Good or Bad?

Weekly Thought – January 20, 2026

Fred’s reputation for strategic thinking on spiritual matters began early in his life. This week’s thought is an excerpt from an article in Decision magazine (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association), June 1963. The bio identified him as a “Baptist layman, a native of Tennessee, and a nationally known business speaker.” At the time he was 48 with 44 years of influence to go.

Good or Bad?

In all of life there is always one key question. Airplane engineers need to answer: lighter or heavier than air? Donut shops need to answer: on-the-way-to-work or on-the-way-home side of the street? We as individuals have to answer: “What is the tendency of man: good or bad?”

Do people tend to be good with a high potential for bad or do they tend to be bad with a high potential for good? Until we get the answer to this fundamental question, we can never understand ourselves or the universal need for the Gospel.

As an executive, I never have to teach supervisors to fight with their employees. Never have I had to run a course on “goofing off.” As a parent, I never find the need to teach my children the word “no!” or discourage them from sharing too much. Left alone, an organization always tends to deteriorate. Because of this, we are constantly building up, encouraging, and challenging others toward constructive ends.

Experience teaches me people tend to be bad, even though they have a tremendous potential for good. I feel safe in trusting my experience because it squares with the Bible. Knowing this, what is our responsibility? It is seeking to bring others to Christ. This is Billy’s message night after night.

Conversion is basic to man’s ultimate progress. It turns him around and focuses his radar on the Lord. Conversion changes the human pull of gravity from Satan to God. This is what happened to Saul of Tarsus: he had the same drive and intensity as before, but now his motivation is God-ward. The motive changed. After conversion comes the need for challenge. Scripture doesn’t talk about saved sitters. The Apostle Paul said his life was about “apprehended that for which I was apprehended.” The deterioration of natural man is overcome by the invigoration of new life.

This week think about: 1) What am I seeking to apprehend? 2) How do I view the nature of man? 3) Who do I know who needs to think about this?

Words of Wisdom: “I feel safe in trusting my experience because it squares with the Bible.”

Wisdom from the Word: “He is the one who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not based on our works but on his own purpose and grace, granted to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” (2 Timothy 1:9 NET Bible)

Oswald and Me

Weekly Thought – January 13, 2026

Fred attempted to capture everything he thought or found of interest in his reading and hearing. His work pattern for most of his life was sleeping, waking up at 2 a.m., working until 5 a.m. and then either going for donuts on his motorcycle, or in later years, going back to sleep. Consequently, there are thousands and thousands of pieces of paper in BWF files.

Oswald and Me

I find no difficulty in naming my most significant book. It is Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest.

I have read it since December 1955 when Grant and Orean Howard gave it to Mary Alice and me which started a chain of our gifting it to others. My mentor and friend, Maxey Jarman, wrote “I’ll always be grateful for the introduction that you gave me to Oswald Chambers.” We plant seeds when we give vital books; we see delightful and fruitful harvests from these gifts.

His thought has become part of my reflexive thought. As the mind of Christ transforms us, so do the minds of our favorite authors. They take up residence in us.

Let me give 5 key thoughts that influence my attitude toward life given by Chambers.

1) Sit loose to things. Enjoy them, work for them, use them, but sit loose to them.
2) Lust says I must have it now. Psychiatrists tell us the most common evidence of American immaturity is the inability to delay gratification. Lust is refusing the natural rhythm of life and failing to mature.
3) Scripture is too often abused. Chambers says, “So often we sharpen a verse of Scripture and jab another with it.” I see those who know chapter and verse use it to intimidate the less instructed.
4) If we do not stand in small things, we will fail in the large. It is so easy to think we would be true and courageous in the weighty matters when we are making exceptions to the Christian code in smaller daily routines.
5) Go through the white funeral. The physical death is the black funeral, but the death self is the white funeral. Out of this comes the complete resurrection of life, unhampered by the problems of human ego and self-righteousness.

My Utmost For His Highest is not just entertaining, nor even exciting – it is compelling.

This week think about: 1) What books influence me? 2) Who has molded my thinking? 3) What book have I shared with others?

