Ministry Helps Others Manage, Maximize Time
by Randall Murphree
March 17, 2004
(AgapePress) - A North-Carolina man has created a ministry devoted to helping people develop and wisely invest one of their most valuable natural resources -- their time.Time is one of our most precious commodities says Rick Grubbs, founder and president of LifeChanging Seminars (LCS) in Salisbury, North Carolina. LCS seminars are biblically based and have been hosted by such organizations as Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Institute in Basic Life Conflicts, National Religious Broadcasters and Family Research Council.
Grubbs had already been teaching on the subject of time management for several years before founding the ministry in 1987.
"God had been speaking to me about the amount of time people waste," he says. "One of the motivations for my coming to Christ had been an increasing realization of the brevity of life and how there is so little time in this world to prepare for eternity."
The biggest component of LCS is Grubbs' personal speaking ministry to conferences, conventions, pastors' retreats and churches. That his ministry depends on public speaking is no small miracle.
"Before I got saved, the thought of speaking to any size crowd terrified me," he says. "Today, that is what I love to do more than anything." He has presented his seminars more than a thousand times in 49 states and a number of foreign countries. His 60-second radio spots, "Redeeming the Time," are heard across the nation, including American Family Radio's 200-station network.
His own testimony includes a series of varied Christian influences including a tract, a Gideon New Testament, friends' prayers, the witness of college dorm friends, Christian radio and Intervarsity Christian Fellowship.
Grubbs says he grew up going to a church with very liberal leanings. In fact, he was first introduced to drugs and alcohol largely through the church youth group in the early 1970s. As early as junior high, he was convicted of sin by a tract he received from a lady he tried to sell magazines to. But by high school, he was using and dealing drugs, and living for weekend parties.
As a student at Appalachian State University in Boone in 1981, he accepted a New Testament from a Gideon and began reading it regularly, even though he was still drinking heavily. A Christian who lived down the hall from him in the dorm took him to an Intervarsity meeting. Soon thereafter he committed his life to Christ and switched his major from business to public speaking so he could gain skill and confidence to share his faith.
Grubbs cites many reasons – and gives Biblical foundations – why Christians should treat time management as a stewardship issue. Among other things, he says time is limited (Psalm 90); time is our most valuable earthly possession (Matthew 25:14-30); and we will have to give account for the way we have used our time (Matthew 12:36).
He believes many people realize they need to better manage their time, but don't have the discipline or the insight to do so. Consequently, they just continue to struggle along letting frantic schedules and demands determine their schedules rather than vice versa.
"If we know what we know," he says, "why do we still do what we do?" He suggests two questions to ask before committing to any activity, no matter how good it seems to be – What will its fruit be in five years? What will its fruit be for eternity?
His radio program, "Redeeming the Time," is based on Ephesians 5:15-16 – "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil" (NKJV).
Grubbs and his wife, Carrie, live with their seven children in Salisbury. Prior to founding LCS, he taught public speaking, was a missionary to Czechoslovakia and served as a prison chaplain. LCS has been his full-time ministry since 1998. Rick Grubbs is clearly committed to use every avenue available to confront, challenge and equip Christians to make the most of their time for God's glory.
