Vicki Norris of Restoring Order®

Restoring Order TeamEspecially in the New Year, we’re all looking for more order and impact in our lives. To help us, rēp alum and organizing expert Vicki Norris of Restoring Order®, shares her story about God restoring natural, spiritual and Kingdom order in her own household. This process equipped Vicki and her husband, Trevor, to step into their mandate to return this broken world to Original Order.

FROM: Doing Business “For God”

I started Restoring Order in 1999 as an organizing consulting practice. God’s favor was evident immediately and our impact spread - I began speaking publically and became the organizing expert on a local TV show for seven years. HGTV “discovered” me and invited me to be on one of TV’s most popular shows at the time ‘Mission: Organization’. And in 2005, Harvest House publishers offered me a two book deal.

In 2006, my husband Trevor and I had our first son, Nash. At that moment, Trevor and I stepped into what really was the first call we perceived on our lives: for Trevor to stay home with our child(ren) and for me to continue growing Restoring Order. In 2007, all was going according to plan – I was writing my second book, pregnant with our second son, our P&L was the best ever, and yet I began to feel stuck. I wanted to really go for it and create an empire. I thought to myself at the time, “Move over Martha [Stewart], Vicki’s coming up because God wants His people at the top!” I had achieved a lot but I knew that “a plan without many advisors fails,” and I felt I had reached critical mass with what I knew how to do.

So, I hired advisors for strategic planning, public relations, and an agent to help me break through. Six months down the road and $75,000 later, I was no further ahead and I was in a lot of pain. I was mad and didn’t understand. I had a lot of frustration and pain towards God, “I’m a woman who wants to do right by you, glorify Your Name and run an excellent business and this is what I get? I am doing this for you!!” I really thought I had done everything God could expect of me. Pain makes our hearing very acute, and I began to stalk God on why this had happened.

TO: Administrating His Business

In Fall 2009, I began my Kingdom journey when I took Patrice Tsague’s Biblical Entrepreneurship (BE) course. Throughout the materials I heard – for the first time- the phrase “The Kingdom of God” over and over. It was like God was highlighting the phrase in yellow. Wasn’t that heaven? I wasn’t sure, but I had to find out.

In January 2010, the Lord very clearly said to me “I’m bringing you back to my bride”. Immediately, I expanded from teaching about natural order into preaching and teaching natural, spiritual and Kingdom order.  That’s the key - God is a God of order.

Over these last 3 years since our own awakening, Trevor and I discovered our hunger to see God’s original intent restored not only in households and businesses, but also in the financial, health, and spiritual realm. We want people to experience the supernatural life, living a radical life on the edge by listening and doing what God says. For Restoring Order, listening and doing has become a daily practice.

• For instance, two years ago, we were struggling to reactivate our clients. God showed me a strategy for creating a short term retainer system called the “Organizing Club”. Not only did it work, now 66% of our business is recurring!
• Another time, I had a vision of our Client Services Manager going down into a mine shaft with a spoon and a pair of tweezers. God was trying to tell us she had the wrong tools to “mine” our database, using only the phone and email. Upon further inquiry, He led us to create an inspirational postcard campaign (using our database) when everyone else was departing from direct mail. The postcards made their way into people’s homes and consciousness when we physically could not. So many were blessed – they used them as bookmarks, posted on their refrigerator… some even called our office crying. And, to top it off, we could trace an entire month’s worth of business to that idea.

AND: Embracing Our Family Mandate

To step into our calling, we’ve had to do some crazy things [by the world’s standards] to “restore order” in our own lives. The Lord asked us to stop trusting the stock market with His money, so we closed our account and waited to hear from the Lord. Most people would say that’s not wisdom. But we knew that He has appointed our property to be an apostolic resource center and was leading us. We have a barn that holds about 100 people. We’re teaching people how to live in God’s original intent (we call it “Garden Living”) and helping them break out of the world’s patterns (Romans 12:2). As we teach, we’re beginning to see signs, wonders, healings and people filled with the Spirit. So, we’ve used the money as the Spirit has led, to make improvements to our property and will use it to produce an income.  And God keeps blessing us with more. We’ve begun doing more large-scale events and we were always renting bathrooms. So, one of the improvements we made was adding bathrooms. Who knew that the abundant life might include flushing our savings down the toilet!

God also continues to change our thinking about our family mandate. He had been speaking to us already, but confirmed through rēp, that we weren’t fully integrated: Trevor took care of the kids and I ran the business. But now, we’re in what we call “misness” (ministry / business) and operating like a household together. The more we operate as one and in righteousness, the more we accelerate. We don’t want to just wake-up God’s people to the Kingdom and then let them hit the “snooze button” and return to life as usual; we want to disciple them into radical, victorious living together.