Words of Wisdom: “As the mind of Christ transforms us, so do the minds of our favorite authors.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Let the wise also hear and gain instruction, and let the discerning acquire guidance!” (Proverbs 1:5 NET Bible)

Money Alert

Weekly Thought – January 6, 2026

Fred taught frequently on money. He respected it, understanding its power for good and evil. Robert L. Deffinbaugh, chair of the BWF Project board, commented recently that the themes of money (greed and thievery) and lying are intertwined in gospel accounts. For example, Ananias, Sapphira and Judas. Fred’s wisdom on the subject brought many to his office for conversations.

Money Alert

Money has such a strange hold on us. I think it is might be helpful to tell this story as a warning: A young, successful man brought me his financial statement, showing assets comfortably in the multiple millions. He asked for my thinking on a deal which could easily increase his worth ten times. It was highly speculative – a sort of Russian roulette in the money game.

I asked what he and his family could do with ten times the wealth that they couldn’t already do with the millions they already possessed. I was trying to smoke out his ego without hurting his feelings. I wasn’t going to make his decision for him. And I wasn’t dismissing his opportunity to become enormously rich.

However, I felt a responsibility to him so I shared with him a rule which has guided my thinking, especially when the children were young. “I have no need to be extremely rich, but I have a great need not to be broke.” I didn’t speculate on deals that would materially alter our family’s lifestyle. I never felt I was justified in gambling my family’s future just to amass great wealth.

It might be nice to be envied by the business community or at the club. But it’s just too dangerous for the family.

He understood my point and pointedly disagreed. He went ahead, lost everything, and fell into a tragic bankruptcy. I felt more for his family than for him. He was a gambler, but his family wasn’t.

I am always curious when I see someone obviously living to make money. I suspect they may have figured out a way go through life twice – the first time making money and the second enjoying it. I’m not this smart, so I figure I will make it and utilize it once.

This week think about: 1) How much is enough? 2) What would change if I were worth 10x more? 3) When am I tempted by greed or lying because of money?

Words of Wisdom: “I have no need to be extremely rich, but I have a great need not to be broke.”

Wisdom from the Word: “For wisdom provides[a] protection, just as money provides protection. But the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its owner.” (Ecclesiastes 7:12 NET Bible)

The Joy of a New Idea

Weekly Thought – December 30, 2025

Fred spent his last years in dialysis three times a week and confined to his bed, wheelchair, or large leather lift chair when he was at home. He accepted his immobility as the “new normal.” He told people who asked, “I am not disabled; I am delightfully dependent.” His lifetime of training himself in the fine art of thinking served him well.

The Joy of a New Idea

I asked the senior vice president of a billion-dollar oil company, “John, what do you know now that you wish you had known when you got out of school?”

Very quickly he responded, “Fred, I wish I had had the humility of an open mind.” Have you ever tried to talk to somebody whose mind is tightly closed?

A common denominator I have discovered among eager learners is that they are not far from a paper and pen (or any of today’s equivalents). Watch for this. Engage highly energetic,, ambitious achievers in a stimulating conversation, and suddenly you will see them record an idea that has crossed their mind. Note-taking achievers can throw away their recorded ideas later if they don’t want them. (I find smart folks evaluate ideas and discard bad ideas). But if they want to remember one and haven’t captured it, how can they retrieve it? So many intriguing ideas float quickly away if not saved. Howard Hendricks, distinguished professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, has trained thousands of men and women to carry 3×5 inch note cards available to catch “big ideas.”

An outstanding young man I recently met said to me: “A leader is not the one who has the best ideas; a leader is the man or woman who uses the best ideas.” In order to do this the leader must have an open, discerning mind. Of course, I am not talking about a sticky fly-catcher that picks up everything that passes by, but an acute ability to open up to ideas that are helpful.

I always keep in mind that what leaders know is not uppermost – I am primarily interested in how they think for that will determine how well they will use what they know, and how they ascertain what they don’t… then create a strategy for obtaining the knowledge.

A world-renown scientist told me, “Fred, make friends with your ignorance.”

This week carefully think about: 1) Where are my blind spots creating a closed mind? 2) How friendly am I with my ignorance? 3) Who is encouraging me to become more teachable?

Words of Wisdom: “Fred, make friends with your ignorance.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.” (Philippians 4:8 NET Bible)

Ample Amps For A Productive Life

Weekly Thought – December 23, 2025

Fred enjoyed analogies to express principles. He recognized illustrations everywhere which made their way into his speaking, teaching, and writing. When asked about the timeless, yet timely nature of his communication he replied, “Principles never change – just the illustrations.”

