Wallnau helps Christian Chamber mark 1st year, tells members they 'are all in ministry'

By JOHN FORTMEYER
CNNW publisher
    PORTLAND— Lance Wallnau isn’t sitting around just waiting for God to rapture the faithful out of this world, and he hopes members of the Christian Chamber of Commerce of the Northwest won’t either.
    In energetic presentations despite battling a painful ear infection, Wallnau, the director of Dallas, Texas-based Lance Learning Group, spoke at the Christian Chamber’s first anniversary events in Portland and Salem Friday and Saturday April 3 and 4. During a Friday luncheon at the Ambridge Event Center in Portland, Wallnau urged Chamber members to actively demonstrate to a spiritually needy world the results of lives built not on sand, but the solid rock of Christ.
   “You are in the front lines of what God is doing ... You have an obligation to demonstrate the reality of God in your business,” he said.
    Wallnau’s company is dedicated to helping believers in Christ impact the secular world by using their gifts, talents and skills in the sphere of their professional life. He blends his background as an executive and enterpreneur with experience as a former pastor to coach believers in how they expand the Kingdom of God by unleashing their capacity to solve world problems. He is convinced that followers of Jesus can solve broken families, economies and nations.
    Wallnau’s trademark teaching is on the “Seven Mountains of Influence” that Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, and Loren Cunningham, founder of Youth With a Mission, both discerned as pillars of society that Christians need to positively affect. They are: Family, Religion, Education, Business, Government, Media and the Arts.
    He urged each individual Chamber member to “define what your mountain looks like,” and then seek, with God’s guidance, to conquer it. Collectively, even a minority of people walking in God’s leading can have a massive influence on a culture, he said.
    Wallnau said this is a particularly critical teaching right now, because America is at a turning point in its historical cycle that will determine whether it ultimately reflects righteousness and follows the Good Shepherd or does not.
   “We’re a nation determining whether we are going to be a ‘sheep’ nation or a ‘goat’ nation,” he said.
    Citing the account in Acts 27 of the Apostle Paul’s witness for God in the midst of stormy seas, he said God’s people can similiarly stand out during perilous times for this nation. “Acts 27 is a grat picture for where the U.S. is now and how to take over the ship,” he said.
    The work done by Christian Chamber members and other committed believers can go a long way toward shifting the nation in the right direction, he said.
   “Your work becomes an expression of your ministry,” he said. “Therefore, you are all in ministry right now.”
    God has a special assignment for each believer, he added.
   “You don’t have to do it all,” he said. “That’s the good thing. You just have to fulfill your assignment.”
    Wallnau also had a word of praise for Bill and Charly Kenyon, founders of the fast-growing Christian Chamber. which now has nine monthly meetings throughout this part of the Northwest.
   “It’s a great thing to see a couple doing what’s in their hearts to advance the Kingdom,” he said.
    Wallnau also spoke at a Friday evening dinner event in Salem’s Red Lion Inn, then returned to the Ambridge Events Center in Portland on Saturday for a Saturday seminar on business and personal success strategies.
    Also speaking on Saturday were Eric Bahme, pastor of Eastside Foursquare Church in Portland, which has garnered national attention for owning and operating a motel business along with the church; Bill Hartner, founder and president of Help Eliminate Learning Problems; and Barry Lenhardt, pastor of International Life Center church in Portland.
    The actual first anniversary for the Christian Chamber of Commerce of the Northwest was in February, but the observance was delayed so as to allow Wallnau’s participation. The Christian Chamber now has nine monthly meetings in Portland, Salem, Tigard, Newberg, Clackamas, Albany, Eugene and Vancouver, Wash., and has been invited to expand to the Seattle area.
    For more information on the Christian Chamber of Commerce of the Northwest, go to www.cccnw.net or phone 503-928-8046.