotten, and (2) do more of what I currently do on Friday and Saturday, which is preach the gospel, in high traffic public places- just like they did during the First and Second Great Awakenings.
I see God move so powerfully during these services that it has truly awakened a passion in me. Although I love helping people heal and get fit, when I see someone receive the gift of eternal life through faith in Jesus, or have their relationship with Him go to a deeper level, it takes me into an entirely different realm of joy. I’ve been wanting to do more of this for a long time and I’ve recently gotten the confirmation from God that now is the time. How fitting that I’m also making this announcement on 2/21/21, which is the 3 year anniversary of Billy Graham’s graduation to heaven! I didn’t even plan it that way!
Here’s the backstory on all this…
Unlike many Christians, I wasn’t raised in church. My parents were both unbelievers when I gave my life to Jesus in May of 2006, and I’m the first one on both sides of my family to become born again. Jesus radically transformed my life when He saved me too. You would hardly believe me if I told you how I used to be. Seriously.
For years after my salvation I had a real passion for God, but, over time, as my business got more and more successful, I slowly became consumed by it. As I spent more time at work, I spent less time with God and less time with my wife. After a while, my relationship with both of them began to suffer greatly.
My wake up call came in 2016, shortly after my wife asked for a divorce. In the midst of the agonizing pain of that process, the Lord extended His hand of love and healing into me and He bound up my broken heart. Through this, He won me over all over again and showed me that life is so much better when He is the center of my attention. In 2017, I pulled back from working so much and I started to spend ALOT of time seeking God through worship, prayer, fasting and studying the scriptures. Although I was single and I wasn’t making as much money, I felt like I was getting something that money could never buy and a human relationship could never provide.
In 2018, God began to give me a desire to be more bold with my faith and He gave me an opportunity to join forces with a good friend who had been doing prayer meetings on Siesta Key Beach every Saturday. My friend had a 7 foot cross and I had a speaker and a microphone. We had our first service on Easter Saturday, and we’ve had one every Saturday since. It’s now been 152 weeks in a row.
As shocking as it may seem in our PC world, most people seem to really like hearing about Jesus. I tell them that Jesus loves us all so much that He gave His life for us on the cross after being brutally beaten. I tell them that He did this because our sin required a punishment, and Jesus didn’t want us to bear it ourselves…so He bore it for us. I tell them that we can have our sin punishment totally cancelled by accepting what Jesus did and making Him the Lord of our life. It is so simple yet so profound. I also tell them the best part, which is that Jesus did this so that we could live with Him forever in a place with no sadness, sickness, death, pain or sin. A place called heaven. When you present it like that, people see it for what it really is- GOOD News.
We’ve had so much of God’s favor over these 152 weeks that it’s truly been mind-blowing. Even the employees and the police have encouraged us to keep doing it. Over time, the meetings have also grown in size, scope, participation and fruitfulness. We’ve even had a few supernatural miracles take place. This one is by far the most dramatic- the instant healing of a mans broken foot at our 1 year anniversary service.
Now we have a second location that has also been very fruitful- Bayfront Park at Marina Jack. And, with this new move that I’m making, there will be opportunities to do services in many more places throughout the area. I also believe God will eventually have me traveling throughout the state on mission trips, doing the same thing in other cities while still continuing to work a limited schedule.
In addition to my personal evangelism, I will also be working to train up other evangelists and leaders to do the same thing. I will also be working to help them get financed so that they can have sound systems, microphones, gifts to give away, signs, and other items they will need. My dream is to see teams of people having meetings like this in public places all throughout the state of Florida. Pretty audacious dream, but as I often say “go big or go home!”
Now you might be wondering “Chris, if you are already that busy, how in the world are you going to keep all your clients when you cut your hours by that much?”
Well, unfortunately the downside of this move is that I will have to say no to many people who need my help. Luckily, my friend Aaron Nikou, a very talented MAT Specialist from Indiana, is supposed to be moving here over the summer. If he does, he can see the people I won’t have time to see.
As far as who I will continue to see personally, I will likely be deciding this based on how long they’ve been with me. As for brand new clients, I will only be taking them through the end of March. After that, I will only be seeing clients I’ve already worked with in the past.
Please pray for me during this transition too. This is one of the biggest steps of faith I’ve ever taken, and I need the Lord to give me wisdom and guidance as to how to do it exactly the way He wants.
So there it is in black and white. Can you see why I called this the biggest business announcement I’ve ever made!? Please feel free to contact me, or speak to me in person if you have any questions. I will be providing continual updates as the details get finalized.
Thanks so much for being on this journey with me. Our relationship means more than you realize!
Lots of love and blessings to you! From me and from Jesus!
Chris