Ample Amps For A Productive Life

We are always warned by the electric company to avoid overloading the circuits. This is good advice, even though I wonder about the value of multiple plugs on Mary Alice’s kitchen outlets. Because she would never fill a plug with five or six appliances simultaneously, there is no danger of maxing the circuitry. We get in overload trouble by using more at one time than common sense would dictate. Maxing out is an exercise in poor decision making.

The same thing happens in our lives. We get overloaded by having too many demanding involvements, emotional experiences, or commitments of time – all at one time. When we do so, we blow a fuse! It isn’t how many connections you have on a circuit, it is how many are used together. The potential for overload is key. Sometimes we can take on multiple activities so long as none of them requires too much “juice” or too many are demanding power simultaneously. When each of the activities competes for our energy, the current is overloaded and we are in danger. It is not the number of tasks, but the net energy required that determines the point of overload.

We draw different amounts of current depending on the emotional or physical output required. For example, I used to speak to very large audiences, and it took practically no energy because the input was matched by the output. If there had been no positive input, such as friendly reactions, laughs, agreement, body language expressing interest, and appropriate applause from the audience it would have taken a great deal more output from me.

You must reach a balance where the amount that you give and the amount you receive are equivalent. In other words, it is a zero sum energy game. We burn out when we are not sharing the energy load in the task, whether intellectual, emotional, physical, or spiritual. A young friend told me an older man once told him it was time for him to stand on his own, not ride piggyback!

This week carefully consider: 1) In what condition is my circuitry (Intellectual, emotional, physical, spiritual)? 2) What tasks drain energy and lead to overload? 3) What part am I playing in carrying the load in my family, workplace, and church?

Words of Wisdom: “It is not the number of tasks, but the net energy required that determines the point of overload.”

Wisdom from the Word: “‘Not by strength, nor by might, but by my Spirit’ says the Lord who rules over all.” (Zechariah 4:6 NET Bible)

The Power of the Plateau

Weekly Thought – December 16, 2025

Fred studied human nature, not as an academic endeavor, but as lifelong observation and analysis. He applied what he learned as templates for board leadership, labor negotiations, as well as leadership, sales and marketing consulting. His clarity in human relations gave him a strong platform in business and Christian leadership.

The Power of the Plateau

Sound development requires a program that provides plateaus in which our information is turned into knowledge through experience and then approaching the next climb. Personal growth is not a series of nonstop climbs. Plateaus allow for assimilation before starting the next ascent. Each person has his or her own pattern and must become adept at reading their graph of climbs and plateaus. Those who try to go up too fast either run out of steam or poorly assimilate their experiences and they develop hollow spots.

All of life doesn’t evenly and systematically move through the pattern. From a distance, a graphed line may look like a consistent incline. However, when studied up close, the viewer sees it is a series of up, down, and flat places. We know the macro view usually differs greatly from the micro.

We have natural divisions in our life, such as family, career, spirit, intellect, finance, emotions, friends, acquaintances, and health. A friend of mine who consults with executives on personal development likens these segments of life to subsidiaries of a corporation. Each one reports to the individual (the CEO) who monitors and supervises the performance of each. This consultant thinks of each of us as a viable corporation with active, accountable divisions.

I like to think of the divisions as interrelated, but distinct in their focus. Clearly, ach one has its own particular life cycle of climbs and plateaus. Therefore, it is important to track all areas of our life and keep time tables charted for area. As we undertake this exercise, we can measure the condition of each division. I do not attempt or expect to have each area in the same mode. Ideally, each has its own seasons for climbs and plateaus. For example, when one is climbing in one’s career, energy and positive stress are redirected in that direction. To strive for climb mode in the other areas is asking for burnout and poor production.

Understanding the syncopation of life’s developmental rhythm keeps us in sync with progress.

This week think about: 1) How could I apply the division (subsidiary) concept to myself? 2) What techniques do I use to manage the climbs and plateaus? 3) Which areas of my life need constant attention?

Words of Wisdom: “Those who try to go up too fast either run out of steam or poorly assimilate their experiences and they develop hollow spots.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that everyone will see your progress.” (1 Timothy 4:15 NET Bible)

The Integrity of Leadership

Weekly Thought – December 9, 2025

Fred considered integrity a key element in a mature man or woman. He wrote frequently to and for Christian audiences. His understanding of human nature and the pressures of leadership helped many.

