"Make a good shoe and sell it for a fair price." - Martin Luther

Dear Reader,

I'm really glad you were interested enough to check out this section of our website. I struggled with whether to include this page... not for fear of being ridiculed or persecuted, but for fear of giving the appearance of marketing something so personal as religion. While my faith in God is the most personal thing I can imagine, it is not a private thing. Personal and private are two different things. After all, Good News is for sharing! The great English reformer, William Tyndale called the Gospel of Jesus Christ "the good, glad, merry news that makes a man leap for joy!"

As you can see, our purpose statement is a quote from a guy named Martin Luther. To understand the significance of his statement, you need to understand the context in which it was spoken. If you know your church history, you will immediately recognize Luther. If not, he was a German monk who, along with guys like Tyndale, played a significant role in the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century. A cobbler was said to have asked Luther how he could glorify God after being converted to Christianity. Luther's answer was not that the cobbler should join the ministry or even sell a "Christian shoe," but rather that he should make a good shoe and sell it at a fair price. There was a time when the church taught that only priests and monks and nuns had a vocation; all others merely had occupations. Martin Luther saw things differently. He taught that every person is gifted by God and called to employ those God-given gifts in loving service to their neighbor. Christian cobblers, Luther said in effect, should not make shoes with little crosses or fish symbols (ichthuses) on them - they should make the best shoes they can make and sell them at a fair price so their neighbors can have good shoes.

Obviously, I wholeheartedly agree with Luther. It is this purpose statement that reminds us of our duty towards God and our stakeholders - clients, partners (we don't like the word 'vendors') and employees. I can think of no nobler sense of mission to motivate a person to come to work every day and give it their best than to glorify their Creator through their vocational endeavors. Make no mistake, we are far from perfect and fall short again and again, but hopefully we will be reminded of our sacred duty when we do miss the mark and this will make a difference. I hope you believe, as I do, that the Westminster divines had it right when they said "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Soli Deo Gloria,
Bill O. Cooper
President