The rēp community has modeled what we’ve begun to do here. We have to lay our lives down for one another – first as husband and wife and then as a community. We’re fighting the giants of entitlement, aloneness, and religion, so we need to equip our household and walk with them over time. Being aware of kairos vs. chronos time has also been huge – we’re in lifelong and lasting relationships to encourage and recognize the greatness in one another.

Trevor and I are thankful to Brett and Lyn and the entire rēp community for being the true Body. We needed to know we were not alone up here in Oregon emerging into this nutty Kingdom life. The Johnsons and the rēp program have been spiritual midwives for our family, helping us be birthed into our destiny.

Connect with Vicki and Trevor at www.RestoringOrder.com for Organizing Services, Speaking & Training, Workshops or Organizing Products & Resources. Or sign-up for their free E-Newsletter!

Beulah Lodge, Pinelands, Cape Town, South Africa

Venture Team in Beulah Lodge Breakfast Hall

Our Cape Town team just had the privilege of experiencing divinely inspired hospitality in action at Beulah Lodge in Pinelands, Cape Town, South Africa. For those who know our own Rebecca Muir, you know to expect an extraordinary stay as she welcomes you into her new home…

Beulah Lodge - Company Story

In 2004 Izak de Wet, both a rep alumni client and consultant, purchased what used to be called Welwyn Lodge, located near the Old Mutual offices in Pinelands, near Cape Town in South Africa, and three years later bought the adjacent property which he subsequently converted to a second guesthouse building. Since then His Beulah Accommodation CC (trading as Beulah Lodge) has primarily served corporate clients coming into Cape Town on business, and its close proximity to the Cape Town International airport also affords it the privilege of hosting an increasing number of international business clients.  In 2010 Izak went into partnership with Rebecca Muir, who has worked with The Institute and rep for seven years in California, Indonesia and South Africa; while the property is still owned by Izak, Rebecca now owns and manages the guesthouse business.

Beulah Lodge
“Beulah means to be married to God, being God’s property*.  God is the owner of the property and we are only the stewards.  We strive to be Godly stewards at Beulah.  God clearly instructed us not to enslave the property by borrowing from the bank, but we did not listen. The moment we got rid of the bonds the business took off as this was now God’s property and not the bank’s property. I know when we bought the property that Place was important to God. Beulah Lodge is situated next to the Old Mutual Insurance company’s head office (a Fortune 500 Company) and also close by one of the main Free Masonry temples in South Africa. God knows the importance of strategic positioning and place in the spiritual realm; we must just keep on stewarding.”

- Izak de Wet

What We Do

Beulah Lodge provides both bed and breakfast accommodation as well as conference facilities for clients, striving to create a professional, corporate setting with a touch of ‘home away from home.’ It is also fast becoming a venue for celebration events such as significant birthdays, baby showers and bridal showers.  Each of its seven-member team enjoys meeting with guests and particularly values the relationships built with those clients who return regularly to visit on business or vacation. Staff can also testify to opportunities God has appointed to minister to guests from top corporate positions to local churches. The business was recently nominated for the Cape Talk Radio Small Business Award and continues to see such favour as it expands in reach and services primarily through word of mouth and a loyal client base.Gorgeous table waiting for scrumptious food!

“I am continually amazed at the foresight and detail of God’s preparation in our lives for the ‘next thing’. My time spent working with The Institute profoundly impacted my perspective on the role of hospitality as critical to effective business practice in general as well as to the hospitality industry itself. The foundational values set out in The Institute Repurposing Business Training Program keep challenging me to ‘rise to the occasion,’ in the midst of the often not-so-straight-forward daily business life. Furthermore, the opportunity to observe and absorb the outworking of God’s grace in Brett and Lyn Johnson’s lives through family, community and business has truly inspired both vision and strength to build my ‘next thing’… right now: stewarding Beulah Lodge.”

 - Rebecca Muir

The Beulah TeamOur Purpose

It is our greatest desire that all of our guests experience the true heart of hospitality at Beulah Lodge: Our purpose has been to demonstrate the character of God through generosity, excellent business service, and integrity. Through their exposure to The Institute and rep, both Izak and Rebecca have a greater understanding of how even a small business can become a significant platform for exposing people, Christian and non-Christian alike, to the palatable love of God.

Even the food is beautiful!Our Name

The name Beulah comes from a scripture in Isaiah (62:4) declaring the property and business as married to the Lord: You (Judah) shall no more be termed forsaken, nor shall your land be called desolate anymore.  But you shall be called Hephizibah (my delight is in her), and your land be called Beulah (married); for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married (owned and protected by the Lord).

CSI Group, South Africa

KdCo. & Powerz-On Leaders with their consultant, AnitaA rēp team recently had the privilege of being hosted by the CSI Group for a 1-week Repurposing Business Intensive in Benoni, South Africa (just outside of Johannesburg). It’s amazing to see the progress that has been made in just six years and a few glimpses into their future!