The Integrity of Leadership

As I think about spiritual leadership, I am convinced that the key is the Holy Spirit’s energizing and directing the leader’s uniqueness and giftedness by giving him or her a vision that creates a passion. I have never known a lazy or confused leader with a clear passion. Oat Willie of Austin, Texas, charged “Onward through the fog!” It works for cartoon characters, but fails miserably as a leadership mantra.

For years I have been writing articles targeted to Christian leaders. I have spoken in groups, large and small. I realize that it is difficult to be a Christian leader in an almost totally secular society whose renewed interest in spirituality is new age, not biblical.

In a world of “doing God’s work in man’s way” many Christian leaders have lost much of the respect they once enjoyed. Burnout is common; depression is almost epidemic. Stress is increasing; immortality and divorce are more prominent. Short tenure is too much the rule, rather than the exception. More and more preachers are faced with the demand to entertain and excite.

Could a major part of this problem be that leaders have lost their identification with the Lord? Have they become convinced they work for the church rather than for God? Are they surrendering their spiritual authority to the church board?

Some in Christian leadership are misplaced. Remember the farmer who read a “GP” in the clouds, immediately left the field and headed for the pulpit? After he failed as a pastor, the word came down from above: “Farmer Brown, “GP” meant go plow, not go preach!”

Leaders who are not endowed with gifts energized by the Spirit become easy prey to human methodology and open themselves to the temptation of power, prestige, and money. Christian leaders should always remember that theirs is a calling, not just a career.

Focus on the key elements of Christian leadership empowers the stewardship of service.

This week think about: 1) How clear am I on my passion? 2) When did I recognize my calling? 3) Where am I possibly losing focus on my direction?

Words of Wisdom: “Christian leaders should never attempt to do ‘God’s work in man’s way.’”

Wisdom from the Word: “The one who conducts himself in integrity will live securely, but the one who behaves perversely will be found out.” (Proverbs 10:9 NET Bible)

Holding a Taut Line

Weekly Thought – December 2, 2025

Fred appreciated the book Stress versus Distress, Written by Canadian psychologist Hans Selye. He frequently talked about the value of tension. The book differentiates between vertical and horizontal stresses… one pulls together, and one pulls apart.

Holding a Taut Line

Successful leaders have learned to appreciate tension. I am convinced that positive stress is a wonderful thing. Where else would we get the energy to carry out our responsibilities? Botanists teach us about the importance of turgor – that normal fullness that comes from the tension produced by fluid flowing through the veins of plants. Lack of people tension makes plants droop. We are no different. Without a healthy degree of stress and tension, we wilt.

Certainly we must control stress but we must not eliminate it. One of the finest ways to control it is by learning to correctly using it, and not fearing it. If you don’t have tension, you won’t have the enough ambition to become successful.

We had a young man who, when asked the question, “How long have you been working here?” answered, “Ever since the boss threatened to fire me!” This young man didn’t have the fire in the belly needed by true leaders. Successful men and women have an intense rhythm and energetic pace.

I sometimes hear wives complain about how tired their husbands are at night. I think this is part of the price of leadership. You can’t have the placidity of a mule and the earnings of a race horse.

A psychiatrist friend of mine was sent to Guadalcanal following the bloody battles with the Japanese in 1942. He was to talk with both heroes and cowards to ascertain why each reacted as they did. My friend told me both were motivated by the same great fear, but the heroes ran forward and the cowards ran backwards. The heroes redefined the fear as a positive motivator.

The same principle applies to business. We either face problems as challenges or withdraw into the shell of inertia. We can choose to see either obstacles or opportunities.

This week think about: 1) Do I handle stress in a healthy way? 2) How do I process important decisions? 3) What changes do I need to make to make tension work better for me?

Words of Wisdom: “Successful men and women have an intense rhythm and energetic pace.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Stay alert, stand firm in the faith, show courage, be strong.” (1 Corinthians 16:13 NET Bible)

Flying With The Eagles

Weekly Thought – November 25, 2025

Fred knew he had no college education, no natural network of influencers, and no financial resources, but he knew he had God-given gifts of discernment, connection, intellectual curiosity, and desire to make a serious contribution… all based on his faith in Jesus Christ.

Flying With The Eagles

I believe I am responsible for my own personal development. Only I know what I want to become. Only I know my real strengths and weaknesses, mu passion and talent. Only I know the price I was willing to pay to become who I want to be. My personal development stands on four legs.

The first leg is mentoring. When I was young I heard the expression, “Birds of a feather flock together. I knew then I wanted to associate with individuals who would serve as mentors and role models. So early in my business career, I chose six qualities I wanted to build into my life. I asked six individuals who personified each quality to send me an autographed photograph. I framed them then hung on my office wall with Hoffman’s “Head of Christ” portrait at the top and a mirror on the bottom of the square. I could look at the wall and ask myself how I was maturing. This was the first step in my development.

Reading is the second leg of my development program. I do prescriptive reading. Just as everyone doesn’t have the same eyeglass prescription, we don’t have benefit from the same reading resources. I read no novels. I concentrate on certain authors who can give me what I need, such as Oswald Chambers, Francois Fenelon, and Peter Drucker. I also read individual chapters in books that are focused on my major reading themes (philosophy, theology, mentoring, psychology, and science).These are areas for which I have a natural affinity.

The third leg of the program is writing. Until I started working for Maxey Jarman, chairman of GENESCO, I was a totally verbal person. Once I was telling him about a situation in one of the plants and he said, “Write it.” When I told him I couldn’t write it, he said, “The reason you can’t write it is that you don’t know it. Anything you know you can write.” I later came across this quote from Sir Francis Bacon: “Writing makes an exact man.” I learned to write to burn the fuzz off my thinking.

The final leg of my development plan is travel. It opens wide the window of experience and expands my viewpoint. Growing up in the mill district of North Nashville during the depression afforded me no thought of travel. But a crystal radio used in the attic of a Baptist parsonage allowed me to dream of faraway places. Mary Alice and I knew we wanted our children to love the value of travel – and we succeeded!

This week focus on: 1) What are the key elements of my development plan? 2) Which of the four legs I my strongest? Weakest? 3) How am I helping my family, my organization, my friends develop?

Words of Wisdom: “I learned to write to burn the fuzz off my thinking.”

Wisdom from the Word: “We proclaim him by instructing and teaching all people with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature in Christ.” (Colossians 1:28 NET Bible)

Answering The Call

Weekly Thought – November 18, 2025

Fred sent a small scrap of paper to his elder daughter with the following words: “Brenda, opportunity is not mandate.” She knew immediately he was saying “An open door isn’t necessary the will of God.” She often knew the exhaustion of seeing every opportunity as a requirement, not just an option.

Answering The Call

There’s a difference between a mandate and a call. A call is personal – it comes to the individual. A mandate is collective. While a call is an individual’s reason for service, a mandate is an organization’s reason for being.

A leader needs to have a sense of call to serve effectively. Prison evangelist Bill Glass emphasizes this when training the prison counselors. He says, “You have volunteered to be a counselor, but you have dedicated your life to personifying Christ in this prison.” He goes through a litany of experiences a volunteer might have that they find offensive, but then knows the dedicated will hang in.

A call may change. A person might sense a calling to a different organization or a different form of service. Sometimes I think the call may actually lead someone out of vocational ministry altogether. Recently, I talked with a pastor whose primary ministry was preaching. I asked him how he was doing. He admitted he was unhappy and so were his people. I then asked him, “What is your real love?”

“Winning people to Christ,” was his answer.

“In your saint-saturated organization,” I said, “there is nobody to win. And whenever you get up to teach you don’t see a single soul who needs salvation. You are by nature an evangelist. Have you considered leaving the formal pastoral ministry and going back into automobile sales where you are regularly in contact with lost people?”

“That is where I was the happiest.”

He had allowed church pressure and his ego to get involved, ending up in the pastorate. When I checked back with him he was back in sales happily using his spiritual gifts to tell lost men and women about the saving grace of Jesus.

His call to evangelism did not match the organizational structure he was serving. Now his call and his passion are in harmony. Being realistic about the call is an outgrowth of experience, giftedness, training, and desire. It is often more effective and satisfactory than mistaking circumstances and open doors as the mandate.

This week think carefully about: 1) Where am I drawn, not drafted? 2) Which areas in my life need harmonizing? 3) How can I help others distinguish between call and mandate?

Words of Wisdom: “A leader must have a sense of call to serve effectively.”

Wisdom from the Word: “Since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened – so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” (Ephesians 1:8 NET Bible)

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