A Little History

Gary Prothero and Tim GreenwayCSI started over 20 years ago. I (Gary Prothero, CSI Group CEO) started working as an employee and slowly over the years bought into partnership. In 2003 , my wife Loraine and I agreed we needed to part ways with the founding partner. We arranged to meet, and to our great surprise, he asked us to buy him out! After much prayer and discussion, we agreed to do so and began making the transition from Zimbabwe to Johannesburg, South Africa. We invited Tim and Lindsay Greenway to join us. So, after much convincing by God, they also agreed to move to South Africa. 

I had done ICCC’s Transformed Working Life course at our church and it was a very significant change in me. I became more integrated in my faith which created the opening for rēp training.

We attended the rēp Venture in Johannesburg in 2006. For me the rēp Venture was a paradigm shift in our Kingdom Business understanding. In hindsight, I would best describe our pre-Venture business activities as “stumbling around in the dark.” We ended up taking a shotgun approach - which meant we got it wrong more often than right. Using the rēp material, and working with trained consultants, we were able to discern and apply the important and practical fundamentals of operating business that belongs to God. As we clarified our purpose, internal conflicts were reduced and it was easier for us to make strategic decisions going forward. Now, we’re able to spend focused time in prayer to seek God for our business. We’ve analyzed every major aspect of our company structure, goals and vision to ensure they are in-line with God’s principles.

Business development from there has been amazing….. Including ups and downs. We would have closed the business on at least two occasions if we had not had the internal conviction that God still wanted us to continue and that we must trust Him to get us through. 

Today

Tim Greenway, Leader of one of the CSI Group’s subsidiaries, shared with us where CSI is today and where they believe they’re headed.

Purpose

Our Purpose is to develop self-sustainable communities by doing business with Excellence, Integrity and Passion. We know we’re called by God into business as an extension of God’s Kingdom. We are aware that God is 100% involved with lives and our business environment is intentionally and specifically a business workplace. But there is more: we have a high regard for the people and they matter. Their families and communities are influenced by us and we try to operate in a manner that is Godly and life-giving.

So what does this look like at the ground level? We’re concerned not only with the financial sustainability of our business, but also with the people and community who develop around each business. We have made choices to invest in opportunities which may not have yielded the highest financial returns, but gave us inroads to develop leaders in new communities or industries. For example, we invested in a kite board business for a couple of years because we believed in its leader. The business didn’t generate a financial return for us, but the business leader has now spun off his own business and we trust that the years we spent with him will contribute to his long term success.

Group Consultation Nov 2102Group Structure

After the Venture, CSI Group was formed to accommodate business ventures outside of mining into the CSI company structure. We now have four main branches:

• CSI Mining – which specializes in cells, flooring, tankhouses and cathodes
• CSI Energy
• CSI Enterprise Development
• CSI Lifestyle

The group is not made-up of independent businesses with Gary as the common CEO. We operate as a group and try [sometimes not successfully] to do business with two bottom lines.

Transforming Society

We make an effort to be involved with local governing structures like the Crystal Park Police Station and their counseling centre for abused women. We help in practical ways there - painting and donations. We have supported Abba Child Care Foundation for many years now. Dirk and Heather Venter, its founders are incredible. They now are full-time intercessors for us at CSI Group. They guide us through prayer and love for the people.

Our plans for the “rest of the world” are slow to come to pass as we focus on our employees and immediate communities. First, our own people need to believe that we are not in business for our pockets. If we manage to do this well, the natural flow will be a very good social impact. It has been very difficult with some retrenchments we needed to make, but we feel that slowly we are doing better at making a sustainable business and creating long term job security.

You can read more about CSI Group’s individual company plans and purposes for transforming society here.

Stacie Nishimine - Certified Photo Organizer

 As a photo organizer, I’m fascinated with photographs. I delight in helping people manage and truly enjoy their photos again as they remember the stories of a special event or milestone. Over the years, my methods have evolved from scissors, glue and construction paper art projects to professional Photoshop editing in timeless archival-quality photo albums. But this fascination, mixed with how God has wired me and my background in interior design would not have culminated into a business if it weren’t for the way both Lyn and Brett encouraged, guided, and inspired me over the years. They challenged me to dream bigger, and helped me to uncover and realize my God-given potential in all facets of my life.

 I made my first archival-quality scrapbook album after returning from my first rēp venture in 2004. Lyn gave each of us on that team a beautiful (blank) album to fill with the photos and memories of our two week experience in South Africa. I loved putting together that album almost as much as the trip itself, and out of that, a creative calling was born. Since then, I’ve collected and compiled photos from every rēp trip. I’m passionate about chronicling our collective history because our photos are visual memorials. They point to the miracles we’ve experienced, the lives that have been transformed, the companies that have impacted their communities and nations, and the many ways that God’s moved in our midst. God has used the written word to tell stories that he wants us to remember, and I believe we can partner with him to use photos in a similar way.

Photos not only tell the stories of our lives, but also help to remind us who we are. If we can look beyond the funny hairstyle or dated outfits of our past, we are able to see who we truly are: full of power; great love; kind-hearted; a force to be reckoned with. We can pull out photos from our childhood and be reminded of who we were created to be: fearless; full of adventure and mischief; overflowing with dreams of the future. One of my favorite albums is from a trip to Cape Town in 2005. As I look back at each page, it takes me through a range of emotions remembering the amazing ways God knit us together, and seeing the incomparable worth in each person. At the back of this album, I saved the affirmations that had been written for me on the last day of that trip. I strive to create albums that affirm loved ones through photos and the written word.

Through my work, I have the opportunity to go into a stranger’s home and see their most intimate moments. Inevitably, deeper sharing takes place and I’m given the opportunity to encourage, bless, speak truth, and even pray. At the moment I’m organizing 30+ years of photos into albums for a client whose adult children have never seen a family photo album. Together we’ve poured over thousands of photos, and it’s truly become a journey of thankfulness and praise. As I put together albums I am reminded to fix my thoughts on what is “pure, lovely and admirable” (Phil 4:8) so the God of Peace will be with my clients as they think about their stories.

I am very grateful to be able to launch a business that weaves together the experiences I’ve had with the skills that God’s given me to be able to do work I’m passionate about. It is a joy to help affirm individuals, couples, and families as they come to recognize their undeniable worth through images that reflect the the beauty and wonder of the way God created us.

- Stacie Nishimine

 
For more information on Stacie’s business, check out her webpage.

Ellie Fun Day

Ellie Fun Day designs baby blankets that change the lives of marginalized women in India.

OUR PASSION is designing beautifully luxurious baby blankets
made with natural and/or organic materials.

OUR CHALLENGE is providing a fair wage and a dignified living
by employing marginalized and under-resourced women.

OUR HEART is to change the world one blankie at a time.

“I’ve always loved my baby blanket. My blanket had an elephant print on it and I called it “elephant-pei” (“pei” meaning blanket in Chinese). That’s where Ellie Fun Day came from – it’s an alliteration in honor of my beloved baby blanket! I really LOVED my blanket and it gave me a sense of warmth and security in a scary and unassuming world. When I was a kid, my mom would wash it, hang it on the line and I would go outside, grab the corner of the blankie and wait for it to dry. That’s how attached I was to my “ellie-fun-pei”!

In recent years, I’ve been dreaming of designing a product that would be a pathway for empowering under-resourced people. I didn’t want to just contribute to the endless sea of consumer products; I wanted to design something that I loved and a product that would make a lasting change in the world. I thought of my baby blanket, but I didn’t know how it would be a pathway for change.

Two years ago my husband and I were in India, serving with an organization that worked among marginalized untouchable caste people. One day we were touring the organization’s facility and noticed that they had a room full of sewing and embroidery machines. As we learned about their desire to start a work program for local untouchable women, we knew our being in India was no coincidence.

It was then that the dream became more of a reality and I could see how my “ellie-fun-pei” could change the lives of under-resourced people around the world.

The population that we serve is the lowest of the low, “untouchables/Dalit” is what they are called. They are often marginalized, trafficked and mostly get menial jobs due to their “status” in the caste system. When Dalits become Christians, they loose the benefits of Reservation (affirmative action ) in Government Jobs.  Our hope is to help our brothers and sisters break out of this cycle through redemption on both levels. By providing a fair wage, and dignified employment and also a bigger redemption through helping them receive Jesus as the ultimate redeemer.

Just being available to teach basic skills to the Dalits is a huge win. Few upper caste Indians would want to try and uplift the lower caste because many believe that they deserve to be in that position due to actions in their previous life. Sadly, we’ve even seen Indian Christians play by this societal norm. By physically being there and befriending them means that we say that they ARE worth it and that they have a place in the kingdom of God. Foreigners have a high status in India, so when a foreigner sets foot into a Dalit community it means a lot to them. We have also seen many other believers rally behind our project. He’s connected us to many different types of people that we needed to get this project going. Even though we are still in the early phase of this, we know that God’s hand is there because all the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.
 
Brett and Lyn have adopted us like family. The moment we stepped into their home, we felt loved. We were a bit lonely in our journey as entrepreneurs and we were looking for like-minded kingdom people that just “got-it”. Everything that rep taught about Convergence was exactly what has been in our hearts for a long time. We are also using the 10 Ps and the scorecard to keep our company in check as we go plan. To have people champion us along the way has been a huge blessing.”

-  Sarah & Elton Lin